Azrak’s most prized possession, a magical ring called Sheebalb’s Blession, went missing. In Ghevont’s magic mirror they saw a burly gnoll rip the ring off of the finger of a dead dwarf bearing a beetle insignia. Noting the ongoing war between gnolls and dwarves, Azrak headed south in search of the ring. Some time later, Azrak asked about the ring at a field hospital filled with dwarven soldiers. A nurse there told of a troop wearing a beetle insignia that recently headed east, directly towards the battlefront. He decided that was the direction to follow.
Following a well-worn path through caves, Azrak moved slowly upwards and east until the caves opened up near the top of a grassy hill. Looking down, he saw a small village at the foot of the hill that bordered on a vast swamp. He hustled down the path, passing a crude sign announcing “Mudstone”. Terrified dwarven villagers dashed into their homes at the sight of him. In the central square, he met a troop of dwarven warriors receiving orders from fearsome leader in a spiked helmet. They all wore beetle insignias.
Azrak shouted, “I’m looking for my ring!”
The leader interrupted his speech to address Azrak. “Ahem. I am Chief Glakear. Can I help you, friend?”
Sparing no time for niceties, Azrak replied, “a gnoll stole my magic ring. I saw him take it from a dead dwarf. The ring has a bat on it.”
The information piqued Glakear’s interest, for any aid in the ongoing war was welcome. “I can have my dwarves search the village.” He assumed Azrak already had definite information about the ring being nearby.
“Are there gnolls in the village?” asked Azrak.
“There are gnolls all through the swamp. They’ve been raiding the village’s crops.”
“Shouldn’t we search in the swamp, then?”
“You can go search in the swamp if you wish. I won’t stop you. Searching will be much less dangerous here in the village.”