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Archives: Failed Storyline: Adventures of Granite and Ooke

Chapter 1: Leaving Home

    Granite Stoneheart was leaving home for the first time today. Her entire life had been spent in the Free City of Raiden, and though her twenty-three years had been fruitful here, she wanted to see more of the world. Her father was a blacksmith and ran a smithy inherited from his father-in-law with his family. While Granite’s three older brothers—Hugan, Velfur, and Nagnar—joined their father in the forge, Granite had taken to a more delicate form of metalwork; goldsmithing. She had a love for jewelry and bright jewels, and despite her beard, she was quite the feminine dwarf. Her parents encouraged her pursuit and helped her buy the precious metals and gems that she needed. They had even set aside a small area of their smithy for her to work and sell her jewelry. Business was good for Granite, but it wasn’t enough to ease the wanderlust of youth. With the chance to travel, she didn’t hope to just broaden her horizons, but to find more unique jewels for her craft.

    Granite was also hoping to find love. Though young, she had dreams of a husband and children. As a big sister, she had learned to love children and hoped to have a baby of her own someday soon. She met a few young men in Raiden, but she didn’t want to just settle for some hometown boy—even if her hometown was quite large. The journey she had planned thus far took her from Raiden, down through Moss, and a visit to her father’s homeland, the fallen Stone Kingdom. She would then pass through Valis and Kanon, then up to Alania and visit the Steel Kingdom. On the way back home, she would pass through Flaim.

    The dwarven girl finished packing in the bedroom she shared with her younger sister Sasil. Her backpack was stuffed with all sorts of gear that she would need for camping, crafting, and even a little mining. She hefted the pack onto her back and settled it onto her shoulders. She was dressed for travel in a pair of leather breeches and a steel breastplate her father had crafted for her. The armor was uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but Granite felt a little safer with it on. She was good with a mace, especially since her parents made it a point for her to train before she left, but she was far from a warrior.

    With everything prepared, she stepped out of her room and headed for the shop, where her family was waiting to say goodbye. Her father and mother gave her their blessings, but she could tell they were reluctant to let her go out into the world alone. Her youngest brothers, Bosin and Borin, even cried. They were quite young, only seven and six, and Granite had been more of a second mother to them than a sister. Sasil, her sister, who was only twelve years old and hadn’t grown a beard yet, wasn’t too happy about Granite leaving. She had spent the last week pouting and sulking, but as Granite was about to leave, she attacked her with a fierce hug. “Come back soon!” she demanded.

    Granite just giggled and patted Sasil’s back. “I’ll try, but it’s a wide world out there!” she replied, eager to see that world.

    After finally parting with her family, Granite made her way to the market. There was one last thing she needed to get; food for the first leg of the trip. It was best to get it fresh now.

* * *

    After a short stay in Moss, Ooke’s travels brought him to Raiden. He was starting to feel the toll of evil bearing down on him and was questioning his faith. The voice in his head was taking over and he needed to find a way to rid himself of it. We find our troubled dwarf in a swirl of heated debate at a local merchant’s booth.

    “... I said two week’s ration, this gem is well worth four, and you know it,” Ooke belted back at the merchant who was dumb enough to try and haggle a dwarf on the value of a gem. Ooke stopped and regathered himself, he new better then to draw the attention.

    “Look here, I don’t want no trouble. I’ll give you a week and a half of rations for the gem,” the merchant replied.

    Ooke noticed he caught the eye of some unsavory locals. “I don’t have time for this. I’ll take it, but know this... I will have my worth out of that gem,” he said with an allusive smile.

    The merchant looked puzzled at the comment but then looked at the gem and smiled he knew he had taken the dwarf for a run. Ooke walked away mumbling to himself, he had forgotten about the other unsavory fellows who he had aroused. Two of which were now following him through the crowd. No doubt they were after his gems, a large sack that he kept under his robes.

    As Granite approached the booth of a merchant selling food for travel, she watched a dwarven man walk away. He was not a local she knew. His shaved head, tattoos, and robes were very unique. She turned her attention to the trader and saw him examining a jewel that apparently the dwarf had just paid with. Now that caught her interest. Perhaps after she was done, she would have to find the dwarf again. Leaning against the stand, she looked up at the trader. “Looks like a pretty little stone,” she said. It seemed to be a firestone, and she could imagine making a fine headpiece for a lady if she had a few more of those and some silver or platinum. Maybe the dwarf had more? “I’m a jeweler. Would you like me to take a look at that and maybe take it off your hands?”

    The merchant looked at her hesitantly, with a hint of disgust twisting his lips, but he handed over the gem. Granite took a small appraisal lens out of one of the pockets of her pack and examined the stone. “Hmm...” Granite mused. The stone was worth about hundred gold, very good quality. She really hoped that other dwarf had more! “I’ll give you sixty.”

    “Feh, I ain’t sellin’ it for less than a Raiden!” the merchant protested.

