A/N: First story. Hope you enjoy! This is just the Prologue, Chapter One coming out fairly... soon... Regular posting schedule yet to be created. Probably every two weeks. Please review, and enjoy! Now, without further ado, I present to you...
Prologue
The dwarf inserts his key into the lock, turning it as he hears the standard click indicating an unlocked door. He opens it and steps into the slightly dark room, only illuminated by light coming from another room. As he slides off his shoes, the smells from the kitchen wash over him as he smiles to himself. Realizing the other being in his home hadn't noticed his arrival, he decided to sneak into the kitchen to surprise her. He slowly tiptoed into the kitchen, his eyes landing on the figure of his lovely wife. He walks over to where she is focusing on the task at hand, cooking a slab of meat over the fire, and places his hands on her and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. She jumps and sighs, turning around quickly.
"Dear gods, Gundren, you scared the daylight out of me!" She exclaims. "I have half a mind to smack you right where you are!" However, it is obvious this is nothing but a bluff, as she gives a slight smirk while saying this. Instead, she pulls him into a tight embrace.
"Hello, love," he speaks in a rough dwarven accent as he pulls away from their embrace. He heads over to a rough wooden desk that he made years ago when they first moved to the city of Neverwinter, away from the Rockseeker clan. It always reminds him of home, as the wood came from trees on the trail from the Firewood Forest on the Sword Coast.
"How was work today?" Mardred Rockseeker asks her husband.
"Ah, you know, the usual tough work. Annoying rich people wanting to see how much this bowl or that cup is worth. Nothing exciting today," Gundren replies, choosing to exclude the special thing he was brought today. He thought back to the encounter between him and the Elven figure who brought him the paper, the paper that could change everything.
"Hello, suh, what can I do for ya today," the rough dwarven figure asked. The question was directed at a young Elf who had just walked into the building, looking lost. To be honest, Gundren never really could tell with Elves. He looked to be around 20's but as far as he knew the Elf could be anywhere from 30 to 300.
"Ah, hello sir. I actually would like to inquire - where might I find the Inspector?" the Elf replied. He was a skinny figure with light copper skin and long white hair down to his shoulders. He appeared to be someone of great intelligence, so if he couldn't figure out what something is it must be of great interest.
"Well, if you would wait a moment I can go back and see if he is available," Gundren replied, trying to stay polite. If this really of great importance, this could really get him the extra bump to being promoted. The elf nodded his head and went to sit on a chair in the lobby, still with no sign of any artifact on his body. Gundren hopped off his stool and walked back through a door into the back area of the building into a long hallway, doors verging off into other rooms with inspectors. He headed back all the way to a large door in the very back of the hall. On the door was a sign reading "Velarius Elventail", the Head Inspector of the Artificer Guild. He knocked on the door before being called in.
The door swung open and there was the Head Inspector, a tall elderly elf was sitting behind his desk, reading a book titled "Magical Artifacts of the Sword Coast". Putting the book down, he spoke.
"Ah, Mr. Rockseeker. Is there something you need?"
"I'm sorry suh, but there is someone out in the lobby asking for you. It seems to be rather…. urgent."
"Well, I'm not currently doing anything, so go ahead, bring the fellow in." Velarius replied, and then went about cleaning off his desk and pulling out his tools for examination. Leaving the Head Inspector to his preparations, Gundren walked back out into the lobby, where the elf was sitting on one of the couches, deep in thought.
"Sorry to interrupt, but the Head Inspector has agreed to see you now." Gundren said, and the elf looked up at him, a glint in his eye obvious.
"Great! Show me to his quarters," the elf commanded, falling in line behind the dwarf. Muttering to himself about the command given to him by an elf, quietly of course so as to not turn off his customer, he began to lead him back to where he had just emerged from. Again knocking before entering the Head Inspector's room, he pushed it open to see the older elf look at the younger one with great interest.
"Hello, my fellow elven friend! How may I serve you today?" Velarius asked.
"I found something I think you might want to take a look at…." the younger elf replied. "How rude of me! I apologize. My name is Falael Keydithas, Head Sage of the Library of Neverwinter," Falael introduced himself.
"Good to meet you Sage Keydithas. As you may have seen, my name is Velarius Elventail. I am the Head Inspector of this establishment."
"And a fine establishment indeed! I did travel here with a purpose, however." And as he said that he pulled out a small piece of folded parchment. He slowly held it up and laid it on the table, unfolding it. The final result was…. Nothing. It was blank. Gundren looked up, confusion evident on his face when he looked at the Head Inspector, with a much more concealed mask of confusion. However, the elf Falael continued talking. "Sometimes, when I am in confusion of something I just read, I take to browsing the shelves - in search of what, nothing. I just do it to occupy my body while my mind is in work. Today, as I was adjusting some of the books in a section, this blank paper slipped out. The book it slipped out of was none other then 'The Complete History of the Wave Echo War'." Having begun his piece, he looked at the reactions of the other two beings around him. Both faces filled with wonder and excitement at what he had said.
