Characters

Jari Stihl-Tewth - a dwarven female

You were born Jari Prshtu, the oldest of 12 children. Your family made its home in the small coastal town of Sea Kay. Your family had moved there from the other continent when you were about 20. Your father, Fritz Prshtu, made a meager living as the owner and sole employee of Prshtu Locks and Security, the town locksmith.

One did not survive in a family of 12 as a passive child. Some of your brothers and sisters referred to you as pushy, but you preferred the term shrewd. It certainly took negotiation, diplomacy and sometimes even a bit of deception to get any special favors in your family.

You had begun taking an interest in the family business at a young age. Per dwarven tradition, as the eldest child, you would take over the family business. It wouldn't hurt to bone-up a little early, so you had begun a collection of various keys, locks, picks and other tools of the trade. Your father had passed on some of his broken and obsolete devices to you for study. You had catalogued the keys by lock type with the correct tools for use in picking the locks. Occasionally, your father would let you examine different types of locks that he had in stock. You made diagrams of every locking mechanism for future reference.

You had started to mount up quite a file and even occasionally could provide a reference to your father on some of the older locks that were no longer being built. The only problem was keeping your files straight. With 11 other kids constantly running around, nothing could possibly be kept private.

There were several advantages to having a lot of siblings. For one, chores could be split up so that no one child had to do that much work. Also, there was always someone around to play with. However, the disadvantage was that nothing in this family was private property. You had, on several occasions, found several of your keys or lock picks missing. Now another advantage, or disadvantage depending upon how you looked at it, of having such a large family was that nothing could be kept secret. Usually, bribery or extortion of some family member would reveal the whereabouts of your missing things.

It aggravated you tremendously that your files were disturbed, but another thing you learned as the eldest of 12 was patience. Your initial reaction to any situation always seemed to be the wrong one. Hastily yelling at or even hitting a sibling rarely achieved the desired response (and usually resulted in bringing punishment on yourself). If you could restrain yourself long enough to think about the problem, to devise a plan of action, usually the situation could be worked out to your advantage.

Your knack for planning would soon pay off for both you and your family. Your father had complained of slow business recently. He was considering different ways of gaining some new clients. You had overheard him discussing this problem with your mother and taken it upon yourself to come up with a plan.

Some of the biggest clients in the area were the 2 local inns, the Sea Kay Inn and the Inn of Sea Kay. These clients constantly needed new keys, having customers locked out, and needing locks changed. Due to the volumes involved, the inns could get cheaper deals from some of the bigger locksmiths in Ypsilanti or Pittsburgh. However, it occurred to you that your father could offer something that the other guys couldn't: local service. There was nothing more frustrating to an inn than to have an angry customer unable to get into a room due to a jammed or broken lock. Thinking about it further, you were hit with a stroke of genius. This idea would be advantageous to both the business and you personally.

You decided to approach your father. "Father, I have heard you speaking to mother about dwindling business. I think I have an idea of how to boost sales. You could provide 24-hour service. This would certainly be appealing to some of the local inns, among others."

"Hmm," your father said as he considered the idea. "Twenty-four hour service would certainly be attractive, but I can't be in the shop all the time. We really can't afford to hire another person. I don't think..."

"I already thought of that," you cut him off. Now this was where the true genius of your plan came in. "We can put a cot up in the office area, and I can spend the evenings there. If any late calls come in, then I can come home and get you. As I learn more of the business, I can even start to handle some of the calls myself."

You really hoped he bought this. You would have your own space down at the shop and get to spend more time away from this mob of a family. Additionally, you would be more involved with the business and could prepare yourself further for the day when you would be the boss.

"Well, I suppose it's worth a shot," your father said. "Tomorrow I'll get an add into the paper announcing our new around-the-clock service. Get your stuff together and we'll clear out a space for you down at the shop."

The privacy of the shop was certainly different than home. At first, you enjoyed being able to keep your own things exactly the way you liked them, with no one around to mess everything up. But the longer you worked nights in the shop, the lonelier you became. You guessed that you had just gotten used to having a lot of other people around.

You decided to take advantage of the time at night to clean up your father's files. He had picks stored with the wrong locks, missing documentation, and improperly marked files everywhere. It was quite a mess. Over the next few months, you completely reorganized all the shop's records, including billing (where you found several gold pieces worth of overdue bills). You also merged in your personal files. This brought the total number of documented locks on file to 152. As you re-filed, you studied. You memorized the inner workings of all of the different locks. You also found some documentation on some of the traps your father had worked on for the mayor's palace (he was big on security). You diligently studied these as well.

