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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4778852" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 30“I’m sorry, lass, but the stones ha’ been silent o’ late, an’ the chatter one usually hears in the tunnels been tapered off quite a bit as well.”“Nobody wants to run afoul of the Grimmerzhul, I imagine.”“Aye, damned dark bastards an’ their foul habits.  Part o’ me wishes I were back in me adventurin’ days.  Easier when you run into a problem in a dark dungeon corridor, when the biggest question be whether to use the hammer, or th’ axe.”Mara snorted.  “Sometimes the easiest solutions are best, Uthand.  Any word on your boar?”“Nae, but I thank ye for askin’.  It’s gnolls, I tell ye… I can feel the smile o’ them bastards from a league off.”“If they’re attacking the mining teams, might be the mages can do something about it.  The flow of trade affects the entire population of the Hall.”The aged dwarf pursed his lips, but Mara knew that he’d rather cut off a finger but spit on the floor of his own business.  His displeasure showed clearly, however.  “Them mages have their own agenda.  Haven’t seen much of them of late.  Somethin’s goin’ on with them, I reckon.”Mara looked up; that was potentially important news for the entire Hall, but she hadn’t overheard any talk of this at the inn.  “Oh?  You heard something?”“Just a feelin’.  Ye find any more o’ them bloodstones, bring ‘em by.  I’ll give ye a good price… ‘specially if they’re taken off the stinkin’ corpses o’ the likes o’ them Bloodreavers.”Mara managed a smile.  The gems had been her share of the loot taken from the Chamber of Eyes, and had filled her purse quite satisfactorily.  Gold tended not to go as fall in the Hall as it did in the towns on the surface, however.  “If I ‘find’ any more, you’ll be the first to know.  Thanks, Ulthand.”“Aye, lass.  I’ll tell me boys to keep their ears to the stone, an’ I’ll let ye know in a beat if we hear anythin’.”Mara nodded, and left the dwarven merchant to his trade.  Ulthand Deepgem kept well-informed about events in the Seven-Pillared Hall, and if he didn’t have any information about the operations of the Grimmerzhul, then it was unlikely that she’d hear anything from her other sources in the Hall.  The dwarf was a former adventurer and a priest of the dwarf god Moradin, and he hated the duergar with a passion.  She headed to the right around the far edge of the Hall, giving the customs station a wide berth.  Brugg would likely be on duty now, and she didn’t want to risk a confrontation, even if a Mage was there to keep order.  She’d avoiding clashing with the ogre since their return to the Hall, but knew that the big enforcer liked to keep a grudge.  She’d made it barely halfway to the nearer of the two bridges that crossed the stream bisecting the Hall before she realized she was being followed.  Mara had spent enough time in the Hall to know to trust her instincts.  She shifted her course slightly, just enough to take her past one of the large stone buildings that served as headquarters for the more significant mercantile concerns active in the Hall.  She’d never met the owner of this particular establishment, a tiefling, she thought she remembered, but she silently thanked his appreciation for decoration as she moved amongst the pillars that supported the broadly overhanging roof of the structure.  Accelerating once she was out of easy view of anyone behind her, she slipped ahead and ducked into an empty recessed doorway on the back side of the place, a service entrance or somesuch with a narrow door built of iron that looked thick enough to withstand a ram.  The weak phosphorescent lighting that illuminated the Hall barely penetrated enough here to see her hand in front of her face, but her other senses had sharpened in the eternal twilight of this place, and she settled down to wait. She didn’t need to wait long; she heard the quiet patter of footsteps just seconds after she stepped into hiding.  Drawing out her shorter sword, she waited until the pursuer was right on top of her before she sprang out of concealment, her sword coming up into a ready position. Her stalker was caught by complete surprise, and let out a panicked squeak.  He tried to run, but Mara quickly moved to block him, her sword stabbing into the wall to cut off his avenue of retreat.  “Well now, Charrak.  What’s with the sneaking around after me?”  Charrak was a kobold, a runt even by the standards of his kind, clad in rags that seemed to cling to his scant frame more out of habit than through any quality of the fabric.  His beady eyes darted back and forth, looking for a non-existent route of escape, but he mastered himself quickly, shrinking against the wall at his back to make him seem even more non-threatening.  He didn’t have any obvious weapons on him, but Mara wasn’t stupid enough to assume that meant he was unarmed. “No stabby!  Me have good knowings for you, Mara human.  Know you interest, slave trade in Hall.”Mara frowned.  Charrak was a wretch, a beggar, and a sneak, but the kobold also seemed to have an uncanny ear for the goings-on in the Hall.  But if he had heard about her interest in the Grimmerzhul, it was possible that others knew as well, and that could be dangerous.  “So what?” she asked.  “Everyone who’s smart keeps ahead of events, if they want to stay alive in the Hall.”  She wondered if he knew about the events in the Chamber of Eyes, then inwardly grimaced.  Everyone in the Hall knew by now, in all likelihood. Charrak nodded in agreement.  “Yes, yes!  But me just get special knowings, and me come to you, know good friend, many helps in past.”  He squirmed just a bit, keeping away from the razor-sharp blade that was poised inches from his scaled throat.  Mara grunted.  “I don’t have time for this.  Spill it, Charrak, and it better not be a waste of my time.”  Without shifting the blade from the wall, Mara spun it in her hand, stirring a slight breeze that she knew that the kobold would be able to feel.  “No waste!  Good knowings, best knowings!  Share free to friend!”  Mara knew that “free” wasn’t in the kobold’s generosity, but she let him finish.  “Have friend, new to Hall.  Goblin, escape prisoner from dark dwarf slavers.”“Goblins and kobolds aren’t usually boon companions,” Mara said.  “In Hall, little guy need stick together.  Friend hide, not want be slave again, ha, ha.  He leave soon, but need stake, supply for trip out to surface world.  Me say, halflings have food, good stuff for travel.  Need little gold, to buy.  Friend have nothing, but knowings, they worth too.  Maybe other friend talk to goblin, share knowings, that help.”She noticed he’d dropped the “free” part, but admitted that intelligence from someone with inside knowledge of the Grimmerzhul operation might be useful.  But she knew better than to let Charrak know that.  “I’ve got to start work in a little while, and you know that Erra doesn’t tolerate tardiness, Charrak.”“Goblin not far!  Hide in old empty place next mine.  Roof bad, so people no come.”“Wonderful,” Mara muttered.  With her luck, the place would collapse on her.  But she allowed Charrak to lead her to his lair.  The kobold resided in one of the precarious cliffside houses perched upon the edges of the Hall.  Built over centuries, some of these hideyholes were little more than crevices in the rock, while others were cavernous multilevel lairs that penetrated dozens of feet into the cliffs, complete with shuttered windows, secure doors, and wooden furnishings smuggled in from the world above.  Charrak’s place was very much one of the former.  She could detect the stink even before she reached the narrow, low doorway, covered only by a tatter of curtain. She hadn’t sheathed her sword, and reminded Charrak of it before she let him go inside.  “If you wasted my time…”“No waste!  He inside back.  No ever go out, bad idea, he very nervous.”  Still chittering, the kobold thrust the curtain aside and went inside.  “Yeah,” Mara said, ducking to follow him. She was alert, and realized almost instantly that it was a trap.  But by then, it was too late.</blockquote>

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