And Now a Brief Intermission

NOTE: THIS STORY IS BASED OFF OF THE PATHFINDER RPG. SOME COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN USED UNDER THE OPEN GAMING LICENSE RULES.
Storyline by Justin Groby
Compiled by Amber Manuel 

 When her companions began to stir, Filayne put the Drow’s journal away and feigned sleep. As they began to get up she did as well, stretching as if she had just woken and going about the morning’s chores quietly.

Most of the journal could be dismissed since it contained plans which would never come to fruition. But the last couple entries pertained to meeting with a man in a town on the edge of the desert. This was the man who had requested the Drow follow her party. This was the man who had written the note and who was powerful enough to cause the downfall of Yenmass. But who was he? The Drow never specifically said.

And there was an odd word in his journal when he described the contract. His end of the deal was to make certain that “szarkai” went smoothly. Filayne wasn’t entirely certain what “szarkai” meant. She knew it was something that was important in past times to the elves, and that it had to do with the nobility somehow. Other than that, she couldn’t be certain.

She was left with more questions than answers. How did szarkai pertain to her party? Did this nameless man have to meet up with the Drow in that city, of all places?

She wondered briefly if he was still there.

Her thoughts kept her preoccupied through the morning’s trip to the trade post. Once there, she dismounted to give her mare a chance to rest and something to drink. She noted that Osamu appeared to be selling the rest of the snake steaks, showing them to a merchant from the back of the wagon. That was fine by her. She didn’t mind steak, but they were going to get tired of eating it after a while.

She sought out Vahn, the dwarf she had helped previously, and noted his new tent as he greeted her enthusiastically.

“I overheard the Saranrae priestess that you’re traveling with talking about bringing people back from Yenmass to the mountain,” he said when the pleasantries were over. “I could get any materials that you need when you ferry them through.”

Filayne shrugged. “Yeah, you’ll want to talk to the boss. Boss!” She waved Gerard over and introduced him to Vahn, introducing Lilianna as well when the cleric came as well.

“I could get all the supplies you need to get the mine started,” Vahn offered. “Food for workers—”

“Isn’t Khar supposed to be doing that?” Filayne asked.

“No, he’s getting the buyers and the workers together,” Lilianna replied. “Perhaps we should take a moment to discuss this—”

“Oh, are you all part owners of the mine?” Vahn quickly asked.

The group exchanged a quick glance. “Gerard’s the one who put this venture together…” Filayne shrugged. She didn’t mind letting other people make the decisions when it came to the mine’s activities. She knew next to nothing about them.

“Yes,” Lilianna answered. “We are. That is what we previously discussed, after all.”

“Okay,” Vahn said, taking it in stride. “Well, I could get you anything you needed. Tents to house the workers, picks, hammers, fresh food and water… You name it, I can get it!”

“Lodgings would be appropriate closer to the mine,” Filayne suggested. “It wouldn’t be very efficient if one set of workers had to travel half a day just to get to the mine.”

“Then we’d have a couple sets,” Lilianna said. “That way we could keep it running all day and all night. It’ll take about…one hundred fifty to two hundred workers to keep the mine producing, I should think.”

And that kind of business thinking was exactly why she didn’t mind the others making the decisions. “How much is it going to cost to get all this together?” Filayne wondered.

“I’ll give you guys a few minutes to discuss,” Vahn said, apparently taking cue. He walked back into his tent, maybe fifteen feet away from where they stood.

“He’s eavesdropping,” Filayne said with a grin.

Osamu joined them. “The snake steak provided thirty-six gold coins,” he said softly, tying a new coin purse to his belt.

“Not bad. Hey, we could sell the clay golem tome to help us get started,” Gerard said. “It should fetch a good price in Yenmass.”

“It would fetch an even better one in a bigger city,” Filayne said, her mind speeding ahead. “Say, in Mahito? It’s only a two or three day journey outside of Yenmass.” 

 “It’ll take us some time to get things together, to get all the people,” Gerard said. “Vahn could surely get all we need together during that time.”

