The two parties gathered together in a reletively small hall, illuminated by candlelight even though it was a bright day outside. It was sticky hot in the Trade Island city of Thusala, and busy as ever. Yet in this space, the world was a bit quieter. Not too many came around one of the Royal Sultan's compounds. These were the true leaders of the Trade with their own private armies.

On one end were a pack of three guards who had control of a haggard looking thin man with a long unkempt beard. Behind them was the Sultan himself, De'ridorian. He was dressed in a very eye catching display of emerald fabrics with gold trim and chains and jewels and rings all to heighten the importance of his appearence.

On the other end were three travelers from Darkwood. The main representitive was a man by the name of Beril, and King Amun's own general. With him came two of his own personal guard. The meeting was important enough for the king to send such a highly regarded figure to sort it out. And so with the three of them, they also brought a large sized chest in which they placed in front of them.

"Greeting's your excellency, Sultan of Thusala, De'ridorian. I am General Briel of the royal court of Darkwood. I have come very far as a special request from my king-"

"Yes yes, we recieved the letter weeks ago about the nature of this visit." The Sultan waved his hand dismissively. He pointed to the chest. "Is this the payment?"

Briel opened the chest to reveal it full of golden coins.

"Ah, good!" The Sultan said. "Then consider this rat's debt paid. He's all yours. But if he crosses my path again, Ill kill him."

The ragged man was pushed in Briel's direction and Briel's guard gathered the man. Briel eyed the man up and down, regarding him. He made the comment to the Sultan "He seems weak."

"He's been rotting in our dungeons for two years, Splash some water on his face!" The Sultan responded sounding insulted. Then the Sultan's men Gathered the chest.

"Molbold." Briel addressed the ragged man. "You ARE the mercinary, Molbold are you not?"

"Yeah," The ragged man looked away. "Thats me. You got a job or something?"

"Something like that." Briel smirked. "But first lets get you cleaned up."

The Darkwood people led the man known as Molbold back to their ship, where they gave him a bath and shave and fitted him with proper attire. After a while, he was led into the dining hall of the ship, which was elegantly lied out with a proper meal. Briel was there along with the other two officers who had been accompanying them. It seemed like the rest of their crew wasnt invited to this get together.

They did things in a proper mannor, eating their dinner first and discussing buisness secondly. When the meal was over, a servent cleared the table before they began.

"So, You wish to buy my services." Molbold said, leaning back in his chair. "Otherwise you wouldnt have sprung me from jail. Thank you for that."

"Your crimes here in the trade is of no concern to our king. He requires a man of your... talents." Briel said. "You see, there's been a bit of a mix up in the royal court."

Molbold didnt dance around his own words, instead surprising Briel and getting right to the point. "You want me to play bounty hunter and track down that missing disgraced hunter. Gildabrand or something right?"

Briel shrugged. "Guldivine. Thats his name. You have good sources for information."

"You would be amazed at the things you hear, locked away in jail." Molbold said. "I can find your missing hunter, but its going to cost you."

Briel tossed a sack of gold onto the table. "That should be enough to start. And you'll get a chest full of gold like that sultan once youve brought the king his head. Easy enough?"

"No not easy." Molbold said sternly. "There's a lot of people in this realm and even more places to hide. But I will find your hunter. The king just wants proof of his death?"

"Thats what he wants. His head specifically." Briel said.

"Fair enough. Ill bring it right to him." Molbold assured the man. "You can head back to your king and tell him I am on the job."

The two of them shook on it.

Molbold spent the next two weeks visiting old friends and even older drinking establishments, catching up on all of the gossip he had missed over his time in jail. As he asked around, no one seemed to have heard of Guldivine or any rumor of him showing up here, which was where Briel had thought he would go. But since Molbold had taken the payment, he intended to see the job through.

His lead came stumbling into a small shack of a bar down by the local docks late one evening. Molbold just happened to be there, already far into his own cups.

"Help me!" The short man was begging as he fell through the doorway. "Please ya got to help me! I was out there lost at sea... many many days! Im not sure how long! Please help me!"

Moldbold saw that the man was missing a leg, and was crudely bandaged in bloody rags. It had to be a reletively fresh injury. The man looked terrible, with a real long black beard and scars all over, barefoot. What he had claimed had surely matched how he looked.

The bartender rushed over and came to the man's aid along with a couple other patrons. Molbold turned away from them but kept his ears open to the conversation.

After he was fetched water, the man remained on the ground but spilled his life's story to all who were listening.

"I'm... Im Brack. I was a captain at sea. We were... Were sailing from Darkwood to trade..."

