I've got an even better idea...
[sblock=Hook]Damen sets sail back toward Daunton. Stopping at an island to take on supplies, the ship takes on a gangly human who cannot stop looking nervously over his shoulder.
This suspicious behavior catches the attention of Damen, who approaches the young gentleman and strikes up a conversation.
Through careful, and painstakingly cautious discussion, Damen learns why the yougn man is so nervous,
"I was a manservant," the youth explains,
"to a man named Vythdar Astryx." he looks surprised that Damen doesn't recognize the name,
"He's a big name in the city of Rioc Alair, but he's kind of a bully." he explains further,
"Anyway, I was cleaning a desk, and I stumbled across this," the young man holds out a piece of rag paper with what appears to be a letter on it, [sblock=Letter]
[/sblock]
"I knew that if Master Astrix found out I had seen this, he would not let me live."
Damen examines the letter, and realizes that it, indeed is indicative of a nefarious operatoin, the development of an arcane weapon capable of channeling the power of storms. This, however, is not what captures the majority of his attention, for the prime mover of the device is an extremely large sapphire-like gem. A precious stone like that would be priceless.
Damen continues to sympathize with the boy, and manages to convince him to continue to Daunton where he will surely find anonymity. The youth is so overcome with relief that he doesn't even notice Damens hand as it slips into the boy's pack and withdraws the letter.
Walking back to his hammock on the ship, he pulls from his vest the letter the boy had shown him and smiles. Perhaps the service industry is lucrative after all.
At the next port, Damen disembarks searching for a ship that can find the city of Rioc Alair. He soon finds what he is looking for and arrives in the city to find that the man Vythdar Astrix is, in fact, looking to hire a manservant.
Through suave diplomacy, Damen lands the job and spends the first several days, gaining the trust of his new employer. Eventually the time is right to begin searching, but to his dismay, he cannot find the gem, nor surruptitiously coax its location from Vythdar. Convinced that the gem is close at hand, Damen stays on at his post, looking for clues to surface. He reminds himself that even if it takes a year to find the gem, the payoff would be worth it.[/sblock] With this background, believe it or not, I'll tie you in to what's going on in The Missing Professor, but I have to wait until the current combat sequence is over.