“Those are fireworks, I take it,” Kayla said, casting a casual eye over the strange items. Teratha leaned heavily on the cart and gave a wry smile.
“Yeah, though I'm surprised you're knowing 'em,” the gnome said. “I know you dwarf types aren't for liking many of the things we gnomes come up with.” The cleric gave a laugh.
“Maybe others think that, but I'm not one to mind either way.”
“Well, I'm liking you already.” Teratha gave the cart a hearty slap on the side to prive its sturdiness and nodded at the group. “Anyway, that's all I've got for you. You're on your own getting them back to your city.”
“Keep 'em away from fire. Anything else we should worry about while transporting them?”
“That should be it. They won't explode if you shake 'em, so they should be good to go. Oh, but don't go getting them wet, either. They won't explode, otherwise.”
“Gotcha. No fire and no getting wet. Thank ye kindly, then.” The dwarf moved over and grabbed the handle of the small cart, volunteering to lead the contraption along. “You need us to sign anything saying that we picked it up?”
“Yeah, I'm needing one of you to sign the ledger.” The dwarf gave Elathan a sidelong look.
“Your handwriting's prettier than mine.” Elathan blinked at the cleric for a moment before giving a slight sigh and following after Teratha to sign her received goods ledger. After all was said and done, the group moved out of the shop, not bothering to inquire as to the source behind the argument that occurred between Teratha and the curt Lord Crulamin, but the incident did nag at the back of their minds.
They made their way back to the mage's transportation hall, still glancing around at the city, though it remained as unreceptive as ever.
“I can't believe he sent us after fireworks, of all things,” Kayla complained as she tugged the cart along.
“You were expecting something magical in nature?” Elathan looked down at the dwarf as they walked, noting that her expression said exactly how much of a waste of time she thought the whole errand was.
“Well, yeah,” she said, fixing him with a look as though he'd asked a completely daft question. Elathan shrugged and shook his head slightly, not knowing how to begin to placate the cleric and partially wondering if it were possible at all. As they neared the hall, though, a figure, blue cloak pulled low to hide his face, barreled straight into the group, bowling Asla over.
“Whoa, watch where ye're going!” Kayla shouted, dropping the cart's lead to look at the tangle on the ground. If the figure heard her at all, they gave no indication, as they quickly extricated themselves and continued down the street at a run. Soon after, two Marchmen appeared to run after the figure and the lot of them disappeared down one of the market alleys.
“Fine how-do-you-do,” Asla muttered as Elathan moved over and helped him to his feet. “Thanks for the helping hand.” The monk brushed himself off, glancing down the street after the disappeared group of runners. He gave a shake of his head and motioned that they should continue on, so they did.
As they arrived at the gate, a spindly-looking old wizard carrying a tome that looked as though it would break the man's arms to carry at any moment stopped them. With a waggle of his fingers, the tome began to float in front of him, opening and fluttering to a random page.
“Your pin, please,” he said in a nasally voice. The group looked to Asla who began to fish in his pouch for the item, only to turn up nothing. Even turning the thing inside out didn't produce a hint that the pin had even been there to begin with.
“If you do not have a pin, then I cannot grant you access to the hall.”
“Oh, for the love of Moradin,” Kayla said, throwing the cart's handle down to the ground and folding her arms. “We came through here not even an hour ago! Ye had to have been seeing us leave!”
“Rules are rules,” the wizard said, snapping his book closed and tucking it back under his weak-looking arm. “No pin, no access.” And with that, he turned and began to start back into the small room from which he had come, leaving the group of travelers dumbstruck and very much stranded.
*
“I doubt we'll find it, but he may have dropped it when that man crashed into him,” Elathan said as the group stood a bit away from the transport hall, their sour faces matching the overall mood of the town. “Let us go and search for it.”
“What if it was a thief,” Kayla asked, kicking idly at the dirt street.
“Then we'll check with the local law. Some of them were chasing the man. If anyone would have caught him, they will.”
The group nodded their assent and started back toward the marketplace. As the crossed the unofficial threshold into the bazaar, a pair of older gentlemen passed by, one of them moving his arms about excitedly.
“I'm telling you, there's a drow elf in this city and I just seen it! It done came into town from down by the lake!”
“Bah, you've been in the ale too early,” said his companion, brushing off his friend's claim with a wave of his hand. Kayla, who had heard the snippet of the conversation, looked to Elathan, who suddenly had a very tight expression on his face. He had obviously heard the mention of the drow, whom the surface elves had no love for. Kayla opened her mouth to question her friend, but thought the better of it and gave him a gentle prod in the side to bring him out of his thoughts.
“Come on, Elathan. The sooner we find this pin, the sooner we can get the hell out of this place.”
