[center][b][h1]Bork[/h1][/b][/center]

Bork watched Andrew go upstairs, leaving him alone with the Captain and the clerk.  Turning to Drom, he said:  [b]”I got a very strange request from that Kriltra catlady.  She wanted me to get a golden bowl from you.  She said it was magical and glowed, and that her husband’s life somehow depended on it.  She seemed really keen to get it, to the point that she tried to both bribe me and threaten me to get me to do it.  Could you please tell me what’s going on?”[/b]

The dwarf did not in the least like being beholden to the goblin clerk, but he had little choice here.

[center][b][h1]Nelthurin[/h1][/b][/center]

The harbor master’s face showed none of his race’s wonted equanimity when he came to Andrew’s room.  Worry, frustration, confusion all showed themselves plainly enough that probably even Bork could have noticed them.  Perhaps he had.

[b]”Your Grace,”[/b] he began, [b]”thanks for talking to me in private.  What’s this about the guild war being ‘over’?  It seems to me it’s just begun in earnest.  I got this note saying all I had to do was make sure Silverclaw and his wife got on the next boat out of here and not hinder such a thing.  What if they don’t?  What if the ship’s captain doesn’t *want* to take them?  Am I supposed to nail them into a crate or something?”[/b]

Nelthurin paced miserably as he talked.  He had good reason to be unhappy with the situation.  For years he had played both ends to the middle, playing nice with the guild while also doing business with the freelancers, and even with would-be successors like Silverclaw.  Now it seemed like the abbot was going to set up the Gold Tooth to be the only game in town.  That might well be a good thing.  But could Pigeon Spit get there in one piece?  Could he?

[b]”I feel like I’m being asked to show my loyalty to a guild I never wanted to belong to,”[/b] he complained.  [b]”I’ve maintained a reputation for somebody anybody can work with.  This isn’t my crusade, it’s my life and my livelihood!”[/b]  He threw up exasperated hands.  [b]”Now I’ll have a target on my back regardless of what I do.”[/b]

He took a breath and willed himself to calm down.  He sat across from the abbot and looked down at his fingers for a moment.  [b]”Why all these big moves now, Your Grace?  What have you got that makes you think you can pull this off without a bunch of bodies floating in the harbor?”[/b]