“How long are we talking? Two tendays?” Filayne asked.

“Or three,” Lilianna replied. “There’s a lot of preparations to be made.”

“I think Vahn could be a very useful resource,” said Osamu.

“Let’s see how much he’s thinking of charging us first,” Lilianna said, and called for the dwarf.

He appeared immediately and listened politely as she posed her question despite that he had obviously overheard their words. He hemmed and hawed for a moment, but finally settled on a price of fifteen percent off normal selling price of the goods. “And my brother could make an outpost outside the mine’s entrance to house the workers.”

“That would be favorable,” Lilianna intoned.

“I’ll just write him a quick note. Don’t go anywhere.” He turned and walked back into his tent. Filayne looked over and could clearly see that he was writing to someone named Zahn, who he named his brother. The contents of the letter pertained only to the business they had just discussed. She looked away as he signed and sealed it.

“My brother’s shop is on this side of Yenmass, on the outskirts,” Vahn said as he came back out. “Can’t miss it. Give this to him and he’ll take care of what you need.”

Lilianna took the scroll and offered him Saranrae’s blessing. “We should go now. There’s no sand storm on the horizon and it would be foolish to waste the rest of the day.”

As they mounted up, Lilianna took a deep breath. “I hope my companions are in Yenmass when we arrive.”

“You’re expecting to meet someone?” Filayne inquired as she settled her shaded goggles more firmly over her eyes. The glaring sun was giving her a headache.

“I left them in the last town taking care of some business,” she said from atop her horse. “One of them is very talented with the lute. I’m sure she’d make a wonderful accompaniment to your dancing.”

“Oh, you have a bard accompanying you?”

“One of the best!”

“I’d be honored,” Filayne replied as they started into the dunes.

Aside from some strange creatures making whooping noises during one evening, the rest of the party’s trip was uneventful. They finally saw Yenmass in the distance at the end of the third day. Night was falling, and they wearily passed the shops on the outskirts to head straight to the Elephant’s Tusk. Inside, Khar pounced on Gerard.

“Itsgreattoseeyouhowsthemine?” he said quickly.

“In a decent state,” Gerard began after a moment of inner translation.

Filayne left them to their discussion, securing for herself a room and paying to have someone bring her chest up. Back at the table where her companions had gathered, she tuned back into the discussion.

“I can get the workers for you as well as the buyers,” Khar was saying. “How many workers do you need? It’s going to take at least two to three weeks to gather the workers.”

“We spoke to Vahn out at the trade post,” Lilianna said, earning a frown from the gnome. “He’s for supplies and his brother is to help keep the workers in shelter.”

“But not the buyers. I want a monopoly on providing the buyers,” he said.

“Agreed,” Gerard said.

“Good. I’ll have some paperwork drawn up. Do you have any samples of the ore by any chance?”

“I think Filayne is carrying those,” Lilianna said.

Filayne dug in a pouch on her belt and pulled out the samples – garnet, gold and silver – to hand them over. Khar looked over them for a moment before waving his hand. A moment later a man brought over a masterfully crafted chest lined, she saw when it was set on the table and opened, with satin pillows inside. Khar put the stones inside. “I’ll keep those to show potential buyers. That is okay, correct?”

The weary party didn’t dissent.

The man took the chest and retreated at a wave of Khar’s hand. “Is there anyone who would be able to meet me tomorrow to discuss additional matters?” he asked.  

“What time?” Filayne asked, wondering if the bards would show up that evening. If they were playing, she would dance, and if she danced most of the night she would more than likely sleep through early morning.

“Would a lunchtime meeting would be acceptable?”

“I can be here if you need someone,” Lilianna offered.

He nodded. “Until tomorrow, then!” He climbed down off the chair, pushed it in and waved as he turned away.

Filayne watched as he walked out of the tavern. As he exited, a pair of females walked in, a gnome and a human who were bickering like an old married couple.

“She said she’d be here so she’ll be here,” the taller one said.

