The Coalstriker Incident

Zor, Lharvion 19, 998 YK (Day 5). Night time.

Returning from the kobold lair, Tam'elanath, Zil'dejin, Morgue, Typhus, Mikhal and Lythanis find the town is strangely still. The townspeople all seem nervous and pensive, going about their last-minute business darkly with their heads lowered. When questioned by Morgue, they can offer no reason; the impatient Zil'dejin attempts to threaten a town resident for answers ("I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE BEFORE I SHOVE MY FIST DOWN YOUR THROAT!") but this, too, is unsuccesful. The party goes to question Valthrun on the matter, but he does not respond. They move back to Lord Padraig, who rewards them with 100 gold, thanks them for their help, and sends them on their way.

On their way back to Wrafton's Inn, Typhus stops at Thair Coalstriker's smithy once again, this time to sell all the iron braziers as a source of scrap metal. He is joined by Zil'dejin, Morgue, and Lythanis, but Tam'elanath and Mikhal return to the inn to rest their battered bodies. Reluctant to do business with the one who has caused him so much anguish in the past two days, Thair is still able to see the value of the metal and so buys it, albeit at a drastically reduced price. Typhus drops the braziers on the ground, and Thair begins lifting them into a pile of materials in the back end of his small shop.

In an effort to smooth the strained relationship with the dwarf blacksmith (or so he would later claim), Typhus clears his throat, and Thair turns around to see what else he has to say, unwilling to hear but listening regardless (as on the day he arrived, Typhus had an unpleasant exchange with the dwarf in the Dwarven tongue). Typhus looks at him and says, "Allow me to make your forge even hotter." With this, he casts a spell on the unsuspecting dwarf's hearth, which literally backfires and causes it to detonate, ruining his current work, surrounding finished works, the forge itself, and a chunk of the wall that held it.

Thair immediately drops the brazier he is lifting and grabs his warhammer off the wall, completely enraged. Typhus attempts to convince Thair his intentions were nothing but good, but Thair does not listen. He then attempts to intimidate the dwarf, but this, too, fails. Morgue uses his superior powers of persuasion on the dwarf, but it is too late; Thair is blind with rage at the Tiefling who has caused him so much frustration and has now ruined his livelihood. He leaps over the stone counter, hammer raised. Typhus fires an Acid Arrow at him - among his most powerful spells - but it just grazes Thair, who proceeds as though nothing has happened. He cracks Typhus in the skull with the hammer, who staggers under the impact, but fires off a Scorching Burst. Thair appears to be only minimally affected, and smashes Typhus with his shield, sending him unconscious. He then moves to the ruins of his forge to grab a still-glowing coal.

Meanwhile, Zil'dejin - preferring not to get involved - leaves the smithy. Morgue attempts to lift Typhus off the ground, but finds himself unable. Lythanis tries to persuade the dwarf to stop his assault, but again, he does not listen. He returns to Typhus with a hot coal in tongs, and places the coal in his mouth, then stomps on his chest. Typhus, highly resistant to heat and fire, is not particularly affected by the coal, but is nearing death from Thair's savage beating.

Morgue offers a kind of settlement to the situation, perhaps with monetary compensation, and Thair finally slows to consider. He agrees to let Typhus live on the grounds that he may have all the money Typhus is carrying. Morgue takes Typhus' gold and hands it to Thair, who relents. Hearing the commotion calm within, Zil'dejin returns to the interior to see the conclusion. It is at this time that two city guards arrive, drawn by the ruckus.

They ask what is going on, and administer a potion to Typhus, who is on the verge of death. He gets up to his knees, and the four try to explain their side while Thair gives his take, explaining how Typhus destroyed his forge. The guards extract a pair of metal shackles to bind Typhus and take him for questioning, but Typhus casts a spell to make the cuffs invisible (though the guard is still holding them). Lythanis attempts to steal Typhus' money back from Thair by lifting his bag telekinetically, but his satchel is firmly held to his body and he fails. Thair reacts harshly to this attempt at theft, and the guards try to calm him down as he begins swinging his hammer blindly again. While this occurs, Morgue attempts to steal the invisible shackles, but fails because he cannot see them.

Finally, the guards are led to believe that Thair has gone insane, sends the party on their way and are eventually able to put the invisible shackles on the enraged dwarf. The party sees him being dragged out of the forge in the invisible shackles, screaming madly and incoherently in the Dwarven tongue. They go back to Wrafton's Inn to join Tam'elanath and Mikhal and get some sleep.