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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ConnorSB" data-source="post: 1262172" data-attributes="member: 14273">"Questions"If Kel were to give the vault’s interior a word, that word would be defended. They had taken the main stairway from the courtyard down. As it was the most straightforward access to the vault, it was the most heavily guarded. And after the explosion and fire upstairs, the place was milling with hired sword. Kel saw a few dwarves and gnomes, but they were mostly kobold, and all of them were decked in the black chain-and-mail of the Protectorate. Once the Protectorate was a slave army trained by the Empire, but when the Elemental Revolt came, they were quickest to switch sides, once they realized who now controlled the vast mineral wealth of Gowell and Espa, not to mention whatever treasures lay hidden in freezing wastes of Norjua. But now they were the largest mercenary organization on the continent. They asked a high price, but their customers were reimbursed with unwavering loyalty. After they had been hired, the Protectorate could not be bought.    Whether it was the ogre mage’s reputation, or the deeply serious look in his eyes, not one guard bothered him or the small reptilian trotting in the shadow of his billowing cloak.    Standing at his full height Drosonus barely squeezed beneath the nine foot high doors. The ceiling, like the doors arched at the top. As he and Kel made their way down the entrance hall, a narrow thing a hundred feet long, sloping downward, he had to walk in the exact center of the hall to avoid scraping his horns on the ceiling. The walls were lined with arrow slits and covered with runes of protection, warding, and privacy. Dronosus had full confidence in their protective nature, as he had carved most of them himself.    The corridor ended in two doors, which opened as Kel and Dronosus approached. Behind them was a small dark room, its walls metal. Kel had taken this ride before: it was a magical lift, supported by discs of floating rock beneath the floor and above the metal ceiling. They entered the room and the doors closed. Dronosus stared at the wall, his back to the kobold. Kel felt the floor drop from beneath his feet as the box plummeted down and, strangely, sideways as well. He did not remember the sideways motion, the one time Dronosus had ever taken him into the vaults. But it was a big place, and maybe this other route was a faster way to get wherever Dronosus was taking them. But it never hurt to ask.    “Why are we moving sideways as well as down?” Kel said into Dronosus’ back.    Dronosus turned and dropped his eyes to his companion. “We are going somewhere safe, for a little chat.”    “A chat about what?”    Dronosus grimaced again, the same way he had when he spoke of the desk. “Schism.”    “What?” Kel was nonplussed.    The ogre mage heaved a sigh, which was loud in the small metal box, and leaned back. He rested his massive back against the metal wall, and looked piercingly into Kel’s eyes. “You’ve placed a heavy burden on me, Kel. And despite the accidental nature of it all, it is to you and I that this burden shall fall.    The doors opened behind Kel. Light flooded the box, but his eyes adjusted after a few blinks. There was a long hall, and a table with chairs big and small. And people.    Roc, Jora, and a third, a dwarf, stopped their conversation and turned to look at the new arrival. Dronosus spoke to Kel from behind. “I’ve gathered everyone who knows, except for the furry creature you fought, who is dead.” The ogre-mage strode pat him, and Kel scurried after him. The mage took a seat at the head of the table, and Kel took the only remaining one, next to Jora and across from Roc.Dronosus reached into his sleeve and pulled the stone out. He placed it carefully onto the table in front of him and slid it into the center. “This is a marker, which,” he pulled a sheet of parchment from his sleeve, “I have translated here.” He draped the paper on top of the stone, so that all could read it.Here are the gates of the City of Fire,Which has stood undefeated since the Sun first roseAnd has weathered the beatings of timeSo that you, traveler, could marvel at the wondersOf the Kobolds, Children of Othar, Dragon-God of Fire.The three kobolds looked twice at the paper, then at Dronosus, then back to the paper. The dwarf just muttered to himself. “…children of the devil, the lot of you scalies…”Dronosus chuckled.“What’s so funny, hornface?” asked Roc. “This is heresy!”The ogre mage’s face lost all hints at mirth, becoming as rigid and hard as a stone. He pointed to the dwarf. “Its true, what Toros there said.”Kel was, as usual, confused. “How…”Dronosus leaned back in his chair. “Do any of you know how it was, before the Empire conquered our continent?”“Magic ran wild!” exclaimed Jora.Roc smiled. “The earth was unmined, the caverns a place of wonder and awe, and full of life. And they were everywhere.”“Yes,” said Dronosus. “This was all true.”Toros spoke. “And the kobolds worshiped Fire, just as the dwarves once worshiped Stone…”Dronosus finished for him. “… And the elements were in balance. The magical creatures of the world were in perfect harmony, as was all of nature, and all of magic. Until the Empire came, and everything fell under their rule.”Roc held up his hand. “Wait. Go back to the part about kobolds worshiping fire. Isn’t that what the orcs do now, them and their fire god Gruumsh? I’ve met some Gowellians, I know what they worship and its fire.”Dronosus smiled. “That is the way of it now. But before the empire, things were… different. It has to do with the nature of belief, and the nature of rebellion…”</blockquote>

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