You wake beside the cold ashes of the small fire only wearing your shirt, trousers and boots. Everything else, including all your coin, has been taken. You curse yourself for trusting the couple from the night before simply because one was a woman and try to take stock.

You can't head North again, as in your current state you probably won't find another job for weeks and you can't even feed yourself so you're left with three choices: tightening your belt (well holding your trousers tight as your belt has been taken too) and heading to the city as fast as you can to hope for work/food there; hunting after the people that robbed you; or looking for the first trail off the road that might lead to a farm where you can ask for help or some work in exchange for food.
> You quick March to the City
You decide there isn't any other sensible option but to get to the city, and fast. You set off down the road at a fast walk and only stop to drink water from any streams or wells you see. You don't pass anyone else until a few days later you can see the city ahead in the far distance and collapse on the road exhausted.

Luckily you fell near a well used field and the farmers load you onto their cart and take you the rest of the way into the city with a piece of bread to try to nibble on.

Once inside the gates they leave you off and after you thank them profusely, they head back out to the fields. You use the last of your energy to get yourself through the now alien feeling streets to your old area of the city and are relived to find it almost completely unchanged. You go to an old way house you knew in the hopes that the same owner was still running the place.

As you walk in the door a man behind a bar looks up and stares right at you for a full minute before saying "Well this is some triumphant return, look at the state of you!"

You start to explain but the man cuts you off and sends you upstairs to a small room to clean and says to come down for some hot food when you no longer smell and look like a beaten up pile of crap.

Once cleaned up and with a good meal inside you you tell your old friend the whole story and and he gives you two options. Work has been going well for him so he could give you a small room and meals and hire you for a low wage till you get back on your feet or you could up into the Iron district where the merchants and barracks have been hiring recently.
> The Iron District
You know that there is the option to join the guards as they are hiring at the moment, you'll get a basic wage but you have a bunk in the barracks and 3 good meals a day. Or you can approach the guild or large mining companies with your experience and hope for a starter job with one of them.

> You head for the barracks as the guard seems like the fastest way to get a roof overhead and food in your belly.
You talk to the guard Standing outside the barracks, the home of the city guards and he directs you round to the recruiters. The Captain there looks you over once and asks your story. You explain in light detail that you had been working the mines for years but after being robbed had nothing left so you thought the guards would be a good way to get back on your feet. He thinks for less than ten seconds before passing you a quill to sign on the line telling you that many men had joined for worse reasons and that they needed more men on patrol.

You sign up and after a few days initial training you're attached to a squad and send out for your first training duty. You have no weapons while in training but you are given city guard leather armor and helm and sent out for, as its summed up to you, "Stand behind the real guards in your armor and try not to look stupid for your first week". You manage this with flying colors (especially the not looking stupid part) then for your next training rotation your given a choice by your sergeant.

You can join the training squad patrolling old town docks, the "walk up and down in armor and not look stupid" shift as he puts it (since you wont be armed for at least a month).

Or the Iron district guard training squad, the "stand out of sight and don't interfere with the cites working people" shift.
> The dock patrole, at least you get to walk up and down...
Well, you were right, you did indeed get to walk up and down and it was passable exercise...

Lets face it, its not what you wanted from your life, BUT after a couple more weeks you will become a full guard, proper wages and you get to have a better say in your shifts, not a bad job in all, just the training period to get through.

The week goes as fast as the first one and the roof over head and hearty hot meals three times a day doesn't hurt matters at all. You actually take a liking to the patrol there as you get to stop and chat to the sailors and vendors along the dockside. The sailors there are self policing as a rule so you rarely have to step in to do anything dangerous.

The weeks pass and as you become a fully fledged member of the guard you make the docks your regular patrol, its a lot longer of a walk from the barracks on the other side of the Iron district but you like the atmosphere and relaxed attitude of the work. The occasional sneak thief or pick pocket are the worst of the criminals on your watch and you get to know the locals on your rounds on a first name basis, you even have time and enough spare coin to stop in for drinks with your old friend on occasion after work and he seems happy about how you landed on your feet.

Its really actually starting to look up for you as time passes, you have some small savings building up again, a good job that keeps you fit and your making friends with the other guards and the locals, who like having the guards around even if they aren't usually needed. You even foster some ideas about trying to stay in the guards and move up the ranks as you watch the two large barges from Carn approaching the docks. You think they are approaching a little fast but with all the minor disputes lately they are probably just trying to bluster and throw their weight around with the smaller fishing boats near the dock.

Just as you think about their speed you see the barge furl sails and out oars to turn and think to yourself that you were right when you realize the other had gone full sail and had smoke rising from the deck. You rush to the dock edge with the other guards and a few sailors as you watch its accelerated approach. you all realize its going to ram the old wooden dock about the same time as you see a full scale fire burst out onto the deck. You quickly look for the other ship but it had reversed course and is making haste away from the docks.

The sailors run for their ships and try to get them off the docks and you start forcing the crowd of gawkers away from the danger area but with the burning ship under full sail with the wind off the sea its only a few seconds more before it plows into the old docks and tears through them, crashing into two warehouses as it runs aground.

You start to cry out a warning as you see the ship tilt to one side spilling burning barrels full of oils and tars. But they explode as they hit the ground taking all the barrels filling the ship with them in one huge fiery explosion. You don't even have time to turn away as the blast smashes you through buildings killing you instantly and starting a fire that would incinerate the whole of the Old District


You talk to the guard Standing outside the barracks, the home of the city guards and he directs you round to the recruiters. The Captain there looks you over once and asks your story. You explain in light detail that you had been working the mines for years but after being robbed had nothing left so you thought the guards would be a good way to get back on your feet. He thinks for less than ten seconds before passing you a quill to sign on the line telling you that many men had joined for worse reasons and that they needed more men on patrol.

You sign up and after a few days initial training you're attached to a squad and send out for your first training duty. You have no weapons while in training but you are given city guard leather armor and helm and sent out for, as its summed up to you, "Stand behind the real guards in your armor and try not to look stupid for your first week". You manage this with flying colors (especially the not looking stupid part) then for your next training rotation your given a choice by your sergeant.

You can join the training squad patrolling old town docks, the "walk up and down in armor and not look stupid" shift as he puts it (since you wont be armed for at least a month).

Or the Iron district guard training squad, the "stand out of sight and don't interfere with the cites working people" shift.
> The Iron District shift, leaning quietly against the district wall for a week is at least easy...
Well, you were right, you did indeed get to rest... and be bored...

Lets face it, its not what you wanted from your life, BUT after a couple more weeks you become a full guard with proper wages and you get to have a better say in your shifts, not a bad job in all, just the training period to get through.

The week goes as fast as the first one and the roof over head and hearty hot meals three times a day doesn't hurt matters at all. You actually take a liking to the shift there as you get to stop and chat to the workers and vendors along the roadside, and the guilds there are self policing as a rule so you rarely have to step in to do anything dangerous.

The weeks pass and as you become a fully fledged member of the guard you make the Iron district your regular patrol (yep the real guards get to walk around the district). Its short walk from the barracks and you like the atmosphere and relaxed attitude of the work. The occasional sneak thief or pick pocket are the worst of the criminals on your watch and you get to know the locals on your rounds on a first name basis. You even have time and enough spare coin to stop in for drinks with your old friend down in the Old District on occasion after work and he seems happy about how you landed on your feet.

Its really actually starting to look up for you as time passes, you have some small savings building up again, a good job that keeps you fit and your making friends with the other guards and the locals, who like having the guards around even if they aren't usually needed. You even foster some ideas about trying to stay in the guards and move up the ranks as you walk alongside another guard down the main market street.

You both head back to the barracks when you're relieved as your's is the early shift that day and your entertaining the idea of another night down at your friends tavern- you've even got some friends from the guards liking the place enough to make it a regular thing for your patrol. You're just getting in the door when you hear mayhem breaking out in the barracks.

You push into the hall to hear the guards all shouting about a fire in the old town. You rush outside and head at a dead run to the speedily growing black cloud above the Old District.
> You reaching the Gates
You pull up from your run a couple of hundred feet from the gates and the wall. You just stare blankly towards where the wall separated the districts and just see a fierce orange and yellow glow over the wall occasionally punctuated by large bursts of flame with plumes of black filling the air above it. You sprint down to the gates but once you get there you find them closed and barred shut. grabbing the nearest guard you shout for them to be open so you can get to your friend but he just stares blankly back at you obviously shocked dumb then walks away. The gate captain walks over and tells you that if anyone is still in there and didn't get out before the gates had to be shut, that there was no chance of them being alive. You start to tell him that he is wrong and needs to open the gates when he takes you over to them and tells you to put a hand on them.

