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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 9771783" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 7As the warrior finished his second bowl of soup, he settled back in his chair and let out a loud belch.“Charming,” Ravani said.“Hadn’t had a meal in a while?” Leana asked.The warrior shook his head sheepishly. “I just got in today,” he admitted. “There wasn’t… there haven’t been any inns or taverns on the road for a while.” He didn’t mention that he’d often skipped them even when they had been present, trying to preserve his dwindling stash of coins.“Yes, we definitely are out on the fringes of civilization,” Ravani said.“So what is it…” the warrior began, but he trailed off as Folgar straightened and touched the elf on the arm. “He’s here,” the dwarf said.The warrior followed his gaze to the door, where a stout figure—another dwarf—had just entered. The newcomer was dressed in a fancy coat amply decorated with gold scrollwork stitching at the cuffs and collar, topped by a slouch hat that had a decorative feather sticking out over one ear. He wore spectacles that he lifted slightly as he scanned the room. The warrior felt a slight tingle of anticipation as the dwarf's gaze lingered on their table, and he started toward them.“Who’s that?” the warrior asked.“His name’s Dwern,” Leana said. “He’s a scribe at the citadel.”“Let us handle the talking,” Ravani said quietly. “Master scribe!” he said as the dwarf reached them. “Won’t you join us?”The dwarf scanned the room. “Not here,” he said. Without a further word, he headed for the door that led to the back room of the tavern. The tavernkeeper didn’t complain, he just gave the dwarf a nod and went back to pulling drinks for the customers crowded around the bar.The back room was barely big enough for the five of them. It had a single window and a hearth, along with a small table and four chairs. The fireplace wasn’t lit, but there was a lantern hanging from the ceiling that brightened the room.The scribe went to the chair furthest from the door and sat down. The warrior hesitated for just a moment too long, and had to stand. He slid into the corner behind Leana.“I understand you have a job for us, Master Dwern,” Leana said.The dwarf nodded. He’d taken out a small folio from a satchel at his side, and laid it on the table along with a portable writing kit. “I’ve commissioned a map of the wilderness beyond the keep,” he said. “However, the map is sorely lacking in detail, and few are willing to brave the wilds to properly survey them—but you look like you’re made of sterner stuff.” At that last he glanced up at the warrior, but if he was surprised to see him in the company of this group he gave no indication of it.“If you help me finish my map by exploring the surrounding lands, I’ll compensate you fairly.”“Define, ‘fairly,’” Ravani said.The dwarf reached into a pocket of his robe and drew out a small gemstone. It was a deep purple, and the glow of the lamp flashed brightly off its facets. “Amethyst,” he said. “Lenk at the apartments by the south wall will give you one hundred gold pieces for it.”The warrior tried to keep the surprise from showing on his face, but he suspected that he'd mostly failed. Even split four ways, that would be more money than he’d ever had in his life. It was more than the merchant back in Dunwillow had offered him for the suit of chain armor, back before he’d decided on his current course. Of course, with ales at a gold each it probably wouldn’t go very far, but still…He realized that Folgar was talking, and quickly pushed those musings aside. The dwarf wizard had taken out his sketch map of the area and was consulting with Dwern. “So you just want detailed notes on three of these regions,” Folgar was saying. “That’s it, we scout them out, enough to fill in your map, and we’re good?”“That is correct,” the scribe said.The three adventurers at the table shared a look, long enough that the warrior began to feel left out. He wasn’t sure what meaning passed between them, but after a moment Leana nodded and said, “Very well. We accept.”Dwern took out a pen from his set, dipped it into the inkwell, and made a few notes in the front of the folio. The warrior couldn’t read it upside-down and on the far side of the table, but it looked like the pages inside the booklet had been divided into categories. “Is there anything more you can tell us about these regions?” the warrior asked.Dwern looked up from his writing. The warrior could see that the question had gotten his new companions’ attention. “There’s an ancient statue somewhere in the forests north of the keep,” the scribe said. “It was once the site of strange rituals. Some say it still is.”“Strange rituals,” Ravani said. “Wonderful.”“We’ll keep an eye out for it,” Leana said.Dwern nodded and finished making his notes in the book. “Here you are,” he said, sliding it across the table toward the halfling cleric. “Just bring it by the fortress when you have finished. I look forward to hearing from you.”“Yeah, assuming we don’t get killed,” Ravani said.The dwarf didn’t respond to that comment; he just packed up his kit and left. The noise from the taproom intruded as he departed, but as the door swung back it left them again in relative silence.“Seems straightforward enough,” Folgar said.“Too easy, I think,” Ravani said. “No way he’s willing to pay one hundred gold unless there is real danger out there. And I don’t think that bringing up that statue was an accident.”“He didn’t mention it until Grimdark brought it up,” Folgar said.“Well, I say we don’t go looking for trouble unless it absolutely finds us,” Ravani said. “Let’s just fill in this guy’s book and collect our reward.”“We already know that there’s bandits on the road,” Leana said. “Conflict may be inevitable.”“Well, if they find us, at least we have him,” Ravani said, nodding up at the warrior.“Bandits are unlikely to hazard a well-armed group of travelers,” Folgar said.Ravani snorted. “Famous last words,” he said.* * *It was full dark by the time that Dwern returned to the citadel on the northern edge of the keep. The guards nodded as he entered. The great hall was quiet, and deep shadows filled the interior of the fortress as the scribe ascended the stairs to the upper level. He entered a small, comfortably-furnished room with two slit windows that overlooked the wilderness to the north and east. The lamps were unlit, but with his darkvision the scribe could easily see the slender figure standing next to one of those windows, looking out into the darkness.Dwern closed the door behind him and came into the room. He didn’t speak, just waited.“Are they the ones we’ve been waiting for?” the shadowed figure finally asked.“Perhaps,” Dwern said. “I guess we’ll know, if they survive the wilderness.”</blockquote>

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