    Granite giggled. “Well, good luck then! You’re not going to find a dealer in gems that gullible! We’re talking about selling wholesale here, my dear human friend. At any rate, I’ll still net you some profit here, since you’re not selling in bulk, and I intend to buy myself some food as well. I’d really like it, but I could always go talk to your customer and find out where he got it and get some more myself. So, I’ll be nice and offer seventy, but no more than that!”

    “Fine,” the merchant waved at her dismissively. It wasn’t enough to haggle over when she was offering that much and buying from him. Granite quickly paid for the gem and her week’s worth of rations.

    The dwarf who paid with the gem had disappeared in the market, but Granite hurried off in the direction he’d gone in, hoping to catch up.

* * *

    The two men followed Ooke for quite some turns until they caught up with him. One of the men step in his way a large man with only one eye and long blond hair.

    “Out of my way you feeble load of crap!” Ooke shouted.

    “Were you going in such a hurry?” the blond man toyed as his buddy came from the side and tossed Ooke in to a dark alley, causing Ooke to drop his hammer just outside the alley way.

    “You should know better then to toss a dwarf!”

    A dark face gloomed over Ooke. He was now very angry, but still no match for two men of this size. The second man, a bit more slender, dressed in mostly black garments with straps and a bald head, reached out and knocked Ooke’s book out of his hand. The blond man quickly put Ooke in a hold and the other guy went to work. Ooke was in trouble and taking a beating. After a great amount of time the two made off with his book and his gems leaving Ooke badly injured and in a dark alley with mostly torn and dirty robes. He sat there, unable to move, but his hammer was still in his sight. He wonder to himself how long before someone made off with that too.

* * *

    Granite was determined to find the dwarf with the gems, though her search was starting to seem fruitless. As she wandered around the market, she happened passed an alley and gave it a quick glance as she walked by. It took a moment to register, but she realized that she had seen the bald, tattooed, and white-robed dwarf sitting in the alley. Turning on her heel, she stepped into the alley and approached. However, as she came closer, she realized the shape he was in. His white robes were dirty and his faced swollen.

    “Oh my gods, what happened to you?” Granite said, hurrying towards the dwarf.

    “You want some of Ooke too, eh? Don’t be misled I got plenty left!” Ooke said while stumbling back up to his feet. The dwarf was in no mood for another thief trying to pick what little he had left. It wasn’t until his one un-swollen eye cleared that he realized it was a young female dwarf. “...um sorry. Nothing, I’m fine,” he tried to shrug it off. He couldn’t help but keep up his dwarven pride.

    “My hammer! have you seen it?” By the time he looked back he realized it was gone too. He fell back down to a slump against the wall.

    “You were robbed, weren’t you?” Granite asked, then she extended her hand to him to help him up. “Well, let’s not just sit here feeling sorry for yourself! Nobody should steal from a dwarf! That hammer shouldn’t be hard to find.”

    Ooke gave a grin. He could tell the young dwarven girl knew what it meant to be a dwarf first and foremost. He then took her hand and stood up. He would avoid the question of being robbed at first to feel her out. Ooke wasn’t keen on blind kindness and he had no idea who or why she was interested in helping him out. “The name is Ooke Blackskull of the Stoneskull clan, and who might you be young lady?” he asked with what breath he could spare.

    “Granite Stoneheart, no clan though,” she replied, glancing back at him momentarily. She stepped back out onto the street and looked through the crowd, but her diminutive dwarven height didn’t make it easy. So, Granite found a barrel and climbed on top of it with the help of a nearby post. “I can’t see anyone carrying a hammer, but there is someone ahead with a gap behind him. He might be dragging something. Your hammer was pretty big, right? I saw you leave the food vendor a-ways back.”

    Ooke smiled at the comment about his hammer. “Oh it’s big I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, trying his best not to make it sound suggestive. “As for the market, that son of a goblin merchant will get what’s coming to him,” Ooke said while clenching his fist.

    “Well Miss Stoneheart I suppose it’s a start…” Ooke carried on and step out of the alley to look around, and then look at the direction Granite was looking. “…you’ve got the heading, all we can do now is give chase.” He extended his hand out to Granite to help her down off the barrel. “Shall we?” he said in a polite manner. Although Ooke still didn’t truly trust her, he was willing to play along to uncover her true intentions.

    Granite accepted Ooke’s help and stepped off the barrel. “Let’s go!” she said and began to push her way through the crowd. The dwarven woman wasn’t going to let some thief make off with a fine hammer like Ooke’s! Soon, Granite heard the creaking wheels of a wagon through the crowd ahead. Elbowing her way through shoppers, she finally saw her target. It was just what she was looking for. Someone was pulling a small cart with the huge stone hammer in it, along with many other odds and ends.

    “Hey! You there with the cart!” Granite shouted. The thief paused and glanced back. He was a scruffy middle-aged man in ragged clothes. “What are you doing with that hammer?” Granite demanded.

    “I found it!” he growled back. “Leave me alone!”

    Ooke looked at the hammer and knew it was his. One thing that could not easily be mistaken was the quality of dwarven work. He looked the man over and figured he would not try to stop him from just taking his hammer back. Ooke then walked over to the cart gave a low growl to the man, and took his hammer.