You reach out and feel the gates metal almost hot enough to burn you. The captain quietly tells you that the fire came at the worst possible time. it had been dry for weeks and wooden buildings had been build right from the shore to the base of the wall, all stocked full of the years produce, hay, wheat, pelts and oils. most of it flammable. The wind blowing in from the sea had fanned it into an inferno almost as soon as the first warehouses had gone up. It had spread unnaturally quickly and only the closing of the huge gates had stopped it spreading through into this district too. The gates would stay closes until the embers were cold, and that could take a couple of days at least without any rain to quench them.

You head slowly back to your room and collapse into bed unsure what to do next.
> You black morning
You awake in the morning unsure what to do. Your plans had been of an easy year living off your money and you could still do it, prices would probably go up for a time but you'd still comfortably now that your settled. But you were now sure you'd lost any place that you had called home and your closest friend in the fire so you at least wanted to find out what had happened.

You grab some food then head out to start trying to ask questions and see if anyone is the wiser about what had happened to cause the fire, and to do a last look through the survivors for any sign of your friend.

You ask several guards but most don't seem to know any more than you do. Eventually you see a guard that isn't a shell shocked as the rest and he tells you that the captain over at the military end of the barracks has all the information about the fire and that you should speak to him so you head there to see what he knows.

'The Barracks' as it is generally know does contain the city guard's barracks but also the military side of things, the army barracks, its armory, offices and everything else it needed all in one giant building  that straddled and made up part of the wall between the iron and stone districts. You quickly see a small group of people talking to soldiers outside one of the entrances and approach them to hear what is going on.

Its one of the captains explaining the fire to them, a few minor details extra but basically what you had heard before. once he is done you ask him about how it started. He looks you over then send you in and tells you to talk to the man at the desk, first room on the right. You enter and realize you not left with much choice as to where to turn since there is a group of soldiers blocking the corridor a few meters away with only one door standing open between you and them. You enter and approach the man looking at you from behind the desk.

"What can I do for you?"

"I want to know how the fire started."

The man seems mildly amused by your abrupt response but any trace of amusement quickly vanishes as he replies.

"A ship packed with flammable fuel was set alight and rammed into our docks. the fire was deliberate."

Stunned by the sudden revelation you ask "Are your sure? wait are you just telling everyone this? wont it cause a panic?"

"There's no point trying to keep it a secret, half the fishing fleet saw it happen as did many of the survivors that ran into the sea and were picked up the by the ships, the entire city will know in two days at the most."

"But who would do it, what is there to gain from burning down old district?"

"We think it was Carn, at least the burning ship and the one that had been accompanying it bore their colours"

"But don't we just have some minor trade disputes with them why would they do this!"

"Well long story short we started full maritime trading 3 years ago, then two years ago some minor trade problems began, then it was about land, finally about fishing rights. things had been getting tense for months with armed ships keeping fishing boats company for protection and guards on our borders but no-one expected this. They have been sent ravens with questions about the ships but they will of course deny all knowledge, then it will be war. The king has already started recruiting to replace the men lost in the fire and more to fill out the army."

You just stand unsure what to say, should you hate an enemy you don't know for what they did? Denounce their tactics, or just avoid the war and try and rebuild a life in the city.

"So son" the commander stands up "we are still recruiting and the army wage is just as good as the miners one. You want to enlist?"


You know that there is the option to join the guards as they are hiring at the moment, you'll get a basic wage but you have a bunk in the barracks and 3 good meals a day. Or you can approach the guild or large mining companies with your experience and hope for a starter job with one of them.

> You head for the guild as you know your experience could get you a good position if you push it enough.
You approach the miners guild with the hopes that your experience will land you some work fast, but your hope doesn't last long. They are happy enough with your resume and they even have a couple on people on staff who can vouch for your work but there are no new jobs right now and no major movements planned until the spring. They put you on the books and they guarantee you a skilled position by the time the winter snows melt but that isn't going to put food on your plate right now.

> You your on the books now so what harm is there in taking up your friends offer for a few weeks?
Life isn't so bad working at the inn, you put in all the hard work required and your friend, apart from many sarcastic comments and jokes, is a good boss. You have a room and food again and start saving a small amount of coin up in the hopes of buying some new cloths and getting a better paid job eventually. After a few months you think you've saved up enough to make a go of it again in a richer part of town and let you friend know your plans.

You thank him for doing so much for you without really asking much in return as you know the work you did would never normally earn a wage along with room and food but he just waves you off and says the word "friends".

You arrange to finish off the week and move out as soon as you find a new job and new place to live.

That evening you both sit down to share a drink and talk about how to make easy money (your favorite topic since you were 10 and he was 15 working for his dad in this very bar). You glance out the window and comment that its awfully bright out for the time of day when you hear the first screams.

You both rush out to see a fire sweeping through the wooden buildings of the old quarter. you both turn to run but there is a wind coming off the sea pushing the fire on and the old wooden buildings are going up like kindling. In your blind sprint you both almost make it to the walls dividing the city's districts when the flames overtake you and the smoke makes you choke and fall. Its not long before you are engulfed entirely in flames.


You wake beside the cold ashes of the small fire only wearing your shirt, trousers and boots. Everything else, including all your coin, has been taken. You curse yourself for trusting the couple from the night before simply because one was a woman and try to take stock.

You can't head North again, as in your current state you probably won't find another job for weeks and you can't even feed yourself so you're left with three choices: tightening your belt (well holding your trousers tight as your belt has been taken too) and heading to the city as fast as you can to hope for work/food there; hunting after the people that robbed you; or looking for the first trail off the road that might lead to a farm where you can ask for help or some work in exchange for food.
> You look for a Farm
You start walking south, keeping an eye out for any farm trails or paths that might lead somewhere. You pass several small dirt tracks but most look more like animal trails and after your run in with the robbers, you're loath to risk them. After a few hours you pass near a stream. The water looks fresh and clean, so you take the time for a quick wash-up and a long, cool drink before you continue on.

Despite your searching, it is only a couple of hours before the light starts to fade that you come across a well-worn track leading east off the road. Its the right direction for farm country and it seems to have seen recent cart traffic, so you decide its worth a look and start down the trail.

After an hour or so the track passes through a thick line of trees and you see fields beginning in front of you. It looks like a large square holding of land surrounding a large old barn and house in the middle. Several men working the fields look up as you approach and lean on their scythes and hoes, keeping a watchful eye on the trees behind you. A man walks out from the door of the house while you're still a few metres away. He smiles and greets you cordially but you're somewhat distracted by the loaded crossbow he is holding casually at his side.

You explain your situation to him. He eyes you shrewdly and asks a few questions about the details of your story. After a few moments of consideration, he waves the men back to work and takes you inside.

You get a small apology for the crossbow but he points out that, as you learned to your own loss, there are a lot of bandits about recently and you can never be too careful. That comment at least makes you smile as you clearly hadn't been very careful at all. He gives you some hot food and a bed and leaves you to recover a bit.

The next day you work hard in the fields helping the other workers with the carrying and loading of carts then at noon they set off in a small convoy to the city to sell goods with you riding along. "So you reach it in one piece" as the Farmer had said.
> You reaching the city
It was a long trip on the carts but the farm-hands made good company and at least you had food. They take you with them to the markets first and you help unload as thanks. Then after thanking the farmer again for his kindness, you begin to make your way through the strangely alien streets toward the area where you grew up.  The city has grown so much in your absence that you had to ask directions several times before reaching the arch that has always marked the entrance to the Old Quarter.  On the other side of the arch you are relived to find it almost completely unchanged. You go to an old way house you knew in the hopes that the same owner was still running the place.

As you walk in the door, the man behind a bar looks up and stares right at you for a full minute before saying "Well this is some triumphant return, look at the state of you!"

You start to explain, but the man cuts you off and sends you upstairs to a small room where you are able to clean up a little. A few moments later, the man returns with change of clean, serviceable clothes and invites you to come down for some hot food when you no longer smell and look like crap.

Once cleaned up and with a good meal inside you you tell your old friend the whole story and and he gives you two options. Work has been going well for him so he has offered you room and board in exchange for some low wage bar work till you get back on your feet or he suggests you could also try your luck up in the Iron district where the merchants and barracks have been hiring recently.


You thought you had heard some noises during the night but there are no signs of other people in the cave. Sadly, your snares are empty too so it'll be another day of dried meat unless you find a traveller on the road today.

You cover the embers of the fire and walk back to the road. Once you reach it, you see a lot of fresh footprints and realize you must have missed a group that passed during the night. The tracks lead North so you follow them for a short distance on the road before coming across their abandoned camp on the edge of the woods.

