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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4553614" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 4 - Hidden Light and Brazen Darkness (Part 1)“There’s a shrine to Torm next to the Deepgem Company,” said Rendil Halfmoon when the battered band returned to his inn in the Seven Pillared Hall. “Phaledra will surely raise the elves if you have the gold.”The six left the common room straight away and headed across the wide cavern to the western wall where the shrine was said to lie. Dulvarna saw the dwarf party first, a female with a large sword on her belt and four armed warriors, all with the grey skin of the duergar.“Duergar are here,” she said to the others. “What brings them into this place?”She lowered her end of Telkya’s litter to the ground and started towards them while Enlishia lowered the other end and unshouldered her bow. Erlmoor and Lavren put down Litiraan and started towards the duergar as well.“What brings you here, duergar?” asked Erlmoor as they reached the gray dwarves. “We have met your kind in battle recently and it did not bode well for them.”“Any battle here would end badly for you,” said the female duergar. “We are welcome here whilst you are strangers and the Mages rarely tolerate unruly behaviour.” Rendil had mentioned the mysterious Mages of Saruun as the rulers of the Hall and had intimated that they were to be feared.“My friend merely asked you a question,” said Dulvarna. “Will you answer or not?”“I have no need to explain my business to you,” answered the duergar. “Nor to I have time to stand and dally with you. If you wish to continue this conversation then seek me at the Grimmerzhul Trading Post in the east wall.”At that, the duergar moved off towards the bridge over the river that divided the cavern in two, paying the companions no further mind. Enlishia made to nock an arrow to her bow but Erlmoor held out his arm and stopped her.“Let them go,” he rumbled. “There’ll be time for them later.” They continued on to the shrine, drawing glances from others in the Hall as they went. Seemingly few risked confrontation with the duergar in this strange place. The doors to the shrine were open and within was a hall no bigger than the shop of the trading company next door. At its far end, the wall was curved and enclosed an altar stone with the gauntlet symbol of Torm carved into the wall behind it. In front of the altar, three shallow steps descended to the shrine floor and benches for perhaps two dozen people filled the nave in two blocks to the left and right of an aisle. A side aisle led in front of the benches to a door in the south wall while before the altar knelt a priestess with close-cropped blonde hair in a chain jerkin and with a morningstar strapped to her back.“Hail and well met,” said Erlmoor, setting down his end of Litiraan’s litter. “We seek the aid of Torm the True.”“Torm only helps the deserving, the loyal and the obedient,” answered the priestess without rising or turning around. “Which are you, strangers to Thunderspire?”“We are the survivors of a battle in need of aid for our fallen companions,” answered Lavren. “We bring gold to donate to Torm’s service but whether that makes us deserving, loyal or obedient, I know not.”“Well spoken,” answered the priestess rising at last and turning to reveal the lined face of a middle-aged woman and streaks of grey in the front of her short hair. “You are loyal, for you did not abandon your companions to their fate and seek aid for them now. Not all act as you do in this world.”“Will you aid us?” asked Erlmoor.“I will,” answered the priestess. “I am Phaledra and you are welcome in Torm’s house.”</blockquote>

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