You also began going on several jobs with your father. He taught you the skills of a locksmith. You caught on quickly, employing the knowledge you had gained studying the files. Soon, your father began to let you take a few calls on your own. Also, your father began sharing some of the night shifts with you, occasionally letting you run the shop during the day so you could get a chance to spend some time with the family.

Life as a locksmith was not as glamorous as it is often made out to be. It was hard to imagine all the different people who repeatedly managed to lock themselves out of their house or office. Out of all your frequent customers, however, the owner of the music store down the street, Maxwell Septigenarian, took the cake. By your records, the old halfling had required your services at least 12 times over the past 5 years - possibly even more than that, it was hard to tell with some of your father's poor record-keeping.

One evening, a few years back, you were in the shop, gathering some notes and belongings, packing for a trip you were taking to East Lansing. You were pretty excited about the trip; you had heard a lot about the big city. There was a big seminar there about some new sort of ultra-secure lock created by the famous gnomish inventor, Tap Brthzpn. You had about 20 minutes remaining before your stage left for East Lansing and you were just about ready to walk out the door, when who walks in but Septigenarian.

You cut him off immediately. "Sorry Max, I got a stage to catch in 20 minutes. Dad should be back soon, he can take care of you."

"Oh no, no, no," he replied excitedly. "I don't want you to miss your stage, but ah..." he seemed to lose his train of thought momentarily. "There are these guys, they want to spend a lot of money in my shop. They say they need the hai-sixbar. But they're in a big hurry. It could be a really big sale for me, please."

"OK," you agreed. You knew the lock like the back of your hand. You could have it picked in seconds and be off to the seminar. After all, this guy was a pretty good customer.

You headed down the street with tools in hand to open up Max's music shop. You got there and immediately noticed five big men in platemail armor, helmets, and flowing capes. They had large swords mounted to their sides and were standing rather anxiously near the shop's front door. You couldn't imagine what these guys would want with a hai-sixbar, whatever that was.

Maxwell spoke. "Sorry to keep you waiting fellas. She's a pro, we'll be inside in no time."

"Yes, we don't have time to dilly-dally," said one of the big men in a booming voice.

You examined the lock, only to find that the silly oaf had not merely locked himself out as usual, but had managed somehow to break the key off in the lock. This was going to be a much more delicate operation than you had thought. "You didn't tell me you broke off the key," you said, frustrated.

You went to work on the lock. Fifteen minutes until the stage left. The armored guys waited intently behind you, looking over your shoulder. That key was jammed in there pretty good. You had just managed to expose enough of the key where you might be able to gently slide it out the rest of the way. You tried to grab the broken key with a pair of small pliers and remove it, but you didn't get a good grip and ended up jamming it back into the lock. Damn! Only 10 minutes left. You really didn't want to miss this seminar. There. You had it exposed again. Another try with the pliers. Slowly, gently, slide it out. Make sure you have a good grip this time. Got it! Now quickly pop open the lock. There was the release. Click. No problem. A little over 5 minutes left to catch the stage.

"Yes!" cried Maxwell. "Thank you, thank you! If you hurry you can still catch the stage. Run! Run like the wind!"

So you did. Down the street, you looked back to see the five armored guys hurriedly coming out of the shop, carrying some sort of huge one-man-band-thingy on a pogo stick with bells, cymbals and... was that a bicycle horn? You ran on. Although terribly fatigued, you just managed to catch the stage.

East Lansing was a huge city, bustling with activity. You think you may have read that there was some kind of event going on here this week. You kept seeing signs about some sort of Great Hunt or something. Oh, yes, you remembered now. This was how the Kingdom of East Lansing selected its government. The Great Hunt was like a huge scavenger hunt. The winners all got on their Council with the top finisher being the Grand Pooh-bah. It really seemed kind of silly to you, but you guessed that it worked for them.

Now, where was the Library of the College of East Lansing? That was where the seminar was to be held. According to the directions you had been sent, it must be just down this road. Yes, there. You could see it in the distance. You approached the grand old brick building and were just about to open the door, when a gnome and two other guys in a big hurry charged out the door, knocking your briefcase from your hand and spilling papers all over the sidewalk. You started to recollect your spilled things.

The gnome stopped. He started to help you pick up your stuff. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, miss. It's just that we're in such a hurry...."