The group eventually came back to the site of their crash before, but even with all of them looking, their search turned up nothing. They regrouped to try and go over what may have started their string of rotten luck when a commotion welled up from one of the alleyways behind them.
“Now what,” the dwarf whined.
“Who knows,” Elathan said with a shrug. “But I think the Marchmen are in that direction, anyway, so let's go see what the trouble is.”
As they moved toward the source of the sudden shouting, they were surprised to see a familiar-looking blue cloak moving quickly to avoid being captured by a small group of Marchmen. The men seemed to have the figure well in hand and one even managed to grab the man by his cloak, but the figure turned and twisted out of his grasp with only his hood being pulled away.
How the people of the marketplace began to shout and scream when they saw the telltale white hair and ebony skin of a drow! The elf pulled his hood back up and continued his flight through the city streets as people began to scramble out of his path, fleeing and screaming for more Marchmen to come. Kayla grabbed a firm hold of Audria and placed the cart's lead in her hand, drawing her warhammer to replace it.
“Excuse me, lass,” the dwarf said, and off she went in pursuit of the drow and the Marchmen that had continued to follow the elf, with Elathan muttering a “dammit, Kayla” and chasing after.
“This dwarf will be the death of me,” he thought in the back of his mind.
The cleric and sorcerer ran hard to catch up with the pursuit, passing by the Marchmen that had run out their stamina along the way. They were still able to see the drow, though, as he dashed through the streets, turning sharply down alleys and through throughways in an effort to shake his pursuers. Elathan, concentrating hard on his movements and wording, managed to get off a spell, sending magic missiles barreling through crates and boxes toward the retreating dark elf, who was rounding a corner. He was rewarded as he rounded the same corner with the sight of the drow coming out of an awkward tumble, grabbing at his now likely deeply bruised side. Still, the drow managed to regain his footing and was soon running again, much to Elathan's chagrin.
“Damned drow,” he muttered. “Just how long do you plan to run?”
“Stop, you damn thief!” Kayla shouted, ignoring her friend's grumbling. Surely, the dwarf seemed possessed as she charged, though soon, she found herself out of breath as her stamina caught up with her and forced her to stop and catch her breath. Elathan continued on without her for a few more blocks, but soon had to stop himself. Finding himself in the middle of a city street, the sorcerer looked around for his quarry, but saw nothing, though he knew drow had not been far ahead of him. Elathan straightened as he tried to catch his breath, knowing the dark elf was still likely somewhere around, but hidden.
As he scanned the area, Kayla caught up to him and tugged on his shoulder, pointing out an alley nearby that looked far darker than it should be for the time of day. The dwarf bent down and picked up a small stone, replaced her warhammer on her back and began waggling her fingers over it. Soon, the stone shone brightly with magical light and the dwarf began to cautiously make her way to the darkened alley with Elathan not far behind. As the dwarf approached, she held the stone out toward the darkness and frowned when she saw the blackness didn't give at all in the wake of the enchanted rock. She dropped it and began waving her arms and chanting, hearing the sound of footsteps retreating down the alleyway behind. As her own spell went off, dispelling the magical darkness, she spotted the drow running down the alley and gave chase once more, drawing her warhammer as she went. Elathan gave a short huff and followed, soon outpacing the dwarf as they began winding their way through Silvershore's streets in pursuit of the dark elf.
Soon, they found themselves rounding another corner back in the marketplace where the drow suddenly shifted his path into that of an oncoming fruit cart. The pair watched as he pulled back his hood to show the driver what he was. Both man and horse, spooked by the sudden appearance of a dark elf, both tried to react to get away from the creature, but their combined efforts only made the cart tip over, sending fruit flying with a crash. Elathan and Kayla skidded to a stop, halted by the obstruction and watched as the drow nimbly hopped on a few crates, then to a tent awning, where he jumped up to grab hold of the edge of the city wall. He soon clambered over top and rolled out of sight, making Elathan's face go tight with frustration. Kayla vented her anger openly by kicking fruit out of the way and nearly attacking the cart with her hammer to try and make a way through. Elathan grabbed her arm before she had a chance to swing, though, pointing to a city gate he'd managed to spy not so far away.
“Enough, Kayla. He's getting away.” The dwarf managed to calm herself and took a look at what she was doing, lowering her hammer and having the decency to look a bit ashamed of herself. She put the hammer away and nodded to Elathan, then, with a swift apology to the cart driver, she ran off toward the city gate. The sorcerer only shook his head and chased after. The two didn't notice several witnesses pointing after them as several Marchmen, Lord Crulamin among them, started to arrive at the scene.