    “Let’s go before, I decide to hurt this man,” he said softly to Granite. “I fear it will be much harder to find my other belongings.” His voice deepened with sorrow.

    The thief of the hammer glared, but he hauled his cart away as fast as he could. “Well, what else did they steal?” Granite asked, watching the thief go. I hope it’s not the jewels! she thought.

    Ooke thought for a second... “A book and my gems... fortunately they didn’t get my stones,” he replied. Ooke then reached in to one of the many braids on his beard and with drew a small black pouch with a hammer and chisel stitched on it in copper string. He opens the pouch and revealed various stone to Granite. The stones were smooth and of various designs, but the one he pulled from the small pile was his favorite. It was onyx black in color with veins of gold running through it. He smiled at Granite. “For you. This hammer means a lot to me and you helped me retrieve it,” he said, holding out the stone for her.

    “Oh my gods,” Granite gasped. “That’s lovely! I could make a lovely pendant with it...” she mused openly, then snapped back to the issue at hand. “Well, let’s see if we can try and find those lost gems and a book. What did your assailants look like?”

    Ooke smiled at her fire and thirst for adventure. He described the two men to his best, only leaving out minor details.

* * *

    However the men were at the edge of Raiden in a small house going through their day’s loot. Ooke’s jewels put them over their day’s quota with ease. They had used the book as payment to the guild along with a few gems, and the rest was theirs to spend. No doubt they’d be heading out to spend it all on booze later that evening.

    As for the book, it was now in the hands of the guild leader. He wasn’t fully sure what it was worth, if anything but he always kept items of lore for himself. The book was unique enough to peak his interest but it would be a while before he could uncover what it true nature was.

* * *

    Ooke looked a Granite, “If your heart is set on helping me out… then I’ll accept your help, but keep in mind this task could be very dangerous and I would not want to be responsible for any misfortune that may fall upon you,” he said while wiping off his hammer with some of his torn robes. “First I need to clean up, then we can start by checking into the darker corners of the city. I’m sure you’re more familiarized with them then I,” he said as if the two of them were plotting a war on the two thieves. Ooke wasn’t very knowledgeable about Raiden seeing as he was passing through, but he’d hope that Granite was.

    “Pshaw, I’m no weak maiden!” Granite protested as he voiced his concerns about her safety. “After all, I am a Raiden native. Now, we can go to an to get you cleaned up, there are plenty around the market to chose from.”

    Granite waved for him to follow, then she led the way down the block toward a nearby inn. “Actually, I tend to stay away from the dark corners of town, so I can’t say I know them all that well. We might have to find ourselves a guide.”

    Tacked one of the outside walls of the inn was a sheet of oiled parchment that caught the dwarves’ eyes. The parchment was an advertisement for the Mercenaries’ Guild. It had a rough drawing of a bandit looking man with a funny black hood with his hands extended in the air. Surrounding the bandit were a group of heavily armed and armored—almost outrageously so—men with their swords or bows pointing at the man in the center.

    “Need Help? Need something done that requires more muscle than you possess on your own? Come to the Mercenary Guild of Raiden, and for a fee (determined by the difficulty of your problem) you can get the help you need.” Under the picture and ad, was the address of the nearest Guild Hall.

    Ooke thought to himself for a second, A guild...that might be more help then I need, but maybe a good place to find a guide. “We should, probably look in to it huh?” Ooke said to Granite. “I’ll run and get some new clothes and clean up and meet you right back here,” he said referring to the inn, then he quickly took off to gather a few supplies.

    “Alright then,” Granite agreed as Ooke ran off. She entered the inn after him, then took a seat at a table near the door. She refused food and drink when it was offered to her, and just sat and waited. She hoped that she would have left Raiden today, but perhaps after she helped Ooke, they could travel together—and perhaps more. He was a rather odd dwarf, wearing robes and shaving his head and eyebrows, but he did share her love of jewels. Not to mention he had a handsome beard and beautiful tattoos.

    Ooke ran off and gathered a few articles of clothing; a royal blue robe with white trim and gray threading, it was nice, although not as nice as the one he had. When he had more time he would find someone to custom tailor him a new one. He paid with another one of his stones but it just fueled his anger. He returned and used the bath room to clean up and change.

    Ooke returned outside and saw Granite waiting there patiently, and it made him smile to see someone so pure of heart; it made him re-think his course in life for a second. Surely, if she knew more about him this kindness would not be so easily found. “Shall we?” He reached out his hand.

    With a slight blush, Granite took his hand. “Sure,” she replied. “So, do you want to find that mercenary?”

    Ooke nodded in agreement. “Why don’t you lead the way? I’m sure you know the direction or even a short cut to the closest guild hall,” he politely suggested. He then graceful swung is hammer on to his shoulder and waited to follow her.

    “Sure thing,” Granite replied. She knew the location of the Mercenaries’ Guild. She had considered joining the guild so she could begin adventuring that way, but she backed out. She could fight, but she was not skilled enough for someone to count on her defenses.

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