** Part I: Fire and Ash **

[SARRMATT]

Whisper makes his way across the hamlet of Longhallow to the area where the ambush had occurred. Seeing that there were several new faces that the group was conversing with the mage waited to inform them of the locations of Stalker and his right hand man Osgilias. He did however make himself visible and noticed by the group so that they did not worry themselves overly at his disappearance.

[spike]

By the time Whisper returned, he found Azonia and Valtor outside of a hut talking between themselves, and they greet him then resume their conversation, why Nym was having his weapons tended to by a nearby smith. Nym looked at you and said 'where were you? Did not see you during all the action'

Garosh, Karlene and the white bearded man entered the hut. Garosh 'Karlene, this is Barg Wilts, he was my former commander at Stormwatch before the duke enlisted me'

Barg: 'Priestess, welcome to Longhallow. Sorry that these green recruits attacked you, I would have stood them down but I was poisoned with this dart' he displays a barbed dart' he then continued 'I overheard your conversation with that 'thing' regarding an amulet, I know where one lies but it is a secret I do not bequeath so easily. I must charge you a favor for a favor, I fear yet the favor I request could rightly benefit your party. Garosh would you be interested in some new work?"

[Chris1234]

"Well met, Commander Wilts!" greets Karlane and drops into a courtly curtsy. "Please call me 'Karlane'." With a flick of her hand she dismisses any bad feeling about being attacked, "I'm just sorry for those of your recruits that suffered injury or worse. Are you now recovered from the poison? And from whence came the dart?"
After hearing any reply from Barg she straightens herself, pushing back her shoulders. "Garosh's abilities are remarkable. And he's right, we have had a busy couple of days and still much more to do today."
Karlane pauses, "For the other being, that mentioned an amulet, I would ask for a degree of tolerance, please, as he potentially may tell me more things of my other enemies that I need to know and would not otherwise be able to glean. I am aware of the risk I entail, but my enemies' enemy and so forth. Well, please forgive my haste here, but tasks, all important, are stacking up faster than I can discharge them, even with such help." She flicks an indicative nod towards Garosh. "So, can you enlighten me on some things: who and where are the ranger, and the same for his assistant that was being impersonated by the changeling? And tell me something, please, of the mine referred to. On the favour for favour, I would undertake it, if you would tell me of it, but it may have to keep for another day. And I do mean day, or days, not some day in the random future."

[spike]

Barg said 'If I'd known who darted me, I'd have their sorry hides rotting in the jailhouse, priestess. Well, good to see you're keeping up your reputation, Garosh me lad. You were the most annoying of pupils, but him and that other bothersome rogue Orath cause as much good as they do harm, both to friend and foe alike' he rolled his eyes then laughed, having a bit of beer 'I can't say I've ever had two subordinates burn down a stable and sell the horses in exchange for better ones, at a fraction of the cost!' he chuckled, then returned to business 'The changeling had Stalker and Osgilias taken to the mines, when I discovered that bit I was rendered poisoned, I believe by a Dwarf and Elf who came into town. They were a suspicious pair, the elf laughing like a madman, and the dour stoic dwarf an irritable one, killed two of my best men like they were amateurs. The silver mine lies at Arkune mines, east of hereabout an hour worth of hiking. Don't worry your pretty little head over some recruits, most o' them were ex brigands, they died good deaths for what its worth'

Azonia says to Whisper 'you'd better go find some rest, we're moving out soon'

[Chris1234]

"So what is it that you want doing, Commander? And when must it be done?" replies Karlane. "There is an appointment later today that I may not miss."

======
@Spike - thinking of Lor's instruction to meet the blind seer later today. Anyway, when time is it?

[spike]

Barg: 'you're straight to the point, for a cleric of Lor' he said, then pours you a goblet of water, 'there's a dungeon that lies beneath some nearby ruins, it was built by the then King Ramos the priest-king. Before your time, heck I was a young cadet back then. Long story short, the king's royal magic-user went mad, nobody knows why. The king had him locked away in the prison. Some suspect the queen had a hand to play in the wizard's loss of his wits. He was a friend of mine, a former adventuring companion. As mercy the king had Deimos drink a potion of longevity in hopes of one day his mind would be healed.

Aside from the fact that I owe that mage my life, he has incredible knowledge of the olden times, all things that have passed and faded. It's entirely up to you, but I'd consider it a worthy undertaking'

[Chris1234]

"So you want him rescued, correct? Just that? Or is there more?" continues Karlane. "Do you know anything else about the dungeon? It's size? Defenses? Inhabitants? And where's the entrance? And when does this need to be done?"

======
@Spike -What time is it?

[spike]

Barg: 'Find him and rescue him, but restoring his sanity would be an equally important goal' he nodded affirmatively, saying 'Aye, the first level of the place was actually designed by Deimos himself, it is full of tricks and peculiar designs, things like mirrored halls and sliding doorways, illusions, and misleading traps. The level below is his lair, underground gardens and a bit of a maze. Also, the whole of this level is full of an anti-gravity spell that makes you float up into the air. I tried to procure a map from your order, but the cartographer cleric denied my request. A royal seal placed on the map'

[SARRMATT]

Whisper paused at being asked where he had been during the fight and scratched the side of his cheek unsure of how to answer the question. "I aided our side in the ambush as best I could with my limited abilities rest assured Nym. Since that wrapped up I've learned that Stalker's being held at a mine, Osgilliath his right hand is being held by a patrol sized unit of likely drow under illusory magics at the Heart's Ruin, and finally there's a premium piece of ass marrying a foppish dandy in Maiden Rock. You know you are in a small town when that last one is what everyone is talking about. No offense meant, Mr. Blacksmith. Anyways, all of these locations can be gotten to fairly safely by following elvish road and path markings, though there are drow ambushers about. What's been happening here on the busy side of town?" Whisper kind of wanted or needed a drink after dealing with Giltan but didn't want to chance running into the needy man. The wizard looked about to see if this was in fact the busy side of town while waiting for Nym or the other two to fill him in on what had transpired.

