A Candlekeep Mystery (IC)

[FitzTheRuke]

Shedrick shook Hawthorne's hand happily and even laughed at the man's joke before realizing that there was some honest befuddlement involved.

"Uh, I'm afraid that they escaped." he answered Ethian, embarrassed, "Ruznami and me, we couldn't catch them. In the end we had to shoot them, dead."

He shuffled his feet as if he'd failed them before shaking it off and adding, "Ruz said it was all we could do. He's back at the manor house reading books. He cleaned out a chimney with a magic spell. I can make a stew if you like - you all must be hungry."

Now that they had left the mine, time seemed to catch up with them. They were hungry as if they had missed a full day of meals.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Ethian is saddened by Shedrick's answer, even if he didn't blame the man. H then nods and says "I can eat, and rest!"

 

[DEFCON 1]

"A stew would be lovely. Yes." Hawthorne turns to the group and nods his head in appreciation. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have done the Black Dragon Consortium proud. I will need to write up everything that has occurred here and will make special mention of everything each and every one of you did."

The young man smiles and places a hand on Shedrick's shoulder. "You will all have a place at the Consortium's table, and a friend in me. Should you ever need our assistance in any of your endeavors, I can promise you that I or members of the Black Dragons will be there. Thank you all."

 

[Leatherhead]

"Thank you, Carin." Argenti takes the symbol as the elemental fades away.
Later, outside the mines. "It was certainly an experience, Hawthorne. I think I'm going to need another visit to the baths back in Candlekeep to get the moss off!"

"Though, I must admit, I never did find a present for Aurumamma down there. You wouldn't happen to know of anything fit for Dao Matriarch would you?"

 

[FitzTheRuke]

"Members of the Board of the Consortium have stakes in lots of different mines, said Shedrick to Argenti as they made their way back down the mountain to the ruined village of Vermillion. "Perhaps you could ask for a rare gem as your reward, when we get back to Baldur's Gate!"

They found Ruznami asleep on a chair in the manor's library. The dwarf High Reader of Candlekeep had been doing what his title described - reading books - but his obsession with them also had him repairing spines, scraping mold, and pressing out water damage. He'd thrown a blanket over a musty old chair, and was now snoring next to a sputtering candle.

Shedrick set to make a fire in the manor's big kitchen fireplace and opened a package of salted meat that he'd carried up from the town of Maerin and added some tubers from his backpack. Soon there was a warm broth for their bellies. It was far from the best stew that any of them had eaten, but it was more than welcome all the same.

 

[Neurotic]

OOC: something rare in Prime Material may not be at all hard to get for earth elemental. I would suggest something like Bezoars, something she absolutely cannot get from Deep Earth Bezoars from dragons...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

They stayed the night at the manor house in Vermillion. While it was drafty and in terrible repair after many years of neglect, with the fey infestation gone, it was the most comfortable anyone had been on the entire venture, aside from one of the inns along the way.

In the morning, they made their way down the mountain to Maerin, the nearby town, where Hawthorne reported to the local Mayor that the mines would be reopened under the claim of the Consortium, and that it would be in Maerin's financial interest to respect and to enforce that claim.

OOC: Anything else that you want to do while in Maerin, or should I move along to a finale?

 

[Steve Gorak]

OOC: I say we move along!

 

[DEFCON 1]

OOC: Move along.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

They stayed in Maerin for only a single restful day, while Broun made ready the coach for a long expedition. The return journey was relatively uneventful when compared to their journey forth. Hawthorne, Shedrick, Argenti, and Kaliban left the coach at Berdusk, opting to take the far more luxurious (and somewhat quicker) trip down the Chionthar by riverboat, while Broun, Crock Jon, Ethian, and Ruznami crossed the Greenfields by the same route they'd taken on the way out.

The first group reached Baldur's Gate eighteen days after they'd left Maerin. It had been a long journey, and though things had been somewhat traumatic in the mines, their victory had caused the worst of it to fade to memory. The Consortium of the Black Dragon Gate were very pleased indeed with Hawthorne's leadership in the venture, and they rewarded him with a draft note for four thousand gold to distribute to himself and his fellow agents.

The coach arrived at Candlekeep four days later, also having made very good time crossing the fields. They returned Ruznami to the only home he had ever known. The dwarf was glad to have gone on an adventure, but he was happy to return to his books and his makeshift personal brewery, which had been much neglected. Six days after that, Broun rolled the coach into Baldur's Gate only a tenday after the others had arrived.

Their adventure was complete, but maybe some day, they would work together again to secure another mine in a faraway place and claim it for the Black Dragon Gate Consortium.