You looked up, meeting his gaze for the first time. He had a cute little smile and a sort of twinkle in his eye. "That's OK," you said. "Accidents happen."

After a minute one of the other guys, a tall human who had ran ahead, stopped and yelled back, "Come on Khelven. We gotta get over to the Map Shop."

The gnome seemed to ignore him and continued picking up your stuff. "Go ahead. I can get the rest," you said.

"Well, all right," he said. "Nice meeting you," he said and then he ran off to catch up with his friends.

It occurred to you right then that this wouldn't be the last you would see of the polite little gnome.

The seminar turned out to be horribly boring. The inventor, Tap Brthzpn was so long-winded it was incredible. The lock itself was very interesting from a technical standpoint, but with such a dry speaker, you constantly had to fight just to stay awake. You grabbed some literature and cut out of there early.

You decided to take some of your extra time to see some of the sights of the big city. It was certainly very impressive. There seemed to be so many interesting people so much to see and do. There were museums, theaters, and even a zoo. You thought that you might want to live in East Lansing some day.

But for now, you would return to your hometown of Sea Kay and resume your not so glamorous life as a locksmith.

A few days after your return from East Lansing, another excited customer came barging into the shop. It was Mack Howell, the pharmacist from down the street. "You muzt come qvickly. I have locked myzelf out of zee curink room. Ze herbs in zair are very expenzif. Zay must not over cure."

So you rushed down the street to the pharmacist's shop. The lock was really very simple. You had it picked and were in the room in no time flat, much to the relief of the troubled pharmacist. He rushed into the hot room, quickly removing several trays of herbs.

He was delighted. "You have zaved the herbs. Zank you very much. Vait. Zanks are not enough. You have zaved me a large amount of money. As a revard for you efforts, I vill give you zeese special herbal pills." He disappeared behind his counter and came back with four different small bottles of pills. Each bottle contained five doses. "Zeese will make you veel better if you are hurt, zeese will give you an extra burzt of energy," he said pointing at the various small bottles. He continued, "Zeese will improve your strengzt and zeese here, vill cure you if you get bit by a znake or zomezing like zat. You muzt take zem, I inzizt."

You really didn't know what you would do with the pills, but the guy would probably be insulted if you refused, so you took them. They might come in handy some day, who knows? You labeled each of them and filed them away in your personal things.

Business soon began to prosper. Your twenty-four hour service idea really began to pay-off, as many of the larger businesses in Sea Kay became customers. Things were going so well, that you and your father could no longer handle the shop by yourselves. A couple of your brothers were brought in so that they could learn the business as well.

You continued your efforts to expand the business, this time turning your emphasis to security. You landed a huge contract to revamp the security on the mayor's vault. You had several new styles of traps that the mayor wanted placed to safeguard his personal fortune. This was quite a large account.

You had pretty much mastered the skills of a locksmith. You really couldn't see yourself living the rest of your life here, running the family business. Walking home from the shop one day, you noticed a kid on the street selling the East Lansing Gazette. You wondered what was going on in the big city that you had visited a few years back. You decided to buy a copy.

An ad immediately caught your attention. "Issac's Bar seeks a detail oriented person with management experience to maintain the tavern's finances and accounting. Forward resume to Big John Drott."

This was the perfect opportunity. You were nothing if not detail oriented and you certainly had management experience. The idea of living in East Lansing appealed to you. You decided to apply for the position. The letterhead bore the name of the tavern, Issac's Bar and was signed by Big John Drott."

It wasn't long after you had sent in your resume that you received a reply from East Lansing. "We are very impressed with your qualifications. Please come for an interview." The time and place were specified in the letter. They wanted you to come to East Lansing next week.

You again packed your things for East Lansing. Luckily this time there were no last minute jammed locks.

You managed to find the establishment very easily. The tavern was in an excellent location in a very busy section of town. This place definitely had the potential to do a lot of business. You walked in during the lunch rush and were surprised to find the place relatively empty. You overheard a waitress at a nearby table taking an order.

"Yes," the gentleman sitting at the table said, "I'll have a Malted Ale."

"Umm, I'm sorry the waitress replied, we're out of that right now."

"All right, I'll have a Golden then," replied the man.

"Sorry..." the waitress started.

"Out of that too?" the man cut her off. "Lager?"

The waitress shook her head.

"Do you, in fact, have any ale at all?"

"No," the waitress admitted reluctantly.

"Well, I'm afraid Doc's will have to suit me then," the man said as he walked out of the bar and down the street to the competitors.

