[center][h3][color=lightgreen]Gadri Abzan[/color] and [color=BlueViolet]Madame Morvanne[/color] [/h3][/center]

Gadri had slowly been making their way to the front of the caravan when the rumbling began. Their eyes were dragged up to the sky, towards the source of the roar - trailing fire and smoke, scorching its way across the sky...

[i]Skymetal.[/i]

A gift from the Light-and-Flame. It had to be. For it to fall so close to them, and so blatantly? They watched as it vanished out of view and turned, starting to run back towards their caravan when the blastwave swept through the forest. The trees shook and creaked violently, leaves and branches tumbled down in a hail of foliage. Bracing themselves against a nearby stump, Gadri waited out the wall of force that washed over the caravan, then quickly straightened themselves up and turned back towards their caravan.

Dwarves weren’t particularly great travellers over long distances, but they were natural born sprinters. Their legs were as stout as they were short, which meant that when one started moving, they could get some real power behind each step, driving the blacksmith back the way they’d came, quickly hurrying back inside their forge to pull out what few tools they needed, then immediately dashing out, barely remembering to lock the door behind them.

[color=lightgreen]“I’m going to investigate!”[/color] They called out, once again to nobody in particular, then off they went, legs carrying them as fast as they could towards the sight of the crash.

It might have been to nobody in particular, but this time someone did indeed pay attention. The force of the impact had sent plenty of Morvanne’s knick-knacks flying all over the place, even slamming a heavy book into her forehead, where a hefty bruise had already begun to form. The madame herself had been quite enjoying the quieter period rolling through the woods, especially with how peculiar the essences surrounding it were, but this new falling star demanded attention more than cleanup did. She’d have plenty of time to tidy everything up once she returned, but she’d be surprised if she ever got another opportunity in her life to investigate something such as this.

So it was that less than a minute after the dwarf had thumped off through the woods, she too was locking the door to her wagon, hitching up her skirts and making her way through the undergrowth. Even at a careful speedwalk she was quick enough to just about keep Gadri in sight – the dwarf having to slow enough once they were off the road that their size difference came into play.

[hr]

It wasn’t long before the group investigating this strange new phenomenon arrived at the crash site. A deep crater was carved into the mud and dirt, ploughing through one of the forest’s tremendous trees and partially uprooting it. Astonishingly, it seemed as if the tree was resisting this new invader, having fallen back down atop it, roots almost strangling the metallic intrusion into its world.

Gadri edged their way closer to the crater and peered over the edge. A mixture of disappointment and excitement shot through them, mixed with an overwhelming sense of curiosity. 

[color=lightgreen]“Well… It’s not starmetal.”[/color] That much was obvious, even to a layperson. Starmetal fell in single contiguous pieces, often pockmarked and speckled with pits and dents, and usually had a dull metallic sheen to it. This strange structure had clearly broken up as it came in, shards of metal and fragments of unknown material scattered across the trees and ground surrounding the crater. It looked to be scorched as well – the side facing downwards towards the earth turned black, while a small… Panel? On the topside of the structure had a chrome gleam to it still. 

“Not anything I’ve learnt of either…” Morvanne took a half-step forward, only for Gadri to hold a hand up. 

[color=lightgreen]“Alright. Listen up.”[/color] They turned to the group. [color=lightgreen]“I can’t say for sure what this is, it seems likely that there’ll be some potent magical energy around it. I can withstand that. There’s no guarantees that you can. I’ll go, see if it’s safe.”[/color] They turned to Morvanne, who simply nodded.

[color=BlueViolet]“It is… Spiritually powerful. I can almost taste it in the air. I’ll observe.”[/color] She gestured with a hand forward, and with that, Gadri entered the crater, using tangled roots and disturbed earth as footholds to clamber their way down. 

They approached this… Extraterrestrial invader cautiously, drawing out their hammer and tapping it a few times against different parts of the peculiar craft. Each strike rang out like a bell, but with a tone that even the dwarf couldn’t place. Whatever this was constructed out of… Alwyne knew it not.

Then, they circled around the craft, dragging their fingers along the side. Even with  the damage sustained as it crashed into the ground, it was obvious that this was no natural structure. Even if the shattered parts jutting off at uneven angles hadn’t been there, or the odd but deliberate shape of the craft had been totally deformed, there was the simple fact that there was clearly some sort of ladder affixed to the outside, sized for someone significantly taller than a dwarf.

Not that this seemed to stop Gadri from grabbing a hold of one of the rungs and hoisting themselves up, working their way higher until they’d reached the unscorched panel trapped beneath one of the tree’s great roots above.  Bracing themselves against it, Gadri rummaged around in their toolbag, then drew out a chain saw and unravelled it, easing one of the handles underneath the branch before pulling them both taught.

It was not an easy task. The root was thick and healthy and seemed to fight the teeth of their tool every step of the way, but in a contest between dwarf-made steel and even this broad tree’s bark, it was only a matter of time before the former won out. With a creak and a crack Gadri wrenched the root free from the rest of the tree and was about to pack the saw away when the panel let out a tremendous hiss and popped open, forcing the dwarf to scamper back down the ladder to avoid being shoved off the craft entirely.

[color=lightgreen]“What in the Light?”[/color]