Tahkenesius and I sat down on the unsteady and undersized stools. We had entered the Black Hole inn a little earlier and were beginning to consume our cheap drinks. In the late afternoon the inn was still quite empty.
The outside cold was left behind as a large fireplace, glowing with embers, crackled away along a side wall. Between the fireplace and us was a group of old hags, chattering and squawking amongst themselves. They looked after the fire, saving the proprietor the walk.
A short bearded fellow was obscured by the relative darkness of a far corner but one could tell he was not new to this establishment. A well crafted wooden mug was lifted to his mouth at regular intervals, between which he was witling away at a short stick, brushing the shavings to the gather with the dust on the wooden floorboards.
The door creaked open and two old townsfolk entered with a younger member lagging behind. More people of various descriptions entered - things were starting to get busy. An assistant came out from a back room in expectation, wiping the bar with a cloth that looked dirtier than what he was trying to keep clean. Voices started to lift as they tried to compete with each other, helped along by the ample consumption of the beverages.
A warty dwarf boasted that he fought three Wyverns in his younger days while an elf countered with a wild story of battling a Dark Oak. A halfblood was hustling customers, claiming knowledge of a lair of goblins but mutating to a cave filled with gold by the time he reached the other side of the room. A travelling mage was advertising cheaper prices for powders in a distant village - one wonders if she was on a commission.
Finally Kerchunk and Braediere came through the door, scanned the room and headed our way after seeing us. Kerchunk, our halfblood thief, although quite skilled, was not intelligent enough to hide his thoughts - a restricted grin giving away the success of the evening. Braediere, quite attractive for a dwarf fighter, strode silently behind him, scanning the other patrons suspiciously as she passed. They sat down at our table, the dwarf comfortable on the low stools.
As Kerchunk drew breath in anticipation to brag about his accomplishment I quickly pre-empted him, "Have any success?" I grinned knowingly, expecting the answer. His expression changed, as he let out the breath again, somewhat disappointed at our awareness.
Braediere punched him in the arm. "You're such a dag, Chunky, just tell them what we got."
Kerchunk rubbed his shoulder where she had hit him, looked around suspiciously to ensure nobody else was listening, and then pulled a cloth out of a pocket. Placing his cupped hand on the table he looked around again and then peeled the cloth back to reveal a magnificent gem. "I grabbed it in Nykrehue's Jewels. I... We reckons its a Mortant Gem," he whispered and quickly concealed it again. It certainly looked like one but I couldn't be sure - I haven't seen many.
I congratulated him and he couldn't help himself but laugh out loud in simple-minded satisfaction, putting nearby tables off their food. It was unpleasant seeing a half-orc's facial expressions at the best of times.
"We'll sell that tomorrow morning, before news spreads to the other jewellers that one has been nicked," Tahkenesius suggested. "What else did you get?"
The halfblood tapped a side pocket of his backpack, "I also found over 400 gold in there and Sundonak's temple had about... 167 gold?" he said softly, leaning forward and looking at Braediere for confirmation.
She nodded in agreement. "The idiot kicked over some boxes trying to get into Ugomod's Weapons, overconfident fool." She grinned, touching him on the shoulder to indicate her sarcasm if it wasn't already obvious in her tone. She changed the subject, "Have the others returned from training." I motioned to the door where they just entered.
The others had spent the afternoon being trained in the local gyms. First was Knollbert, Kerchunk's younger brother. He used to assist him with Kerchunk's stealing since their youth but is too busy with improving his fighting skills now to bother. That's what we tell him anyway, since Braediere came along to do a proper job of assisting with the thefts. Dopledour followed and was an experienced dwarf fighter, with us since the start. Only his experience puts him ahead of other, more skilled dwarf fighters.
This time we had enough gold saved up and train the other two priests as well; Gerbold and Heinke Ferwish.
