Chapter 218: Aftermath
Renn did not attempt to start the forge again.
The unfinished metal remained inside its crucible while he studied the illuminated controls. Some symbols responded when his hand approached. Others stayed dark. The ring had recognized him as an authorized successor, but recognition had not given him the knowledge of the dwarves who built the place.
"Can you keep the constructs inactive?" Rod asked.
"They stopped when I ended the defensive state."
"That was not the question."
Renn looked across the motionless metal soldiers. "I don’t know."
The honest answer decided their next action. They withdrew from the central controls without touching anything else. Ward specialists marked the position of every construct, while Dirk and Rod searched the accessible edge of the lake.
They found Helmar’s blood on the broken platform and pieces of his artificial hand fused into the grating. The current carried everything else into submerged channels beneath the forge.
Dirk lowered a weighted line. It pulled sideways before reaching the bottom.
"The water moves too strongly for a body to remain here." He said.
"Could he survive?" Renn asked.
Nessa answered. "Not with those injuries."
They returned through the ancient stronghold. Brogan remained alive where the supporting adventurers guarded him. Nessa stabilized the wound Rod gave him, ensuring Ironcloud could question Helmar’s closest accomplice.
Brogan looked for Helmar among them.
"He fell into the lake." Renn said.
Brogan closed his eyes. Whether the reaction came from grief, disbelief, or calculation remained unclear.
The return through the mine had become an organized evacuation. Groups moved slowly toward the surface, helping the injured and carrying those unable to walk. Adventurers from above had reached Area Nine and opened the remaining partitions. Food and water traveled downward while the liberated workers traveled up.
Renn stopped in every work area long enough to see what Helmar created. Records documented exhaustion, injuries, punishments, and unexplained disappearances. Some overseers surrendered their books. Others destroyed what they could before fleeing.
Korran met Renn at Area Four.
"Blackwater is secure." He said. "Two airships escaped. The remaining vessels surrendered with their crews. Ironcloud officials are on the way."
His eyes moved to Renn’s bound wrist. "Helmar?"
"Presumed dead."
"Presumed?"
"We did not recover him from the lake."
Korran accepted the limitation. "What did Helmar find beneath Blackwater Reach?"
Renn glanced at the freed workers around them. "An ancient stronghold containing something the council needs to see before rumors spread to every dwarven city."
He did not announce the Deep Forge in a slave barracks. The people leaving Blackwater deserved freedom without becoming unwilling carriers of a secret powerful families might kill to possess.
The surface looked different when Renn emerged.
Helmar’s emblem had been removed from the central building. Ruskell colors flew above it without celebration. Surrendered soldiers remained in organized groups while council clerks recorded names and statements. Rod’s adventurers guarded stores instead of helping themselves to them.
The hundred person force had suffered heavily. Thirty one adventurers died at least once. Nine died twice after returning to the battle. Several chose not to come back after their first death, and Rod did not treat that decision as cowardice. Every participant had completed the contract once Blackwater fell.
The revival system denied Helmar a permanent victory over the attackers. It did not make the experience pleasant or return the equipment left beside their bodies.
Quartermasters counted replacement supplies while Renn authorized payment. Valuable recovered equipment remained sealed for Ironcloud’s review. Rod dismissed two adventurers from consideration for future positions after they attempted to conceal items taken from Helmar’s rooms.
The rest received what the contract promised.
Valewick stood beside Lana while an Academy healer examined a burn across his forearm.
Valewick stood beside Lana while an Academy healer treated the burn across his forearm. His attention remained fixed on the mine entrance.
"The barrier I placed over the damaged supports was uneven," Valewick said. "The left anchor formed too close to the weakened section."
"It held long enough for everyone beneath it to escape." Lana replied.
"I know, but the structure could have failed if the weight had shifted differently. I need to correct the anchor pattern before I use that spell again."
"You should study it later. Right now, I want you to recognize that you made the correct decision. You cast the barrier while people needed it instead of waiting until you could create a perfect one."
Valewick looked toward the liberated workers emerging from the mine. "If I had taken more time, some of them would have been caught beneath the collapse."
"Yes." Lana said. "Your barrier was imperfect, and it saved their lives. Improving the spell tomorrow does not diminish what you accomplished today."
Valewick watched the workers for several seconds before nodding. "Then I am glad I cast it when I did."
The admission appeared harder for him than the casting.
Rod later completed his evaluations of the Titters trainees who had joined the raid. He recommended those who had followed orders, protected their assigned groups, and remained dependable under pressure for advanced field training and future positions among his family’s guards.
Ironcloud’s officials arrived aboard two unarmed administrative airships. They brought investigators, engineers, healers, and enough guards to take custody of accused officers. No army followed because the battle was already over.
The lead investigator viewed the slave compounds before meeting Renn. He returned hours later with mine dust covering his formal boots.
"The evidence supports every charge." He said. "Likely more than the council anticipated."
"There is something lower." Renn replied.
Only five council representatives entered the ancient stronghold. Renn required them to leave written orders identifying where they went and forbidding anyone from following without permission. Rod’s party accompanied them. While he trusted the council it was better to take his pseudo immortal bodyguards.
The officials stopped when they saw the underground lake. The engineers stopped again inside the Deep Forge.
One elderly dwarf approached the unfinished crucible but did not touch it. "Do you understand what this is?"
"A Deep Forge." Renn said. "Helmar called it the source of ultimate power."
"That sounds like Helmar."
The engineer examined the dormant channels. "If this is genuine, it may be capable of producing adamant celestial iron."
