It has been three days since you have left your home of Burrsvane. In the distance you can see smoke that would indicate another settlement of sorts to the north. A narrow track winds through the waist high grasses heading north in a general sense. Another trail continues to the east leading further toward the rising sun and a distant spire. A final path goes west heading back toward home. Which path do you take?

Three days...

It had been three days, and Kilona already felt a sense of homesickness. She had bid her mother, her siblings, her friends, and her father goodbye before she left for the journey. She had left another bouquet of flowers at her father's grave before leaving. Hopefully, he was watching over the village now. Of course, now that she had said her goodbyes, going back wasn't an option.

She had decided to go and see the world, and she was going to follow through on it. She couldn't help but feel that sense of having butterflies in her stomach. She was both excited and nervous to see the world outside of Burrsvane and outside of the Esjour Plains! The ideas of seeing distant lands and meeting new people was exciting! She's bound to learn more than she could staying in Burrsvane.

The journey had been simple and easy enough. She was glad to have packed everything she could need for camping outdoors. Now, she came to a crossroads in the trails. Looking to the north, there seems to be another settlement there, while a distant spire continues to the east.

Kilona is curious about the distant spire. So she decided to start heading there.

As you progress along the trail, the grass begins thin and shorten, and the ground becomes more rocky over the next two hours. The size of the spire becomes more evident as Kilona neared. Beings could be seen moving around the base of the spire, and around a few structures now more noticeable.

When Kilona gets to be roughly a mile away, she can hear the sound of a horn being sounded. The beings around the spire pause their work to look toward a tower then out beyond this little settlement. Slowly and starting with only a few the being return to their work, though noticeably keeping their eyes on where Kilona is.

At the edge of the settlement Kilona is met by a band of two halflings, a gnome, a few kobolds, and a dwarf. A grey and black scaled kobold steps forward spear at the ready. "Hold up there. Who are you and where are you from? What business do you have here?"

Kilona noted her the change in terrain as she continues down the path towards the spire. Her keen eyes pick up movement around the spire and she spots a few more structures. She also hears the sound of a horn and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. She could understand the caution when it comes to the monsters, animals, and large groups of people. But for one single person? That seems overly cautious.

She could feel eyes on her as she keep on walking. "Are they seriously expecting an attack from me? Sure, like I could take on an entire settlement on my own," Kilona wondered to herself with some amusement. With her knowledge of combat, she knew that she would lose if she was outnumbered.

She soon finds a group meet with her, and she stops. She listens as the kobold steps up to speak with her. She tilts her head at him and she answers him simply with a casual shrug, "Kilona Starshield, from Burrsvane. I'm just traveling and I was curious about the spire you guys got going here,"

The kobold relaxes some and peers around Kilona to see what else may be behind her. "I have heard of Burrsvane, though I've not met anyone from there yet. You traveled from there alone?" He asked after waving off the others and returning his focus to Kilona. "Most visitors we have from the grassland are not always the most friendly or honest."

The other guards slowly disperse, all either watching the horizon or Kilona for a few extra moments. Several make their way to a fallen tower to clear the rubble. Others start to walk along the edges of a crude wall that is little more than a loose pile of stones.

"This little set up is for those who have fled the wars to the west. Many of lost our homes to the conflict between the local rulers over a series of ruins discovered three years ago. Some tried to rebuild where they could and were run off or were killed. I still don't understand what is so important about those old buildings from so long ago. Regardless we are trying to live here in some form of better peace. As long as you are not here to cause trouble you are welcome here." His tone more wary at the end of his statement.

My name is Delgren, I suppose I am the closest to what one would call the head guard of this place. I do hope you understand our caution, many had set their hope on being able to live in this area in peace only for it to be crippled by raiders,
liars, and thieves."

Kilona nods and answers the kobold's question about traveling alone, "Yep," She raised an eyebrow at the statement that not all of the visitors from the grasslands were friendly or honest. She has heard that people who cause trouble get in trouble at the settlements, but other than that, she hadn't heard much about any unusual hostile behaviors from anyone in the other villages or settlements in the Esjour Plains. Then again, there was her father's death...perhaps he isn't too far off...

She listens as the kobold mentions that the settlement here were set up for people who lost their homes to the wars in the west. She had to admit, she was also confused about the importance of the ruins that were discovered three years ago. Why would anyone prevent others from reestablishing shrines?

She nods at Delgren's introduction and how he's the head guard of this settlement. There were still questions on her mind, and she asks, "Hmm...Can you describe the 'raiders, liars, and thieves' a little more?"