Hmm. A tavern without any ale. After witnessing this scene you could definitely see why these guys needed somebody to manage the bar.

A rather large human behind the bar took notice of you and rushed from behind the counter to greet you. "You must be Jari," he said in a deep voice. "It's excellent to have you here. Please come into the back room here where we can talk."

He introduced himself as Big John Drott, one of the two partners in the bar. The other partner was out trying to get a rush order of ale delivered. He should be back in time to talk with you before the interview was concluded.

You and Big John spent about an hour talking. He asked you about your experience at the locksmith shop and seemed very impressed with your background. You pointed out that since you started working at the shop, the business had more than tripled in size.

He told you about how he and his partner had acquired the bar. There used to be some sort of famous metal bar that was at one time built into one of the walls of the place. This metal bar was an item in the Great Hunt that had occurred a few years back. Big John's team had bought the place and moved it to East Lansing. The team actually managed to win the hunt and their sponsor; a man named Pharandondalae was now the Grand Pooh-bah. After the hunt had ended two of the team members bought out the other guys and decided to run the place as a business.

You liked Big John. He was very focused. He seemed to be a man of few words, but he had such a commanding and powerful demeanor. You were quite enthused about working with this man.

Big John then went back out into the bar to see if the other partner had returned. In a few minutes, he returned with his partner following.

The partner, a gnome, introduced himself as Khelven Stihl-Tewth. Wait a minute, this guy looked familiar, you thought aloud, "Khelven?"

The gnome seemed to recognize you too. "The papers, from the library during the Great Hunt, right?"

"Yes," you said, "you have an excellent memory."

"Thank you," he replied. "It's very nice to meet you under more pleasant circumstances."

Indeed it was. You talked a bit longer with both partners before the interview drew to a close. The two men said they would be in touch. You gathered your things and prepared to head back home. As you approached the door to leave, Khelven came running out of the back room.

"Wait!" he yelled from across the room. He walked up to you. "I would be delighted if you could join me for dinner."

"Of course," you replied. You were in no hurry to get back home.

"Great," he replied as he flashed that cute smile of his. "Why don't you find us a table, and I'll order us some dinner and join you in a few minutes."

He then disappeared into a back room. A few minutes later, a waitress came over with a glass of red wine. "Complements of Mr. Stihl-Tewth," she said. You tasted the wine. Cabernet. Your favorite.

You savored the wine and had nearly finished the glass when Khelven finally reappeared. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said. "I've been discussing the position with Big John and we are in agreement. We would like you to start immediately. Are you interested?"

You had been thinking it over while you waited and had decided that this job was exactly what you wanted. "I can start tomorrow," you replied without hesitation.

You had dinner that night with Khelven. It was quite an enjoyable evening. You found that the two of you had a lot in common, and conversation came very easily.

You temporarily moved into an inn down the street. Their locks were in pretty bad shape. You left a brochure for the manager.

Somehow, you needed to get the rest of your things and your clothing here. You sent a messenger to Sea Kay, explaining that you had decided to take the position in East Lansing and asking your family to pack up your stuff and have it sent here. You promised that you would be home to visit soon.

The records at the bar were in bad shape. They guys kept no records of inventory, customer tabs were stuffed randomly in drawers here or there, some long overdue. Receipts were thrown into a basket near the cash box where it looked like they collected until someone stuffed them into another unorganized filing cabinet. This place was even in worse shape than your father's shop when you took it over. You worked late at night trying to whip the place into shape.

When you weren't working, you were spending time with Khelven. He took you around the city, showing you the various sights. He told you long tales of his adventures on the Great Hunt team. It all sounded very exciting.

Finally, your things arrived from Sea Kay. You had bought enough clothing to get you by for a week or so, but you were almost out and you really didn't want to spend more money on new things you really didn't need. You opened the boxes only to find a huge mess. Clothes were stuffed everywhere, other belongings just hastily thrown into the box. Your family was such a bunch of slobs. You guessed you should have expected this. Oh, no. You found the herbal pills that the old pharmacist had given you. The bottles had either broken or popped open and all the pills were mixed in with your clothing. Now you didn't know which pills had what effects. You picked them up and sorted them by size and color. You didn't want to use any of the pills now just to find out what they did. Maybe you could ask the old pharmacist the next time you were in town.

