Alydrezea’s pale eyes sparkled, fully enamored by Kara’s daring story. “What did you steal?”
“Not sure.” The thief said with some slight embarrassment. “All I know is it was a ten-inch sphere of solid emerald, with dragons carved into it, and top it off I had overheard someone mention it was a magic item. I figured stealing that would set me up for life in Iroas. But you all saw how that turned out.”
Grukk leaned in, just as invested as his druidic companion at this point. “So, you managed to sell it?”
Kara turned away her gaze, a blush on her amber skin. “Not exactly…the Stripes had an alarm set up for that orb. When it was triggered, they almost caught me. It felt like the whole damn city of Raja was after me! I managed to escape into the cart of a foreign trader who was leaving the city. We were just ahead of the guards and Stripes chasing me….but I lost the Orb. Had to pickpocket my way from The Obsidian Pass to Iroas. The rest you already know.”
The party was quiet for a moment, taking in the ending of her tale. “The Stripes?” Alydrezea’s soft voice broke the silence. “Who are the Stripes?”
“That’s what the guild of thieves called themselves. The head honcho is called ‘The Stripped Lord’ or ‘The Tiger’. A bit on the nose if you ask me.”
“And you think these Stripes will notice you in Raja?” Grukk questioned with a serious look of concern on his face.
“Most likey….” Kara’s face looked worried.
The others all silently agreed. “Then, we will do our best to stay out of Raja. After all, what we’re looking for is in the Living Desert, correct?”
Kara nodded, face splitting in a half smile. His armor clanked as they walked along the road. The river was behind them now, and soon their next stop was upon them.

The Obsidian Pass is a huge, natural canyon. It was carved out by violent volcanic activity in the past. The Dwarves build an enormous Hold there. Its walls climb high into the sky, and its streets delve into the depts of the earth. There are rumors that it even connects into the Underdark. The mighty Hold is made of stone of solid black, trimmed with gold. Great statues of Dwarven Gods stood fifty feet high at either side the entrance. On the left of the massive iron portcullis, the statue of the Dwarf God Moradin stands with anvil and hammer. Standing firm on the Right, was Berronar Truesilver; Dwarf Goddess of hearth and home and the wife to Moradin. She stood in a welcoming pose, to usher travelers into the safety of the walls. Flanking the hold itself were massive, dark stone mountains. These spires stretched up over a thousand feet into the sky. Some of them were made of pure, solid obsidian form the volcanic activity. The bridge that connected solid ground to the entrance to the city was a drawbridge. It hummed with a light magical power. It had to be enchanted, for a river of hot magma flowed beneath the bridge.

The whole party, apart from Kara, were gazing at the wonders the Dwarves had built here. Their wonderment was cut short by the guards at the portcullis. Two hardy male dwarves, each in full plate armor, with shield and axe. “Oi!” One dwarf shouted, their classical Scottish accent coming through on their words. “Hold there! I can’t let you in!”
The party stopped and seemed either confused or insulted at being denied passage. “Is there a problem?” Kara’s voice dripped like sweet honey, but sweet talking these stubborn mountainfolk never got any easier. On guard simple chuckled, gesturing to her companions. “Can’t let their kind in the city. The half-orc is bad enough. But a minotaur? And a ploughin’ drow?! Lassie, have you gone mental? Brining a dark elf here!”
Alydrezea forced herself to the front, much to the hushed yet harsh protests of Grukk. “What’s wrong with my kind?!”
“Your kind-“ The dwarf spat, “-are always comin’ up from below. Murderin’ and thievin’. That’s the bloody problem! You’re not welcome here, so get lost!” The other guard motioned into a stance, unsure if a fight would happen. Grukk tried to help defuse the situation.
“If I may…now I am half orc, but only half.”
“Alright then. Show me which half. I’ll cut it off and the rest of you can go in.” The guards laughed at that. Grukk kept his friendly face up.
“Now gentlemen, I grew up in Iroas. Look, see…” The fighter presented his old badge of rank in the Ironian military. “Now I can assure you I, and my friends here, won’t cause any trouble.”
The dwarves looked over the badge. “Aye, suppose that’s good enough for you. But I still don’t think we can let the drow woman into the city. And that big buffalo staring at me is givin’ me the willies!”
Kara cleared her throat, letting her sweet voice flow once more. “Now, we aren’t going to cause trouble. In fact, we are preparing for an expedition to the Living Desert. We’ll need to spend a lot of money here to the supplies we need. A lot of money, for every single person.”
The dwarves looked at each other, battling suspicion with the dwarvish love of treasure. “Alright, alright! Head on in, the lot of you. Keep out of trouble.”
“Thank you so much, you two are wonderful guards!” Ushering her companions in, Kara was already sweating bullets.