*
“I think this is where he landed,” Elathan said as he bent to inspect a patch of ground near the city wall. Indeed, the grasses looked recently trampled, as though someone had come crashing down on it. “I can't make out which direction he might have gone, though.”
“I'm seeing it clear enough,” Kayla said after taking a look at it and noting a trail of bending grasses leading to the lake edge. “Come on.”
The pair followed the trail for a long way outside the city gates, and as the two went into more rocky terrain that was closer to the silver mines that gave the city its name, Elathan began to wonder if it would be better to call off the search and go back. Before he had a chance to voice his opinion, though, a voice came from among the rocky outcrops.
“Why are you chasing me?” it asked. “I've done no wrong.”
The spellcasters looked at each other as they noticed the voice seemed tinged with pain. They both scanned the area for the source, but found nothing, as the echo threw off any means of specific direction.
“Didn't you knock over our companion in the city?” Elathan asked.
“You mistake me for someone else, mage,” came the reply. Kayla's look turned skeptical.
“How do we know you speak the truth?”
“Do not let my heritage fool you,” the drow said. “I have no need to speak lies. What must I do to prove myself?”
“Someone knocked over our friend in the city and stole an item of value,” Elathan said, still scanning the area and remaining alert. “We are looking to retrieve it. That is why we chased you. You wear the same cloak and were running away from the law, just like they were, if you are, indeed, two different people.”
“What drow does not need to run,” came the dark elf's wary and suddenly slightly embittered reply. “The 'goodly races' are quick to judge and even quicker to anger.” Kayla's own face took on a bitter tinge as the words hit home to her.
“All right, I'll agree with that,” she reluctantly admitted. “If I give you my word that I won't harm you, will you show yourself and allow me to cast a spell that lets me know if you speak truly?”
“How do I know you speak the truth?” Neither of the mages missed the sarcasm apparent in the drow's question.
“We only wish to recover our stolen item,” Kayla replied. “If you didn't take it, we have no quarrel with you.”
“Then cast your spell.”
Kayla nodded and put away her warhammer, starting a chant and waving her arms. Soon, she had constructed a magical area where everyone therein would only be able to tell the absolute truth. Not a moment after Kayla had finished her spell, Elathan spotted the drow elf come out from behind a rocky ledge above them to the left. He began to make his way down, though both noticed that he was favoring his right foot. Soon, the handsome, long-haired dark elf stood not so far in front of them, studying them carefully.
“Right,” Kayla said as she eyed the drow. “As I said, I only want our item. If you don't have it, we have no quarrel. If you do and you return it, I would be satisfied with that and still would not harm you.”
“I will abide by what my friend here has said and won't do anything, either.” The heated look Elathan had on his face betrayed his rational words, though, and the drow began to watch him more than he did the dwarf. Still, the drow stepped closer to the pair to enter inside the range of Kayla's spell and looked at the cleric.
“I have stolen nothing today.”
“He speaks truly,” the dwarf said with a disappointed sigh.
“Well, damn,” the surface elf cursed. “If he doesn't have our mage pin, then where could it be?”
“If you are the one that hit me with the magic spell, I say you truly have good aim,” the drow said casually as he rubbed at his side.
“I am,” Elathan replied, still eying the dark elf with mistrust. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Kayla ventured to break the silence.
“Did you stumble into our companion, though?” she asked, adding on a description of Asla. The drow shook his head.
“I did not. But I did see someone with a cloak similar to mine. He is a common cutpurse I have seen on the city streets.”
“Well, that's a start, if we're to be getting out pin back,” the cleric sighed. “If you like, I can heal up the damage we did.”
The drow looked a bit taken aback by the dwarf's sudden offer of kindness, but looked pensive as he glanced at the still-frowning Elathan. “It is clear you would rather not,” he said quietly.
“I'll do it whether you give us any more useful information or not,” Kayla said, shooting the sorcerer a look daring him to question or stop her. “It's the least we can do.” Elathan gave an unimpressed snort and looked off to the side.
“I said I would abide by her decision. You have nothing to fear from me.” The drow looked at him for another long moment.
“And I say the same to you,” he finally said. “I accept your offer.”
Kayla nodded and went to work with her healing magics. Soon, the drow found himself able to stand on his right foot with no pain at all and pressed at his leather-clad side to find that those pains, too, had vanished.
“If you can give us any information on the thief, we would appreciate it,” the cleric said. “If not, we'll be on our way and leave ye in peace.”
“The most I know is that he makes deals in the alleys with many shops around the city,” the dark elf said with a shrug. “He's likely already sold off your pin.”
“That will be enough to get us started, at least,” Kayla said with a nod. “Sorry for the trouble and thank you for the information.”
