Two-Screws was examining the oak chest that had somehow just appeared in the center of the #7-Metals-Storage-Unit.
The Snake had found and devoured the majority of the dwarves' reserves of metal, something they were keen to recover from her melted corpse.
But she hadn't found all of the storage.
Several of the engineers were carefully packing ingots of Dark Steel, High Grade Deep Copper, Gold, and Bright Silver into the chest.
"How the hell does this work?" Two-Screws had measured his stash chest inside and out, and was looking for any clues.
So far, he'd just found it to be a sturdy oak chest.Milo shrugged.
"It's a special ability.
It started smaller and I've been able to increase its size over time.
I can summon or dismiss it, but it uses up my stamina.""Hmm.
So, you bring it from somewhere else to here, and send it back.
Sort of the opposite of an Arcane Workshop."Milo was immediately curious.
"What do you mean? What's an Arcane Workshop?"Two-Screws laughed.
"It's one of the 'special secrets' you get to know when you’re a Senior Engineer.
Not that a lot of us didn't already know about them when we were juniors.
Supposedly some of the more ancient Senior Engineers used to have special places they could go.
Secret workshops where they worked on projects that they wanted kept secret.
You summon that chest from somewhere, and send it back.
An engineer could supposedly send himself to somewhere else and then come back.
I'm wondering if your chest is just a summonable, quite small, workshop."Milo considered.
"I'm not sure.
It sounds more like the Arcane Workshop is just the equivalent of an Arcane Library."D-Wrench had just put a load of metal into the chest.
He straightened and looked over at Milo.
"Oh boy, someone has a secret.
I can smell it!"Two-Screws had a calculating look on his face.
"I notice you're quite the mage with your fancy-smancy bone magics.
You wouldn't happen to know about these Arcane Libraries, would you? I might even delay your next turn on the improved 'Twirl and Hurl' if you didn't mind helping us with our research into Arcane Workshops."Milo shuddered at the thought of the whirling torture device that the dwarves loved for some reason.
"Deal.
But I want to know about the workshops in return." Other engineers appeared as if by magic and soon there was a heated discussion as they took the information Milo gave them and in return recounted anything they knew about Arcane Workshops.
The discussion ended abruptly as The Engineer appeared."Of course I find you all lolly-gagging in here.
This trip uptop is never going to get moving at this rate!" The engineers jumped to their feet and saluted as they filed out the door, some in very inventive ways.
A few waved to Milo or shook his hand before he left.
The Engineer was one of those.
"Get your business done and head back here.
We have some big plans and could use your help." He sent his stash back to where ever it came from, and headed for the exit.
Two-Screws followed along to see him off.
As the door to the engineering complex opened, Milo was surprised to see Throttlecog there, along with two huge packs, and a set of bronze armor similar to what he wore himself.
Milo took in the gear, and raised an eyebrow.
Throttlecog chuckled.
"Oh, thought you'd just sneak off and get in trouble? The Engineer decided that we needed to touch base with the uptop folks.
Maybe recruit some mechanics and junior engineers.
We're a little top heavy now that all the juniors got promoted." Two-screws paused as he was putting on the suit of mechanical armor.
"Had to be done.
We all got too smart! You can thank or blame Milo for that.
Hydraulics and Fluid Systems? Holy crap, I had no idea you could do so much with water and steam!"The two dwarves added the packs to their heavy suits of armor.
Neither was wearing their helmets.
The feel of air on their faces and the smell of stone and earth had been missed for far too long.
Milo started through the caves and mining tunnels, taking a route that either let the two climb down, or where he could lower them by a pulley and rope.
After one such drop, Throttlecog was making notes in a small book.
"I can see that one of the first things we should do is set up a better path to the uptop.
Or should we just drill an entirely new route?" There was lots of conjecture but no real decision.
Milo enjoyed the talk.
Too often in Section E he was just bouncing ideas around in his own head, with no other viewpoints.As they came to the mushroom caves, Milo could tell the dwarves were tiring.
Two-Screws wasn't used to moving in the heavy armor, and Throttlecog was only recently rejuvenated.
They stopped at the edge of the first cave.
Milo set up his camp, put on tea, and summoned George the Guard Lizard.
Both dwarves spent quite a bit of time scratching him under his chin.
With a George on duty, Milo took advantage of the break to look at the notifications he'd been ignoring.
By dint of hard work, luck, loyalty of your friends and the attack of an Elemental Empress of Eels you are now the last man standing in your guild.
-Guild rule 76 states that as the last man standing, you are now the Guild master of Engineers Guild #77-Guild rule 3 states that a non-dwarf may not be elected Guild master.-Guild rule 17 states that only Senior Engineers may be elected Guild master.-Guild rule 2 states 'The job gets done!', you are now considered a dwarf, and a Senior Engineer for purposes of guild membership and holding offices of the guild.