The gnome shakes his head in agreement, figuring the words he'd just heard must be true. "My name is Brodderrick Cobbletop." The gnome says at last, a voice somewhat weak and stressed. He goes on to relay the story of how this came to happen.
Brodderrick, like most of the gnomes, fears the possibility that Rox’Vorath has children who might now be planning to take over where their father left off. The council of Elders ordered the Gnome contingent to come to Enberton and attempt to establish an alliance. The rumors of Rox’Vorath and the dragon all became too true when Tandra’var, the monk hero who helped to kill Rox’Vorath, appeared at one of the gnome burrows battered and beaten. At the time, many gnomes didn’t believe the old elf was THE Tandra’var but after the rumors spread, everything fell into place. The Elders believe an alliance is imperative. They assigned vocal supporter Captain Talmorain to be their ambassador.
Talmorain hand picked several of his crew, but others where assigned to him, much to his displeasure. Soon after leaving for Enberton, it became apparent that Talmorain had deceived the Elders and was really against a treaty. He ordered the gnomes to make no contact of any kind with any non-gnome. He claimed that he had some past dealings with the humans and halflings coming to the meeting and they were not to be trusted under any circumstances. He claimed that he would try to establish some reliable contacts for whom the Gnome contingent could work with, but until such persons were found, it was safer for the gnomes to not speak with anyone.
At first, those not picked specifically by Talmorain bought the story, though somewhat skeptically. There was something fishy but not enough to disobey orders. Upon arrival at Enberton, Talmorain met with several of the races and reported racism, threats and other negative dealings. Soon after, the dwarven ambassador was killed and suddenly everything that Talmorain had said seemed very true.
Later that night, Talmorain claimed to have found a reliable human named Dean Belhander, the king’s Vizier. Later still, the ambassador received a private letter from the Vizier. This letter entailed a possible plot that indicated Talmorain as the next target and a plea for him to leave before he too was assassinated. This enraged all of the gnomes and they quickly packed to leave.
After leaving and out of sight of the city, they were attacked. The initial attack was a Fire Ball. Brodderrick was the driver of the last cart and the explosion blew him back into the cart. He figured he was knocked out as he only remembers waking up, his limbs cold and numb and he could not move.
He heard Talmorain’s voice. "Why are you doing this?" Talmorain said. "The letter we have, the stories I have. It should be enough to change the minds of the Elders."
A dark and malice filled voice responds. "This will guarantee it." Then he heard a sickening sound, like a blade chopping into a body.
He heard Talmorain scream. "But my service…" Talmorain choked out through gurgles.
The dark voice replies. "Your death serves the Black Hand greatly." Then the voice laughs and everything goes dark for Brodderrick until he woke up only moments ago.