Things continued to improve at the bar. You got things organized to the extent that the bar was no longer out of certain key items. You billed out all the overdue tabs. This alone brought in enough money to pay your salary for the next 3 months. Next you started an advertising campaign in the East Lansing Gazette. You decided to play off the fact that the bar was owned by champions of the Great Hunt. That seemed to be a pretty big thing around here. Before long, business was steadily increasing.

As you got the files and inventory of the bar into shape, you had more free time on your hands. You and Khelven started spending more and more time together. Soon, the two of you had fallen in love. You had worked at the bar almost a year when Khelven proposed marriage.

So, you returned to Sea Kay for the wedding. It would be a small affair, just with immediate family and close friends. The families seemed to get along well together. You and Khelven spent a week honeymooning in the mountains.

Before heading back to East Lansing, you remembered the mixed-up pills and decided to stop back in town and pay a visit to old Mack Howell the pharmacist. The shop was closed. You asked around and found that Mack had died of natural causes a few days before. Well, if you ever had a need for the pills, you would just have to guess until you got the right one.

Soon after your return to East Lansing, Isa Skbar, the Gnomish Prince approached Khelven. It seemed that several gnomes had been disappearing from around East Lansing. He was very concerned about these gnome-nappings. The government of East Lansing was doing little to resolve the problem. He had decided to enter a team in the Great Hunt. He reasoned that if he became the Grand Pooh-bah or even secured a place on the council, he would be in a better position to stop the gnome-nappings.

You were concerned for Khelven. The Great Hunt could be very dangerous. But this was important to him. The situation with the disappearing gnomes had bothered him for some time and now he was in a position to help. The Gnomish Prince desperately needed experienced hunters. You reluctantly agreed that it was for the best.

Some time after that, Khelven met with an old buddy of his, Crutches the Thief. Someone named "the Thief" didn't seem like a very savory individual to you. But Khelven insisted that he was a good guy and you trusted his judgment. This Crutches guy had apparently been in some sort of trouble and now needed a legitimate job. Khelven thought it would be great to have his old friend as a third partner in the bar. You had discussed looking for a third partner anyway, with Khelven planning to prepare for the Great Hunt and Big John working another job as Security Officer for Pharondondalae. You were kind of wary, however. This guy had been in trouble and it was not wise to do business with friends. Khelven argued that it had worked out okay so far with Big John Drott. That was true, you agreed, but there was something about this Crutches that didn't sit right with you.

Big John didn't seem real hot on the idea either. But Khelven really seemed to want this, so you helped him convince Big John to take on Crutches as a third partner. You agreed that he would just be a silent partner. Finally Big John gave in.

Crutches seemed very interested about a few different aspects of the operation. Who were our suppliers? Our biggest customers? Etc. Etc. You talked to Khelven about this. He said that he had explained to Crutches that he wouldn't be involved in the day to day operations of the place. Apparently he was just taking an interest in the new place, and that was good, wasn't it?

After Crutches bought into the bar, everything continued as usual, at first. Then Crutches started bringing shady characters into the bar at all hours of the evening.

These ruffians were really starting to bother Big John. He started putting a great deal of pressure on Khelven to confront Crutches. Khelven agreed that the new crowd wasn't the type of customer you really wanted in the bar. But at least he took them into a back room, away from the customers. Additionally, it didn't seem to be hurting business.

That much was true. You had managed to negotiate lower prices on all your wines and beers. You threatened going to another supplier and, since you had sold such a large volume of liquor and ale, your current vendor could simply not afford to lose you as a customer. The new lower rates allowed you to keep the same prices and increase your profits by 40% at the same time.

The situation with Crutches and his rowdy friends continued to worsen. The whole thing came to a crescendo when Crutches was arrested in the bar one evening. You were sitting there conversing pleasantly when the town guard came into the bar and cuffed him. He claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, but you didn't know whether to belief him or not. Big John would certainly be displeased.

The next day, you had the unfortunate task of telling Big John of the events of the previous evening. "Well", you started, "it had gotten pretty quiet. Most of the regulars had gone home, and Crutches and I were having a rather nice conversation. I was cleaning up and he was sipping a drink when the police came."

"At least most of the customers were gone", Big John said.

Khelven asked Big John to pull some strings with Pharondondalae but he would have no part of that. He said that there was no way that he was going to jeopardize his job for some low-life. He had just gotten promoted to Senior Security Officer. Khelven eventually went and bailed him out with some of the money from the bar. He promised Big John that his share would be repaid in full.

"Well, well, well..." Big John said as Crutches walked into the bar. "If it isn't Crutches the jailbird!"