"Well first off, the raiders were a pack of Gnolls. They are responsible for the destruction of that tower there." Delgren motions to the ruined tower where several folk where trying to sort the ruined stone and burnt timber. "That was maybe three days ago. They came from the grass just as night was falling and set to carrying off what they could, and killing and burning what they could not. They took off westward after they were done here."

He paused to scratched his chin as he tried to recall descriptions of the other mentioned troublemakers. "The liars and thieves... There was this gnome trader, Findelthip was the name. Said he had some elixir that would help some of our more injured, travel weary companions. Most ignored him, a few desperate to help loved ones or themselves bought the elixir. No sooner than he had sold a dozen he was gone. All who took the elixir did not get better, most nothing happened. One person is now permanently purple skinned, another lost all their hair, one man aged 10 years, and there was one more that I do not remember exactly what it did to them." The kobold pulled out his water skin to get a drink before continuing on. "That was near on a year ago. Haven't seen him sense. Six months ago we started to have several items come up missing from various persons. No one seems to know who may have done it either which is the troubling part. Most of the items were of personal value, keepsakes, religious symbols and such. There were a few ingots of iron stolen from the smithy, a few raw gems that were found in the caves that go throughout the spire. Here recently some food supplies have come up missing. Mostly hard bread, dried meat, and dried mushrooms, things that will keep for awhile. I suspect whoever stole the items earlier is planning to flee soon." Delgren took another pull off the water skin before returning it to his belt. He stretched his neck before looking out to the edges beyond the settlement. "I should get back to my patrol soon. I know little and less will likely happen, it at least helps me some by feeling like I'm doing something to help keep a peace."

Delgren gives a nod to Kilona before starting to walk along the piled stone border of the settlement, looking outward for the most part.

Kilona listens quietly and intently as Delgren answered her, and she made sure to commit the people he mentioned to memory. Gnolls...there was no way she would be able to handle them on her own. This Findelthip on the other hand. She'll have to keep an eye out for this guy when she continues on her travels. Wouldn't want him to scam her family and friends back home.

She blinks at the mention of those encounters being more than a year ago. So they were probably long gone by now. Then the topic of thefts of personal items and religious items, along with ingots and gems and food. It sounded like the thief was aiming for money and food by stealing such items. As Delgren mentioned, the food may mean that the thief is leaving soon.

Kilona nods in return to Delgren, and she answers him in return as he goes back to patrol, "Alright then," As he goes back to patrol, Kilona will continue on her way. She does take a moment to consider the time of day. If it's getting late, then she would go to see if she can find a place to rest.

It is about mid-day, and the settlement is quiet save for the folk clearing the rubble of the fallen tower. A few other can be seen digging outside the walls, adding to the mound of stones while putting a small trench out infront of the walls. A human is directing the unloading a set of wagons at a small stone building next to the spire, while two others are moving the items to their designated areas in the structure.

There are a several other buildings, two with crude signs hanging outside noting possible places of business or importance. The semblance of a road continues east out of the settlement further into a rocky plains with a mountain range in distant view.

Do you want to go further east, explore the settlement, or go west to explore the Esjour Plains more?

Kilona takes a moment to look around, and consider her options. Considering that it is currently midday and how far she traveled in the morning, just continuing to explore anywhere aimlessly would be folly. She had been careful and lucky so far to not be attacked at night. She wasn't about to push her luck further. So, she decided that for now, she should explore the settlement.

At the very least, it wouldn't be a bad idea to find a place to rest in this settlement for the night before she continued on her way.

As Kilona explores the settlement, she is able to find a common hall, where meetings of the residents occurs. It is in base of the stone spire. It was built initially against the spire then carved into the stone as means of making a more secure shelter for the people. There are a few extra rooms that are offered to travelers for use as they have not started to store, anything in them, nor claimed by anyone. A crude pallet is offered for a bed with the person using it needing to supply their own coverings and mat. There is an oil lamp hung from the wall that gives some light to the room when lit. In the main room two people are tending a large cook pot over a fire, and another is pulling fresh bread out of an oven. Still there are others that are content with just sitting around in the room, possibly taking a break from their work or have yet to begin their work day. A halfling man stands out in the crowd due to his plum colored skin. Kilona would likely be able to tell that this is the person Delgren had said their skin turned purple due to an adverse potion effect. He sits at a table trying to tune a string instrument to some level of success.

Next to the common hall is the small building that a team is moving supplies into. If asked the human will tell Kilona that this is a storage area for supplies and access is limited due to things having come up missing recently. If there was something she would like they could check and see if they had it and would be willing to sell it to here should they have enough.

Across the way is a small smithy made front the stone cut from the spire. A tiefling woman sits at a counter half alseep until someone stops by with a damaged wedge and pick. The tiefling frowns at the person, seemingly upset at being woken up from their nap, before picking up the wedge to examine it. She says something to the other person before heading further back into the building with the damaged tools. The sounds of metal being hammered can be heard after awhile. The person who had woke up the tiefling returns to an opening in the spire where others seem to be coming and going from.