Rodebuck came last, deliberately bumped into other patrons as they came over to use. He got a few nasty looks but he enjoyed the attention. They all seemed satisfied with their training, Dopledour boasting that none was better at fighting with a Great Axe. Zappadiesta said that the gym where she trained also sold Plus1 Axes for 960 gold and Kerchunk promptly offered to steal one for her. She ignored him. Zappadiesta is too intelligent for a halfblood but she enjoys stringing him along.
Time passed, talk became more vigorous and the stories taller. A half blind priest that had lost his spiritual path claimed to have once been a member of a group that tackled a Sewer Demon and it killed three of his comrades. A halfblood too young (and without a scar to show for it) claimed to have been involved in the clearing of a dungeon with over 100 Giant Beetles.
Late in the evening a group scrambled in. They didn't do it on purpose but as they entered from the cold the stories stopped and eyes became fixed upon them. They obviously were a roaming band of mercenaries, much like us, who looked pretty tired. There were eight of them and they sat down quietly, ordered food and chatted amongst themselves. As the inn returned to normal we introduced ourselves.
"Hi, I'm Elkenhorne, a priest and leader of the Messy Messiahs. Looks like you've had a hard day."
They eyed us suspiciously, making me a little nervous for a moment. Although there were fewer of them, I could tell they had plenty of experience and weren't to be pushed around. A slim but sturdy human fighter stepped forward. Looking me in the eye with a powerful gaze he queried, "Don't know the group 'Reckless Abandon', do you? Not allied with them at all?"
Realising that they were obviously not on good terms with them I shook my head. "Never heard of them, why?"
"Rascals, damn rascals, the lot of them," he grumbled as he looked over our group. "Tried to ambush us as we entered the city. Boy, will they pay if we ever see them again. The only reason all of them survived is that we had just journeyed across the mountains at top speed to get in town before night. All day we travelled. No wonder they surprised us, considering how tired we were."After a little while the tensions and frustration eased and we spoke casually about our backgrounds, experiences and goals. They were called Kharne Slayers and came to this city to complete a quest but indicated that they were still on a much more lucrative one as well.
"Wouldn't happen to know where the Forest of Rekhipir is by any chance?" the fighter asked after a while, a little unexpected.
"Yeah," Knollbert started before I interrupted.
"What's it worth to you?" I inquired, knowing there must be a reason for the question despite his casual and unassuming nature.
The fighter grinned and sat back, contemplating for a moment. "Okay... a library up north offered us some money to find it, quite a fair bit of money actually." Seeing my resistance to divulge the information he continued, "say, I'll give you 250 gold if we find it with your directions."
Although they would probably get many thousands, it was a reasonable offer considering he was obviously in no mood to bargain. I told him where it was and we agreed to meet back here in twenty days to collect the reward. Although the forest was about six or seven days' journey from here, it would give plenty of time for the inevitable distractions.
As it was becoming late I suggested to my group that we head off and see if we could find a barn or something in which to stay the night. We had spent the last few nights in town and were not in great need for a comfortable and unnecessarily costly bed.
The fighter approached me as we were leaving. "I think I can trust you," he began cautiously. He paused in consideration for a moment, noting my intrigued expression. "Up north, where we came from, about three days' journey from here, there is a cave high up in the Ovapid Mountains. It is bitterly cold there - the wind howls all day and all night. We found it by chance and thought we had a good shelter for some rest. What a surprise we got... I won't ever forget it" He looked down at his feet, hiding the tears he tried to keep back. There was an uncomfortable silence. "There is a dragon in that cave. We didn't know it at the time, we just didn't think. Why else would a cave up there be so warm!" He stopped again before continuing with a stutter, "We... we lost Alvasia... She was a good friend. We didn't have time... we couldn't go back to get her body and bury her properly. Who knows, the beast might have eaten her by now?" He searched for reassurance in my empathic eyes. "You're a large enough group and I think you're alright. I think you can get in there and retrieve her body without waking the dragon... Give her a proper burial for us, will you, free her soul."
