DWARINN'S DOWNTIME Dwarinn travels with his companions to Bard's Gate. While he is there, he finds his clansmen and stays with them for the early winter, training and drinking and telling tales of his recent exploits. His clansmen are impressed with his bravery and accomplishments! They throw him a feast for slaying the umbral vampire and two-headed giant. I will add +2,000 XP to your total. Subtract your gold. After conducting research at the College of Mages, you learn that there are several small colonies of dwarves and gnomes that have settled in the Stoneheart Mountains, which seems to lie due north of Fairhill and northwest of Bard's Gate. There are rumors of great mineral wealth in those mountains. The dwarves and gnomes have grown wealthy selling the rich veins of ore that they have extracted to the smithies in the Free City and beyond. In particular, the largest colony is called Rubyhole on the east side of the mountain range. It is friendly to the Free Folk. In fact, anyone trying to buy magical weapons and armor there automatically succeeds at finding such items without needing to make a Persuasion check! They are sold there like regular mundane items, without complications. (But the asking price is the same as usual depending on the item's rarity.) Continuing with your research, you discover some grave news: in the mining town of Taverlan to the north, it is reported that blood-soaked skeletons have been pillaging isolated farmsteads and camps in the hills west of that town. The local militia has seen a trail of such skeletons traveling like a caravan down the river from the northwest. They stick to the southern bank. In fact, the mayor of the mining town is offering a 500 gp reward to any mercenary who ends the threat permanently. Finally, after doing a little digging in Feriblan's library, you find an ancient tome which speaks of "crimson" or "blood-soaked" skeletons. They seem to be produced by an ancient and sinister ritual created by the priests of the demon-lord of the undead. The text continues explaining how the Orcusites of the long-ruined city of Tsar, just before the destruction of the city, would defile and desecrate the holy crypts of their own ancestors by performing a mass-sacrifice of at least six virgin girls. When they finished the ritual, they were able to create a fountain of cursed, bubbling blood, and filling it with the bones of the dead, they could create armies of these vile creatures. You also manage to successfully scribe two arcane scrolls. And finally, while spending time at the College doing your research, you meet a wizard named Tuvio . When carousing, you happen to run into Tuvio while drinking heavily at the Blazing Bones. At one point during the night, when Tuvio is extremely drunk trying to teach you how to cast a fireball spell, he nearly lights a big half-orc's pants on fire. The half-orc gets two of his buddies and they try to murder Tuvio in the alleyway outside the Blazing Bones. But because of your quick-thinking and skilled response with the hilt of your axe, the thugs get the snot beaten out of them, and you save the poor mage's life. The next morning, you receive a letter by courier from him where he states how grateful he is to your help and offers to assist you in any way that he can sometime in the future whenever you need it.
