A noble's request

It's been two years since I took in Honoa, and since then she's stayed where she belongs. A hole, a dank dark hole similar to her soul. In that time, however, I began to take more jobs and occasionally travel with a few adventuring parties around Ulvenguard to show them around and what it had to offer, I even joined them on a few small quests into some old dungeons and nearly came face to face with a few dragons. I've been giving the majority of my earnings to pay off the debt of my land and my home. Not much has changed besides how much cleaner the house is, and I replaced the mattresses in the house with the ones similar to the inn in Jimena's Tragedy. I've also cleaned the place of any cobwebs and asked a few druids if they could kindly ask any remaining spiders to leave. It was strange to watch an entire plethora of spiders leave one's home, especially a few really big ones.

However, one day, I was planning to take a day off. Relax by the fire, read some books I still have, but I heard a knock at my door. I was met with a hooded figure. He had a neat goatee, the cloak he wore seemed a little too fancy, even for some nobles here from Ulvenguard. "A message for you. From a friend of Gala Diamondheart." He handed me a very fancy-looking letter, "Thanks. I guess." He bowed his head slightly, looked around him, and went on his way. I closed the door and walked back to where I was sitting, There was a wax seal on the front of it, it was a dark violet color and the design of the seal was of an otter holding a triangular shield and wearing a feathered cap. I opened the letter, it read, "Dear Shane Crowfeather, I am a noble of the empire of Vescolar. I require your service, you have been making the rounds of late in terms of your reputation. Meet me in the city of Valchester, look for the otter seal at the front of the house, I shall greet you there myself, and explain the situation further. Yours, Fren Goldsinger." I honestly couldn't believe I was going back to the empire, I began to wonder what this had to do with Gala and why. I decided to put that thought away for now and gathered a few supplies for the long journey ahead.

I spent a good few days riding towards the empire. Just yesterday I passed through the iron forest. Before I passed through the border between the Black mountain and the empire, I made camp nearby. I had a small fire going to keep me warm and slept against the horse I was riding in. However, just as I was getting comfortable I heard a familiar howl. It startled the horse so I had to calm it back down. Once again close to the Forbidden forest of red elves, I made my way over, "I know you remember me. I know that you do. I'm here on business. I have no quarrel with you. I won't bother you if you don't bother me." There was a familiar eerie silence that filled the air again. I could no longer hear the rustling of leaves, or even feel the wind that was passing by, however, I did hear footsteps. Out of the darkness were three elves, one of them was large and muscular, his armor was a combination of steel and dark green leather and cloth. He provided light from a magical orb in his hand.

The other one was female, her red dreadlocks were tied into a ponytail, she wore similar armor to the other male elf, only she had black paint, or something close to it smeared across her eyes. She carried an intricate bow that did not match any design I have seen from my occasional travels. The one in between them was an older male elf, he wore similar armor to the male and female at his side, yet it seemed more formal rather than practical. He spoke in a dialect of elvish I could not understand, the male elf translated, "I remember your face stranger, my youngest daughter nearly took your life." I turned to the female, "Is she said youngest?" addressing her, she only stared with intent before telling the elder what I said, her response was, "No. But that is not why we are here." "Then tell me." "I told you the last time you were here to leave and never return. Your kind are not welcome." "My kind? Humans?" "Humans, Other elves, dwarves, anyone not from our land." "Why?" "Because you are all the same. You have your magic, your gods, your corruption, wars, and death. You are all the same, we do not want your kind here."

"Yet you willingly kill your own kind should they go beyond your borders. How is that different from us?" "Our kind are more than willing to give their lives to keep our ways of life a secret. They take great pride in sacrificing themselves to deliver us news of what goes on beyond our land so we may prepare." "Seems noble enough. How about all those who have stepped off your lands merely by accident?" "Then they are fools. Fools that have no place among us." "Thought so. I'm going to get some sleep. You do what you want." They said nothing as they began to walk off, as they did I noticed one female still staring directly at me, she wore a mask that covered most of her face, but I could see her eyes, her hazel blue eyes, she looked at the elder, then back at me, then walked away with them.

