Harn Clanless sat in his quarters and turned over the envelope in his hands, pondering whether or not he should open it. One of his agents within the academy had delivered it to him, stating that an elf of a most striking and singular appearance had walked up to the man, spoke to him, and handed him the letter.

The fact that said agent was wearing his cloak of invisibility made that encounter disquieting to consider, but then, elves have always been strange, often capable of feats that humans and dwarves would consider impossible. The fact that such an elf could enter the academy and go completely unnoticed by anyone else despite, quoting the agent, 'Had a rack you could lose an arm in,' was a more impressive feat. Then again, such an appearance would make for an excellent means of escaping detailed observation: Most people who saw such a person would likely only remember a large pair of breasts, perhaps even a shapely posterior, and nothing else.

Regardless, the envelope was an oddity, delivered by an unknown individual whose plans and intentions were completely unknown. The dwarf's curiosity and paranoia had immediately been piqued. He'd spent the last ten minutes checking the envelope for poisons, drugs, and spells upon it which might have been placed upon the letter to do harm to its opener. It would not be the first time someone had handed the royal spymaster a poisoned chalice, expecting him to take it without checking it first, after all.

However, all testing proved that the letter had no such tampering. No poisons, no enchantments, nothing to make it dangerous save whatever the contents of the letter might be. It could well be an 'anonymous tip' meant to distract the dwarf from his duties, or a critical piece of misinformation meant to distract him from the truth. This letter was a cave mushroom, as the dwarves would often put it: It might be a sumptuous delicacy or lethal poison, the only way to find out was to carry it into the light and investigate it. He carefully opened the envelope, extracted the letter, and unfolded it. Written upon the letter was a single sentence.

'The lost heir of clan Diamondcarver currently resides in an orphanage within the Academy City.'

Harn carefully folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope before burning it. Not because he did not trust the contents, but because if true, this information was unspeakably valuable, and such information would only remain priceless if it was kept hidden. He pulled out his pipe and tobacco, set himself up for a smoke, then lit it, and thought while he puffed.

In the undermountain kingdom Harn had once called home, the Diamondcarvers were a wealthy, powerful, and influential clan. So much so that when a new king was crowned, it was the patrician of the Diamondcarvers who placed the crown upon the sovereign's head. However, due to an outbreak of sunpox within the kingdom a few years ago, the clan was eviscerated, with very few members still alive and no clear line of succession.

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Normally, that would be cause for a civil war, but the seven surviving members of the clan were ancient even by dwarven standards and had at best a decade or two left before they passed on. So, instead of a civil war, there would be a massive power vacuum within the kingdom, one that would radically reshape the political landscape of the dwarven lands for generations to come. At this stage, there was no telling who might come out on top.

However, there was a small ray of hope: One of the members of clan Diamondcarver had eloped with a daughter of clan Stonebreak, one of Harn's cousins. The pair had effectively vanished, and no one had found a trace of them in the ten years since. Even Harn's impressive network of highly trained spies had found nothing. However, if the pair had met with an accident on the road somewhere, that would explain a great deal, but it also meant the doom of the Diamondcarver clan. Yet, if they had a child, that would mean the clan would live on.

Moreover, as a child of both clans Diamondcarver and Stonebreak being the last heir of that powerful and influential clan, it would mean that the Stonebreaks would rise from merely being a moderately powerful merchant clan to a powerhouse within the dwarven kingdom. More to the point, the existence of such an heir would ensure the stability of the dwarven lands, since it would ensure that a clear line of succession was established. After all, whoever rose to take the position of the Diamondcarvers may not curb their ambitions to being merely a power behind the throne, but may instead attempt to claim the crown of thane of thanes itself.

Finishing his pipe, Harn made a decision. He pulled out a small crystal ball and began focusing. Many dwarves despised magic, but over the last century, the royal spymaster had come to appreciate the gifts that it bestowed. While it made his job more challenging in some ways, it also allowed him to do things that would otherwise be difficult, bordering on the impossible.

"Spymaster." The voice was perfectly neutral, betraying nothing. Of all of his agents, Harn's lieutenant and direct subordinate was the only one that he could trust for this job.

"Lieutenant," Harn replied, "I have a task for you. Assign a squad of no more than three agents to this task. There is a dwarven child within one of the orphanages of Academy City. Locate the child and place them under observation. No interference unless the child's life is in danger. All information is to be kept classified solely to you, I, and the observing agents. I expect a preliminary report brought to me within a week, with regular updates until and unless I say otherwise. Understood?"

"Understood," came the reply. After a moment, the voice asked, "Of what import is this child?"

Harn hesitated before answering, "Maybe nothing, but I can't be sure yet. A rumor reached me, and I need to verify whether it was a whisper of truth or just a pesky fly to swat from my ear. Harn out."