Mirabar

Mirabar


	The battle-hardened city of Mirabar loomed ahead of them after a few more weeks of interminable travel.  The party stared at the edifice of the main gate.  It was a new structure, and clearly built past what had been the old gate.  The gatehouse loomed high over the walls, which themselves looked recently modified.

	Axio and the rest of the adventurers peeled off from the group as the rest rolled on north.  They had decided that despite the fears of the Baneites learning of their presence, there was nothing more to be gained from stealth.  Even if concealing Axio were possible, the city was too small to keep the party off the attention of the people.  It had only twelve thousand residents, after all, and any large operations by either the party or the Baneites would be noticed in no time.  “It’s not like Waterdeep,” Suivi had insisted.  “We stand out.”

	“It’s my presence that worries me now,” Luanea said dolefully.  “A female drow magic user?  People will think I’m a slaver.”

	“Maybe we can simply address the issue by speaking to their leader.  What’s the leader of the city called?” Cavria asked.

	“The Marchion, who leads a Council of fifty people,” Luanea said from memory.  “The current Marchion is Celeste Goldspindle.  She’s a Shield Dwarf merchant princess.  I don’t know anything else about her.”

	Axio ran a hand through his hair.  Exhaustion tugged at his eyes, which was unsettling.  As a Chosen, he only needed to sleep for a few hours per night anyway, and now his nightmares were keeping him from even that, sometimes.  “Okay, so I walk right in and ask for what we need,” he said.  “It’s not like we’re actually breaking any laws, right?”

	“Well… yes, I suppose not,” Luanea said carefully.  “We need to access the library, correct?”

	“Yes.”

	Luanea and Verashon exchanged a look.  “Then maybe the direct approach is the right one.”

	Cavria shook her head ruefully.  “We’re not used to not being undercover, are we?  Not a good sign.”

	Verashon laughed.  “It’s true.”


	The gates swung shut behind the party as Axio dismounted from his summoned steed and bowed to the Axe Captain.  The grizzled old dwarf looked up at the towering Aasimar with a note of alarm.  “What business have ye here, warrior?” he asked.

	Axio cleared his throat and forced his exhaustion back.  “Axe Captain, I am Axiopistos, Paladin-Commander of the Order of Ryaire and servant of the Arbor.  I come here now, from Waterdeep, with a request, and the hope of lodgings for myself and my friends.”  He straightened up and gestured to where the carts sat.  “We seek access to Mirabar’s library and maps, sir, to plan an expedition into abandoned Giant country.”

	The Axe looked over the group, askance.  He saw an angel, a tiefling, four drow, and a human scrambling over a pile of boxes.  “I see,” he said, for lack of anything else to say.  “Ye may petition to speak to the Marchioness if ye need, and rent rooms and stabling at the inn and tavern at the east wall.”

	“Thank you.  Where shall I find the Marchioness?” Axio asked.

	“In the Diamond Hall, the new one,” the Captain said.  “There may be a queue.”

	“Thank you.”  Axio bowed, scattering golden light over the ground in a diffuse fractal.

	Luanea felt fearful stares on her and looked down at her baggage.  Of course the people here feared her.  She was drow, and a woman, and a spellcaster.  She tried not to let it bother her.  She hefted a bag of books and sheathed her sword securely on her hip – high on the left side, ready to be drawn quickly.  Verashon and Doshellas followed quickly; the sunlight hurt them all.


	Axio waited patiently outside the Diamond Hall, settling his nerves.  Cavria stood behind him, looking at the strange new sights.  Mirabar was so different from Waterdeep.  They were both built over ancient dwarven mines, but that was the extent of their similarity.  Mirabar was still a mining town.  The buildings around them were built to withstand battle, not weather, and it showed in every line and angle.  The sides of buildings weren’t vertical, for starters.  They had angles to them, so water could be poured over to make them slippery.  Others leaned out over the streets, so that they couldn’t be climbed.  The walls were thick and the most important buildings had few windows, just tall chimneys.

	It wasn’t better, in her opinion.  The whole town stank of smoke, slag, and trash from the incinerators.  The surrounding environment had been nothing but rock heaps, scrubby farms, and open mine shafts.  It was architecturally complex and clearly well-maintained, but it was no place for visitors.

	The door swung open.  A human woman in her thirties and a man in his fifties emerged, clad in red and black.  They bowed to the waiting Paladins.  “Adventurers, the Marchioness awaits.”

	Axio and Cavria nodded their respect and entered.  The two humans pulled the door shut behind them, cutting off most light to the room.