A quick look tells you they packed up and started their march North again several hours ago.

> You search the camp remains for any valubles or food
Having decided to search the camp you reason that you should do it properly. You set a few snares in the trees nearby then start going over the camp carefully. You estimate that 40 to 60 people were here and they had lit a good number of fires so you search carefully around them and search in the grass beside the indents of the bedrolls.

You spent a couple of hours looking but apart from two miss-laid copper coins you find little of worth. Still, copper coins add up and you know what its like to go hungry so you add them to your pouch and collect up your snares. The only other thing you take is an old leather water bottle which you tie to your belt and remind yourself to fill it the next time you come across a stream.
> The road North again
Having finished searching the camp, you start North again on the road. You still see signs of the group ahead of you but they have well over half a days hard march on you and judging by how late they camped and how early they set off you decide that you won't be able to catch them without running for the rest of the day, and your not willing to try that just for some company. So, you set off at a steady pace North again looking for any signs of a turn off that may lead to the mine.

You spend an uneventful 2 days on the road, stopping occasionally to camp and refill your supplies but on the 3rd day you finally see signs that the group ahead of you turned off into the foothills west of the road.

Reasoning that such a large group must have a reason for heading into the hills, you decide that they are probably the crew for the new mine and that you've found the entrance. Knowing that with such a large group already there most jobs will be filled you can follow them and hope for some paid manual labor or you can give up on it and head South for the city.


You turn Northward up the road thinking that the rumors of a new mine are too good an opportunity to pass up, and hey, even if it's false you don't mind spending an extra week or two on the road.

You pull out some of your dried meat and start eating as you walk, thinking you should probably set some traps and snares when you make camp that night to stock up some fresh meat. You spend an uneventful day walking North and see no other travellers. An hour or so before dusk you start looking for a place to camp. You can camp on the roadside, head into the trees to the east for cover while you sleep or walk an hour or so to the foothills west and hope for a spring or cave.
> You there's a good chance of catching food in the trees, head East
You decide a night under the trees and a good chance of catching food are too good an opportunity to pass up so you head east into the trees till you're well away from the road. You set up a small camp and fire and set up snares out in the trees.

Not long after darkness closed in you hear some noise in the direction of the road and go investigate. You caught a Hare! you quickly skin and gut it and are about to head back to the fire when you hear noise from further towards the road. You walk quietly closer to investigate and see a large group setting up camp on the roadside.

You're about to leave the cover of the trees to go greet them when you over hear their leader telling a small group to go on ahead and prepare the mine camp. They are the workers sent to open the mine your looking for! You do a fast headcount and realize about 50 workers are camped there and many look experienced.

You decide that they must be the main team sent up to get the mining started and realize that they will have enough skilled workers to fill most of the mining jobs there, but unskilled labor is nearly always welcome- if on a much lower pay.

You think about it and you decide that you can either try to join up with them and risk the lower pay, or, you can try and beat the group sent on ahead and try and secure a better job at the mine site before word reaches them of their workers being so close.
> You race them to the camp!
You slip away from the workers camp fires and move quickly to your own, you kick dirt over your small fire and quickly collect in your snares. You wrap the hare in some leather and put it into your pack with everything else, you'll have to cook it later.

You set out at a jog through the trees, you know the road keeps straight for more miles than you can see ahead so you move until you can just see glimpses of it through the trees and settle into a fast jog.

You keep your pace up for several hours, you know it must be after midnight now and your pretty sure you passed the men on the road so you take a short rest below an old oak tree and hope they break for sleep too.

In the morning you wake with the first light and quickly set off, you set a more measured pace, walking fast but not quite jogging yet. You walk as fast as you dare through the day barely taking breaks apart from to eat some dried meats. An hour or two after night sets in you decide if you haven't put some distance between you and them by now you never would, so you build a fire to cook and eat your hare then settle down to sleep.

> The Search
You rise at first light again, and quickly cover your fire with dirt. You head onto the road and search carefully for any sign of other men passing but find none. You must still be ahead of them, but you don't know by how much. You set off North again keeping your eye on the hills and woods to your left looking for any sight of a camp entrance or track leading away from the road.

After a few hours you come across a small track leading into the hills through a copse of trees and on into the bare foothills. Its a very small track and could easily just be an animal trail but you can never be sure as people are always loath to leave any large signs of a new mine until the have laid full claim to it and got a fair number of guards in place. You spend a few minutes trying to check for other clues but in the end cant decide if it was made by men turning off the road of just some animals.

You could follow it further into the hills and check it out but it would be slow going and if it turned out not to be the mine it would loose you most of a days walking.
> You risk the trail
You decide the trail is worth the risk, its a little bigger than most animal trails and with the lengths some claimants go to to hide new mine sites it could well be the one.

You strike off onto the trail and after about half an hour it widens a little and you start to get more confident that you've made the right choice. A little more walking brings you to a man leaning against a tree and you think you can see a small amount of smoke over the hill behind him.

You approach the man as he hails you and asks your name and reason for being here. Its not the politest of greetings but you explain about coming off another mine job and hearing rumor of one here. The man looks at you for a while then tells you to follow him.

You follow him for 15 minutes or so till you've passed round one of the larger foothills and you come across a very small camp build around a very shallow mine entrance. You smile to yourself- Its the new mine, barely started and with only 10 or so men in sight you've beaten the others here!

Your led up to a large man standing over a fire and are introduced to the Overseer of the new mine.
> The Overseer
You approach the Overseer who looks you over and repeats the questions about who you are and how you turned up at his mine entrance. You explain to him that you were a Skilled Laborer on a mine further south and that your old overseer had directed you here. Your a little liberal about the the date you left there and the amount of detail you had been told so he wasn't suspicious about your spring ahead of his expected workers. he thinks for a while and you think he has believed you. He presses for some details about your previous boss and the mine you were at then asked a lot of technical questions and posed several hypothetical situations about building mines and construction issues. It takes nearly an hour for him to be satisfied that you are who you say but finally tells you that he is from the same guild as your own boss and knows him well, since you convinced him of your ability and that your old boss recommended you he says he might take you on as a mid level skilled worker since he was a week behind and the men he had been expecting still hadn't turned up.

He walks off to a large, nice looking tent set up beside what looks like a half constructed stone house set off to the side of the mine entrance, he goes inside briefly then returns and tells you that the owner had agreed and you were hired, he takes you to the tent and you meet a middle aged but still fairly youthful looking man studying charts of the area with rock samples spread around the desk in front of him. he looks at you quickly and smiles

"So your the man who may get my mine back on schedule?"

"I didn't know you were behind sir but I will defiantly do what I can if that is the case."

he smile again and re-arranges some of the rocks before replying. "what do you make of this then?"

You look at the arrangement of rocks on the table laid over part of a map showing your camp. the ones near where you were standing and the mine entrance were a mix of broken granite, shale and other unimportant rock but two of the rocks lying over the hill the mine was starting into had a definite shine to them, you life them to look closer then after replacing them see there is a piece of normal granite placed between them.

Your about to say that there is defiantly silver in the hills when you stop to think why he would want such a simple answer so instead you reply

"You believe there are two main lodes of silver running into the hill and plan to open them both up from a large forked main tunnel instead of  a single straight entrance with branches?"

"Ha! got it in one! its going to be harder on the crew building the supports but I think it will get both lodes producing ore much faster and if my hunch is correct the lodes are going to diverge more the further we get into the hills, I'm betting that our short entrance tunnel will be running the equivalent of two normal by the time we are fully up and working. Right since your here you can start today, sign this contract then get over to the loggers behind the hill and started on directing them to make the struts, Slarn there will give you the initial measurements."
> You beginning the mine
You immediately sign the contract put in front of you after a cursory glance confirms that its a skilled labor contract for a good wage and lasting at least until the mine is fully operational. You follow the Overseer out and round to where the three man logging team has stacked a small pile of trees ready for cutting and shaping into the mines first struts.

The overseer turns to you "Right then these three have cut enough trees the past week to get us a good five meters into hill down both of the primary forks off the entrance shaft. But since we haven't had any skilled workers here apart from myself they haven't had the directions to get the struts started, so while I get back to the entrance shaft you get them moving double time."

He hands you a slate with the tunnel dimensions chalked on it and you quickly see the man knows what he is doing, he has laid out precise numbers and details of the style and shape of Strut he needs for each section. You quickly head over to the workers who had heard the entire conversation so to save your self time you quickly tell them your name and take the straight over to the logs. You set two of them to separate them according to diameter and wood type and keep the other with you to measure out the wood ready for cutting.

