After walking into the heatless, emerald green fire, you notice hundreds of other fireplaces and hearths zooming past. Your brain is unable to clearly register the locations as you zoom past them at great speed. Your body feels as if it is spinning very fast, and a deafening roar fills your ears. Suddenly the spinning and roaring comes to an end. After whipping off some soot that got on your pants and allowing your eyes to adjust as you step out into the lobby of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, you realize that pairs of beady goblin eyes are staring at you.

After a moment of silence, a number of those goblins start stepping forward. One of them awaits for the arrival of your headmistress, clearly wanting to say something to her in the goblin's raspy tongue. The others, however, approach you and your classmates, holding out black drawstring bags with the Gringotts emblem on it in gold -- inside each are various pamphlets about the bank and sound financing, a brochure for the tour you will be going on today, and a free "I toured Gringotts!" button.

OOC: Welcome to the Gobbledegook field trip! At the present time, everyone is taking their self-led tour of the Goblin Mint.

Text Cut: Goblin Mint Tour Brochure

THE MEZZANINE

Start your tour of the Gringotts Goblin Mint in the Mezzanine. Displayed on the walls are seven glass mosaics that were originally commissioned to celebrate the opening of the bank in 1474. The celebrated goblin Gringott is prominent in each of these mosaics, some featuring him at the entrance of the bank, at one of the tellers booths, counting coins in his office, riding one of the carts, and even feeding the original dragon kept in the depths of the bank.

While this room may not be as exciting as what is to come, take a moment to step back in time. A detailed history of the bank can be learned through numerous portraits and exhibits that have been strategically placed around the room in a maze-like fashion. Learn more about Gringott, how the bank and the mint itself grew, and other facts about the bank that you may never have heard of before. A few goblins are standing by if there are any questions or further clarifications need to be made.

Before moving on to the next room, be sure to visit the Collector's Corner. Here you can marvel at some of the most beautiful coins created here at the Gringotts Goblin Mint and see how Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts have changed over the centuries in addition to special issue coins.



THE GALLERY

Down a flight of stairs is the Gallery, which has been divided into seven different areas to help you better understand the coin and medal making -- or minting -- process. Each area is accompanied with portraits of different Gringotts goblins completing the specific task being described.

• ART: The coins you use every day are little pieces of history in your pocket, and they are also tiny works of art, carefully designed and sculpted by Gringotts' finest goblin artists and coin design committees. It is intricate work -- but well worth the effort!
  
  
• DIE MAKING: The die shop is where the tools that cut, squeeze, and shape the coins to perfection are made. Thousands of dies are created each year with painstaking precision. Each die is exactly alike, and they are used to strike millions of coins. Making perfect dies can be a complex process, but it is necessary as every coin must be perfect. Every Gringotts goblin has pride in producing only the best quality coins for the entire wizarding world.
  
  
• BLANKING: In this department, round blanks are punched out of metal strips using extreme force. The metals used by Gringotts to create coins are fed through a blanking press, which is like a giant cookie-cutter, and punches out round, plain-surfaced disks called blanks. The leftover strip, called webbing, is chopped and recycled.
  
  
• ANNEALING & UPSETTING: This is where the blanks are prepared for striking. The blanks are heated in an annealing furnace to soften the metal of the blank. They are then poured through a huge washer and dryer. Finally, the shiny blanks are rolled through an upsetting mill that raises a smooth, hard edge around each blank, creating a rim that helps with the striking process. After this process, the blank is called a planchet.
  
  
• STRIKING: Two dies -- obverse and reverse, or heads and tails -- are placed onto the coining press. The planchets travel to the presses on a conveyor. With one mighty strike, the designs from the steel dies are transferred to the planchet creating a genuine Gringotts-made coin.
  
  
• INSPECTING: This is where every coin must be in "mint condition." After striking, press operators use magnifying glasses to spot-check each new coin to be sure that the mint's strict quality standards have been met. If a flaw is spotted, all of the coins in the trap are scrapped and sent to a coin destruction machine, called a waffler, to be recycled.
  
  
• BAGGING: After the coins have been inspected, they travel to a counting station. All coins are counted and poured into giant bulk bags. The filled bags are weighed, sealed shut, and loaded onto a pallet that is taken to the mint's vaults. The finished coins then begin their journey to the bank's reserve and into your pocket!

At the end of the Gallery, a heavy iron-wrought door awaits that only Gringotts goblins can open. Fortunately, a goblin stands guard of this door and will allow you to pass by on your tour today.



THE MINT

After descending down what had to have been hundreds of stairs, you will realize that the temperature has gotten drastically hotter. This isn't because you have worked up a sweat -- rather, you have just arrived outside the Gringotts Goblin Mint. Before you stands a door, on which the following sign is displayed in both Gobbledegook and English:

Pboxeew digs xaugiom. Mimgimt im kbotbehh.
Proceed with caution. Minting in progress.
Making your way through the threshold, you will see numerous goblins hard at work. With your very own eyes, you can view how a Galleon, Sickle, or Knut is made. The blanking, annealing, upsetting, striking, inspecting, and bagging processes all occur inside this large room. The first thing you will see is the large blanking press, and the last thing seen will be bags of coins being promptly whisked away.

Please keep your hands at your sides during this part of the tour. Gringotts will not be held responsible for any accidents should you not follow this simple request.

You are allowed to speak with the goblins present here, but keep your conversation brief as they have very important work to do.



THE GIFT SHOP

Once you reach the end of your tour of the mint, you will come across another door and be directed to yet another set of stairs. Though there are just as many as it took to get down to the mint, the cool change in temperature makes the ascent bearable. Soon background music will begin to fill your ears and you will eventually find yourself in the Gift Shop.

Located around the corner from the bank's main lobby, the Gift Shop offers coin sets, commemorative coins, numismatic collectibles, books, games, and mint souvenirs. If you wish to make a purchase, take your desired items up to the goblin at the service counter.

If you wish for your character to say anything in Gobbledegook throughout this field trip, simply translate what they would say in English to Gobbledegook using the Modified Reverse setting on this website. Please make sure to leave an OOC translating what they said in English or somehow incorporate the translation in the body of your post.

Here you are allowed to post your primary Hogwarts character (the one in your post-bit) and one other student of your choosing! ^____^