“What do you mean?”

Marr stopped eating while he asked the Halfling.

Dayer also put his cup down on the table as he listened to the bard.

“Some time ago, while I was playing at a tavern in a nearby village. I heard a man talking with his colleagues, about something that would arrive at the port of the royal city.“

Merrich got closer to the table as he spoke in a low voice.

“Those men, had a flaming dagger tattoo on their necks, they said their boss would be at the underground fort on the port to receive it.”

Dayer seemed interested as he finished eating his breakfast and got up from the table saying.

“It’s worth investigating. Let go to the port and find out what is going on.”

Marr got up as well and said.

“Let’s go, it’s a good lead, and the only one we have got.”

----------

When the three friends got to the port, two guards stopped them. They said the port was closed.

Apparently, something dangerous was being delivered to the royal family, so for safety’s sake, the port was closed for all unrelated personnel.

As the three friends headed to a corner to decide what to do, a rough voice sounded from a nearby ally.

“What are you boys doing here, and who is the shorty over there? your new pet?”

The three of them looked into the ally and saw a Dwarf, with a gray beard and a stone pipe in his mouth. He was laying on top of a box looking at them, amused by the strange variety of the group.

Marr was pleasantly surprised seeing this Dwarf. The Dragonborn laughed as he went over to talk to him.

“Captain Blackstone, what are you doing here? Are you the one in charge of the port?”

The Dwarf got off the box and walked in Marr’s direction while letting out small puffs of smoke.

As the dwarf got closer Merrich stared at the dwarf as he said.

“Hey shorty, who are you calling a pet?”

The dwarf laughed aloud and pointed at the Halfling with an amused expression.

“Bwahaha, you are even smaller than me boy.”

The Dwarf then sighed as he said.

“Yes, I’m the one in charge of the port’s protection today.”

Then looking at Marr with a serious expression he asked.

“Why are you asking boy? Do you need something?”

Marr was about to speak when Dayer interrupted him and explained.

“Old man, we need your help to sneak into the port. It’s part of the mission we got because of your letter.”

The puffs of smoke coming out of the dwarf’s pipe got faster as he pondered for a while. Finally, he looked very serious as he said.

“Come, I can get you past the guard in front of the port. The rest is up to you, if you get caught I don't know who you are and how you got in, we clear?”

Marr and his friends nodded in acknowledgment as they followed the Dwarf.

Captain Blackstone told the guard to take a small rest as he watched the entrance for them. While they walked away Marr and his friends got inside the port.

As they walked towards the direction of the dock, they realized there where a huge amount of palace guards protecting the docks. From a ship huge boxes, where being taken out.

From time to time, the boxes seemed to tremble as some loud howls could be heard from inside.

The three of them realized there was no other ship in sight, and that all the boxes came from that one massive ship that was stationed in the main dock.

Suddenly a man in black came out from the ship, he looked quite suspicious as he inspected the boxes as if looking for something.

While he was inspecting a box, a tattoo on his wrist caught Dayer attention as he told Marr he had seen a green flaming dagger tattoo on the man.

Hearing this, Marr and his friends decided to follow him through the docks, to see where the man would go.

While they were following him around through the boxes, they heard steps as two royal guards walked out from behind a box a few meters away from them; they were talking to each other.

Marr grabbed the halfling as he quickly hid behind a box, he threw the halfling up in the air where Dayer appeared and caught Merrich in midair.

Marr jumped to the top of the box, and with the help of Dayer stabilized himself on the narrow walls of the box that was open on top.

As they looked inside the box, they saw a strange creature with a huge torso and big arms, a crimson fur, and massive fangs could be seen in the beast. Despite the size of his upper part, it had short and stubby legs.

When Dayer saw these creatures, he revealed an impressed expression.

“That is a Behemoth, they are impressive animals, these beasts like to live in forests, close to mountains.”

When Dayer finished saying this, he got inside the box and got close to the beast as he petted it.

Marr and Merrich got in, they had a strange expression on their face as they observed Dayer being quite friendly with the beast.

Marr sighed as he said with a helpless expression.

“And when I call him an elf wannabe, he gets mad.”

They got out of the box with a little help from the Behemoth. As they got out they realized they had lost track of the suspicious man.

After looking for a while Merrich sighted the man walking away from the dock and going to the beach.

They followed him from afar and observed as the man got inside a cavern on the other side of the coast.

Merrich casted a darkvision spell on the group as they followed the man into the cave.

As they walked further into the cave, they were able to see a light in the distance. They slowly got closer and hid behind a rock to observe the situation.

There was a door at the end of the tunnel with a torch poorly illuminating this small region of the cave. Further inside, through the door, an illuminated corridor could be seen.

A human soldier with a spear and light armor could be seen standing at each side of the door, guarding it.

Dayer stared at his two friends as he said.

“How do we get in? there is no way for us to enter unnoticed.”

Merrich nodded his head, showing his agreement with the Eladrin’s words.

Marr stared at the two guards for a second as he turned to his two friends and said.

“I have an idea.”

--------------------------------

The two soldiers were standing in front of the door because it was their turn to make the guard. They were eager to leave as it had already been five hours since the start of their shift.

At some point, both heard a sound as if someone had thrown something heavy. Suddenly a buzz made one of the guards look as he saw a huge axe flying from the darkness towards his friend, cleaving him in half.

The heavy axe stuck itself in the wall behind the guard it killed. The other soldier had a stunned look in his eyes as if he could not believe what he just saw.

Out of nowhere, a handsome, silver-haired man appeared as he put his hand over the guard’s mouth, and pointed a dagger at his neck.

A tall Dragonborn slowly walked out of the dark in the direction of the axe. After he retrieved the huge axe, he walked toward the terrified guard as he said.

“I have a few questions for you.”