You've gotten the logs organized and marked out which ones to use for the braces and struts when you hear a small commotion from the camp at the mine entrance, guessing that this is the guards arriving you carry on working and get the men sawing the first struts according to your markings. The days work goes well and by evening you know you've pushed the men a bit hard but you have several well cut lengths of wood ready for final shaping in the morning.

You head back into the camp and have your suspicions confirmed, the guards have set up tents near the entrance to the camp but they pay you little heed as you retire to one of the shacks set up for workers for the night. The next morning you get your small team working right after breakfast because you now that the full work group should be arriving that day or the one after at the latest and you need to make a good impression first. You get them ready and you join in so your all sawing and shaping the logs while its still dawn and by noon you have 2 sets or struts with lintels cut, shaped and ready to put it place. you know they aren't smoothly finished or treated but you've been told the gear to do that will be arriving with the main workforce so just before the lunch break you and your team take the first two sets round to the mine entrance and stack them just to the side ready to be used when needed.

The Overseer comes over and after inspecting the wood and the shape he admits he didn't expect you to have any ready until tomorrow but inquires about your choices. You tell him that you knew he wanted to get the entrance shaft in deeper as soon as possible so you chose the easier to work wood to make the temporary supports so the shaft could be continued in safety while your team cut and shaped the stronger woods for the permanent supports meaning they could be fully treated before being put in place, you also give a lot of credit to you small team for how hard they worked. Your fast work, choices and ability to give credit to your men where it was due seems to make the Overseers mind up about you and he gives you a pat on the shoulder before turning to walk back towards the mine, he calls back for your team to take a break, the main workforce will arrive any minute and he will be transferring you to the tunnel construction crew now that there are struts able to be used.

You know you've done well and that he will be giving you good jobs now you've proved yourself so you head over to the mess area to grab lunch with your team as you see the main workforce approaching the camp.
> The yours well underway
The day the mining company men had arrived you had been called into the owners tent, the owner, Overseer and leading men of the main work group were there and you appeared to be the topic of discussion. They were objecting to you being hired since according to their contract they should be filling all the skilled labor positions They were also trying to bring your abilities and experience into question.

You arrived as the overseer had just vouched for your knowledge and stated that you had the backing of a second guild overseer so even if they weren't happy about it that your skills and experience were accepted as fully capable for what you had been hired to do. As you entered the owner paused the discussion and called you over, then asked if the overseers description or your work with the small logging team had been accurate. You relay what had happened again and the owner seemed very pleased. The mining group however didn't and stated that even if you were good at the job, the owner was breaching the contract to give you a position over one of their men.

The owner clearly tired of the discussion by this point started casually questioning the work group leader.

"When exactly does our contract state that your group would arrive and begin construction?"

The man was smart enough to see were this was going to lead so carefully answered "One week ago today sir."

"So considering that I paid a hefty deposit to your company in advance, how much money have I lost and how far behind is my mine's construction due to your lateness?"

"The mine is almost a week behind sir, but the company will of course refund any loss of wages due to our late arrival. We were forced to wait while our supplies and gear was prepared for us."

"Never the less a full week is a pretty serious loss of coin and time for me and could easily be considered a breach of contract by your company, one that would enable me to cancel it for a full refund of deposit and hire someone else correct?"

The man, now clearly sweating looked like he was trying to find a way out but could only answer "That could be technically correct sir".

"So considering that point; can you really argue that it is outside my remit, that during the week you were not present and my mine was not being constructed that I hired a single skilled worker to aid in my mines initial opening?"

"No sir we wont object further"

"Perfect, now that this is settled don't worry because he hasn't stolen any of your men's jobs. I'll hire him as an assistant to my overseer so that wont be a problem will it?"

Obviously relieved that he didn't have a man out of a job he readily agreed and left the tent.

The owner and overseer finally turn to you and ask "well now that the work group is happy and you have suddenly been promoted you have a nice choice ahead of you. You did a good job with your decision about the struts so I'd be happy for you to oversee the logging operation, but most of your experience lies underground and putting the struts in place, which job do you want?"
> You pick the logging operation as overseeing it will keep you out of the way of the work group and you've already made a good impression there
You picked to run the logging group and have twelve men under your supervision plus the three who were there already. You send one of the experienced wood cutters to join your three and after briefly showing him what you had been doing there he quickly understands your system and gets started cutting and preparing the wood. The rest you organize into work teams and get them working on different stages of the process, some felling new trees, some stripping them and others cutting them to length for you final team to prepare, you make one experienced man in each group in charge of his team and your operation practically runs itself. You leave the small choices to the group leaders and spend your time ensuring that the final struts are up to specification and that you meet or surpass you daily quota of cut and treated supports for the mine. The overseer and owner seem happy with your work and leave you to make any decisions you feel necessary, just getting weekly reports and whatever you discuss directly with the overseer during the day.

As the weeks pass you all steadily work away and start logging smaller groups of trees near the mine to ensure a continuous supply of wood, you leave the choice of site up to the team leaders you assigned but you always take a cursory glance over them to make sure the trees are up to standard.

The mine has been progressing well, the main shafts are already going deep into the hill and side tunnels are being opened to chase any small seams off the main two. You've heard that a couple of the unskilled laborers have been tasked with digging out a particularly weak section of rock and your glad you above ground and not risking you life in a weak tunnel prone to cave in.

As the days pass you see one of your team bringing a tree over from the other side of the hill to your normal operation, you stop them to ask which trees they are felling and learn that its a small group of oak on the far side of the hill from the mine entrance. Realizing that some of the tunnels may have gone under in that direction you rush over just as two more trees are about to fall, as the smaller one hits the ground you feel it shaking and moving in an unnatural way. You break into a sprint and call for them to stop but its too late and the large oak falls and as it hits you hear a loud rumble and the whole hill shakes.

You realize you team has called a cave in. You run with them to the entrance as the whole camp arrives to asses what happened. Two workers were in the weak tunnel when the trees came down right above it, they were both crushed inside.

You weren't blamed for the incident and were just told to carry on, that accidents happen, but two men had died due to a mistake made by one of your teams. For the rest of the time you kept your head down and works as hard as you could making sure no more mistakes were made.
> You finishing the mining work
You kept your head down and worked hard for the rest of the time and not a single weak strut or badly treated piece of wood got past you after the accident. You were never blamed for the accident but you held yourself accountable and though your works was praised you didn't take as much enjoyment in it as you had before.

As the final day approached the Overseer called you into his now finished residence. You find him sitting behind a nice desk still covered with maps and charts and see a pretty girl who must be similar age to yourself sitting in a chair by a small log fire reading a book.  You begin to wonder if she is the overseers reclusive daughter that the camp is full of rumors about when he waves you over.

"I'll be leaving for the city in two days, the day you will all be paid for your work. You did a great job for me and worked harder than any other man here although I know its because you've been blaming yourself for the accident in the tunnel. Your pay has been arranged for what was agreed but a generous personal bonus has been included. Now take tomorrow off as I know your teams are set up to run smoothly enough without you hovering over them for their last day."

You thank the owner and head back out into the camp, The overseer is waiting outside and gives you a nod

"Don't worry I'll keep an eye on you teams for you, you've worked yourself too hard these last weeks so enjoy your paid day off."

You thank him as well then wander over to the packed breakfast tables. You chat to the workers there, many of whom you've become passable friends with and inquire about their plans now the mine is about to close.

One group is planning to leave on the day they are laid off and make good time down to the city because they want to get back to family there, while the other south bound group plans to stay until all the small jobs are finished around the camp for a few extra coins then has a much more leisurely trip with stops off at way houses and farms along the way. The second group will turn up to the city nearly two full weeks after the first but you're in no rush yourself.


The day the mining company men had arrived you had been called into the owners tent, the owner, Overseer and leading men of the main work group were there and you appeared to be the topic of discussion. They were objecting to you being hired since according to their contract they should be filling all the skilled labor positions They were also trying to bring your abilities and experience into question.

You arrived as the overseer had just vouched for your knowledge and stated that you had the backing of a second guild overseer so even if they weren't happy about it that your skills and experience were accepted as fully capable for what you had been hired to do. As you entered the owner paused the discussion and called you over, then asked if the overseers description or your work with the small logging team had been accurate. You relay what had happened again and the owner seemed very pleased. The mining group however didn't and stated that even if you were good at the job, the owner was breaching the contract to give you a position over one of their men.

The owner clearly tired of the discussion by this point started casually questioning the work group leader.

"When exactly does our contract state that your group would arrive and begin construction?"

