Fairvale is the biggest city in The Empire of Fontar, though it is not the capital. It rests in the middle of the continent where the land is thinnest, allowing for efficient trade between the East and West coast, and bringing in products from all over the world.

-A Brief Overview of the Cities of Fontar

A richly appointed carriage pulled up in front of the tall fortress-like building that was the base of the Fairvale Guard in a spray of dust. An equally richly appointed kobold waddled out of the carriage, his thick reptilian tail dragging behind him as he made his way inside. The entrance room was a sparsely decorated room with well cushioned benches lining the edges and a modestly sized stone staircase directly opposite the doors. He immediately went up the stairs, his two hulking orc guards following close behind him, and took the door on the right into the waiting room of the Commander of the Fairvale Guard. He ignored the gnome sitting behind a desk and made his way to the double doors which led to the private office of the Commander.

"Commander!" barked the squat reptilian roper as he strode through the door into Commander Alyssa's office pushing a tall, thin gnome out of the way, who appeared to be trying to stop the roper from entering, his ears fluttering nervously. Alyssa looked up from the work on her desk, her face blank and unconcerned. "Wait outside" she said, her face utterly unbending.

"You will hear me out!" shouted the roper, looking extremely heated "I am Guild Master Kreezin". A sharp, black eyebrow was raised indicating displeasure and an evident indifference. The tall, lightly muscled woman lithely got to her feet, stepping lightly around her desk and stopping in front of the short reptile, who suddenly seemed a lot less sure of himself staring up into the predatory eyes of the Commander.

"You may be the guild master of the Merchants in Fairvale, but do not make the mistake in thinking you can order me about" She stated, cool and calm, but for the fire that literally burned in her eyes, offset by the slightly glowing purple runes curling down one side of her face. The roper blanched, and went light green as the blood bled from his face in the fear of the realisation that he had just angered a highly dangerous battlemage. He just nodded and tried to regain his composure as he went back into the waiting area and took a seat as gracefully as possible, anger starting to rear its head over the fear.

The dark haired Commander sat back down, running a hand through her hair and over her face in frustration for letting the anger get the better of her, as the gnome apologised profusely for letting the guild master get through whilst backing out of the room, closing the door as he went. Alyssa sighed, sinking down onto the desk, momentarily letting her tiredness overcome her before straightening up and getting back into the persona of commander. She had had an extremely long night trying to track down the remnants of the rat-men band that had somehow got into the sewers on top of trying to defend her position from the few council members that kept on trying to undermine her authority despite having been granted her position by the Emperor himself.

Flicking her hair back and swiftly tying it into a tight bun, realising that letting the merchant get over his fear could cause her some annoyances down the road. She loathed politics. It was unfortunate that it came with the position, thankfully, she loved her job enough to put up with it. She sat back down in her chair and breathed deeply, trying to find some calm and patience from somewhere inside. Clearing her throat, she firmly pressed the speaking stone and said “Gaster, send the Guild Master in please”

 “Yes, ma’am” he squeaked back, and she could hear him telling the reptilian merchant that he could enter now.

The roper strode in, his guards close behind, and she had to fight to keep an annoyed scowl from breaking out, keeping her face straight and smooth of emotion. The roper sat down with a flourish, his sharp pointed features looking odd on his bulbous fat figure. He put his hands on the table, perfectly sharpened, and polished claws folded on top of each other. “Miss Alyssa,” he started.

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“Commander” she stated.

“I’m sorry?”

“You will address me as Commander” she paused “Please.” and tried out a polite smile. Curses, but she hated politics. She was pretty sure she had failed at the politics, but couldn’t really tell with the reptilian features of the being seated opposite her. However, it seemed that he was much better versed at politics than she, and had evidently decided to be a lot more polite than his first entrance.

“I would first like to apologise for my earlier actions, but if you would hear me out, I'm sure that you would understand" he said with a pleasant, almost smug smile, which for some reason made Alyssa want to punch him even more than when he had barged into her office without invitation. She merely raised a curious eyebrow at him, smiling as she remembered the in joke her fellows had when she was a guardswoman who told her she could communicate more with her eyebrows than some could with their tongue. The smile obviously made the roper think that his charming method was working as he went on, with more confidence than before. He carried on, his voice gaining strength "Last night I was robbed, which cannot be forgiven! Especially for a man of my position. It would make me look as if I cannot deal with my own security which could have consequences for some highly important trade contracts coming up. I demand that you bring the thief to justice, so an example can be made" The commander ruffled through the reports on her desk looking to see if there was a report of the theft. "Ah, I see that the thief was spotted on the way out and he was chased by your guards, who alerted the local watch?" she quickly flipped through the report, "Hmm, the thief escaped from dromithian hounds?!" she exclaimed in surprise, her eyebrows rising to accentuate the expression. "Do you know what was stolen?" her demeanour shifting to focused and wholly interested.

"It was a jade figurine that I intended to gift to the Emperor on his upcoming celebration, one of those statues he so loves to collect, you know. So, as you can see, my earlier entrance is entirely a matter of my emotion overcoming politeness, and I do apologise for it."

"Indeed" the commander murmured distractedly, taking a more thorough look at the report. Not many people knew, but the Emperor's private collection of statues were part of the lost artefacts of Beez. Beez was an ancient cathedral located in the far North who had somehow made a deal with demons in their own favour rather than the usual way of being entirely in the favour of the demon kind. These artefacts had some remnants of the energy the Beez used to use in the now forbidden rituals. Rituals which were said to spill so much blood that their cities had a constant red river running through the centre. It was also whispered that these artefacts could be used to perform acts of magic that had been forgotten in the mists of time. If there was someone stealing such things for such a purpose, it could be a much bigger issue than she could have believed possible.

"Commander?" enquired the Guild Master, and Alyssa realised she had been lost in thought. She looked at the merchant and smiled, "Of course, you are correct. I shall get my best squad onto it immediately, leading this investigation personally. Such a thing could be construed as stealing from the Emperor himself!" laying it on thick. The kobold was obviously pleased at the remark and puffed up self-importantly at being compared with the emperor, even in such a vague manner. She remembered hearing that this was one of the merchants who had some aspirations of becoming a noble. "Good, good," he replied "I'm pleased to see that you're taking this so seriously."

"Of course, I will need to meet with your guards and look around your manor to see if we can find any more evidence."

"What?!" He suddenly wasn't as happy with the thought of the guard looking around his manor, "There's no need for that, and my guard are the best in the land! Dromithian, you know. They can tell you everything that you need to know about the theft." trying to find a way out.

"This matter now involves the Emperor, we can't have him saying that we didn't do everything possible now, could we?" replied the commander, enjoying watching the squat reptile squirm. "Of course, of course" he muttered, "I'll get to my manor and get everything ready for your arrival"

Alyssa watched as the reptile scurried off, his two guards trailing along behind him. She knew that he was rushing to try and hide any evidence of the slightly illegal drinks he kept, but once again due to politics, there was little she could do. A lot of the local nobles purchased such things from him, and stopping him would annoy those nobles and turn even more of them against her, which she could not afford. Especially at this moment in time. She strode out of her office, instructing Gasterto arrange for the investigation team to meet and ready her horse.

She had a thief to catch.