The half-dwarrow named Grail was sitting alone in relative silence in the common room of the Inn of the Five Stones in the halfling village of Boggy Bottom, contemplating how the perfection of a full tankard of ale was, at best, a transitory thing, when a woman's voice distracted him from his musings.
"Hey Grail - are you busy? I need your help with something!"
Grail smiled as he looked up; he had recognized the voice as belonging to his companion Teldrine Crossblades, a warrior woman of Blackmoor. She was one of the companions Grail had accompanied to Boggy Botton, just north of the Dragon Hills.
They had been hired by a certain merchant named Balthazar, a dwarrow arcane master who operated from Blackmoor. Although his merchant caravans went all throughout the Duchy of Blackmoor and beyond, Balthazar was originally from the Grand Empire to the south by way of the Regent of the MInes, and had a fondness for the halflings of Boggy Bottom, who had been established as an agricultural community to provide food to the miners and workers of the dwarrow enclave decades ago. As a merchant, Balthazar had agents in every village, and when word had reached him of a sharp rise in attacks by skeletons, zombies, and ghouls, he had sought the assistance of the Blackmoorian Temple of Aselon, Lord of Light, to assemble a team to root out the necromantic evil in the area.
The Temple of Aselon had agreed and had assigned Brother Valen Lightbringer to investigate, and Grail, a newly-minted paladin sworn to the service of Aselon, as Valen's bodyguard.
Balthasar's team had included others - Balthasar's apprentice, a student of the arcane named Serinda, a half-orc of shady talent and disposition, an elvin archer from Maus whose name Grail could almost pronounce, and the warrior woman Teldrine. They had traveled together to Boggy Bottom, and set off into the Dragon Hills. A band of ambushing Kobolds, attacking skeletons, and moldering zombies later, they found the crypt of the necromancer, a halfling cursed after his death as a wight.
Brother Valen had invoked Aselon's Light, and banished the darkness of the crypt, but the battle had been fierce. Grail and the others had fought the undead defending the necromancer while Teldrine and Brother Valen had attacked the necromancer himself. They had triumphed, but not before the wight had struck both Brother Valen and Teldrine, draining a portion of their life essence, bolstering his own power. Grail had used his own modest healing abilities granted him by Aselon, and the group had returned to Boggy Bottom for some much-needed recuperation.
Grail drained the last of his ale from his tankard and stood. "I stand ready, Teldrine. What can I do to help you?"
"Can we discuss it in a more private place?" she asked. Her voice betrayed a certain nervousness.
"Lead on, milady - I am at your service," Grail responded with a polite bow. Teldrine nodded and led him up the stairs to where they all had engaged sleeping rooms. Both of them clanked as they ascended; Grail rarely went anywhere without wearing his boiled leather cuirass studded with bronze scales, and Teldrine likewise was rarely without her set of splint armor. Both their professions were violent, although Grail's was of a more defensive nature, both of them were aware that threats rarely gave enough warning for them to don their armor and weapons. Checking to make sure the sleeping room was clear of her sleeping companion (she and Serinda shared sleeping quarters, being the only two women, and rooms at the inn being limited in availability), she ushered him in and shut the door, throwing the bolt so that they would be afforded a small measure of privacy.
"Thank you for coming, Grail," Teldrine began, leaning back against the door. Grail stood by the two beds, his back to the sole window.
"I am happy to help, Teldrine..." Grail began, but Teldriira interrupted him.
"Call me Teldri, Grail. I am not generally formal with people who I fight alongside." Teldrine smiled and brushed her long, raven-colored hair back from her face and over her shoulders. Grail nodded, waiting for her to explain.