The man was smart enough to see were this was going to lead so carefully answered "One week ago today sir."

"So considering that I paid a hefty deposit to your company in advance, how much money have I lost and how far behind is my mine's construction due to your lateness?"

"The mine is almost a week behind sir, but the company will of course refund any loss of wages due to our late arrival. We were forced to wait while our supplies and gear was prepared for us."

"Never the less a full week is a pretty serious loss of coin and time for me and could easily be considered a breach of contract by your company, one that would enable me to cancel it for a full refund of deposit and hire someone else correct?"

The man, now clearly sweating looked like he was trying to find a way out but could only answer "That could be technically correct sir".

"So considering that point; can you really argue that it is outside my remit, that during the week you were not present and my mine was not being constructed that I hired a single skilled worker to aid in my mines initial opening?"

"No sir we wont object further"

"Perfect, now that this is settled don't worry because he hasn't stolen any of your men's jobs. I'll hire him as an assistant to my overseer so that wont be a problem will it?"

Obviously relieved that he didn't have a man out of a job he readily agreed and left the tent.

The owner and overseer finally turn to you and ask "well now that the work group is happy and you have suddenly been promoted you have a nice choice ahead of you. You did a good job with your decision about the struts so I'd be happy for you to oversee the logging operation, but most of your experience lies underground and putting the struts in place, which job do you want?"
> You think that overseeing the mines supports being put in will be the best use of your abilities
You know you did good work with the loggers but they will be receiving experienced men soon and your experience lies underground, The Overseer seems happy that he will be able to just concentrate on the tunnels themselves and the many minor jobs he does around the camp leaving the supports to you.

Your given eight men to supervise so you split them into two teams, one to prepare the site while the other brings in and lays the supports, then both teams ensure its bearing the weight of the tunnel well before moving on, and you of course give the final check over yourself. Having caught a weak piece of wood early on you also check all the supports delivered to you before approving them for use to make sure there are no accidents caused due to your oversight.

You get on with your workers and everything goes smoothly and efficiently under your guidance, the Overseer and Owner seem very pleased with your work and just get weekly progress reports to supplement anything you talk to the Overseer about during the day. As the weeks pass you carry on working as before and as the tunnels deepens and sprout side shafts following smaller seams. You're given eight more men, so once you divide them like the first team you have two groups working simultaneously under you. After a few more weeks the Overseer mentions that a very promising seam has been found but that it initially runs through some very weak and fragmented rock. After a brief inspection you agree that its worth digging out and that after an initial tunnel with temporary supports is in place your men can permanently shore it up.

On the day its due to finish and your men are expected to start putting in the permanent supports you head to the tunnel to inspect the job. The unskilled workers have done well and had no cave-ins, and although weak and unprofessional the temporary supports are holding out well. your about to head back and ready your men as you can see the workers digging out the last loose rock when you feel a slight thump and a tremor running through the rock. You immediately think of the loggers and run out of the mine onto the hill above. You see not far off a tree on the ground with men cutting the last side branches off ready to be slid over to the logging camp, and two larger oaks behind in the process of being felled.

You see what is happening in an instant, the trees they are felling are almost right on top of the weak tunnel and if the biggest oak they are chopping at falls, the temporary struts will snap like twigs causing a huge cave-in. You start sprinting towards the men, shouting and waving your arms to get their attention. The men are too far away so have no Idea what you are shouting but luckily you are such an odd sight as you wave your arms while running and tumbling over the uneven ground that they just all stop to stare at you until you get close enough to pant out an explanation. As soon as they hear the word cave-in they send runners to get their supervisor and the Overseer. They both run into the tunnel to assess its position and immediately agree with you, if you had been 2 minutes later the workers finishing the tunnel would have been crushed to death.
> You that evening you called in for dinner with the Owner and Overseer
You tidy yourself up as best you can before heading into the Owners stone house but you only own two sets of outfits, and both of them working leathers so theres only so much you can do. Your very relieved when the Overseer meets you to take you into the dining room in his normal working gear too.

Your taken into a small but nice room lit by a log fire and see the owner and a pretty young girl sitting at the table with food being brought in from the kitchen. The girl looks about your age and is reading a book but she puts it away as you enter. The Owner waves you and the Overseer to some seats across the table from the two of them and introduces his daughter to you, Her name is Shia and you start trying to work out if she is indeed your age when the Owner asks you to explain about the tunnel.

You relay all the information as best you can with the Overseer occasionally adding information you didn't know or had missed. At the end the Owner thinks for a minute before starting to speak.

"I took a bit of a risk hiring you, but it seems to me now, that apart from doing an excellent job, you have just saved my mine from a cave-in and most importantly saved the lives of the two workers inside. Would you agree this is a fair assessment"

You try to mumble something humble but he cuts you off and presses you for a yes/no answer.

"Then yes sir I'd agree with it." you finally reply

"Good, then from now on you are officially on my books as the assistant overseer and your contract has been upgraded to increase your pay in-line with your new position. There is also a job in my personal mining company for you as an overseer on future projects if you want it." you glance at the Overseer sitting beside you who just smiles. The owner continues "yes it was his idea and I agreed wholeheartedly with it."

You thank him profusely before matters at the table turn to the food now being laced before you. You haven't eaten so well in years so concentrate mostly on the food before joining back into the dinner conversation. Your told that the Overseer is also a family friend so he joins the owner and his daughter for a meal once a week and that your now expected along too.

Still dazed from all the good news you head back into the mine a very happy man.
> You completing the mine
You spend the rest of your time in the mine enjoying your new position and especially enjoying your time eating with the owners daughter once a week, she seems to also enjoy your company during the meals. You haven't made any moves yet to spend time alone with her but you think you'll have plenty of time to do that once the job is over if you join her fathers company. The rest of your time there passes without incident so as the final week approaches you feel a pretty good sense of achievement considering how well you did and your future prospects.

As you enter the final week you're called back into the Owners house and he say he has some options for you. You've gotten on well with him and he feels he can trust you so he is considering changing his plans and taking you back to the city a few days early. On the trip you would meet some other members of his company and some of his friends from other companies that work, not only in your city, but in neighboring cities and kingdoms too. He implies that there is a little more than he is letting on but he refuses to say anymore until you've made your choice.

He tells you that your other options are to stay out the week and head back with the other workers, he knows of two groups, one that is rushing back to the city on payday and the other is staying a few extra days then taking a leisurely route home. He wont judge you either way and the job with his company is always open to you, but if you don't come now you'll have to wait till the spring to contact him again as he is heading off to oversee another job of his soon.

> You join him for the early trip back, it sounds interesting and a trip all the way back to the city in a carriage with his daughter sounds too good to pass up
Having agreed to travel back to the city with the Owner you have to get your affairs in order, you assign supervisors to your work groups and try to do a quick final check over some wood, but you've got your men working well enough to finish the job without you now. The Overseer will be taking over from you to make sure the completion and transition from construction to full production goes smoothly, he will even have use of the owners house whenever he isn't visiting the mine.

Having said your goodbyes you join the Owner and his daughter in their small carriage and set off back to the city. A second wagon with a few guards goes ahead of you to make sure you have no trouble with bandits as your also carrying one of the first silver shipments from the mine. The trip is significantly faster with horses pulling you at a brisk trot the whole way but it still takes a couple of days and that leaves plenty of time for talking with the owner and his daughter. To her about herself, and to him about this secret he wouldn't tell you before.

You find out that he has holdings and mines not just in the lands around the city in which you grew up but in many other places too. Your home city is really a small kingdom in itself, ruling many small villages around it and a stretch of coastline long enough for several small fishing villages and ports. There are many such city states and kingdoms in the surrounding lands and yours is just above average size for the area, however your city is large and old so your kingdom has a much higher population than many others.

The guilds of course know this and trade in the main cities of all the kingdoms but your king has never really spread the information widely- you of course knew of other places but they were always spoken of as far off  and hard to get too, not borders merely a couple of weeks away by horse from the city center.

The reason he told you all this was that recently there had been a lot of tension with your nearest neighbor Carn. You had heard rumors about it, that they had been causing minor trouble over trade and fishing, small regional things that you hadn't paid much mind to, but you were now told it wasn't as simple as that. His contacts in Carn and other cities had been providing very different reports than your own rulers, your city being much larger than Carn was the one causing the problems, making demands after signing treaties and encroaching on their land. He was convinced that your King didn't know what was really happening as he had always seemed like an honest man, but many of the kingdoms decisions, and most importantly, military decisions were taken by his advisors, who were not known for being honest men.

Your given time to think over this as you finally see the city approach. As you draw near the first roadside farms your given another choice.