	Inside was a room that most could have drawn from guesswork if asked to draw a typical dwarven sitting room.  Low, sturdy furniture, even stone ceilings, thick carpets that only covered narrow strips of floor, and a huge, cold fireplace defined the chamber.  Human-scaled furnishings were more common, but most were empty, with only a few people sitting about in chairs beside broad, stone tables.  The two doorpeople walked the warriors past the sitting folks into a narrow hallway, lined with statues of humans and dwarves in heavy armor.  Cavria looked at a few as they passed, but though each was clearly a different face, none had any identifying markings.

	Beyond, a larger room beckoned.  The fireplace here was filled with faint embers and dying coals.  The air was cleaner and very warm, with the few windows locked shut.  A broad table with overstuffed chairs dominated the center of the room, though only two seats were filled when Axio and Cavria walked in.

	Axio took in the two people inside with a glance.  One was a dwarven woman, a waif of a woman, young but so thin she was skinny, and clad in a mixture of red velvet and black leather that looked more like a drow courtesan’s dress than that of a stateswoman.  The other was a human man who looked incredibly nervous, sweating and fidgeting.  He was far older, and wouldn’t meet either visitor’s eyes.

	“I bid ye welcome, Axiopistos and Cavria of Waterdeep,” the dwarf said.  “I am Marchioness Goldspindle of the Council of Sparkling Stones.  This is my adjutant, Master Lank.  I understand ye need our help with an expedition.”

	Axio bowed low.  “I come only to inform you of our presence, Marchioness, and to ask you if you, or any in your employ may know of the ancient giant planar research labs in the north.”

	Goldspindle sat back in her huge chair and peered at the two.  “No, I’m afraid I don’t.  Now, I have a question for ye.”


	In the inn by the east gate, Verashon finished stacking his bags in the room he and his wife would share.  Luanea was already changing from her travel clothes into something more comfortable.  The others had their own rooms, and they had taken sure that two more had been set aside for the Ryairans when they got back.  Verashon tucked his dagger under his arm in his sleeve, then another in the other one.  Normally, he would be cagey about carrying a weapon in a new town, but half the people he had seen outside had been bearing some kind of weapons.

	He and Suivi were the first to emerge.  The two walked down the road towards the Diamond hall, taking in the sights.  Humans seemed more common here, which surprised Embersson, but not Verashon.  He knew the majority of the dwarves lived underground.

	People thronged the roads.  Carts and stalls with food flooded the approach to the Hall, thinning out as they walked past entrances to the main square.  Beyond, they saw the huge stairway that descended deep into the ground, to the main mines.

	“Quite a view,” Suivi remarked.  “It’s like there’s a whole second city down there.”

	“There is, pretty much,” Verashon said.  “Two thousand more dwarves live underground.  We’re only seeing the human dwellings.”

	“Remarkable.  Waterdeep isn’t like this,” Suivi said.  “I wonder if we’ll get a chance to explore a bit.”

	“Don’t count on it,” a new voice put in.  Both men turned to see a dwarf man in black robes looking at them with a measure of disgust and indifference.  “Ye’re visitors, not guests.  And believe it or nay, we don’t like it when people gawk at our city like we’re not still in it.”

	Suivi cleared his throat, settling into smooth spy mode.  “Sir, we’re simply remarking on how impressive the whole place is.”

	The dwarf stared at him, then rolled his eyes and trudged off.  “Hmph.”


	Axio and Cavria watched as the dwarf pulled herself out of her chair and stood, gathering her cloak about herself.  Cavria blinked in surprise as Goldspindle fixed her with a frigid glare.  “Are ye aware that ye companion is a devil?  She set off every alarm in the building when she walked in.”

	Before either Paladin could react, the door swung open.  Twenty guards of the Axe moved in quickly, blades out, and surrounded the two.

	Axio let them all get set into place before responding.  “Yes.”

	Goldpsindle’s sweaty companion stared.  “You did?”

	“I didn’t miss the horns,” Axio said mildly.  “Paladin Cavria is a trusted lieutenant and friend, who has risen above her biology to serve a goddess of good.  Your caution is commendable, but unnecessary.”

	“Devils do not do ‘good,’” Goldspindle snapped.  “They are inherent evil.”

	“Most of the time,” Cavria said carefully, acutely aware of how it would look if they had to kill their way out of the Diamond Hall, and equally aware that Axio wouldn’t do that except in her defense.  “I have a soul, and free will.  I chose to serve good.”

	“And you can prove this?” Lank demanded.

	“If not, ye do not leave this chamber alive,” Goldspindle said flatly.

	Axio bristled.  Golden patterns of light appeared on the armor of the surrounding dwarves as his wings unfurled slightly.  The Axe shifted uncomfortably.  “My proof is this,” Axio said coldly, the tone of respect and politeness evaporating entirely from his voice.  “My partner Cavria returns as good in the sight of magic that detects it, and radiates no evil in the same way.  Look upon her with Detect Good and Evil if you don’t believe me.”