“Oh thank you…” She said with exasperation.
“You’re welcome.” Alydrezea smiled, but it quickly fell into a frown when she saw the cutting look Kara was giving her.
“I was talking to Grukk. You two-“ He gestured to the drow and the minotaur. “You two need serious work on your social skills. Alydrezea. You’re adorable, but you need to learn to keep your mouth shut. Boris, my bovine buddy, you’re great in a fight but terrible in conversation. You have zero charisma. None. And your strong silent type thing doesn’t help.”
Boris snorted in frustration, and Kara put her finger up. “See?! That! That right there! Exactly what I’m talking about!”
Grukk put his hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Maybe we can find another place to discuss this, instead of the city entrance?” Following their fighter’s wise words, the party explored the great dwarf hold of the Obsidian Pass. Though the city was largely underground or roofed in, it was no less grand than Iroas. Huge pillars of carven stone flanked the main road of smooth stones. Some homes and businesses stood alone, but most of them were carved into the mountain itself. Guards in plate watched the goings on, as hundreds of dwarves and humans and even the odd tiefling were going about their business. Traveling merchants from both Iroas and Raja were here, selling off their goods to shop-keeps and undergoing inspections. Miners covered in dust came up from a hard day’s work. Gnomes in glass monocles looked over the gems and gold and most importantly, the iron that came up in carts from the mines in droves.
Alydrezea’s worry at the gates were all but vanished as she took in the sight. “This place is huge! It’s so cool! I heard stories about what dwarves did with stone, but this is incredible!”
Grukk nodded in agreement, with his greenish-blue eyes holding no less wonder than the dark elf’s. Even if he was much quieter. “Indeed. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“It gets old.” The Rajan woman stated. Being the only human of the group, she was less noticeable than the others. “Okay, time to get our supplies done. We’ve got enough gold to get the supplies we need and stay here for a couple of days. In a cheap Inn. Stay out of trouble.”
“Aren’t you the thief?” Grukk asked sarcastically.
“Yes. Which is why I don’t want you three to do anything stupid. I might…but I can get away with it~.” Kara was oozing confidence that she lacked out in the Wilds.
The rune knight chuckled warmly at that. “I want to see if these mountainfolk know anything more about my runes. I’ll do some light supply shopping as well.”
The thief nodded. “Alright. Make sure you come back to the Homely Hearth Inn when you’re done. That’s where we’ll be staying. I stayed there when I was last in this city, and it’s plenty cheap.”
“I wanna explore!” The druid said with excitement, like a child visiting a theme park.
“Fine, but don’t wander off on your own. Boris, can you watch her?”
The minotaur’s ears lay flat against his thick neck. His bovine tail was swishing nervously, his eyes looking all around him, only snapping back to reality as Kara addressed him. “Hm? Oh…yes. I will watch her.”
Kara raised a brow. “You alright big guy?”
Alydrezea giggled and whispered into Kara’s ear; “Boris doesn’t do so well underground.”
The thief’s hazel eyes got wide. Slowly, a smile broke across her face. She could not help but laugh. “Out of all the things for you to be afraid of. It’s cramped spaces?!” She was enjoying everything about this new discovery.
Boris glared at her. “I am not afraid!”
Kara kept laughing. “Sure! Sure…tell that to your tail! Is like a frantic broom sweep! I-I mean. You’re a minotaur! I thought your kind were super good at tight mazes and shit.”
The minotaur looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact with the cackling pickpocket. “I am…but that doesn’t mean I like it…” Kara wiped a tear from her eye, patting Boris on the back. His muscles were as dense as ever, but she held no fear now. “Ooh…it’s alright buffalo butt. Drezea will be right by your side.”
“I sure will!” The drow beamed with pride. “Oh, Grukk! You can call me Drezea too from now on. I know my name is a mouthful. I wasn’t sure at first, but you two earned it!” She puffed up, acting as if this were a privilege, she just gave them.
“Oh! Thank you.” The half orc smiled, waving goodbye as they all parted ways into the huge underground city.