"Well now that you know the reality of the situation you need to decide. I know you might not believe me, you might even think I'm being treasonous in my allegations but that is why I'm offering you this chance. This farm is well under half a days walk from the City, you've had a good lunch not long ago and you have been paid very well for your work so if you want to you can leave here and walk back to the city with no strings attached. Or you can stay and we will head to the meeting."

> You decide you really dont want to be mixed up with treason and he has already paid you your wages, enough for well over a years good living, you get out.
You tell him that your grateful for all that he has done but that he is right and a lot of what he says is dangerous so you'll be hopping out now. He looks like it wasn't what he had hoped for but he just tells you that its you choice and holds the door open for you. You have a last look at his daughter who looks a little sad but you hadn't really gotten to know her yet and with over a years good money you tell yourself that your sure to meet another pretty girl in the city.

Still thinking about whether your lying to yourself concerning pretty girls in the city and if you made the right choice or not the door closes behind you and the owner calls goodbye.

You turn and wave and are just saying thank you again when you feel several punches in the back, looking down as your propelled forward you briefly have time to see at least three crossbow bolts sticking out from your chest before you land. You hear the owners daughter crying and the owner telling her that he had no choice, you could have betrayed them all and gotten thousands killed if you had talked. You think that you wish you had stayed in the carriage, you think that you wish you had talked to his daughter more.

Things quickly turn black and your stop thinking anything at all.


Having agreed to travel back to the city with the Owner you have to get your affairs in order, you assign supervisors to your work groups and try to do a quick final check over some wood, but you've got your men working well enough to finish the job without you now. The Overseer will be taking over from you to make sure the completion and transition from construction to full production goes smoothly, he will even have use of the owners house whenever he isn't visiting the mine.

Having said your goodbyes you join the Owner and his daughter in their small carriage and set off back to the city. A second wagon with a few guards goes ahead of you to make sure you have no trouble with bandits as your also carrying one of the first silver shipments from the mine. The trip is significantly faster with horses pulling you at a brisk trot the whole way but it still takes a couple of days and that leaves plenty of time for talking with the owner and his daughter. To her about herself, and to him about this secret he wouldn't tell you before.

You find out that he has holdings and mines not just in the lands around the city in which you grew up but in many other places too. Your home city is really a small kingdom in itself, ruling many small villages around it and a stretch of coastline long enough for several small fishing villages and ports. There are many such city states and kingdoms in the surrounding lands and yours is just above average size for the area, however your city is large and old so your kingdom has a much higher population than many others.

The guilds of course know this and trade in the main cities of all the kingdoms but your king has never really spread the information widely- you of course knew of other places but they were always spoken of as far off  and hard to get too, not borders merely a couple of weeks away by horse from the city center.

The reason he told you all this was that recently there had been a lot of tension with your nearest neighbor Carn. You had heard rumors about it, that they had been causing minor trouble over trade and fishing, small regional things that you hadn't paid much mind to, but you were now told it wasn't as simple as that. His contacts in Carn and other cities had been providing very different reports than your own rulers, your city being much larger than Carn was the one causing the problems, making demands after signing treaties and encroaching on their land. He was convinced that your King didn't know what was really happening as he had always seemed like an honest man, but many of the kingdoms decisions, and most importantly, military decisions were taken by his advisors, who were not known for being honest men.

Your given time to think over this as you finally see the city approach. As you draw near the first roadside farms your given another choice.

"Well now that you know the reality of the situation you need to decide. I know you might not believe me, you might even think I'm being treasonous in my allegations but that is why I'm offering you this chance. This farm is well under half a days walk from the City, you've had a good lunch not long ago and you have been paid very well for your work so if you want to you can leave here and walk back to the city with no strings attached. Or you can stay and we will head to the meeting."

> You you've come this far and his daughter is smiling at you, you may as well carry on and see where this leads.
You tell him your choice and he just smiles back then says "Well then lets go meet your new friends, I'll head up with the driver and leave you and my daughter to have the chat you've both been desperately wanting to have since you first saw each other. JUST a chat mind."

You immediately try to stammer out a response but he just laughs and climbs out and round to the drivers seat. You turn to his daughter to see she has turned an almost luminous shade of red and is desperately trying to look like she wasn't just mortified by her fathers candor.

You cant think of much to say so just go with "He did that on purpose to make this awkward didn't he?"

She seems to relax the tiniest bit as she replies that "Its just his sense of humor but he means well."

You take the opening and run with it so that you're both having a good conversation as the carriage pulls into the city and heads right through the Iron district and into the stone district, the area of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the kings court and city. Your chat is interrupted as you pull up to a small mansion and the doors are opened but you both promise to have more soon and you all head inside.
> The 'Family'
You enter the mansion and are led into a large hall with several men and women lounging in chairs or drinking wine by small tables, they turn to greet you...

Seeing that the Owner and his daughter have someone with them causes the talking to stop and everyone watches you for a while. The owner steps forward after giving them a minute to look you over.

"ladies and gentlemen this is Glor, he has proven to be a most resourceful and trustworthy man in one of my mining jobs and I feel that he would be a perfect addition to our little family. I'll be personally vouching for him"

There are mixed reactions but a beautiful lady just a little older than yourself approaches and gives you a slightly too welcoming hug "Welcome to the family Glor, I'm sure we'll get along VERY well indeed, once the music starts be sure to ask me for a dance".

As she walks away you catch a glimpse of the owners daughter with bright red cheeks glaring daggers at her back. The owner sees your slight confusion and his daughters rage and just laughs. "Right then neither of you are dressed for the occasion so you head off my dear and get ready and I'll see if I have anything to fit Glor."

You are lead through several rooms until you are in a bedroom with a butler standing waiting for you. "Glor will be joining us for dinner, do you think you could make him presentable for the evening?" The butler gives a quick nod and heads out of a side door, returning quickly with two dinner suits which he lays on the bed before circling you once. he takes one suit then heads out just leaving the one on the bed.

"Right then Glor my butler has an uncanny ability to size people up so that suit should fit you well, I'll be in the next room writing a few quick letters while you prepare".
> You your a bit overwhelmed by the rapid turn of events but you dont have much choice now so you quickly wash and dress
Having gotten yourself to what you believe is a presentable state you knock on the owners door. He emerges and gives you a once over.

"Well its not bad at all for a first try!" he smiles at you before fixing various parts of the suits that are hanging wrong and showing you how to put on cufflinks. "Well you wont ever pass for some highborn sop who lives in a mansion but I rather think that it makes you a better man for it. Now follow me, I'm sure my daughter has had enough time to change as well."

Your lead back to the large room where all tables and chairs have seemingly vanished and a small string quartet has started playing soft music, a few couples are already dancing near them on the open floor. The owner leads you to the side of the room to a small drinks bar.

"Ok its time I did my mingling and information gathering, the serious meeting shall begin in a few hours when most of the guests here are gone." He walks away towards a group of men smoking pipes before calling back "The music is just warming up, make sure you dance with at least one girl while your here!"

You're no master on the dance floor but you know the basics and as long as the songs are slow you're sure you could keep up. The music gets louder and more people move to the dance floor when you see two things happening. The Owners daughter enters the room looking beautiful in a flowing red dress and is immediately approached by several men asking her to dance, and the woman who approached you earlier detaches herself from the group she was in and slowly heads your way.
> The woman in blue is clearly coming on strong but the Owner's daughter is the one you want to dance with, head over towards her and hope she dosn't dance with someone else instead.
You start heading towards the Owner's daughter, you get close to the ring of men surrounding her and are unsure how you are going to approach this so you quickly glance back towards the woman in the blue dress. She has obviously seen you choose another girl over her flirtatious interest so gives you a stormy look before immediately slipping her arm through nearby man's who seems more than happy to take her for a dance. You look back just in time to see the Owner's daughter watching you with a huge smile on her face.

She makes quick apologies to the men around her and heads over to you, slides her arm in yours and leads you to the dance floor. "Now if I wasn't very much mistaken I just saw a handsome but nearly penniless young man spurn the advances of the beautiful and extremely rich Lady Bridleworth, just so he could ask the daughter of a merchant to dance. What do you think about my surmise?"

"I would never say your father was just a merchant..." you start before seeing her cheeky smile and start again "I'd say that the young man would be flattered to be called handsome by the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, and that he would pay every penny of Lady Bridleworth's fortune for a single dance with her. So clearly he made the right choice."

She laughs at your blatant flattery but you can tell she loves that you said it all the same and you begin dancing slowly to the music. "I must admit I'm a little surprised, I thought I'd have to teach you how to dance, being a lowly mine worker and everything."

