In a quiet corner of Swampmuck, two men respectfully made their way around the graves that made up the town cemetery. One of them was a tall and impressively burly human with a black curly mustache and short black hair. His name was Bartholomew Strongheart and the man he was walking with was his adopted aasimar uncle, Gabriel Strongheart. Gabriel was average in height by the standard of his race, but standing next to Bartholomew and no one else made him look shorter than he truly was. He was clean shaven and had long white hair. And though he was reaching the time of his life that people knew as the middle age, he showed few notable signs of it.

Bartholomew and Gabriel eventually came to a stop on front of a grave surrounded by small offerings and bowed their heads respectfully to it before laying down offerings of their own. The name Horatio Strongheart was carved into the headstone, marking the final resting place of Bartholomew's father, Gabriel's adoptive brother, and the previous innkeeper of the Adamant Tankard. The two men stood there for some time. Even though it had been 5 years since the night Horatio died, many people who knew him, his family especially, still felt the pain of his loss. He had been a dear friend to everyone who lived in Swampmuck. And a loving father, husband, brother, and uncle to his family. Even if they were only family by adoption.

"I wonder what he'd say to us all if he were still around." Bartholomew finally broke the silence.

"He'd probably tell me that I need to come visit more often, as he always did when I came by for my yearly visit." Gabriel said. "I should probably consider taking that advice."

"Definitely." Bartholomew agreed. "We don't see you nearly as much as we'd like to. Should you ever find the time to visit us, we'll always have a place ready for you at the Tankard."

"Don't deny anyone else a room because you're keeping one for me though." Gabriel said. "I'd feel bad if I knew someone couldn't get a room because of me".

"Don't worry, I won't" Bartholomew promised.

"I think we've bothered Horatio enough for one day." Gabriel said. "Let's go."

"Indeed." Bartholomew said as they began making their way out of the cemetery. "I believe you'll be spending much of the day with my sister and cousin."

Bartholomew waited a good spell for a response from his uncle. But when he received no reply, he became a little confused. Bartholomew looked to his side to find that Gabriel was no longer there. Taking a moment to look around, Bartholomew found Gabriel had stopped dead in his tracks a few feet back. His eyes were fixed on a crowd gathered around a wizardly looking dwarf. As he joined his uncle, Bartholomew noticed some of the crowd signing some parchment provided by the dwarf... in blood. Bartholomew had heard enough of his uncle's adventuring stories to be concerned by this. "Trouble?" Bartholomew asked.

"Possibly." Gabriel answered. "It's hard to tell with wizards... Make sure the villagers don't hurt themselves. I'm going to look into this."

Bartholomew nodded before making his way over to the crowd just in time to hear the dwarf ask for questions. A quick whispered conversation was more than enough to get Bartholomew up to speed while Thel'dek asked his question. As the dwarf gave his answer, Bartholomew melded with the crowd, making sure to keep an eye out for any signs of trouble as he did.