~How did I ever talk myself into thinking that this was a good idea?~ Ordred thought, His father, his uncle, his older brother, and his cousin were all dead, betrayed at the hands of deceivers, agents of the Slave Lords, pretending to be new clientele for the family business. They had found out too late, and they had all been captured, and Ordred had been the sole survivor of the slavers' captivity. His other kinsmen were not as sturdy as he, and the cruel punishments inflicted upon them eventually took their lives. Remembering how he himself had often wished for death while suffering these tortures, he mused inwardly, ~Well, I am glad that they no longer suffer. There's a small amount of solace in that knowledge.~
Ordred had returned home to a cold reception; his captivity had changed him, and people could tell. His sullen demeanor drove many people away from him, save for his remaining family members; his sudden reappearance was also decidedly inconvenient for some of his father's business partners, whom had been hoping to buy the family business from his mother. It was a combination of these factors that had caused him to leave the Principality of Ulek, traveling halfway around the world to the Empire of Erypt. He told his mother that a sabbatical sea cruise might do him some good, and instructed her to recruit Fergus Ironbeard to help her run the business during his absence.
Fergus was an old family friend, and had grown up with Ordred's father, and it was Fergus' father who had taught both Ordred's father and Fergus the trade of locksmithing. Fergus specialized in tiny locks, with delicate, minute mechanisms, while Ordred's father had developed an interest in large gates with elaborate opening and closing systems, and multi-person keyed locks which required simultaneous turning of the keys. The two were friendly rivals in private, but they were never direct competitors; Fergus lived some 4 days' ride to the northwest, at the base of the Lortmil Mountains. Ordred knew that Fergus could be trusted to run the family business in his absence, which would give him some time to sort things out.
Thus, he had left that world behind, coming to Erypt in search of a rare metal, known as Rose Gold Iron Ore. His father had often talked about it. It was always one of those secondary kiln ideas, something that "he meant to get around to," but of course, never did. Ordred felt that his ordeal called for something drastic, therefore, he decided that now was the time to see this special ore for himself, and to test whether or not it would be suitable for use in his family's trade.
The sea voyage had been a matter of three and a half months, and he had taken almost another four, wandering around Erypt, trying to find good places to look for the ore. At last, he had come to the conclusion that the easiest source of the ore was also the most dangerous: taking it from the Dragonspine Kobolds. But by then, there was no turning back. Besides, Ordred was sure that if the Kobolds used the ore for all their tools and weaponry, then there had to be a storage place for all the extras. He had never intended to fight the Kobolds directly; no, Ordred was here to rob the little bastards blind.
So here he was, deep in the lair of a random tribe of Kobolds, having gotten this far by using a Potion of Invisibility that his mother had brewed for him; it had allowed him to bypass the guards near the mouth of the cave, and to follow the Kobold chef into the food pantry, where he had overpowered him and killed him. This act had spoiled the invisibility effect, and he didn't have another potion. However, Ordred was confident in his stealth abilities, and he had now gotten past their main contingent (or so he figured) of guards; from here, it should be a simple matter to locate the tools and weapons, and make off with them. Having accomplished that, he was relatively positive that there had to be another way out of the cave, other than going back out the front entrance. No one would back themselves into a corner on purpose.
Ordred had followed the chef (he suspected this, because the Kobold wore an apron, and carried a butcher knife) into the locked food pantry, and had surprised him, backstabbing him without making a sound. Ordred smiled as he realized that the butcher knife was made of Rose. He picked it up and placed it in one of several sacks he brought along to collect the ore.
In the pantry, there were all sorts of foodstuffs, none of which looked palatable by Dwarven standards, but to his delight, there was an array of knives, utensils, pots, and pans, all made of Rose. Ordred just finished filling one of his sacks when he saw it. A dim light suddenly began to emanate from the outside hallway, seeping into the pantry enough to outline the pantry door in a dim light. Ordred slowly cracked the door open, just a little, and could now see that the light came from the hallway to his right, the one that led back to the front entrance.
Kobolds relied on Darkvision to see, and never used torches or other light sources. Ordred, being a Dwarf, had also been relying on Darkvision to move about, for the purposes of not tipping his hand. But now, that was for naught; someone was here, someone who couldn't see in the dark, and that someone was probably here for the same reason he was: to take the Rose from these Kobolds by force. Ordred wondered how many there were, and how well-armed; he wondered if they would see him as a threat or welcome him as an ally. He had no way of knowing.
He also knew that at the opposite end of this hallway, there were obviously hungry Kobolds, who were awaiting the return of their chef. He couldn't see to the end of the hallway, which meant that they couldn't see down this far, either. But he was pretty sure that they noticed the dim glow of the light source. And he wondered how soon it would be before they came to investigate.
Just as these thoughts were rumbling through Ordred's mind, he sees something that he did NOT expect to see! A small, pale face peeks around the corner, at a height that suggests that the person is on his hands and knees. From the pointed ears, Ordred surmises that this must be an Elf. Knowing what he did about them, he also surmised that the Elf had noticed that the door was cracked open; Elves didn't miss much. Ordred began to creep backward, to hide behind a stack of barrels. Until he knew if the Elf was friend or foe, he needed to be prepared for all contingencies.
Ordred stuffed the sack of Rose Gold into his Bag of Holding where it would remain hidden and less of a burden before quickly re equipping himself with shield and morningstar.
