Sup. I am going to write this story for fun. Hope you too would find it fun. Synopsis: A story about harsh environment, humans, dwarves, steam\mana tech, and some adventures. (probably some silliness too). Comments and criticism are appreciated.
0. Prologue Frontier – the land of opportunity and danger. This land made hearts of countless dwarven and human youths throughout the Never-ending continent to beat with passion. And countless youths were unceasingly making their own way through the eternal winter of the Far North. Some of them dreamed of getting their own mine with precious resources, others dreamed of fame. The adventurous ones were longing to explore the unknown, and those with intrepid blood coursing through their veins were thrilled living on a knife-edge. But all of them had one thing in common; they had to endure harsh weather, fight through the hordes of mutated ferals, build new frontier towns, and develop resource lodes. To withstand the ravages of frenzied monsters and slowly move forward, exploring the land was the cycle of life on this unwelcoming but rich land. And at the time when second round of northern exploration was about to an end, the steam and mana technological advancement pushed the beginning of the next round forward.
1. Cold moon It was already midnight when our company arrived at the dwarven mining Outpost №4 in the Frostlands. It was a compact deep mining facility that extracted mana-infused coal with steam machinery and fueled further exploration of the Far-North. There were only three of us in the rover. Mr. Merwin, Garm, the only bald dwarf on the whole northern continent, and I. Mr. Merwin was the owner of a small courier company specializing in all kinds of dangerous deliveries. Garm was our engineer and I was hired as a bodyguard. Frostlands was a land full of dangers that ranged from mutated ferals and bandits to death zones with unexplainable mana anomalies and terrifying cold snaps that could freeze the hell in a blink of eye. We had a treaded steam-powered steel beast of a rover that was seven meters tall, five meters wide and twenty meters long. I have no idea where mr. Merwin have got this beauty from, but no other rover that I know of could boast an engine room, crew quarters for eight man, an enclosed driver’s room and even a large cargo space in one package. The rovers were usually made either for cargo purposes, or for people transportation. In the back of the rover a batch of spare parts for mining equipment was waiting to be delivered. It was first time we ever visited this outpost, so Mr. Merwin and I put on hooded fur coats, glasses and gloves and left the cozy warmth of the steel rover to gather some information about the place. Garm, that lucky bastard, stayed behind to maintain the bronze piping and an irreplaceable steam core. This compact machine was the jewel of scientific advancement. It was able to burn mana-infused coal and provide needed heat and energy with much greater efficiency than general boilers. The temperature outside was dreadful. As soon as we jumped down from the frosted steel track of the rover onto a snow crust we felt the freezing glare of Lady Moon on our faces. Ethereal touch of the blue moon covered everything within her reach with frost on this land cursed by goddess and our skin wasn’t an exception. Mr. Merwin pulled up his woolen scarf to protect himself from harsh magical environment, and stared back at the moon with eyes full of rancor. “Will I ever get used to this moon?” he sighed. “Who knows, Mr. Merwin. I’ve been living here since the second wave of northern exploration began and the chill of the curse still bites to the bone. We’d better go look for the Quartermaster or we will turn into a nice pair of popsicles.” We entered the outpost and went along the wooden pathways placed on top of the heat-pipes. The first thing to do in order to find Quartermaster was to look for the most raucous place amidst the orderly rows of bunkhouses. As the noise was getting louder and louder we eventually happened upon a sign with a bear holding big spoon in his left paw and even bigger wooden beer keg on his left shoulder. “Wow, Garm is going to love this place, that’s for sure” I smirked as we entered the inn. It was a bright and spacious building with wooden furniture that reeked of fun, alcohol and drunken fights from every corner. Oh, and the bear was there too. Its brown head was proudly hanging above the bar counter bragging its white and sharp teeth. Delirious dwarven gentlemen that must have just returned from their shift were all over the place holding giant wooden pints. Some were joyously enjoying the drink, the others were flirting with beautiful dwarven ladies whose intricately braided beards were no less than the ones of the gentlemen. We asked bartender about the Quartermaster. His office wasn’t that far but unfortunately he was inspecting the mines at the moment, so we had to wait for tomorrow. I ordered some ale and snacks and returned to Garm, whereas Mr. Merwin settled for the night on the second floor of the inn. The next day I barely got up. Garm, that lucky bastard, was still out. The ale punched the living daylights out of us. Even a troll suffering from malnutrition doesn’t hit that hard. Got to fight one once, so I know what I’m talking about. Now was high time to look for Mr. Merwin and visit the Quartermaster. To deliver the goods was to receive the money. We planned to have a small vacation somewhere warm and without snow after this job. After all five years amidst the bare expanse of snow and chilling wind have taken their toll on us. Unfortunately at that time a lone scout with severe frostbite just reached the outpost with a message that would mess up our plans for good.
"But all of them had one thing in common; they had endure harsh weather, fight through the hordes of mutated ferals, build new frontier towns, and develop resource lodes." I believe the actions you describe them doing should be in past tense, though I often times also mix and and forget about tenses. I think you change from third to first person some of the times; it's a bit confusing. I enjoy your descriptions of the mechanisms.