"This led me to the conclusion, along with various other studyings of the book it left, that this is of the utmost importance in finding the lost mine, the lost Mine of Phandelver. However, no matter what I do to try and find what it is, nothing works. Countless Detect Magic spells have been thrown at it but nothing works. As far as I can tell, it is just a normal, blank piece of paper. However, I am positive there must be something more to it. What, exactly, that may be, I am unaware. But that is why I came to you, Inspector Eleventail, to see what you may discover that I failed to." Having said his piece, he sat down on the chair in front of the desk, folding his hands and awaiting his verdict.
The older elf looked down at this piece of parchment, and without saying anything, began to get to work. Over the next hour, he did everything imaginable that got him his Head Inspector job.
Nothing he did worked. It remained an empty piece of parchment.
Sighing, he spoke. "I have failed to identify what this is. I, too, detect the eminence of something magical, but no matter what I try I can not decipher it. I ask that you let me keep it to try and run more tests on it, but as far as I am concerned, this is just an ordinary piece of parchment.
Throughout the last hour, the younger elf had become increasingly frustrated with the lack of results, and at this point, was quite furious. "Since you could not figure it out, I will bid you ado, and I will not be paying for this waste of an hour." And with that, he stood up, bowed at Gundren, and quickly swept out the door. As soon as he left, the older elf sighed and looked down, obviously disappointed with the lack of results just as much as Falael was.
"Well, Mr. Rockseeker, it seems that for the first time in quite a while I have failed my job."
"Suh, if I may ask, are you absolutely sure there is something, well, magical about this paper?" Gundren asked. To him, it seemed a simple piece of paper, but there was something nagging on his mind. Something he knew but couldn't remember. Something important.
"Yes, I am without a doubt there is something special. What, I do not know." Obviously frustrated, this seemed to be a sign to Gundren that the conversation was over and that the Inspector wanted to be left alone.
"Suh, I do have a question," Gundren said, trying to get this out before he was shooed away.
"Go ahead."
"Would you allow me to take this home for the night? You know, run my own tests. And if I succeed, possibly keep it for my own?" He inquired.
The older elf stared at him for what seemed like eternity, but was probably more like several minutes. After he had decided something, the decision of what Gundren did not know, he gave a firm nod to himself and replied. "Yes, I will permit this. If you do not succeed, you must bring it back within the next tenday. If you do not, I will have the authorities in Neverwinter come down on your head, and by the time they are done, there will be no head to come down on," he said, the threat obvious in the message,
"I promise suh. I will do my best to find the secrets this paper holds," Gundren replied, happily, and walked off, parchment in hand, distracted from the job the rest of the day.
"Of course, love. Dinner will be ready soon. Hows about you go cool off with a bath and I will have the meat set," Mardred replies. With a grunt of approval Gundren sets off to the stairs, to cool off with a bath as his wife had suggested.
However instead of heading towards the washroom he had installed into his home, he stays in his and his wife's bedroom. He sits down on their rickety bed, sighing as he pulls out the folded piece of parchment that has occupied his mind so much today. He sets it down on his bed besides him, thinking on what it could possibly mean. For the most part, he never really involves himself in the artifacts themselves and prefers to work with the people side of things. However, this particular thing intrigues him - why, he does not know. He remembers back to earlier, when he had that feeling about there being something important. Not knowing what else to do, he walks over to a small wooden chest at the base of the bed. He opens it, the chest being unlocked, and pulls out a small book, the only one he owns. Moving quickly now, he opens it up and begins to skim through it, feeling closer and closer to a solution. All of a sudden, his finger feels wet, and he looks at it to discover he has given himself a paper cut by flipping through the pages far too quickly. Focusing back to the task on hand, his eyes land on something.
A page titled "Lost Map of the Mine of Riches, the Mine of Phandelver". The final clue clicks in his head. This must be none other than the Map, the one his family have been searching for for generations. Standing back up and walking over to the map, he picks it up again. All of a sudden, things begin to change. He stares in astonishment as the blank piece of paper transforms into an obvious and well-drawn map.
The Map.
He doesn't know how it happened, or what caused it, but it revealed its secrets. With a grin on his face, Gundren sits back down at the table downstairs, and completely ignoring his dinner, begins writing letters to five people. His cousin, his Knight partner Sildar Hallwinter, and three of his good acquaintances.
Sitting back, Gundren allows himself a deep laughter. He had found the Map. And he was going to claim the Mine of Riches.
What a day.