Anything you want to try to explore more, or anyone you wish to talk to?

Kilona takes note of everything she sees. She accepts the crude pallet and a room for the night. Upon seeing the people making food for everyone, she had thought about asking and learning about their recipes. However, due to her status as a newcomer, she figured now wasn’t the time to ask about that sort of thing. She had to hold back a laugh upon seeing the purple bard. The poor guy...that was probably a tale he wouldn't want to recite.

She has noticed that there doesn’t seem to be any sign of ale or any drink that anyone could enjoy. She had her own brewer’s supplies, she probably just needs ingredients if she wanted to make alcohol for people here.

She makes note of the smithy. Considering that she has her own arms, she didn’t really need to stop by there yet…

Upon reaching the storage shed, she decides to investigate and see if she can see any signs of theft. Maybe there’s the off chance that she’ll find a thief if not the items themselves?

As she scans the interior for clues, she asks, “Hmm…what exactly went missing, and when did you notice it was gone?”

The person frowns initially when Kilona started to ask about the missing items. While it was not a secret, the matter of someone new to the area asking about it was off putting, until they realized that could be more useful. They allow Kilona to enter and motion to a doorway a few more feet down. "This is the main storage area. Of the items that have recently come up missing from here, mostly the dried food rations, a few raw gems from the mine, and a few pelts. There was also a strange stone that was dug up from deeper in the spire. Had a strange glowing to it. It came up missing a few days ago, about a week after the rations started coming up short. Not really sure what it was, though it seemed that... oh who was that..." they pause as scratch the top of their head, face contorted slightly as they try to remember a name before letting out a defeated sigh. "Well whoever it was, they arrived a few days after the main group Delgren was leading. They seemed to recognize something about it, I think it was a elven woman... she was wearing some tattered robes. Had some strange contraption in her cart. I didn't get a good look at it as there were two rather unsavory types keeping people away from her. I believe they set up on the south eastern side, a bit of the way out from the rest of us. I think one of the guards went missing after the gnolls came through. The other is a sneaky bloke, a clean shaved dwarf with short greasy hair. Caught him poking around here just after dusk." The human's frowned as they mentioned catching this dwarf sneaking around the store house. "I told Delgren and he said he would look into it. He also mentioned he would need to actually catch them stealing, or with the stolen items, before he tried confronting him. I swear that kobold is spineless when it comes to keeping people in check. Sure he defends us when..." the person started to vent more of their opinions of Delgren and a few others of the watch not really paying much attention to Kilona as she looks around the room.

She does find two crates that look like they were pried open and closed again poorly, leaving them still slightly open. Inside one of the crates is raw ore of some kind that will likely be processed or traded later. The other was partial filled with lumpy black rocks, likely fuel for smelting or a forge. The does seen to be something hidden behind these crates though. If asked about it the human will move closer, grabbing a nearby hanging lantern to get better lighting on the spot.

Kilona listened to the guard talk about what was missing. The strange stone with a glow to it caught her attention; That sounded special compared to the rest of the items that went missing. She also listened as he described an elven woman wearing tattered robes who had a strange machine. He named the dwarf who accompanied the elf as a suspect because he was found poking around this room.

When he mentioned Delgren and how the kobold said he would look into it. She silently agreed with Delgren's words about actually catching them stealing before facing them. When the guard started complaining and saying that Delgren was spineless, that was when Kilona rolled her eyes and clearly tuned out the guard in favor of investigating. Her lion tail flicked in irritation and a low rumble comes from her throat as the guard continues complaining.

Thankfully, she finds something of interesting, and her body language shows curiosity more so than irritation.

She immediately spotted the two crates that look like they were pried open and closed again poorly: Clearly whoever opened them was in a hurry, or were trying to not get caught. How did this guard not notice this? Oh wait...he's still complaining...

She peeks inside to see the lumpy black rocks in one crate and raw ore in the other. She also notices something behind the crates. She does indeed ask about it, but she did need to get him to stop complaining first.

"Are you done casting stones from a glass house?"

Before the guard can react or be offended, she points out, "There's something behind the crates here. Can I get a light?"

Once the guard provides a light, she looks carefully to see what is hiding behind the crates.

The human slid off the crate they had sat on during their rant and grabbed a lantern off a nearby hook. They slowly meandered over to the crates that Kilona had indicated. "Those are just the crates we use for storing raw ore and some coal we found in our mining efforts. Those have all been accounted for." they paused as they got closer waiting for Kilona to indicate what she had seen over here. Clearly the human did not notice the slight gap behind the crate in the wall.

