t was a perfectly normal day in the House of Elementalist Master Jelena: Master Jelena was working on designing a new piece of equiptment for excavating tunnels, and the Apprentices were running about--cleaning lab equiptment, practicing spells, and working on improving our technique at spellcasting and threadweaving. Khoth and I were working in the fire lab, playing one of our favorite games. Khoth lights something on fire. I put it out. Repeat with bigger and more interesting objects (both more flammable and less) until either she couldn't light something, or I couldn't put it out in one try. Suddenly, the door to the lab opened. We quickly dropped the fireball we'd been juggling, and turned to see Master Jelena's third-circle Apprentice, Maria, standing in the doorway. "Master Jelena needs to talk to you. Meet her in the library as soon as you've cleaned up in here." We cleaned up the lab and swept up the ashes, washed the soot off our faces, and went into the library. "I've just recieved a most interesting message. Some of the members of the Caer Council have asked for my assistance in solving some issue. I can not go myself, of course, but I've recieved their assurances what they really want are apprentices. I'm sending you two because I really need Maria's help here. Do whatever they ask of you as if I were asking it, and be careful. Check in with me or send word if they still have you running around in a few days, but this is apparently highly secret, so I'd rather not know if I don't need to." "Good luck" So, at sundown, we walked to the main gardens in the center of the Caer. There were a lot of people there--two who carried bows, two Windlings, a Dwarf, another T'skrang like K'hoth, and another Elf--my friend Kaeyl. We all introduced ourselves, and then a Dwarf in Council robes showed up. "Hello. Glad you are all here. As you may know, we asked your Masters for your help with a Situation. Someone in this Caer is trying to destroy us Someone in this Caer is trying to destroy us I know, that's shocking, but it is true. In the Water Tunnels, to the south, someone has been messing with the air-filtration systems. We want to find out who, and, more importantly, we want them working again. The systems have been seriously damaged, and some of the pieces are missing, so we must asssume that this is the work of the Masked, the Fury, or some other fringe group that is unhappy with the way things are run in the Caer, or who have something against the people. The Senior Adepts of the Caer can not all go back to the Water Tunnel to investigate--that would cause mass hysteria, and we don't want that. That's just what the culprits want--panic, so that they can take control. A bunch of obviously-unimportant youth, even if they are apprentice Adepts, can get away with gallavanting around the Caer and nobody will think twice." Someone asked "Who discovered the damage?" "An Elementalist performing maintenance on the air purfiers, at sunrise this morning. He ran into a council meeting a few minutes later. The non-Adept councellors have been convinced to remain silent until an investigation can be conducted, and that you folks are as much of an investigative team as we can afford. If you need to contact me, go into the main Library. Ask the reference clerk f\ or a research request: If you've recovered the missing pieces, ask about **Blue Windling Tribes** If they have been destroyed and you have evidence (or a witness), ask about **Red Windling Tribes** If you need something else, ask about **Green Windling Tribes** and I will meet you here an hour later. Good luck, and please try to keep a low profile, but hurry. I can not stress how important it is that this be resolved quickly and quietly. I'd suggest you start by checking the Water Tunnels..."
We went over to the Water Tunnels, but the other Adepts didn't want people disturbing the footprints that might belong to the culprits, so we weren't doing anything. K'hoth, Kaeyl and I decided that we might do better splitting up, so we handed a note to the Windling-who-flies (the other one rides either a dog or sits on the Ork Archer's shoulder) and went down into the mines, where I had located a deposit of Oricalcum. Since some of the missing pieces are Oricalcum, that's as good a place to hide them as anything. We took the elevator down the shaft, but it was very slow. As we were going down, there began to be voices above us--one a Troll, but there were others. All of them were loud but the echoes made it hard for us to figure out what they were saying. We got down past the roof of the cavern, and I noticed a pair of eyes watching us from the corner and soft, almost imperceptible bells tinkling. I pointed and gestured to the others that we should lie down on the floor of the lift, just as 30 Orks with crossbows ran into the cavern and aimed at the elevator. Khoth called out "Hello?" A voice came from the back of the cavern. *Who are you, and what are you doing here* "My name is Khoth, and the others are Kaeyl and E'leia"