The name meant little to Rod. Every dwarf in the chamber reacted.
The metal existed in royal weapons, ancient tools, and heirlooms divided into fragments because no modern forge could replace them. A functioning source could reshape dwarven wealth and warfare.
"Can it operate?" A council representative asked.
Renn pointed toward the damaged floor and inactive constructs. "Helmar attempted it. The forge disputed his authority and tried to kill everyone."
"But it accepted you."
"It allowed me to stop the defenses. That is all I know."
The council representative studied the ring in its mechanism. "Blackwater Reach belongs to the Ruskell family."
"So does the responsibility for what happened here." Renn said. "I will not replace Helmar’s slaves with desperate workers and call it lawful."
The mine required stabilization before ordinary crews could enter safely. Engineers needed to understand the forge’s defenses, repair the damaged activation system, and determine whether centuries of neglect made production dangerous. Renn possessed neither the money nor expertise to do it alone.
The negotiations began at Blackwater rather than in a council chamber.
They remained simple. Renn retained ownership of the property and Deep Forge. Ironcloud would provide engineers, excavation crews, construct specialists, and security. Future production would repay the council’s costs before the Ruskell family and Ironcloud divided the remaining metal.
No one argued over exact percentages beside freshly opened slave cells.
Those details could wait until experts determined whether the forge could produce anything safely.
Renn insisted upon additional terms. Every worker would be paid. No one would enter the lowest areas without recorded identification and a return time. Independent inspectors could examine living conditions. A portion of Blackwater’s available wealth would compensate survivors and the families of workers who died.
The council accepted the principles.
"You understand this may take years." The elderly engineer said.
"Helmar spent years reaching it." Renn replied. "His impatience killed people. I will not repeat it to save time."
They removed the ring from the controls only after confirming the defensive state remained inactive. Renn carried it back to the surface under guard.
The Deep Forge was sealed behind the restored stronghold gate. Renn retained the ring and placed Ruskell guards under Korran’s command along every approach. Ironcloud’s specialists strengthened the wards and installed alarms to warn Renn if anyone attempted to enter. Access to the Deep Forge remained under Renn’s authority while the engineers prepared for the long excavation and restoration ahead.
Over the following days, Blackwater changed hands in practical ways. Korran reorganized the guards willing to remain, dismissed officers loyal to Helmar’s crimes, and helped investigators trace missing workers through incomplete records. He never waited for Renn to notice every task.
Renn eventually called him into Helmar’s former office.
"I need someone to manage this place when I am dealing with the council." Renn said.
"You need several people."
"I am starting with one."
Korran looked at the stack of unresolved reports. "Then my first duty is finding the others."
Renn smiled. "That is why I asked you."
Korran accepted the position without ceremony. He became Renn’s principal lieutenant because he had already been performing the work, not because the new family head needed to reward a flattering relative.
Rod’s force prepared to return to the Sanctuary after Ironcloud assumed responsibility for the detained officers and investigation. The trainees collected their pay. Selected adventurers received offers for future work through Rod’s camp.
Rod stood with Renn above the mine entrance.
"You found what the key opens." he said.
"I found what Helmar believed it could give him."
"Is there a difference?"
Renn watched paid workers carry supplies toward the upper mine while liberated slaves boarded transports bound for Ironcloud.
"There has to be."
Brogan’s testimony began before Rod departed. He refused to discuss the assassinations but confirmed that Helmar had known about the buried stronghold for years. Fragmentary Ruskell records identified Blackwater as the likely location, while surviving descriptions of the Deep Forge’s key matched the ancient ring Tharic possessed. Helmar concealed the discovery while he excavated the stronghold and prepared the forge because revealing it would have drawn the attention of the Ruskell family and Ironcloud before he secured control.
The explanation did not excuse anyone. It did help investigators locate accounts, engineers, and officers who participated knowingly.
Renn visited the liberated workers before they left. Some wanted payment and transportation home. Others had no surviving home to return to. Ironcloud offered temporary housing and work placements without requiring anyone to remain connected to Blackwater.
One dwarf asked whether Renn expected gratitude because he arrived after years of suffering.
"No." Renn said. "I expect you to tell the investigators everything my family allowed to happen here."
The answer spread among the transports more effectively than an apology made on behalf of people Renn could not control.
Rod completed his own accounting. Of the hundred adventurers, eighty-eight said they would work with Rod again. Several outside applicants requested consideration for the Titters family guard, while the existing trainees waited to learn whether their performance had earned them permanent positions. Seven withdrew after experiencing death or the conditions beneath Blackwater. Five were dismissed for indiscipline, attempted theft, or ignoring surrender orders. Rod’s recommendations pleased Lord Titters more than a list approving everyone would have. A field test that revealed no weaknesses would have been worthless to a family selecting its future guards.
Korran helped Renn establish a temporary council drawn from relatives, senior workers, and guards who surrendered early. It possessed limited authority but prevented every decision from waiting for Renn personally. The arrangement also made it harder for a future family head to conceal an entire property as Helmar had.
Before leaving, Lana found Valewick rewriting the barrier pattern he used beneath the unstable mine supports.
"You already know what went wrong." She said.
"Knowing is not correcting."
"Eat first."
He looked prepared to object, remembered the field, and closed the notebook.
The small choice convinced Lana that his improvement might last beyond one battle.
The ancient forge remained dark beneath them. Recovering it would be slow, expensive, and dangerous.
Blackwater Reach belonged to Renn.
The Deep Forge could wait.