A weary man sits at the table writing out orders. He wears mage's garb with tiny runes woven into it.
"Commander Novak."
He sighs. "Welcome to Fort Saffron. I'm in charge here. Here at Saffron, we work hard, day and night, to keep Exile safe from brigands." He rolls his eyes. "Plus, I'm going insane."
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brigand
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"As safe as possible, of course, given we haven't been given and reinforcements, any new weapons, any acknowledgement we exist for months! They say keeping this pass safe should be simple. Simple! Hah!"
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simple
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"This pass is the only halfway decent path known from the brigand-ridden cave to the north to the Great Cave. You'd think they could never get through, but they get by somehow! I don't understand it! They must be invisible!"
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invisible
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"That's the only explanation I can come up with. Sometimes we see them! They approach the fort from the north, laugh at us, and disappear. They we hear about raids to the south, and catch hell. But we can't do anything about it without resources!"
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insane
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"I was drafted, plain and simple! They needed mages, so they grabbed them. And me! A promising alchemist!"
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resources
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"People, mainly. And another mage for scrying. It takes all my energy to keep the wards up."
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wards
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"Out in the passage. They're harmless now, but I can make them incinerate anyone who touches them, if the fort gets attacked. And it might."
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alchem
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"I was making a pretty penny. And one of my colleagues, a fellow named Hodgson, was a better alchemist than me! Ask him about it." He leans close to you and whispers. "He was going to try some experiments with Graymold! But then he had to give it up."
"They drafted us both. He's at one of the Great Cave forts now. Big waste."
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stnd
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You meet a beanpole of a man, wearing robes that hang off him. He paces about muttering.
He nods at you. "I'm Dilbert."
He turns to talk to you. You see he has extensive burn scars on his face. "I volunteered to maintain this fort. I look after the wards, mostly. Safer than some things I could be doing." He runs his hand over the scar self-consciously.
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wards
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"The huge runes out in the hall. They're off now, but when they're on, they're a powerful defense."
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scar
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"I've been adventuring."
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adven
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He grimaces. "With the merriest band of incompetents you'd ever want to avoid meeting. We were trying to help ourselves to some of the Chasm Drake's loot. Unfortunately, we found its lair."
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lair
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"It's far, far southwest in the tunnels to the west of Fort Remote. It was unfortunate that we found it, because only Sabrina and I got out. I don't really want to talk about it. Ask her about the drake! I'm sure she'd love to relive it!"
"And she deserved to. The whole mess was her fault. If she hadn't tripped that trap..."
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trap
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"The thing set magical traps everywhere. If you ever go there, be prepared to take it and take it hard. One of those runes gave me these scars."
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stnd
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A women with her arm in a sling and a grimace on her face sits in the cell.
She spits at you, and misses. "I'm Mona, voles. Whaddaya' want?"
"You aren't a soldier. Piss off, vole."
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vole
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"I'm from the Abyss. You aren't. You are a vole. Now let me out of here, and get me my scimitar back!"
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icarus
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She suddenly looks very embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry! Look, don't worry about helping me escape."
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escape
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"They're taking me to Dharmon. I'll get set loose there. It was stupid of me to get captured anyway."
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captured
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"I was dealing with the bandits to the north, trying to convince them that they should be working for us - that it was in everyones interest to stick it to the Empire." She sighs. "Didn't work. Bandits are fools."
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bandits
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"There are plenty of them, and they have many powerful mages and priests among them. We suspect that the spell-casters are actually Empire plants. There weren't any mages with the group I contacted. They weren't Empire spies. They were just dumb."
"Anyway, after I left, some soldiers picked me up and now I'm here. God, I feel dumb."
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stnd
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You see a muscular woman wearing studded armor and carrying a dented sword. She looks nervous.
"Bette."
"Guarding the fort from brigands. And a tough job it is, too! Sorry. Too busy to talk."
