knohole4

Al'Kabor had been spending his time researching in the Qeynos area. Though he preferred the superior research facilities and libraries of Erudin, he found the locals in the Qeynos area more then eager to assist him with trivial errands for a trifling handful of coins. Indeed, labor was cheap and the people generally hard working and honest in this law abiding town.

One such errand runner, a half elf, had just returned carrying a vial full of a certain rare and difficult to obtain ink he was sent to fetch. He flipped the half elf a gold piece and said, "You are dismissed". The errand boy looked at the coin, smiled and then left Al'Kabor's flat happily.

The ink was needed for a scroll he was nearly finished scribing. He had run out of the rare and precious ink just before he had completed his work on the scroll. He very carefully uncorked the bottle and set it upon the fine table of marble. Gently unrolling the precious scroll, he smoothed it lovingly out on the cool surface of the stone table. He dipped the quill, made from an enormous griffon feather, into the ink. He put the pen to the parchment and began to once again scribe the ancient runic symbols onto the parchment with slow and deliberate care.

It started lightly, almost imperceptibly. He first thought that perhaps a mob of angry people were stomping up the stairs to his flat. But suddenly, everything was shaking violently. Books began to fall from their shelves, fine glassware fell to the ground and smashed. Gripping the heavy marble table to keep his balance, Al'Kabor watched in horror as the bottle of very expensive and difficult to acquire ink rocked back and forth, rolled on its side for a moment and then tipped over. Frozen in shock, he watched as the ink spread out over the scroll.

He slammed his fist onto the table as the realization dawned upon him, "Five days of work and components worth a mountain of platinum pieces, ruined by yet another one of these damned earthquakes!" He grabbed the ruined scroll he had been laboring upon for nearly a week, crumpled it up in his hand and tossed it out his window.

In crumpling the scroll, he had inadvertently covered his hands with the ink. Another earthquake hit, this one more violent then the last. Stumbling a bit, he caught himself on his coat rack in the corner of his study. The ink on his hands smeared onto the robe that hung upon the rack. Throwing his hands into the air he shouted, "I've had enough!" He wiped his hands clean on the old robe and threw it out the window too. Putting his best robe over his shoulders, he stomped downstairs out of his flat and into the streets of Qeynos.

Tramping through the streets, he shouted, "How can anyone get any work done around here with all these earthquakes? This is completely unacceptable!" All around him, people were running and shouts of alarm filled the streets. Walking toward the gates of the city, he was oblivious to the broken glass on the ground and cracks in the fine stone masonry, all evidence of the quake's severity.

Enraged, he grabbed a wood elf by the lapels as he tried to run past and yelled in his face, "You! Elf! What is causing these earthquakes? Hmm?" The elf looked back at him in fear and said nothing. "Oh why do I bother talking to one of your kind!" Releasing him, the elf ran away.

Stepping through the city gates, he turned and inquired indignantly to the heavily armored Paladin next to him, "How am I supposed to think when every five minutes I have the full contents of my library on the floor, woman?" The Paladin gave him a sideways look, apparently offended, snorted to herself and then walked back into the city shaking her head.

Bah," he said making a dismissive gesture behind the woman as she left. He began walking down the path out of the city. The stones that made up the path were uneven, some raised up higher then others, no doubt due to the earthquake. "They should get someone to fix this," Al'Kabor muttered to himself.