I spent another few days riding towards my destination when I finally arrived. Unlike the capital city of the empire, many other cities and towns within vary in size. Valchester was one of those cities. It was a rather large city, this city mainly consisted of humans, elves, and half-elves, with a few stray tieflings, half-orcs, and goliaths strewn about. As I was making my way towards the more wealthy area of the city, I passed by not one, not two, not even three, but four whole red-light districts. Entire one-way streets with brothels as far as the eye can see, one of them had a large balcony on it, and there was an entire line of bored and beautiful women leaning against the railing. In order, it was a blonde elf, a violet tiefling, a dwarf woman with dark brown hair, and finally, there was a goblin woman, strangely very pretty. Most goblins are good looking but the majority are tiny little green monsters that beat you to death and steal your money. Perhaps she's a city goblin, city goblins aren't too bad to look at. However, that wasn't what I was here for.

It took a while but I finally made it to my destination. It was a rather large house, it had a very interesting facade. I walked up to the large oak doors and knocked loud enough for anyone inside to hear me. The door opened and I was met with a young man about my age, perhaps a year or so older, he had black wavy hair that reached the base of his neck. He had a very pretty feminine face. I wasn't gonna lie to myself, he was a very gorgeous man even down to the freckles across his face. "Ah, Mr.Crowfeather please, come in. Would you like some tea before we begin our conversation?" "Um, yeah, sure." "Fredrick. Fetch our guest some tea, oh, what kind would you like?" "Um, black tea. With two sugars, and heavy cream." "My my, you have quite the sweet-tooth." I sat down in a relatively comfortable chair, he sat across from me as the butler came back and served us tea. "So, let us discuss my request with you." I took a sip of my tea and nodded, wanting him to continue. "I understand that you know Gala Diamondheart well correct?" "Indeed I do, she helped me raise enough to travel back home. She risked so much for me." "I am aware. Truly she is a fine dwarven woman. Very caring, especially to children, however, she is in severe danger." "What happened to her?" "Well, for context, I should tell you the shortened version of what happened and how things came to be." He took a quick sip of his tea before telling me the story of what happened to Gala.

"I live with my father, two older brothers, and my youngest sister. My oldest brother, George, wasn't one to find love too quickly. So one day, during one of his sad travels he came to the coastal town you stayed in for some years, and there he met Gala, they fell in love and spent many nights together in secret. It was strange to see how truly happy he was with her, he risked everything to be with her and even marry her, when my father caught wind of this, he couldn't have been happier to see his son find someone he fell so deep in love with. Not like with me, but that's not important. What is important, however, was when he invited her to our home and took care to hire a small number of guards and a carriage to bring her here, one of the guards came nearly dead and told us that she had been taken captive and gave us a note." He handed me the note.

On it, it read, "To whomever, it may concern, we have taken this dwarf woman hostage if you wish to see her unharmed then you will comply and give us 100,000 platinum pieces, seven of the fastest horses, and the fastest ship you own." I nearly spat out my tea when I read the point for 100,000 platinum, but the fastest ship, and seven of the fastest horses? That was crossing the line. "Seven horses usually implies that there's just one less than the asked amount, possibly to sell it off, in case one dies, or just to have and carry whatever they have whether it'd be supplies or gold. But why hire me? Why not let your father handle it? He seems to have enough to go around." "Here's the thing, to make things less conspicuous he's gone to the capital to commandeer a ship for his son, and his future bride out of Vetria. There are hundreds of other great lands where they can be happy and in love.

Then there's the problem of the fact that we live in the empire, hardly any non-humans have a real chance to have a life here if my father revealed that he had to pay a ransom to a bunch of thugs so that his oldest son can marry a dwarf our property will get seized and we'll be on the streets, and I know it sounds petty and selfish, but think about it, would you rather have a good life with someone you love and never have to worry about when your next meal will be and help others with what you can offer? Or live in the dark and the cold, where no one will give you a second glance?" I guess in a way he was right, I mean if I was rich I'd find ways I could help people in need. "Fine then, I'll take the job, just need to work on price and supplies." "Very well, but best discuss it when the others arrive." "Others?" I asked. Before he could say anything else a loud knock could be heard at the front door, the butler opened it to reveal four other figures.