Scholars of Yole

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The large tent boasted some of the messiest living quarters that has ever been seen. Shelves and bookcases that stretched from ground to canvas roof lined most of the tents and even acted as dividers for bed quarters for the Scholars of Yole. In front of the chaotic walls of shelving, books, scrolls and trinkets was a large wooden desk that had a young man sitting behind it scribbling in a ledger.

As men and women walked up to the front desk the man behind took their name, their occupation and then offered them a sum of money. As the parties approached the desk they could see that the man was in fact a young adult dwarf with a well groomed beard, neat overcoat and glassed. ‘Name and occupation please.’ the man asked as they stood before the desk. Upon hearing that the were adventurers he looked up at the party. ‘All here as one hey? And just in time as we just uncovered the way in.’ he said as he scratched in some notes in his ledger before opening a different book.

‘Ten gold pieces a day, double if you see combat, twenty gold pieces if you are seriously hurt, a further twenty if you are mortally wounded.’ he offered and pushed out the book to see the terms and conditions listed out. It was noted that based on what they had discovered so far that they would expect a few days exploration, at most a week. As they considered the gold they noted a finders clause that gives them the claim to any equipment, artefacts, relics or treasure that is found within the construct that was not deemed to have significant importance.

The next two days went by without massive incident. The party acted as the scouts and vanguards for the scholars as they explored further into the buried passageways, halls and rooms. Each room had some form of trap before the door which was easy to detect and soon the party expected a new trap to be just before every door.

Each room progressively got in a worse state with the first one being rich in items of significant importance to the scholars. However, as they travelled deeper into the structure they found many of the artefacts destroyed and eaten away by time and decay. As they pushed into the third day they came across a room which was spotlessly clean with no evidence of the moulded, decayed wood, fabrics or metals that the previous rooms had.

However, the door to the next room was opened and the trap had been sprung without any sign of what had triggered it. As the scholars looked around the room to take notes the party noticed that the next room and hall was much the same, spotlessly clean with another open door and another set off trap. Something was not adding up.

Sal Wethridge

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Sal eventually had calmed down after the healers had examined the body of her companion, finding nothing that would have caused their death. The party had revealed the dagger that had half of it stop glimmering with magic which had taken Sal a few minutes to realise it belonged to her friend.

‘Tamiel always bragged about his dagger. Something about being blessed by a nighthag. We were coming to Miran to help the city look for its mage killer. We thought that us two would be able to handle it as Tamiel knew magic and I am rather good with a sword and can handle myself in a fight against foes both magical and mundane. Normally…’ she said as the gloom settled back over the top of her.

‘That’s why he was in that stupid isle looking for a stupid book that he thought may have held the secrets to what was happening. He hated being wrong and got embarrassed by Jake, the man at the reception, was quick to tell Tamiel where to find what he was after. I wasn’t paying attention though as I was distracted…’ she added as the sound of remorse and regret made her voice crackle.

‘As soon as I stopped talking to Jake I tried reaching out to Tamiel via our sending stones and when it didn’t work I rushed to where I thought he would be. Life less in shadow. Those stupid drifting globes of light had shattered on the ground and so it took me a moment to see him lying there.’

The party took a few moments more to talk to the tall woman, her shoulder length blonde hair resting against her armour and while she wasn’t a fine featured woman her proud features and imposing feature didn’t match the look of desperation nor the sullen look in her eyes.

Finding Jake and working back from where Tamiel had been investigating or looking for something seemed like the next best step but for now they waited with Sal and tried to see if she would remember anything else. The only thing coming to her mind was how the shadows had looked upon the body of her friend as she rounded the corner.

Trusted Axe’s Daughter

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The party had a long chat with Garmanel and Gondanel and learnt a what the current problem was. Their long term contract with two well renown merchants had fallen through but the causation appeared to be something that was not their doing. The Trusted Axe Cartel was made up from a group of what was once struggling smiths who were banded together to forge dwarven goods inside the city of Armele.

The cartel had made a good name for themselves and they were exceedingly proud in the quality of their armour, weapons and other goods that they sold to larger merchants who would take it from there. They claimed they kept their investments secure and always paid their debts and left nothing outstanding with client or supplier but this time it was different.

Jeb and Tarnius had taken over the Armele branch of the Five Spokes which was the largest merchant company on the continent. The early engagements and contract negotiations had gone well with nothing changing so the same trust and set up had applied to the already established contract. Goods first with a deposit then the rest of the gold upon final shipment.

Yet they had broken the deal, the goods that they claimed they had been given to them were not what the Trusted Axe Cartel had sent them and had obviously been made by human hands, inexperienced hands at that. The party looked at the information that had been given to them but something stood out. They’d have to find where the dwarven goods had truly gone to if they were to help the Cartel. The gold offered for finding information was good but being friends or even partners the Trusted Axe Cartel would last them a long time as the only thing that outlasted their grudges was their loyalty.

Gondanel finished asking them for help and Garmanel had mentioned the reward, including the long term standings with the Cartel, and as the party thought it over they seemed to relax. The Tavern had attempted to get back to normality and after the old dwarf bought a round of dinks for the tavern it seemed to kick off more. The hothead Garabek left following the trail that he believed would take him to the suspicious humans who were spending big in the tavern just before which also helped the mood of the tavern substantially.

The young female dwarf Gondanel had a short high ponytail of dark black hair that made her skin look a bit darker than it was. Tanned from the heat of a forge she had a lean muscular build but a friendly face. Garmanel on the other hand showed his age and despite still having a broad build of a dwarf their was almost no hair that wasn’t white or grey either on his short cropped head or is long braided beard.

Giving them the night to think on it the dwarves let them know where they could find them in the morning once they made a decision and they left. The party now had a tough decision to make. Potential financial stability for as long as a dwarfs memory is came with a price. Finding those who had besmirched their honour and bringing them to the Cartel for justice instead of to the local guard.