“Over there!” the gnome practically shouted. They started straight for the party’s table.

“Ah, Alondra and Celestine!” Lilianna said, getting up to greet the two. “I’m glad you’re here. Let me introduce you to my partners.”

Alondra was of average height for her race with black hair. She was also extremely pretty. Prettier than she should have been, it almost seemed. Celestine was a gnome, as short as Khar but with green hair and a short attention span. 

“I’ve heard about you,” Filayne said when the gnome was introduced.

“Oh, she’s been talking about me?” she said with a laugh.

“Indeed.” She eyed the instrument that hung on the gnome’s back. “She said you can play the lute.”

“Oh, that.”

“Go play something!” Lilianna instructed.

With a nod, the gnome moved towards the center of the tavern to the area cleared out for bards. She pulled her lute around and began to play an upbeat tune that made Filayne want to tap her foot. The music was some of the best that she had ever heard.

“I think I’ll go change when I’m done eating and dance some,” Filayne said as Lilianna ordered. “She’s really good.”

The cleric grinned. “She is, isn’t she?”  

When Filayne came back down from changing, she saw two of the bards from before heading towards Celestine. She walked over to them with a smile and as they began to play, made certain they were all in agreement and began to dance. As she danced by her partners’ table, she overheard a snippet of conversation.

“Hey, Gerard,” Lilianna said. “Would you bring this note that Vahn wrote to his brother tomorrow? I need to check on a few things with the orphanage and at the Temple of Saranrae and I’m not sure how long it’ll take.”

“Sure, I’ll take care of it.”

Another bard that Filayne recognized came in. She waved to him and he beckoned to her. She danced over to him and kept dancing as he talked.

“That bard you asked me about?” he said, and she nodded. “He’s still in Mahito.”

She stopped dancing abruptly, searching his expression for any sign of deceit. “You spoke to him yourself?”

“Yeah. I gave him your message and he said something about making a trip out here.”

She eyed him critically, but all she got was that he was comfortably relaying information that he thought she could use. “He’s coming here?” she said dumbly.

“Yeah.”

Stunned, she stammered, “Th-thank you. I-I really appreciate it.” He moved off to play and slowly she began to dance again.

“A room for three,” Lilianna was saying to a serving wench as Filayne danced past. “And bring up a bath!”

At the end of the night she collected her earnings and went up to her room, setting up a noise-making booby trap that would go off if someone so much as rattled the door knob. Or jiggled the window, for that matter. She stared at the ceiling for a while before she got back up, dressed with a couple daggers hidden about her person, and went back downstairs. Maybe a drink would help her sleep.

At the bar sat a familiar blond. Talia. Filayne felt a twinge of guilt. The woman had been so quiet that she had completely forgotten about her.

“How’re you doing?” she asked, taking the seat beside the new oracle.

She barely spared Filayne a glance. “Okay.”

When that was all, Filayne tried another tactic. “Aren’t you tired?”

“I haven’t secured a room yet,” Talia said, her words coming out with less than her normal poise.

“You can stay in mine if you want,” she offered. “We can get a cot, can’t we?” she added to the barkeep.

Talia glanced over. “Thanks. That would be good.” She turned around and stared out over the nearly deserted tavern. “I’m sorry,” she told Filayne. “I’m just—I’m not used to all…this.” She swept her hand over the room and stood, swaying slightly. “The fighting, the…stuff with the…other stuff.” She stumbled and caught herself on the railing beside the stairs.

Filayne hovered behind the sorcerer, ready to catch her should she begin to fall as they ascended the stairs.

“I’m going to go to the Temple of Saranrae tomorrow,” Talia said when they were inside the room and the cot was delivered. “I think they may be able to answer some of my questions.”

“I’ll go with you if you would like,” the elf offered. Now that she was thinking about it, she noted that Talia hadn’t spoken much at all over the past several days.

Talia nodded and curled up on the cot. “That would be agreeable.”

