Markus & Tarmen

JP with Lucian and Winteroak

Markus Norixius was finishing up for the day. The ironmongers and smiths working under him had been performing well since they came up here a month or so ago. They were on target with their quotas.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, leaving a streak of grease and charcoal across his forehead. The forge and the smelter would keep burning and churning slag and metal throughout the night.

The prodigal young man implement a series of rotations ensuring the settlement was producing and processing ore almost every hour of the day.

As he made his way to his tent after bidding his men a good night pausing near the well to wash some of the grime of the day away.

Tarmen caught sight of what was looking like his most valuable underling. He had only seen the results once he arrived, but he wanted to know the man.
“Markus, right? Have to say I am impressed with what you have done here.”

The man caught Markus by surprise. His mind occupied on how to best resolve the issue of the crucibles he wanted to add.

Took him a heartbeat to realise he had not seen the man before but quickly realised this could be the man he was told to expect.
"Tarmen Frespit?" He asked cautiously. He pulled at the well rope retrieving a bucket of water.

He nodded to confirm, amused by Markus’s face.
“In the flesh. Figured I should get to business right away, see who I was dealin’ with. As I said, you hold a tight shift around here it seems.”

The blacksmith drank from the bucket before washing his hands and finally pouring the rest of the water over his face and head, invigorated by the ice cold water dragged up from Fang's water table.
"Thanks, no too hard when everyone is as busy as two rabbits rutting. But I'm very glad you are finally here." He told Tarmen truthfully. Things were not as smooth as they appeared at first glance. Just than the skies opened up and large drops of rain started to fall. Markus put the buicket down and looked at the skies enjoying the cool evening rain washing down on him.

"My tent is not far. Maybe we can talk there more." he said noticing the shrunken head at Tarmen's belt for the first time, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

Once in his small tent he offered Tarmen some jerky and water as both man sat. "Not sure what your immediate plans are to secure the settlement but we had a bit of a problem a few days ago." Markus started. "Most of the miners are from a nearby clan. A few days ago while mining a large vein of iron they broke into a large chamber just beyond the main shaft." he said taking a bite of the dry meat. "Ever since then they have refused to go back to work."

Listening intently, Tarmen was rather confused.
“Well, what did they find? Surely you sent a team in to investigate.”