Labour and Freedom

A lot has happened in a short time so please excuse if the artifice is lost within the translation from reality to the written word.
 
We managed to successfully join the Cliftop Adventurer's Guild however they have a strange rivalry with the other one, the one at Deathsgate. I suppose such a thing is natural when there are two similar groups with a large crossover of potential recuits and jobs, even if one group is a bit more picky than the other. Still, I wasn't quite expecting to have such an 'initiation ceremony'. I confess I was half expecting for a friendly sparring against the rival group, not quite jumping off the tower to see who would use their feather fall token last. I suppose it is a test of bravery. Or stupidity. Possibly both. I think I did well enough - I wasn't one of the last to use the token, Warden and Terfel managed this whereas myself and Dax did not. I wasn't doing too bad until I fell through a window. I don't think anyone would exactly blame me for using it after falling through glass and being cut by the shards. Dax did call out for me to avoid it but I unfortunately realised too late. The wounds are superficial enough but the others I have taken today are less so but I will discuss that when we get to it.
 
Regardless, our guild was triumphant in the little game so our 'handler' - bizarre term, it makes us sound like animals and Warden was still in his Warden shape and not in an animal form - was pleased at our performance. She passed us over two jobs for the guild since they were both on somewhat the same route. One to collect an idol of fire, I forget the full name of the trinket, and the other to track down a highwayman and murderer known as...what was it? Krzzal? Kzazz? Karl? The highwayman is a lizardfolk like Dax so it seems a sensible approach to allow Dax to lead us when down in Kybher's Gate. She may not know this particular lizardfolk but she might be able to bring him to his senses or something of that kind. I am not sure what language lizardfolk speak exactly but I daresay she would likely have a bit more luck in convincing him to come with us than the rest of us. And we are s atrong group so we should be able to wrangle him if not. We outnumber him - how hard could it be? We have dealt with lots of those Blue Hoods so it cannot be too difficult.
 
Before getting our assignments, we found this woman who was being attacked by the City Watch. She has something called an aberrant dragonmark which other people are scared of. It had caused a bright light but ntohing else. I do not really understand what a dragonmark is or how people get them. I know Jorasco is a dragon house and Thara does seem to initiate healing spells by touching a bruise. We managed to get her to safety before she was fleeing - I am not sure why but this mark is not understood and she is in danger. It is a shame. She did however mention she was a bird expert and had been studying the herons which...I am still rather uneasy about.
 
We decided to pick up the idol first so we went underneath into the Cogs which is deeper than we have been thus far. The place is dark, brooding almost like a monster underneath the bed of the city above. Even so, I know that this is hardly the deepest layer. Khyber's Gate - our next destination - is deeper still. The Cogs is very warm, almost acrid with the stenches of industry and lava catching at the back of your throat. Foundaries and smithies litter the roughhewn place. It is no less busy than the upper floors - workers, mostly Warforged like Warden - seem to be the majority of the inhabitants, working tirelessly for these dark, infernal mills.
 
We pick up directions from a Warforged for the place we are to pick up the idol to find the Warforged workers striking outside as their boss, some slimy human named Drummond. He refuses to pay a fair wage for the Warfroged since he sees them less as people and more like tools. It is a puzzling outlook as Warden is clearly a person. He has goals and a mind of his own. Simply because the circumstances of his existance is different to others does not mean he is not entitled to fair payment for his work. The idea is just very strange. Warden has mentioned that he's never had a wage before and truth be told, it is a strange one for me since I have never been really paid for anything until I became a 'Mist Walker' as the Prince called us. However, given what I have seen of this world and from what I remember of the non-kalashtar inhabitants of Adar, payment for work is normal. It goes to follow that if you do work that is not voluntary in nature - like my work at the clinic - that you should be paid for it, either through wages or through selling items or labour. The concept that not paying people fairly based on something as silly as their race is absolutely unacceptable. Dax, Warden and Terfel agreed as well before I said anything much to my satisfaction. Sometimes we disagree on small things but we seem to have a common goal and to not allow the people suffer seems to be something that resonates with us all.
 
Warden and Dax ran off to a Warforged tavern to collect more people for the protest whilst myself and Terfel said back and spoke to Stoke and the others. There seems to be all sorts of rumours about who runs things. One in particular however was shot down as being nonsense but perhaps it is the strangeness of the claim that makes me remember it. The warforged thinks the tavern is secretly run by House Cannith, the people who make many things including the Warforged. Unsure why he thinks that unless it is a way to undermine any civil rights movements that the Warforged have. Again, unsure why House Kannith would be interested in keeping the Warforged as an underclass but I suppose that is why the others called it out as nonsense. We did not wait long for Dax and Warden to return with a whole group of Warforged which joined the calls for fair wages for their kin. Dax in particular gave a stirring, impassioned speech to the crowd. Simple to understand, strongly worded and proud as she stood on the box, some of the Warforged still towering over her. It drew attention from others, even non-Warforged inhabitants to join the calls for justice. Drummond could no longer turn a blind eye to it and agreed a deal with Stoke. It is very gratifing to know we helped people in a way that is I suppose unusual thus far. True, we had to pick up the idol which was incomplete but we didn't need to help. If we were being purely in pursuit of the idol itself, we could have joined up with Drummond or something.
 
After this, well, they had to make the artefact. And this place is intersected with another plane, one of fire. I am not sure how literal a definition that is since the only intersection I know of was the old one with Dal Quor and that went terribly for all involved. However, given the beasts made of flame that nearly killed me (and have definitely singed my robes) I can believe it. Apparently, the forges are infested with these strange flame creatures which attack when let loose. My usual spells were somewhat ineffective given that by their nature, radiant fire is just fire. It still burns. Although given the marks I now have on my ankles, the consideration that I have for my own spells is...disconcerting.
 
The idol has barely finished when we stepped outside and a giant two-headed woman threatened Drummond. I have never seen such a womann before. I wonder how independent the heads are - are they two people who happen to share a body or are in tandem, the brains being more akin to having two kidneys or lungs? It seemed an inappropriate time to ask questions. Terfel defended Drummond - much to my surprise - and we naturally backed him up. Terfel's sense of justice seems to be very understanding, not confined to being either good or bad but on prevention of any form of injustice, regardless of the moral character of the person he defends. It is...something to think further on.
 
However, we are about to embark even further underground to track this highwayman. Let's hope that is a little easier than picking up this...expensive ornament.