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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Express" data-source="post: 1640864" data-attributes="member: 19166">3. Enter the Dragoneye.There are a couple of things to keep in mind about Anvil. First obviously, he is a wizard. Being warforged, people have a lot preconceptions about him. People expect a fighter, a warrior, a walking sledgehammer. Anvil, he doesnt meet those preconceptions. He is big, and metal and all that, but he dresses in a purple tabard and robe, carries a staff, and wears a ridiculous hat that resembles a collapsed formless flour sack. He just looks sort of, well- funny. But Anvil is a wizard, and a good one.Second, Anvil is smart and determined. Once he sets his mind to something, its hard to get him off it. Especially about familiars.In the time Ive known Anvil, four years, he has had three familiars. All have met horrible, ignoble ends. There was the cat Lupo, that somehow got spooked and jumped-not fell- off a skybridge. There was the toad ( I forget its name), that Anvil stepped on during a fight and turned into a pudding. Then, there was his last familiar, the owl Igo. Anvil loves owls, as they are intelligent and noble creatures. Poor Igo flew off on some errand for him, only to get run over by a sky coach. Since then, Anvil had suffered silently and patiently. He wanted a new familiar-and the time was approaching when he could finally summon a new one.I mention this because Anvil's familiar "anniversary" occured as we took up sureveillance on Professor Voren's home. Voren lived close to the University. His neighborhood was full of inns and shops, and had quite a bit of pedestrian traffic late into the night, with people usually going to the taverns that dotted his neighborhood. We took rooms in  the optimistically named Majestic, a small shabby inn located across the street from Voren's home.The inn was a disgrace to the House Ghallandra I thought, but it offered the best place for observation. So we took up our station and watched. And waited. Fortunately Voren was at home and still in the city. Unfortunately, he didn't leave his home three days.So with a lull in the action, and no sign that Voren was going to do anything interesting, three of us were watching Voren's home. Anvil took to summoning on the second day, and in the backroom of our cheap rented "suite" did his thing. Now after day one I was beginning to get discouraged; I am not known for my patience. I toyed with the idea of checking on Honora, to see if she was alright, but I procrastinated and did nothing. Finally, on the night of the third day, with Anvil in full swing of his wizard activity, Voren got visitors. About two hours after nightfall with a typical spring rain coming down, two goblins knocked on Voren's door. Both the gobs had yellowish complexions and wore light leather overcoats. They each had a short sword and looked unhappy to be out in a Therendor shower. Voren came to the door. He was fat and balding, with a long wispy grey beard. He didnt exactly look like the legendary tomb raiders that Morgave is infamous for. The professor wore a garish crimson robe and spectacles, and when he saw the goblins, he was unhappy too.A few words were passed between the gobs and the professor. Voren retreated into his doorway, got a leather pouch, put on an overcoat. The three then walked down the street and into the rainy night. Following was easy, thanks to the crowds out.We left Anvil to himself (and with the portrait) and tried to be discreet as possible. Bynara led and Dorbo and I followed her. After 12 blocks Dorbo was breathing heavy, and my armor was getting wet. Our trio walked as if they hadn't a care in the world, then finally got into a covered magebred carriage that was driven by another goblin.We got a skycoach and followed, and it wasn't too hard. The carriage went across town and into Cliffside, finally stopping in a run down section of warehouses at the base of the city's towers, away from the cliff's edge that gave the neighborhood its name. Nearby, traffic moved down the several paths and roads that descended beneath ground level to the dwellings and business that were honeycombed into the cliff itself. Below us, as we descended, we could see the dark ribbon of the river and bay, outlined with the lights of the port. Ships moved up and down the river despite the weather. But as we landed,our particular part of Cliffside looked deserted.We landed a safe distance away. Through the rain we saw the Professor and his three escorts enter a battered domed shaped warehouse through a large ten foot high sliding door. The door slammed shut and two goblins took up position outside. Guards. We could see rows of small windows running all around the warehouse's length. Most of the windows were painted over or broken, and small glimmers of light leaked out into the dark street. The warehouse stood close to another equally run down building, and except for a single street lamp, the area was quite dark and gloomy.We stood a block away, peering around a corner, and tried to be brilliant despite the rain.</blockquote>

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