“Thank you for healing me,” the drow said with a thankful bow. Kayla nodded in response and turned to take her leave. Elathan hung back for a moment, fixing the dark elf with a last hard look, then began to follow after his companion. The drow stood and watched the two curious friends for a moment before disappearing into the outcrops once more.
*
Dusk was beginning to settle in the city by the time the pair made it back inside the city gates. They looked around for a moment before stopping and trying to come up with a plan.
“We should see if the law caught the thief,” Elathan finally suggested. “They were chasing him at the time. If we're lucky, they nabbed him.” Kayla gave a nod and soon spotted a Marchman passing nearby. She hailed the young-looking soldier and walked over when he began to come to them.
“Excuse me, good sir, could you help us?” she asked sweetly. Elathan shook his head tiredly.
“With?” came the guard's curt response.
“We were hoping that perhaps your men caught the thief we encountered.”
“Hm, so you were involved in that commotion earlier,” the man said, eyeing the dwarf with a slight suspicion. “No, we didn't catch him.”
“Well, dang,” Kayla said with a little stamp. “We really need our item to get back to Farrlmarr.”
“Luck be with you,” the guard offered and turned to be on his way. Kayla looked shocked as he walked away casually, seemingly completely unconcerned with their plight. She folded her arms and frowned after him, eventually turning back to her elven friend.
“At this rate, we're going to have to spend the night here,” the dwarf said pouting.
“Let's check around the shops first,” Elathan suggested. “Maybe they can give us a lead on the culprit.”
Kayla nodded and the two turned to head off to the many finer shops that dotted the marketplace's streets. As they visited the shops, however, each had the same response: none knew of the group's lost pin. Though dejected, the pair still continued on and eventually made their way to a jewelry shop. As they made their way inside and toward the front, both of them stopped and looked in one of the cases. They were amazed to see their pin sitting in the case on a soft satin pillow.
“Well, I'll be damned,” Elathan muttered. He waggled his fingers and opened his mind to pick up magical energies. He felt the distinct sensation of magic emanating from the pin, along with the magical items on himself, Kayla and various other items in the shop. He ended his spell and nodded to his dwarf companion. “Let's inquire about it.”
The shopkeeper, a deeply-tanned man swathed in overly-rich and brightly-colored garments soon came from the back, floating over to them with a wide smile on his face.
“Hello, hello, and welcome to my humble store,” he said in a soothing voice. “How may I help you this day?”
“Evening,” Elathan said, ignoring the merchant's attempt to start off on a friendly foot. “We'd like to ask about one of the items in your case.”
“Ah, you have an eye for quality,” the shopkeeper said nodding. “Please, ask away.”
“We'd like to know more about that pin there,” the mage continued, pointing to their former belonging.
“Aren't you going to tell him it's likely stolen?” Kayla whispered to him low enough that the merchant couldn't hear. Elathan gave her a small nudge to quiet her and continued looking straight at the man.
“Ah, yes... It is a marvelous pin, is it not?” the merchant replied. “Made from the finest gold from the dwarven mines in the Razorridge Mountains and set with a beautifully-cut blood ruby said from the vaults of Castle Heralmoor. All set in the shape of a simple star. It is beautiful indeed.”
“So how did come across it, if you don't mind my asking?” Elathan inquired innocently, not letting the merchant see that his obviously false story wasn't fooling the mage one bit.
“I acquired it from a dwarven caravan,” the man replied simply.
“So what do one of these pins go for?”
“For something of this rarity and quality,” the man trailed off for a moment, seeming to consider the matter. “Thirty-five hundred gold coins.” It took every bit of restraint for both Kayla and Elathan not to balk at the outrageous price.
“To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth that much,” Elathan said after finally recovering from his bout of sticker shock.
“Oh? And what do you think it's worth?” The elf scrambled a bit, not having haggled in the past, thinking quickly, he managed to come up with a plan.
“I think I need to confer with some friends who know more,” he said, spreading his hands. “How late will you be open?”
“If you are serious on buying it, I can hold it for you,” the merchant said, eying the mage. “But I am closing my doors soon.”
“I am serious,” Elathan replied. “And if it is no trouble, I would appreciate you holding it. If we do not make it back tonight, we shall return at first light when you open.”
“Very well,” the man said with a smile. “Your name, sir?”
“Elathan Hlarr.”
“Very well.” The merchant reached inside the case and took out the glittering pin, placing it in a second case on a high shelf, obviously a reservation holding place.
“Thank you,” Elathan said with a nod. “We will return as quickly as possible.” With that, the elf turned and left the store, the dwarf shuffling along quickly behind him. Elathan didn't know how the others would react to their current situation, but he knew it was not likely to go over well at all.