“I’m trapping the door and window so we’ll be warned if anyone tries to come in,” she said as she fixed the trap on the door. “If you need to leave before I’m up, let me know.”

The woman nodded as her breathing became deep and even. Filayne walked over to the window and stared out into the night, wondering when Kyaer would be in Yenmass.

Filayne waited for Talia to wake before she went down the next morning. They met Lilianna downstairs, and she agreed to go with them to the temple when she learned of Talia’s intention. The woman herself was quiet through breakfast, and quiet as they walked through the streets. Only when they were inside the walls of the Temple of Saranrae did she seem to relax some.

The clerics readily agreed to have her stay with them. There were details to be worked out as she wouldn’t simply be a tenant, but by choice Filayne wasn’t privy to the information. She stood in the shade of the temple’s doorway, watching people go by while the cleric and the oracle worked things out with the priests.

“I’ll be back this afternoon,” Lilianna said as she and Talia walked back toward the exit. Filayne hadn’t felt comfortable to go too far inside since Saranrae wasn’t her goddess.

She turned to Talia when Lilianna was gone. “So?” she prompted.

“I was just thinking of my loved ones,” Talia said quietly. Filayne noted that she was standing in the shadow of the doors, and moved closer. As she did, Talia moved deeper into the shadows.

“It’s very disconcerting to have this…connection with the temple out there,” she said softly. “I feel more connected, more attached to it than I do my own family, and we’re a very close family.”

“I understand how it feels to have your whole life turned upside-down,” Filayne said honestly.

“I think you really mean that,” Talia said after a searching moment. “I know things now that I never would have dreamed of knowing,” she added quietly. “That I never would have dreamed existed, even! Like, there’s a second part of the disc. I don’t know where, but I know it’s not complete.”

“Perhaps it’ll come to you in time,” Filayne suggested, letting her gaze roam over the crowds walking down the street outside the temple. “Sometimes it takes a while to make sense of everything after something so big affecting you as it has.”

“You’re speaking from experience.”

Filayne looked at the oracle and found that she was being studied.

After a moment, Talia smiled gently. “You should trust Lilianna,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Filayne asked with forced lightness. “I’m in business with her, aren’t I?”

Talia smiled in a way that made Filayne uncomfortable. “She is trustworthy. That’s all I’m saying.”

Filayne nodded after a moment. “Well, I have some items I need to procure,” she said. “See you at the Tusk,” she said, and waved as she walked away.

The days began to blur together. Talia was staying at the Temple, and seemed happy when Filayne and Lilianna visited her. Filayne knew that Lilianna was visiting the temple more often than she, and she had seen the cleric visit the orphanage, which seemed to be under some sort of renovations, as well.

After delivering the note, Gerard wasn’t seen during the daylight hours. He left before dawn and stayed out until after dark. Training, he said. Filayne noted he was taking on a tan from the sun.

She visited the treasury and pulled her share of the money needed up front to start the mining operation. The start-up fees were a little mind-blowing, but she knew that to make money she had to spend it. She would probably make more than her money’s worth within a couple months of the mine being fully operational.

Zahn was doing what was necessary to have the outpost just outside the mine entrance ready by the time the mine was operational. She and Osamu kept in close touch with him on that project, and things were going well.

She spent the evenings laughing with her partners – her friends – in the tavern at their normal table and dancing when the bards came in. She wanted the practice, and found that she could sometimes make a person so fascinated with her dance that they wouldn’t notice if someone picked their pocket. Not that she would allow that to happen, but it was still possible.

During the day she prowled the city, checking with the other taverns and inns to make certain Kyaer hadn’t shown up there. After two tendays with no sign and no word, she made up her mind.

“I’m going to travel some,” she told her companions on the first morning of the third tenday. “I have some business elsewhere that requires my attention.”

“Where were you planning on going?” Lilianna asked.

There was no reason to dance about the subject. “Mahito. It’s only a two or three day ride from here. I should be able to get there and get back before the mine is operational, even if I hire on with a traveling merchant.”

