The meal was savory as the hearty woman focused on eating it.  She sat upon a stool at the bar, decked in her leather armor, the details giving away a personal craftsmanship of either an artist or a noble.  Though not immediately discernible with a careless glance about the room that the woman was of dwarven heritage thanks to her perch, it was not something she hid and a seconds attention made it obvious that the former of the two possibilities must have been true.  A Holy Symbol laid across her chest, marking a paladin of Moradin.  Slender baubles dangled from her ears and her ebon hair was intricately braided with decoration, something a little less common amongst her kind to this degree.  The dwarf woman had just finished her prayers and preparation, which gave her plenty of time for the minutia before coming down to a late brunch, where she just as easily distracted her mind with further thoughts and prayer.<br/><br/>Siomarra Orefall pushed two silver pieces between her fore and middle fingers to the keep.  "Thank you," she said, inclining her already downcast face.  She was a woman of few words, which made each sincere, whether or not the receiver of them regarded them so.  Often it made her appear standoffish or arrogant, which wasn't her intention, but it made handling people difficult for her sometimes - smallchat, at the very least, was a burden.  In the time she had been here, Siomarra had little information into why she had been summoned.  However, she watched. What people did not say spoke volumes to her, and she would simply have to interpret until someone made themselves open to her - it wasn't likely she was going to magically learn how to communicate well any time soon.   If she speculated enough with herself, Siomarra might have realized this was because she didn't consider herself in the wrong - dwarves were just like that, and people would have to deal with her as such.<br/><br/>The tavern was full of all sorts.  Most notably, in the back corner, a pair of drow kept - noisily maybe - to themselves.  Unfortunately, what they were and the mumblings of the elder woman did not give them the privacy that keeping to oneself usually desired, which must've been something they were used to, brazenly staring about the room as if prepared for any challenge.  They had been here at least as long as Siomarra had, but maybe they were also considered amongst the local.  Marine towns like this frequently housed the various, even rejected, of society.  However, that didn't make them any less rejected, if the odd looks sent in either direction were any indication, but it wasn't anything disharmonious beyond the norm.  All-in-all Siomarra had been impressed with the people here themselves, nothing or no one of any particular importance or shade.<br/><br/>Except their late Lord, Horshir.  If there was anything she picked-up from tidbits of conversation it was regarding his untimely, uncertain death, a disappointment compared to the hush about the mines, where her interest lied.  He wasn't necessary beloved, but that was typical of those classed above the heads of most others, and it was still sad news to spread about Cair'Morian, particularly so shortly after she arrived. That was all well and good, maybe if she had come to investigate his death or earlier, even, to stop it.  Unfortunately, it had not yet come to her why she sat in this particular Inn on this particular continent, one she had never visited prior.<br/><br/>The drow woman sat-up straight, staring forward, drawing Siomarra's close attention.  She seemed as scatterbrained as any senile creature might be, and something that grabbed their attention so thoroughly could mean a great many things - usually just an old memory returning, but Siomarra could use a story right now, especially if it had anything to do with this place.  Sometimes patience was the greatest tool on any belt.<br/><br/>"Go seek that which is hidden beneath Cor'toran," she said, catching Siomarra's attention in full.  "For there treasure lies unbidden, Hidden by hands long forgotten, Around a time when none would know. Beware for much evil can be seen, Growing in darkness, Day by day. The world hangs in one balance, What will happen none will know, Safe those whose hands will shape the fold."<br/><br/>A chill climbed the dwarfs back at the words.  She wished she had remembered the Undercommon taught her as a child, but she was beyond such lessons at her age anymore.  Those words, though, she knew were meant for her, and while she did not understand their meaning, she did understand that.  What had she been mumbling before?  Would it have been useful to the paladin's purpose?  It did not matter now, as the time was passed and the opportunity lost.  Instead she fixated on her yolk-smothered meatslab a time longer, considering what it was that she did know.<br/><br/>What Siomarra could not get people to speak about she could see.  The people of Cair'Morian were nervous, afraid even, refusing to indulge the dwarf with questions of their mine, and behaving in favor of odd superstitions, traffick slower if not dead to the South, in the direction in which it laid.  She was not a local and thus had not gained their trust, but the body could speak leagues louder than the tongue, and it was to this she listened.  In fact, the old woman, she asked for tea, voice altered dramatically from the way she had chanted like her posture from throwing those stones - which Siomarra recalled to detail, sorting through her knowledge of such things; maybe the drow had been praying and it was her duty to aid or enlighten her.  If they approached the bar, the paladin might make it her business to ask.<br/><br/>~~~<br/><br/>Rolls and info<div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;"><span style="font-weight: bold">HP</span> 10hp, no damage sustained<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Money:</span> 6.5gp, having spent money on the two days stayed in the inn at two meals a day<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Skill Checks:</span><br/>Gather Information was a 10, Listen was a 9 (warranting no information in itself), Sense Motive 3, and Spot 17.<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="https://creativefreedomrpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&amp;t=44759&amp;p=272375#p272375">Now rolling</a> for Knowledge and Appraise, for the stones Breoht is throwing; and Sense Motive, specifically for Brecht (and Ceorshian unless you'd prefer I do this separately in my next post) <br/><br/><br/>Uh... I think that's it for this situation.  I can list her prepared spells here, too, if need be, probably: Create Water, Cure Light Wounds, Protection from Evil, Resistance, Lesser Restoration, and... lets do Read Magic (if those are spelled runes, would she be able to read it? If it's in a language she doesn't know?)</div></div></div>