[Chris1234]

"Welcome back and thanks, Whisper. Glad you're ok," the priestess acknowledges.
Turning back to Barg, "I've got three hours and then I must away," announces Karlane. "We should try to get Stalker away from the mine. Are Osgilliath and the drow also at the mine? And are King Ramos's ruins in a different location to the mine? And would you have any horse to spare to get us closer to the mine? Even if they then halve to return. Taking half an hour out of the journey would be a help. Oh and we've got a load of weapons, some really hefty, for you. It's why we came here in the first place."

[spike]

Barg: 'The mines are accessible by the heart ruins, though the quickest route is through the Azgoth falls, behind the falls you'll find a cave entrance and there, a lift that descends into the mines below. There's only one dark elf there, a feared mage named Dusk who has two female fighter bodyguards. He keeps a squad of ogres to keep the slaves in check. Priestess I have some feeling that Dusk conceals a greater secret to his purpose, other than mining ore and silver. It is a cover for some other hidden purpose therein, though what I could only conjecture. Stalker sought to figure it out, and the drow went out of their way to abduct him as a deterrent for others who would also be as curious as the ranger'

He makes a gesture and one of his subordinates fetches four pack horses, 'not the fastest or the best steeds I've had, but you'll have to make due. Wolves nearby have a bad habit of attacking horses in these parts. I believe something orchestrates their efforts, a presence deep within the dark elf lands, so guard these ones closely'

Garosh: 'none of this adds up, how in the hell did Stalker wind up captured by some low ranking drow magic-user? That ranger can lay waste to a army of trolls yet was duped and captured by these insignificant black elves, that's a bit off. Osgiliath himself could have wiped them out singlehandedly, without any aid. With his men by his side, it would have been a slaughter. We're going to need every man you can spare, and hit them hard this time so they can't recover or escape. Give me your sharpest eyed archers and crossbowmen, Barg.'

Barg: 'Done, Giltan and his unit the 13th will be your escorts, try not to get any of them killed'

[SARRMATT]

[OoC] The picture in my mind has the "A" team(almost the entire group) in the building with Barg. The "B" team of Whisper, Valtor, Azonia, and someone/thing called Nym somewhere in Longhallow near that building but at a black smith's shop. If that's the case with nothing left to report or if a blacksmith wouldn't have any spell components of interest for a mage(metal filings maybe?) Whisper will seek out a place to retire to and regain spells. If that is not the case and Whisper and the "B" team are with the "A" team then Whisper will hint that Giltan is likely to be heavily inebriated at that moment and suggest that the sharp eyed and eared man be left behind.

[spike]

Whisper and the others are congregated outside of Barg Wilt's hut presently, while Karlene is inside of the hut.

Whisper gains some iron shavings from the blacksmith, who appears to have a hideous face only his mother could love, as if said face was purposely marred by way of torture or evil magic. As he's hammering he smirked at Whisper 'yea I know I'm hard to look at' he said, snickering, 'tell ya a little story while yer waiting for these shavings your ilk always scraping from the base o' me anvil, young mage. The son of the local lord in yonder Graymere has no arms, his fathers enemies cut them off when he was a young pup. I had them replaced at request of Lord Talron, and the fingers can shoot out darts as well. They did this to my face after having made and delivered the prosthetic arms. If you ever feel the urge to make a bit o' coin, you can earn much if you need it if you kill that little brat for me, and his evil father too!' he spat.

FYI Nym is a drow elf.

[SARRMATT]

Whisper waited patiently to fill a small leather purse with filings, making small talk with the smith. "Elemental magics occasionally call for metallic spell components. Perhaps one of your apprentices could fill a few small purses like this one with your spoilings and you could turn a bit of coin off of us spell throwers." With that said Whisper offers a gold piece in exchange for the shavings he was taking. "The coin does not interest me, favor and strong alliances for my family however do. Removal of this obviously hated family and replacing them with someone better suited to justly lead would suit that purpose should I cross their path. Say, the new arms for the boy. Were they purely mechanical or did you have to do a bit of arcane smithing as well to create them?" Since Whisper would eventually be in the market for the services of an arcane smith he figured it didn't hurt to inquire with someone in the trade about the location of such a resource.

[OoC] Would that be a CHA skill check or something to see if the PC can sweet talk the smith into maybe finding out if he knows of an arcane smith? If Nym is the drow then who or what is Zym or was that just a typo?

[spike]

The smith declined the gold coin, 'no need for payment for some scraps' he said, then 'aye, I see the wisdom of the words, but your house has more friends and allies than you reckon. You're in error, they aint injust, if anything they are the only ones who are powerful and brave nuff to fight for the common man' he hammered a few more strikes then said 'I isn't an arcane smith, there aint many around in the Inner Kingdoms, you can find one or two in Azgarn but not hereabouts. Those limbs do have magicks though, to give them the semblance of aliveness' he then whispers in your ear 'there's an Altradeaus assassin in Graysmere who goes by the name Snake. He won't reveal himself to you less you leave this for him' he hands you a silver coin with a snake engraved on it.