"Hey, wait just a minute, BJD", he tried to defend himself, "I didn't do anything wrong. It was a case of mistaken identity!"

"Yea, right", Big John huffed. "I don't care what it was, we're not bailing your good for nothing hide out of trouble again. Do you know we could have lost the bar?" Big John seemed really mad.

"Hold on now", Khelven interrupted. "Let's not say things we're going to regret."

"I know you're fond of Crutches, dear", you felt you needed to say something here, "but if he gets into trouble, it will reflect on all of us. Maybe we can work out some arrangement..."

"Arrangement!" Big John yelled. "Jari, just because you can smooth talk some ruffians down at the docks doesn't mean you can rehabilitate this... this... thief!" With that, Big John stormed out of the place.

The next day, things would take a turn for the worse. Much worse. Khelven mentioned to you that he needed to speak with you and Big John about Crutches. He wanted to come to some compromise. You told Khelven that your were sick of him always siding with Crutches. Why should you be stuck with all of the work, and that Crutches not help out a bit? The place started to get busy, and you usually would be leaving for the shipyards to arrange delivery for the day's shipments. Khelven must have felt sorry that no one was helping you. He offered to go in your place.

You were so busy that you didn't even notice that it was a couple hours later and Khelven hadn't returned yet. No need to panic you figured. He probably just stopped to chat with some old buddies or something. But then lunchtime came and he still hadn't returned.

You called the town guard. They began searching around for your missing husband. Big John returned and went out looking himself. You and Big John decided to call in Crutches to see if he had seen Khelven.

A bit later, Crutches walked into the bar.

"What in Hades happened?" he asked.

"Well", Big John started, "it seems Khelven left early to get today's shipment at the docks. When he wasn't back at lunchtime, Jari sent one of the busboys to go look for him. The wharf manager said that he didn't seen Khelven at all that day. Jari sent for me, thinking I might know where he was. Then we sent for you. Now we have no idea where he is, and with the rumors of gnome-nappings flying around, I'm starting to get worried."

"It's all my fault", you sobbed, now starting to lose control. "Khelven said that he wanted to talk to me and John about you, Crutches. I said I wasn't about to do all the work around here just to hear Khelven tell me and John to leave you alone. Khelven told me that he would go pick up the shipments. And now he's gone! If I wasn't so selfish, he'd be here!"

"Now, now", Big John said, putting a comforting arm around you. "If it's anyone's fault, it's Crutches'! I knew those 'friends' of yours would only give us trouble! I'm sorry they ever let you out of jail!"

You now lost it completely and buried your face in your hands, weeping uncontrollably.

"But, but..." Crutches stammered. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"That's right! You never do anything wrong", Big John countered. "Those girls with paternity suits, those hooligan friends of yours, and the jail time! Just get out of here before I... I..."

Big John was starting to lose control. You had never seen him so angry. His eyebrows began to twitch and he was clenching and unclenching his fists. Luckily for him, Crutches got out of there fast.

You and Big John puzzled into the night but were at a loss. All you could do was wait.

As if things couldn't be worse, Crutches went out and got himself arrested again in the middle of this whole thing. Big John said something about him trying to steal silverware from Hammerhan. You hoped he was OK, but he was the least of your worries now.

A couple of weeks had passed and still Khelven had not turned up. You decided that you had spent enough time feeling sorry for yourself. It was time to take some action. Then you remembered the Gnomish Prince and his Great Hunt team. Surely this was the only way to get to the bottom of the situation. You traveled to the gnomish capital of Slgrthzk for an audience with the Prince.

"Sir," you addressed the Prince. "As you know, my husband, Khelven Stihl-Tewth has disappeared. As his wife, I would like to join your team in his place. I am a skilled locksmith and trap-detector and I have excellent management skills. Also, I have some herbal pills with special powers which are sure to be helpful during the Hunt."

"Well, you certainly have a strong motivation to win this Hunt," the Prince replied. He agreed to make you the leader of the team in your husband's place.

You recruited one team member, a talented Cleric of Geb named Plemmy Flrpn. Isa Skbar recruited two key members of his military forces, another guy with superb fighting abilities who had rescued a gnome from being gnome-napped, and one of his personal advisors, who was an expert in gnomish history. The last team member was none other than the famous inventor, Tap Brthzpn. He agreed to contribute a couple of his latest inventions, a robot and a flying machine, to the team provided he could take part.

Your team was formed. You hoped that Khelven could hold on, wherever he was, until your team could win the Hunt and get Isa into power.