"Well my lady" you give a slight mocking bow "This worker has many surprises to him, I'm surprised in return though, you turned down offers from a large number of eligible gentry to dance with me, lowly as I am."

"Well if you are able to turn down the most eligible Lady of marrying age in the entire kingdom just to dance with me, why shouldn't I turn down the sons of some rich idiots to dance with the man I choose?" Unable to think up a reply you simply laugh and keep dancing.

The rest of the night passes like a blur since you spend it entirely with her, dancing and talking and just enjoying every second in her company. Once the party starts ending she leads you over to her father and a group of men he is talking to and after giving you both a look over and a smile he leads you all through to a side room where a few people are starting to sit around a large table.
> The Truth
After everyone is seated the Owner addresses you "Now Glor I have explained a little of why we are here during our trip down from the mines. This family I have gathered together is for the purpose of getting the truth out and showing the king that he is being tricked. We have tried getting evidence straight to him but the rest of the council has him surrounded day and night and I cannot do anything for fear of being caught and this entire group being put in danger."

"Which is why we are sending an expedition." one of the other men joins in. "I am a commander in the 3rd company and will be sending some men along with a relief detachment to the border. they will be carrying proof of everything that has been happening over the past two years. We have had to wait this long as gathering the evidence without raising suspicion has not been easy but it is done now and we must hurry as we think the council are preparing for something big using two captured Carn ships. You will be drafted into the 3rd under my orders and send along as well, it'll become your job to help get the proof to Carn."

You think for a minute before answering. "Why are we sending the proof to Carn, why not get it to our king?"

"We tried, many times we tried, most of the men were killed and the rest searched and all the documents they had destroyed so they couldn't risk saying anything without proof, that would just lead to us all being killed before we could prove anything."

"so when does this expedition leave?"

"It was going to be in over a month, but now that you are here, the man you know as the Owner of the mine you were in has planned to make them leave in 1 week. You wont be traveling with a relief squad but the papers I provide should see that you don't come under any suspicion."
> A New Morning
You spend the night in the large mansion and you wake thinking you haven't slept anywhere so comfortable before in your life. You find fresh cloths and a note inviting you to breakfast in the solar at the end of your bed so you quickly get ready and head out of your door.  You immediately realize that you are entirely lost and have no hope of finding the right room but are luckily saved by a butler who appears to materialize beside you arm.

Once you have been guided to the solar for breakfast you are left with the owner and a table laden with food. "All from my own farms and holdings!" he says happily "Now dig in, we have a long day ahead and my daughter has 'informed' me that you are to meet her for a late lunch in the gardens. I normally would entirely ignore any order that came from my daughter but she has inherited a certain look from her mother that I know better than to argue with."

"Erm, of course that sounds lovely." you stammer, not really knowing what to say in the current situation.

"Hah! don't worry, I have no issue with the fact you both are going dopey eyed at each other since her choice in a man is hers to make, but I will give this warning, if you lead my daughter on then hurt her, I will destroy you entirely. Excellent, now that thats all been said on to business!"

You're a little shocked by his change of pace but you both soon start chatting about the up coming plans and preparations. The next few days are spent much the same way, breakfast with the owner, planning time, then lunch with his daughter before more planning. The evenings however are spent at dinners, entertaining guests and holding meetings with other members of the 'family' from around the city.
> The Plan Begins
You have spent an amazing week in the mansion, you and the owner's daughter, Amelia (You almost laughed when you heard because of the dream you had back in the mining camp) are on first name terms and getting closer than ever. Your plans have been completed too. The 'family' of conspirators had been waiting as they didn't have anyone with enough training in construction to go with their team to the front that wouldn't arouse suspicion from the council, and that is where you were to come in. You would be their team leader with a sound understanding of construction, and since you hadn't been in the city for years, you were almost entirely unknown.

The plan was simple, The council were watching all the crossing points so you and three others would be sent to the borders with paperwork saying you are new recruits from the 3rd company, the army's builders. Then you would slip across the border and meet up with an intended contact a few miles to the other side.

The morning you were due to leave the Owner (Who's name you still haven't been told) arrives late to breakfast and hands you a small cloth bundle full of documents. "These are the documents we need to get across the borders, each of you has a set and this morning we have included new information. One of the council members has managed to capture two of Carn's galleys and is now talking about some 'project spark' or something like that. We don't know what it is yet but we have included a letter in which he admits to taking the ships. You need to get these across the border before something big starts."
> You goodbyes
Having accepted your documents you finish eating quickly before heading back to your room to collect your things. The Owner has prepared you a set of nice traveling gear and also laid out some 3rd company clothing including a tunic and cloak. You've got a full set of Army issue armor in saddle bag on your horse but you'd rather not travel the whole way there in it so the tunic and cloak should be more than enough.

You head to the front of the house and find Amelia waiting for you. She looks relieved to see you "I was worried I wouldn't be back in time to see you off! I've been down in the Stone quarter collecting an order I made a few days ago. Its something I had made for you, I want you to wear it under your tunic so you remember I'm thinking about you as you travel." You're unsure what to reply and your slightly worried she has gotten you a waistcoat or something you'd never normally wear but she has already turned bright red so you simply reply "Of Course I will."

She hands you a small package which you unwrap to find a tunic made of unbelievably fine metal rings. "This is incredible, I've never seen such fine mail before!"

Clearly happy at your reaction she grins "I had one of the best armorers in the city make it, its the finest steel so its very strong but the links are small so its light and can be worn under normal clothing. This way I can keep you safe while you travel!"

Unable to think of a proper way to thank her and distracted by her smiling face being so near yours you instead step forward and give her a small kiss. She is initially shocked and almost moves away but then returns the kiss for a second before stepping away her face a beacon of red. "Well that was very forward of you Glor, now you have no choice but to return and beg my forgiveness afterwards!" The she spins on her heels and runs off. You're almost worried you really did offend her until she reaches the door and gives you a big grin and a wave before heading inside.

You hop into the carriage that is waiting for you and quickly change into the gift then slip the 3rd company tunic over the top, and its almost impossible to tell your wearing any mail. The Owner joins you and the carriage heads off to the south gate of the city.
> A New Adventure
Once at the south gate you disembark and are given a last few words of encouragement by the owner before he is driven away, leaving you and your new horse alone at the gate. You are quickly joined by a group of three men similarly dressed to yourself and you all begin the ride out of the city on the road that will turn East towards Carn.

The first few days of the trip pass quickly, you see very few travelers on the roads and the border disputes with Carn aren't enough to have a large military presence on the roads so you only have to produce your papers once, when you come across a camp of soldiers from the First Company. You decide it would seems strange to ride on by them when it was nearing dusk so you all join them at their camp and spend a nice evening chatting over cooking fires.

The next morning you are all saddled up and preparing to leave the First Company soldiers who are traveling on foot when a call is raised of a fast rider approaching on the road. You feel a sense of unease and one of your company signals for you to be ready to ride hard if needed.

As the man approaches the small camp he slow momentarily to hand down a letter from his pouch "The Old Quarter is burning, Carn has attacked us. I Need to get news to the borders quickly." You are panicked by the news since The Old Quarter is where you grew up and your remaining friends still live there. You catch his arm as he makes to leave.

"We are riding the same way, let us accompany you incase something happens on the road."

The man nods his thanks and your small group sets out at a fast pace from the camp. One of your men rides close by and whispers to you "What are you doing getting us involved here?"

"I need more information about what is going on, besides if they receive news of an attack before we get there we will look pretty suspicious but if we arrive as guards for the Councils own messenger they wont take a second glance at our reason for being there." The man still doesn't seem happy but falls back as you ride up to the messenger and ask if you can read one of the letters he is distributing since you didn't get a chance back at the camp. His orders are to give them to every military detachment he comes across on way to the border so he happily hands you one.

You ride in silence the rest of the day with only brief breaks for lunch and dinner and ride a couple of hours into the night. You finally pull up near a small stream to let the horses rest and make a temporary camp for the night. You take the opportunity to tell your companions what you learned from the letter.

A couple of mornings ago two ships bearing Carn's colours had approached the docks in the Old quarter. One had pulled up and reversed course but the other sped up and rammed the docks, it seems it was on fire and filled with burning oils and other flammable substances. The first reports were all that had come in before the letter was sent but there was a fireball that tore through a huge area of the docks and started a fire that spread through the entire Quarter of the city within minutes. It had been dry for weeks and the Old quarter was made almost entirely of ancient timbers so you could imagine the fire tearing through it. The men around the fire swore and one finally spoke up. "Its the ships that councilor captured, they burned down the old quarter themselves to start the war, I'll gut him myself for this!"