With the better lighting Kilona noticed the hole in the wall hidden behind the crate. If she moves the crates she will notice that it is not much larger than four foot high just a bit lower than the top of the crate stack. It did appear to only be three foor wide. The passage would be a tight fit for most persons.

Kilona gave the guard a skeptical glance to the guard when he commented on the crates on how everything in the crates have been accounted for. She simply answers dryly him with a quirked eyebrow, "Really..." She was curious if the guard truly did not see the lids...or if there was more to this guard than just his complaints.



She then indicates behind the crates, and with his help, they were able to see the hole behind the crates. She comments, "Well, what do we have here...?" It looked like a tight fit for most people: But it might not be the case for fae, goblins, or even gnomes and halflings...

She then looks to the guard and she asks him, "Was this here before the crates were moved into this room?"

The guard looks closer at the crate finally noticing the poor closure of the lids now that the light is more focused in this area. "That wasn't like that earlier..." they set the lantern down on another hook. Once both hands were free, they help Kilona move the crate to reveal the hole in the wall.

"Well damn..." The human turns and grabs the lantern back off the hook to better examine the hole. "No this was not here when we started to store things here. Look there are tool marks in the stone" they point to the edges of the hole. "I should tell Delgren about this. That and get a couple of people in here to keep watch over the stores, and hopefully be able to catch thia burglar" They turn to start to walk out stopping at the doorway. "Thank you, for finding this. We at least know how they were getting into the storehouse without anyone seeing." With that they take off out of the storehouse.

You are now alone in the storehouse. Do you wish to follow the human out or investigate where the tunnel leads?

Kilona sees the cogs turning behind his eyes, but other than that, she couldn't really get a good read on him. She listens and watches as the guard makes his comments in realization. She looks at the edges of the stone when he points out the tool marks in the stone. Before she could say anything else, the guard decides that he needed to go and tell Delgren immediately.

With a word of thanks, he took off leaving her alone in the storehouse. "H-Hey!" Her word simply goes unheard as the guard takes off.

Whatever suspicions she had of the guard dissipated as one conclusion comes to mind about him. "That guy simply sucks at his job!"

She sighs and mutters, "Well then...."

She takes a moment to think about the situation. The guard practically left the place unguarded! If she left, anybody could take the items out from this place without issue. Though she is curious about the hole and where it lead. There's just one problem: She wasn't going to be able to fit in there to fully investigate.

But she was able to think of a solution that would solve both issues at once. She can stay in the room and guard it while that guard is away, but she is going to position herself by the hole. She made sure that whoever comes out of that hole, would not be able to see her if they peeked from the hole. They would have to come out of there to see her.

When they do...she would be ready to grab them...

She leans against the wall next to the hole, keeping an eye on the door and the hole, remaining quiet and alert. Her lion ears pin themselves against her head and her tail flicked away from the hole.

A quiet fills the room as Kilona settles into her spot by the hole. Occasionally the sound of the rings of her chainmail shifting as she breathes and shifts around is heard. Five, ten, fifteen minutes pass with no other sounds or movement. After a few more minutes, the sounds of two people entering through the main entrance can be heard. The voice of the human from earlier can be heard as they are explaining what was found. Delgren's voice can be heard, acknowledging what the human was stating.

Delgren enters the room, seeing Kilona poised to grab whoever may come out of the hole, nods to her. "Good eye you have there. I'm not sure how that was missed. Also thank you for remaining here to keep watch of this area he glances to the human who quickly looks away to avoid eye contact with the kobold. "Some of us are more excitable and impulsive than we should be."

He stepped forward and started to examine the hole. "Judging by the smell it does not lead immediately out. This would have taken some time to make." The kobold turns to the human. "Get Gerald and Frini over here to help move things out of this room. While your at it find me Krie. They can keep watch while I investigate this tunnel." He turns back Kilona. " I know it might be a tight for you to pass through, but I wanted to see of you wanted to accompany me? You did find it so I will give you the honor in helping figure out where it leads. If you do not want to I understand. I will still go on and find out where it leads and hope to find more clues."

Kilona looks up from the hole when she hears two voices coming from the entrance. Thankfully, it was Delgren with the human guard earlier. She nods at Delgren's words of gratitude, and simply notes how the human did not make eye contact with the kobold. She is quiet as Delgren instructs the guard to gather people by name to move their supplies out of this room, and for one more to stand guard.

She looks to Delgren when he offers her the chance to accompany him to see what's on the other end of the tunnel. Considering that thieves were using that tunnel to go undetected by the guards, Kilona had no doubt that going alone would be dangerous for anyone.

She answers Delgren, "Yes, I would be interested in accompanying you,"