Throughout
Cormyr, folk have come to learn that a number of dwarves native to dwarfholds within the western slopes of the Thunder Peaks emerged and traveled to destinations throughout the Forest Kingdom prior to winter's arrival.
Dwarves are no strangers to the Forest Kingdom, but the news that the dwarves took lodgings within the abodes of spellcasters is.
In
Suzail, morning talk within the Eel Revealed coalesced around the subject of dwarves and mages.
At a table piled high with cooked eels smothered in sardragon sauce, the aging priest of the Lord of Battles, hight Orlagar Tallowbold (“Ogre Slayer," to those who know him), relayed to his breakfast companions the story of a pair of robe-wearing stout folk whom Orlagar saw accompanying the Old Wagon Wizard, Dratha Shelduzun, two months ago in distant Thunderstone. "Hardly a beard on either dwarf. One had hair like the mane of a horse; straight like straw and of the same color, with a cherry red nose and cheeks like apples. The other dwarf's hair and beard kept curling and uncurling. I don't think that's what the dwarf intended. I did not see Dratha, but her her cats were watching the dwarves as they cast their spells. Mayhap she was in her wagon."
By way of reply, a courier seated next to Orlagar told of witnessing a beardless dwarf marshaling a handful of skeletons under the watchful eye of the necromancer Alashendal in Marsember. "That poor dwarf would set his skeletons to marching but couldn't quite keep them from falling off the island and into the water. The wizard didn't seem to care. She magicked the bones out of the water, sat them down and bade the dwarf try again. I would never do business with her if it weren't for the extra coins she pays. I'm off to Arabel today on her behalf."
Others seated at the table wondered aloud what the reason might be for stout folk to apprentice themselves to mages in
Cormyr. Likewise if, or when, one or more of the apprenticed dwarves would present themselves at the next gathering of the Council of Mages.
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