With his orders issued, the gnolls scrambled to obey.
Taking only the most basic necessities like food for the journey and their weapons.
They were soon gone, leaving Storm alone with his companions .
"Shall we go see what spoils your hard work has earned us?" Asked Grombrim excitedly.
He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
Storm sighed.
"Yes. Let's get this over with so that we can leave this damn place!" Said Storm.
He was tired from the day's events and just wanted to curl up in his warm nest and sleep the remainder of the day away.
They went to the building that the gnolls had designated as the place to store all their ill gotten gains.
Based on how full the warehouse was, the gnolls had been busy.
Numerous crates were stacked inside the building.
As the dwarves began ripping open and cataloging the contents in the crates.
One of the dwarves suddenly called out .
"Boss!! You might want to take a look at this!!"
Storm and Grombrim both came over.
The crate had a sigil that Storm was all too familiar with.
"The Hunter's Guild!" Said Storm.
They pried open the crate and the inside was fully packed with tools for construction or crafting.
"Here's more, sir!" Called another dwarf.
They found more than 30 crates,with the same sigil.
These crates contained everything from ores and materials for crafting, tools and materials for construction, to even weapons already forged and packed.
Grombrim whistled in response.
"That's.... quite a find!!"
"But where did all this come from!" Asked Storm.
He sounded calm on the outside, but he was panicking within.
"This many supplies could only come from a major hunter's stronghold!!
The gnolls only raided in the fringes, so it must be located in the area!!" Thought Storm.
Major hunter outposts were extremely bad news for magical creatures.
They could often arm and resupply massive groups of hunters and they tended to attract large numbers of hunters who migrates to the area looking for work.
Leaving such a outpost operational was the height of folly and the magical creatures in the areas often banded together to destroy one if discovered.
What was especially troubling was how secretive this particular one was.
Outposts that size tended to leave plenty of signs of it's existence in their areas of operation, and yet neither Storm nor the surrounding settlements had seen any sign of this.
"Something has changed!! If the Hunters went to this much trouble to conceal their presence!
Who knows what they could be working on in this place!" Thought Storm.
He turned to Dust'an.
"Where did your people find this?!" Asked Storm.
The feral dragon cocked his head to the side and stared at Storm.
He didn't understand his words.
Frustrated, Storm pressed with his mind on Dust'an's thoughts, he pointed at the crates and asked with his mind where to find more.
Dust'an couldn't answer him, he didn't really care where his minions found the stuff they stole, nor did he care about anything other than food.
These items would have no doubt been rejected by the Feral dragon if offered as tribute and so they never offered it to him.
"Damn it!!" Shouted Storm.
Dust'an whimpered and crouched down, thinking he had done something wrong to upset his mentor.
Seeing this, Storm felt bad about his actions and comforted Dust'an.
"It's all right! I'm not mad at you. I'm just... frustrated. "
"Don't worry about it, Calamity. Wherever these things are coming from, we will find it and destroy it. " said Grombrim.
"We need to! As long as this place exists, we will never be safe!" Storm replied.
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"This is a problem we can discuss back at the Hideout.
For now, these supplies will be very useful for our forces.
Wil you arrange that your men pick this up and deliver it to the hideout. " asked Storm.
"I'm certain we can arrange something! In exchange for a small fee of course!
I'd say... 20 percent of the spoils would be more than fair!" Offered Grombrim.
Storm rolled his eyes.
"10 percent, no more!" Countered Storm.
"Fine!! But I want first pick of whatever we find in these crates!!" Grumbled Grombrim.
"Done! Let's see what else is in the camp for us to salvage!" Said Storm.
Once they finished cataloging the contents in the storehouse, they made their way to the cave that had been Dust'an's home for many years.
Bones of creatures long since dead, littered the large cave.
Grombrim was looking around as if searching for something.
When he couldn't find it, he turned and stared at Dust'an suspiciously.
"Where's your hoard, lizard?! Don't tell me you don't have one!?
What kind of dragon are you?!"
Dust'an growled in annoyance.
He didn't understand what the hairy two leg said. But the tone of his voice made Dust'an believe he just insulted him.
Storm rolled his eyes.
"That's just a foolish human folktale about my species!
We don't collect shiny objects! We're not magpies!"
"You... don't...?" Asked Grombrim.
He seemed somewhat disappointed.
"Of course not!! What use would we have for gold and gems!! Ferals even less so!!" Exclaimed Storm.
Dust'an suddenly ran to a dark corner of the cave and began pulling large rocks and bones away.
"Are you sure about that?" Asked Grombrim.
After a moment, he pulled everything aside and exposed a glowing sigil on the wall.
Storm frowned when he saw that.
"What is this supposed to be?" Asked Storm.
"That's a Calderon family crest?" Said Grombrim.
"Calderon?" Asked Storm.
"A family of mages that hails from Arcadia.
They have a strong influence in the government there, but the family has since spread out all across the kingdoms.
Storm studied the sigil closely.
Something about it seemed to resonate with his own magic.
"I wonder...?" Replied Storm.
He walked towards the sigil and placed a claw on it.
It hummed slightly but gave no other reaction.
He closed his eyes and chanelled an small amount of his magic though his limb.
The sigil began to glow as it hungrily absorbed the magic Storm chose to gift it.
Once the sigil grew to it's brightest intensity, Storm heard a 'click' as a wall shifted to the side to expose a large tunnel that led deeper into the mountain range.
"This doesn't make any sense! Why would the Calderons build and hide something way out here in the middle of nowhere?!" Said Grombrim.
"I don't know, but we should tread lightly! Wizards rarely leave their sanctums unguarded!" Warned Aurora.