This caught Molbold's attention directly, and he made sure to listen closer.

"We were coming up the Northern current when a storm blew in... Got us off corse. We battlin' the storm when we were attacked! I am tellin ye, It was as plain as I am seeing you now... a bloody dragon!"

There where gasps and laughter from others. Of course dragons were famous folklore, but the existance of one seemed like the talk of nonsense. Moldbold wasnt laughing, however.

"A dragon!? For real!?" The bartender asked the man.

"I swear on what little life Ive got left Laddie! It was a bloody dragon that attacked us in the storm! Ripped our ship to shreads! We tried to fight em, Me and another fellow Guldivine actually stuck em in the leg, but Tis a dragon laddie! Sunk my ship and my crew!"

Molbold turned around immediately and ran up to the man. He got right into the man's face with drunken intensity. "That man! Guldivine! What became of him!? What happened!?"

Brack thought for a moment and then answered solumly. "He's down at the botttom of the sea with the rest of my crew. Killed by that beast!"

"Are you sure!?" Molbold shook the man.

"Aye, aye! Ease off!" The bartender warned, pushing Molbold back.

Brack wasnt done talking to him. He said with a stone face, "Laddie. He went into the drink with the rest of us when the dragon tore through my ship like it was paper. He's gone."

Molbold decided he had made enough attention for himself and quickly left the scene. At the moment this Brack fellow was of no immediate use. His news could have most likely been true, if one was to beleive a tale about a dragon attacking a ship in a storm. Molbold was not so convinced, and he knew his payday meant finding Guldivine's body. As Molbold slept away that night, the thought occured over and over around his head. . . Where there's a dragon... There's land.

The next few days went by with Molbold keeping tabs on the Brack fellow who had washed ashore. It seemed that his story checked out among a few repituble captains who knew Brack and his ship. His story was quickly becoming a legend in the underground tavern scene, and spreading among pirates and locals alike. They espeically liked the dragon detail, embellishing parts of the story to make the dragon seem more menacing or deadly.

Then one morning as Molbold was walking the streets, he was handed a small note from a child who ran past him. The note said: If you want to see the dragon, meet at 1412 Hemmick's Wharf Tonight.

When the evening came Molbold found the residence, a back alley warehouse with a group of people gathered, He saw that it was a meeting with a Man named Tyr. Captain Tyr that was. He was putting together an expedition to where the dragon island was.

"It's one way, folks." Captain Tyr warned them. "I can get you there, But I cannot bring you back."

"How do you know all this?" Someone from the small crowd asked.

"Ive been to where that sea captain was. Ive visited the island for myself. I narrowly escaped to live another day, and I have the location charted. I can get there, but the dragon dosnt allow anyone to leave." Captain Tyr explained.

There was some talk among most of the people. To Molbold they seemed grouped together into their own club. One of them answered for all of them. "That will be fine. We still want to go."

Molbold spoke up from the back of the main aduiance. "I am coming too."

"And you are?" Captain Tyr asked.

"Just a man with a bag of gold, lets leave it at that." Molbold told the crowd, then he tossed the rest of the gold that Briel had given him onto the ground in front of the Captain.

Captain Tyr picked it up and examined the contents then nodded his head. "Fair enough, Meet me at dock 16 Tomorrow afternoon, we set sail. Make sure to pack appropriately, its a long journey."

The crowd acknowledged and asked more questions before the meeting was dispursed. Molbold had heard all he needed to know, he bought himself a ticket to dragon island, where he could be sure this hunter was finished. He would worry about getting off of the island after he was sure the job was done.

On his days at sea, Molbold learned that he was indeed traveling with a caravan of people. They were traveling minstrels who did shows and spread stories across the realm. They wanted to visit everywhere, and this island was no exception. Apparently, They had been called to it, as their blind fortune teller had predicted. Molbold didnt pass judgement, they were of little concern to him as long as they stayed out of his way, which they did.

The ship arrived to the island on a foggy early morning. Molbold wasnt sure what they were steering into until the docks were almost right upon them. There was no fanfare, no dragon attack, nothing that would indicate this being anything other than another small island in a vast realm. A couple local dockhands helped secure their vessel and each of them stepped off into the town of Mendell.

Almost immediately, Molbold was greeted by a back of robed men. One of them extended his hand and introduced himself as Ong.

"Have you heard the good word of Mardoc yet?" Ong had asked him.

"Im only here for one reason." Molbold answered back truthfully. "To find and kill a man named Guldivine."

Ong's face turned white. "Did... you say... Guldivine!?"