Kara was scouting out the merchants. Ending up at a story that sold survival supplies.
“Welcome! Welcome!” The story owners were a female dwarf and a younger human man. The man was stocking shelves, and the dwarf behind the counter. Luckily, this city was friendly to all size humanoids. “What can I do ya for, lassie?”
“I was hoping you carried desert survival gear.”
“Aye, that we do. We’ve got simple clothing to keep sand out yer eyes and the off yer back. If you’ve got the gold, I highly recommend this decanter of endless water. It’ll save yer life for sure! Only 275 gold!” The decanter was simple in appearance, looking like an ordinary baked clay jug with a stopper. However, the jug had writing on the side of it. She recognized this writing as Aquan from her days in Raja. It was the real deal, as she doubted anybody in this city could read or write in that language. “Do you accept trades?”
“Depends on what you got, lassie.”
Kara fished around and produced some owlbear claws and hide that Boris had skinned. “This was from an owlbear.”
“Hmm…well, I can’t do much with the claws. But this hide is lovely! I’ll lower the price of the decanter to…250 gold.”
“200 gold, and four sets of desert clothing. I’ll throw in some fine Rajan silk.” She produced the cloth of the turban from the bounty hunter. The dwarf lady looked it over. “Aye. You’ve got a deal. Where you setting off for, by the by?”
“The Living Desert. Treasure hunting”
The boy dropped what he was carrying when she said that. Both him, and the dwarf shopkeeper had sullen looks on their faces. The dwarf woman’s merry tone lost some of its merriment. “Lass, as a merchant of survival ware….I would recommend you hire a guide. I know some people. Rajan folks, like yourself. They’re wearing those turbans on their heads, and they all got tattoos of tigers on ‘em.”
Kara froze for a moment, hiding a trembling hand in her pack. She put on a convincing fake smile. “That…that’s not necessary. I appreciate the concern but I’m Rajan myself. I know the desert. I’ll be just fine.”
The two shopkeepers shared looks of disbelief. To them, Kara was walking to her own grave. “Well…pleasure doin’ business with you. Good luck.”

In another part of the great dwarf hold, Grukk was looking for some place that could help him. There were more smiths and shops than he could count, but what drew his eye was a stand-alone shop. The sign outside the door read; “Meckel’s Mystical Oddities.”
“This looks promising.” Grukk entered the establishment. It was lined with shelves of oddities of all sorts from all over. Some from Iroas, some dwarf make, others from Raja. Still others from places the half orc had never before seen. The shopkeeper was on a ladder, polishing some of these items with a rag. He was a gnome male, about three feet tall with big focal glasses and a white handlebar mustache. “Excuse me.” Grukk stated in as smooth as his baritone voice could produce.
“Be right with you!” The gnome responded, climbing down the ladder and up some wooden stairs so he was about Grukk’s height, across the counter. “How can I help you?”
“I am hoping you could assist me with this.” He presented the giants rune stone, and the gnome’s eyes lit up. “Where did ya find this beauty? I’ll pay ya 300 gold for it!”
“I apologize, but it’s not for sale. I wanted to know if you have seen anything like it before.”
The gnome shook his head. “Sorry. Can’t say I have. Although, ya might try the library. It’s up the road apace. Look for the sign near the stairs. You can’t miss it. I’ve seen that writing before in one of their books. Not that I can read it.”
“Thank you for your time.”
“No problem. Come back if you change your mind about that stone!”
Grukk left the shop, and quickly made his way to the library. The gnome was right, a sign with the picture of a book upon it and an arrow pointing down. There was a hold in the ground, with stairs leading down deep into the earth. The rune knight couldn’t help but wonder just how big this city was as he descended into the underground library. It was like any other library. Quiet, with shelf after shelf of books of all kinds. Patrons quietly reading and looking for books and scrolls. Upon asking a dwarf librarian for books on giants, Grukk gathered up a stack of books of all kinds and began to read. Searching for any symbols written as such. Coming across one book of particular interest, by a man named Volo. Though the writing was more like that of an aspiring bard or poet laureate, it held a large amount of information with one volume dedicated to giants! Most of it was braggadocio about Volo’s time with giants of all sorts and the wonders he saw with them. But finally, after hours of reading, Grukk found it! An entire list of runes and some light descriptions of each. The author even wrote out a phrase in Jötunn about each one!
In excitement, he placed this volume before the librarian. “How much for this book?!”
“Shhh!” The other patrons all hissed at him for quiet.
“Sorry...” Grukk winched, keeping his voice at a whisper. “How much for this book?”
“Buyin’ or rentin’?”
“Buyning.”
“Eight silver.”
Grukk paid it out with a gold coin and took his change in silver. He couldn’t tell what time it was as the sun did not shine in this dwarven city. Still, he felt tired and looked for the Inn and his friends.