My first impression is that they'd be reliable about delivering on orders. Better than counting on my cousins, at least.

I guess. It'd be enabling them to steamroll over other kingdoms if they want to, which seems really unlikely but it's not a casual risk to take.

Tech gap's that big?

I don't want to underestimate Elves because clearing the continent is really impressive. But if we were up against an actual military from my world, we'd fall apart like butter around a hot knife.

What we can reconstruct from stuff I happen to remember is nowhere near that. I'd still bet on it.

Okay. There's also the complication that my cousins will take tech and run with it, and probably be faster than us at improving on whatever knowledge is out there.

True. But we know their motives, and as much as they suck if they became omnipotent now it'd be an improvement.

I'd be more worried about the Enemy copying things. He's in a better position to benefit from this than we are.

...that too. Hadn't even occurred to me, he can't be particularly inventive or orcs wouldn't have swords ten thousand years after he decided to have orcs. But he could improve on what you've got, maybe.

Maybe no weapons, and nothing we use from where he can see it. That leaves...more than nothing.

But maybe not stuff to immediately hand the Dwarves.

Can't hand them examples, but there's stuff to immediately tell them about.

Do you have patent laws here, or do we sell blueprints once and let the buyer get as much use as they can before people start copying?

We have intellectual property laws! You can sell things under conditions for how they can be taught, you can sell ideas and get a share of the proceeds for a decade...

Oh good, the translator managed to make sense of the osanwe summary.

Perfect.

I think the original use for the thing I have in mind was keeping mines from flooding, but it's better known for moving heavy loads when you need that repeated a lot. Is either of those a problem you have?

Both.

How do we go about finding someone to sell the idea to? It's a bit far to handle the whole thing directly.

You'd normally go to Tumunzahar, that's where our city is. This is more of a trading post.

We could use an intermediary from here, if we have to, and let them find someone there.

Or going to Tumunzahar directly might work, if it's closer to our kingdom than Doriath is. Where is it?

A few hundred miles due east of here.

The wrong direction. I guess we can see if anyone here wants to go be the inventor.

You have a very interested audience, certainly. 

And much less competition than we could get in a population center, but that's probably worth it for the time.

Everyone who goes to Menegroth is at least selected for tremendous tolerance of other peoples' ways of thinking and explaining, and for something of an adventurous streak. Living among Elves is neither fun nor entirely safe.

...safe?

They used to kill us for sport, you know. They have - sort of - apologized. Said that because we don't have osanwe they figured we weren't people. And if you want to blame your problems on a Dwarf, or not pay one...

That's terrible. You're still willing to work with people who negligently killed your family or friends or even anyone at all?

It was that or let them all die, they can't make their own weapons.