5) Brother James and the Eye Tyrant

[Hywaywolf]

Oypeen just hangs around the tavern, Rykken's Apothicary and our rooms waiting for Kallas to show up. He is very interested in the tales of pirates that Kallas promised.

[Blazeguard]

Once the girls get back from riding, Rykken calls everyone together for a meeting. "It seems there is some interest in the chest we found." He chuckles and continues, "I was hand delivered an offer from the Grimsbeard dwarves offering us 5 gp/lb for the blue steel..." He pauses for dramatic effect and looks around the table, "...and an additional 200,000 gp for the chest itself, which includes any other contents besides the steel."

He waits for the information to sink in. "An offer like this shouldn't be decided on a whim so feel free to think on it and sleep on it if you like and we can meet back tomorrow to make a decision."

[Woe]

Now or tomorrow, Ravoneth's intentions will be the same: sell what the rest of the party will tolerate, and ensure a lot of orphans have shoes, clothing, and a few hot meals.

[LibraryLass]

Hermia and Mae arrive to the meeting hand in hand. Mae is positively beaming, Hermia's smile is more subtle. If anyone asks about their trip, Mae gets flustered again, and Hermia is evasive when it comes to mentioning anything other than the ruined keep and their discoveries there.

"Having a chest like that could be useful for us too... although I admit it's rather cumbersome to be lugging around in a dungeon. Perhaps it is better we sell the whole thing."

[Hywaywolf]

Oypeen considers the comments from the happy pair and says, "I'm waiting to see if it works like a bag of holding where you can fit a lot of stuff into a very small space. Something like that would be useful if we were a mobile group with a boat like pirates/sailors or travelers who used a wagon/carriage. But we couldn't leave it unprotected in our rooms while we went down to the dungeon since that would just make it easy for someone to not only steal the chest but steal everything we owned that we didn't have on our person. And of we have a secure vault to keep it in, why do we need a secure chest? And if we carry it with us down below word would get out that we had it and then we would become a target for anyone who wanted to take the chest from us.

I too am leaning toward selling it unless someone has a convincing reason to keep it. But I think we should make a counteroffer rather than just take the first price offered. I would like to talk to Kallus before we make a decision though."

[dymondy2k]

Asa nifty as this chest would be, it doesa offer some logistical issues if we keep it. I say letsa sell it. I could use my share of the money towards getting a mace that better suited to fighting the undead and the creatures we seem to keep runninga into..

[Blazeguard]

"I too am leaning toward selling it unless someone has a convincing reason to keep it. But I think we should make a counteroffer rather than just take the first price offered. I would like to talk to Kallas before we make a decision though."

"Thank you all for your input. I too, agree that we should consult with Kallas. Also, unless anyone has an objection I would like to include Alfred in the discussion as well. I will schedule a meeting with Kallas for tomorrow." With that Rykken adjourns the meeting.

[Hywaywolf]

"Wait, what happened to Glorfindel's Rules of Order? Shouldn't we have a 'move to adjourn' and have it seconded?"

[Jandolar]

Glorfindels Rules or not the meeting adjourns. (LMFAO!!!) Rykken departs to set up a meeting for the following morning.

Some time later one Kallas Grimsbeard enters the tavern with Rykken (bear with me for a minute) and upon seeing the remaining companions still enjoying the day off he walks over to the table. Well met friends of Sturm! I mentioned to Rykken here that I'll be more than happy to conduct the business of the transaction in his office at the shop with Alfred attending since I'll be bringing some friends along as well. But the story I promised is for your ears and your ears only. He fiddles with the signet ring on his right pinky for a minute in thought. Order us a round of dwarven ale and I'll get into it. Once the drinks arrive he begins by looking away from the companions and into the fire burning at the far end of the room, the shadow seem to lengthen as he speaks.... I can't remember the date exactly but it was well before my grandfather was born. To hear the gray bearded ones tell it it was a time when the world was brand new. There were kingdoms under the mountains that stretched for more miles than you can walk in a week. Vast caverns and pools of precious metals. This was before other races came to dominance. A long pull on his tankard almost drains it. Somewhere around three dwarven generations ago my great grandfather, who was a master smith, developed the secret of the Blue Steel. He pulls the ingot out of his pack and lays it upon the table. In the firelight it seems warm and inviting with slight blue veins running through it. Staring into it he continues. The next few hundred years saw our range decrease as other clans encroached. They all wanted the secret of our steel. Wars were fought and won, fought and lost..... entire kingdoms laid to waste all over what lays there on the table before you. To keep the secret alive and to keep as many of us alive as possible my grand father did something quite insane. He laughs and calls for another ale. He took us to sea! The remaining members of the Grimsbeard clan chartered a handful of large boats and had them sail across the Sword Sea to an island that grand father had found out about. Tis heated from beneath by the fires of the All Father. It was that heat that we needed to continue to make the steel since our deep forges were lost to the Grey Ones, stupid bastards thought that the heat was all that was needed. Hummph. Draining his second he pauses and looks to the companions.My grandfather and my father before me were sailors, some say they were pirates since they kill anyone caught within a number of miles of the island. The same fate befell those that first sailed the clan over. Nothing can come between the secret of the steel and the Grimsbeards. Not ever again. When grandfather was upon his death bed he passed the final bits of the secret to my father. When father was ailing he passed them to Kallismith my brother since I was better at wielding steel than forging it. My brother found out years later that father and grandfather had been sailing secretly for decades and dropping off caches of the steel along with texts holding bits of the formula. The last one they buried contained a map holding the locations of all the others. That last chest now sits in Rykkens vault. Looking around he smiles. Oh? What on earth were dwarves doing on a boat in the first place since not a mothers son of us can swim? He holds out his signet ring. Upon one side of the band are stylized markings that resemble waves. It's a ring of Water Walking. Oh you should see other sailors faces when a dozen dwarves bail out of a boat they are attacking and run across the sea to dive into their lower gun ports! Another ale is delivered. That chest you have is the rightful property of the Dwarven Sword Coast Trading Company, the runes on the iron banding state as such. We'll discuss the terms in which we get it back tomorrow at the meeting. In the mean time lets hear any questions you might have. I've got a few more that I want to ask but prefer to hear yours first.

[LibraryLass]

"What will... become of the steel, once we return it to you and yours?"