“Well, we never actually finished discussing whether we would sell that tome,” Gerard said.

When did he show up? “It would fetch a better price in Mahito,” Filayne mentioned again, dismissing the halfling’s sudden appearance.

“There’s some other items that we’re not exactly using that we could sell as well,” Lilianna said. “I think it’s a wise trip to make.”

When there were nods all around the table, Lilianna turned to Alondra. “Get our horses and cart ready. It’s still early; we should leave today.” She looked around the table for assent, and only found one person who wasn’t giving it.

“I’ll think I’ll stay behind,” Talia said. “I feel more comfortable staying at the Temple and feel that if I go with you, I may call unwanted attention to myself.”

“We understand your position,” Lilianna said, and motioned to a man gambling not too far away. He stood, revealing that he was clad in plate armor with the symbol of Saranrae on it. When he was just behind Lilianna’s shoulder, the cleric introduced him. “This is Gallahad. He is a Paladin of Saranrae and will keep you safe while we are gone.” She took them both to the side and began speaking with them in tones too low to hear.

Filayne scraped her chair back and walked over to the bartender, asking him to relay a message for the bards that had come by most evenings since they had gotten back. She hadn’t thought they would all go with her, and that meant a longer trip. She checked out of her room as well, stowing her gear in the back of the wagon and helping Alondra hitch the draft horses to it.

Alondra and Lilianna guided them through the desert towards Mahito. After two days of travel they came upon a wide river with a fast current that looked rather deep. There was no ferry, so the group headed up the river towards the more traveled route to find the normal crossing point.

The next day everyone was moving slower. One of the wheels on the wagon broke. Despite that Alondra mended it quickly, it still set them back some.

The weather was holding, though, and eventually they could see in the distance a walled city that was set halfway into the forest and half out. It seemed to have grooved itself into the forest while the rest sat in the desert area.

Mahito, named after the family who ran it, was a large, bustling city known for its—

“Dwarven metals,” Lilianna said. “You get the best ones here. It’s the mines that run beneath the city. They’re full of very, very good metals.” 

There were merchants traveling into and out of the city and a market set up outside the first wall. Gerard pointed out a tower that he figured was a Tower of Learning hovering in the back of the city towards the forested area. “We can probably sell the tome there,” he added.  

There was a keep behind the secondary city wall which was of a height with some of the trees. “Mahito Keep. It’s a family name,” Filayne said. The Mahito family was a good ruler, as was evidenced by the prospering city. The law was fair, despite that the sheriff could be paid off. And there no slavery, no strange laws that could land a person in the stocks for innocent remarks or the like.

The Mahito family had been trying to sink their teeth into the mining operations beneath the city, Filayne knew. The dwarves monopolized the mines, each clan controlling one shaft of the single mine. With eleven shafts producing excellent metals, no wonder the town was trying to get some profit from it.

Perhaps a dwarf approached the Drow about their mine? It would make sense if one of the shafts made a connection with the Dark Lands…

“Let’s find a place to stay,” Lilianna said, interrupting Filayne’s musings. They didn’t have far to go. The Sandy Forest was a nice inn with a large mural on the wall outside of forest and desert seemingly coexisting in harmony.

They dismounted so that the stable boy could take their tired mounts and Filayne stretched as they headed towards the door. She scanned the crowd as she walked in and did a double-take. Not twenty feet away and coming closer was the elf she was looking for, heading towards her, calling her name.

Osamu’s quarterstaff didn’t hold her back. She knocked it away and darted towards the elf, not stopping until she was in his arms.

Behind her, Gerard, Osamu, Lilianna and her two companions all exchanged glances.

“I thought her name was Filayne?” Alondra said with a confused look.

Lilianna shook her head. “Me, too.”

“Then why’d she respond to Firro?” Gerard countered.

“She seems to know him,” Celestine observed, then added, “knows him very well!”

Osamu huffed. “It would seem our friend is not exactly whom she seems to be.”

TO BE CONTINUED…