You caution him to keep his voice down but luckily the messenger sees nothing amiss about the bits he hears of your men's reactions to the news, he joins you at your fire and you all share stories of the city, especially of the Old Quarter which you hope isn't as bad as the letter implies. As the messenger gets into his bedroll for the night the man supposedly in charge of the others speaks up.

"I was sent along to ensure we got the documents across the border no matter what happened, now this news changes many things but not our mission, if we can show it wasn't Carn that sent those ships we can prove the council did it and have our revenge. We have two choices, follow Glor's plan of arriving there as the messengers guards then try to slip across after nightfall, or we dispose of him to make sure we arrive before the news does so we can get across the border before they go into a lockdown."
> You want no part of killing an innocent man so you vote for staying as his guards and risk the harder crossing.
You continue your hard ride with the messenger and after a couple more days all arrive just as the horses seem likely to give way. You are unsure what to expect but as soon as you reach the gates and the messenger shows his papers your all admitted straight away. Being with him seems to give you some official status is the guards eyes as you are all not even checked as he passes checkpoints and reaches the commanders office.

You are all left in a waiting area as he goes in, he takes your identification papers with him. After a few minutes the commander emerges with the messenger. "It seems you three haven't even entered full service yet but volunteered for a dangerous ride to escort our messenger safely here. he has spoken well of you and your intentions so you are all very welcome in my fort, even if its almost a week early! Now down to business. The fort is going into partial lockdown until the news is spread and the patrols have been updated, you'll be shown to your new bunks and be given a tour, since your duties don't start for days you'll be free to come and go around the fort to learn your way. My aide will give you new papers to this effect."

The new papers give you all the run of the forts interior and the messenger thanks you all before riding off again to deliver the letters down the line to the other forts. "It seems this was the right idea after all, these papers should make it easy to slip across the border."

"We shall see." one of the men replies
> You night Falls
As night falls over the fort you have visited and gotten your faces and papers known by many of the guards under the pretense of exploring. You all finish a late dinner in the mess hall then head back to your bunks where you have prepared your gear and hidden the documents. You quickly prepare, check Amelia's gift is in good working order and all head out.

Getting around the fort is easy for you now thanks to the leg work earlier in the day and any guards that don't recognize you let you pass after seeing your papers. You all make it to the gate without incident, however once you reach it you realize that the initial panic from receiving the news is still in full swing. You quickly think that you could slip out behind a squad going on patrol since the gate is in chaos but you are only in army issue tunics rather than full armor.

> You tag along with a squad and try to stick close so you arn't noticed when they exit.
You all move close behind a squad heading out of the gate and move into formation as if you are with them. Its all going surprisingly well until one guard remarks that is stupid for them to have men without full armor with them. They all quickly turn and point out that you are not in fact with them, and they have no idea WHO you are.

You are about to quickly try and make an excuse when one of you men tries to run for it. Sadly with so many soldiers about he is almost instantly cut down and the rest charge at you. With so many men cutting and stabbing you at once even your special mail doesn't stand a chance.


As night falls over the fort you have visited and gotten your faces and papers known by many of the guards under the pretense of exploring. You all finish a late dinner in the mess hall then head back to your bunks where you have prepared your gear and hidden the documents. You quickly prepare, check Amelia's gift is in good working order and all head out.

Getting around the fort is easy for you now thanks to the leg work earlier in the day and any guards that don't recognize you let you pass after seeing your papers. You all make it to the gate without incident, however once you reach it you realize that the initial panic from receiving the news is still in full swing. You quickly think that you could slip out behind a squad going on patrol since the gate is in chaos but you are only in army issue tunics rather than full armor.

> You pretend to be a repair squad, you are in the third company afterall and that is one of their jobs.
You realize that four men in army tunics would never get away with joining a fully armored patrol so approach the guard your selves, he seems harassed and overworked so you try to use it to your advantage. "Repair squad from the third." you announce as you hand over all of your papers at once. The man gives you all a quick glance, then obviously trying to work as quickly as possible gives the top sheet a quick glance. He sees that it has the fort commanders own signature and 3rd Company across the front so he doesn't read further and just waves you through. "Don't take too long out there, lockdown starts fully in a few hours!".

Having a guard shout you through in such a loud manner makes the rest less inclined to bother checking your paperwork so you get through the gateway without incident.

Your all thinking that this is going rather well so pick up the pace and head towards the border lines.
> The Perimeter
You reach where you think the border should be and almost shout for joy when one of your men holds up his hand and indicates to the side. You stop to listen and hear an approaching patrol. Its only a small one by the sound of it which means six men but they will still attack you on sight if they need too. You all quickly look for a place to hide but its too late and they come into view through some trees.

They immediately draw weapons and ask for identification. You decide to go with the same bluff as before so try to act clam and keep your hands away from your sword. You pull out your papers and hand them over. "We are third company, they sent us out here to do some repairs before the lockdown began."

The other soldiers seems to relax their weapons a bit at your attitude and willingness to hand over your papers. You see some confusion growing on the face of the man reading the papers and realize that he knows your papers don't allow you to leave the fort. He is about to speak when your men act first, drawing hidden knives and taking down two of the parole before they can react.

From there it turns into a bloodbath, it seems the men sent with you are very skilled fighters, but they aren't wearing armor and the patrol is. You are almost killed by a sword swing but the man pauses in surprise as his blade bounces off the hidden mail coat. You whisper a quick thank you to Amelia for her gift and saving your life as you use the flat of your blade to knock the man unconscious.

You look up to realize its over, two of your company is dead and the other survivor slightly wounded, three of the patrol are dead and the others wounded or unconscious. Saddened that they had to die you pause but the other man drags you away "It wasn't our choice and it had to be done, now move or the rest will catch us!" You listen and indeed hear the sounds of other men moving in your direction so you both run across the border and into Carn's territory.
> You carn
You are still a long journey away from Carn but the other man takes charge and leads you at a run for several miles. You both run until you finally collapse against a large rock outcrop. You help him bind up his wounds but he has lost a lot of blood and the run hasn't helped, he quickly explains that a cart will arrive here soon and that it will take you to Carn.

You let him drift off to sleep and keep watch until dawn when you see a small farmers cart coming near. You give the signal and it turns to come pick you up. You jog back over to the other man but realize he passes away from blood loss during the night. Your the last one left so you take the man's documents along with your own and get in the cart. The driver passes back some non-descript clothing and you quickly get out of your military tunic.

The trip from there involves a change of carts every few days and finally a carriage for the last few days to enable you to go faster. Eventually you reach Carn and are escorted to the King.
> The King
THIS IS THE  BEST ENDING, THE SPIES ENDING.

 CONGRATULATIONS!

Once in Carn you are taken before the king and you make your report after presenting the documents. King Hader immediately sends them to his scribes who make several copies and over the next few days they are smuggled out of Carn to all near-by kingdoms. King Hader also sends several emissaries to your City and is finally granted a cease-fire almost before the war even begins when one of your kings high council personally intervenes and tells the king that the council had been blocking Carn's requests and emissaries from reaching him. The Councilor was in fact your proprietor, the Owner, and he was able to tell the king some of the truth of the situation.

Once the king knows he was being lied to he immediately took control of the military and ordered an end to all hostile actions. He confined the council to chambers under guard until he had found out the truth. And once the truth came out the entire council bar one was hung from the city gates. Peace was made between the two kingdoms.

King Hader of Carn finally sent you back to your home city once the situation was fully resolved, he even bestowed some land and a house on the shore upon you as a reward. You are unsure what to expect from your own king upon your return but he is as welcoming as Hader had been. Once he learns that you had been given land on the coast beside the border he immediately gave you an equal plot on his side of the border meaning you now had a large holding of forest, farm and coastline in your name that spanned the borders of the two kingdoms. The man you knew as the owner is explained to have been Councilor Fenshield, one of the newest councilors in the city but due to his mines, one of the richest. He greets you warmly and invites you to his house again to recover, which you quickly accept.

There Amelia is waiting for you, she immediately rushes to you and gives you a kiss while saying how she always knew you would be successful, once you explain how her gift saved your life she almost cries before just hugging you for a few minutes.

Its not many days before you are engaged and only weeks before you and Amelia are married. The wedding is held on your new lands which could only be described as substantial and the house upon them is more of an old castle than just a house. Councilor Fenshield brought many of his scribes and accountants with him and by the time the wedding happens your land is already turning over a profit from the farmers and fishermen on it.

I'd say you lived happily ever after at this point, but that isn't always the case is it? lets just say you did have a few happy years, but after that what happens is up to you to choose.