The estate of Lord Ascarious dominated the East Exarch's Quarter. Unlike many other cities, the "noble's quarter" was split into two opposite ends of Vornheim. Centuries of rulers both mortal and otherwise created a confusing array of titles and royal houses, most of whom had little interest in cooperation, which still continue to this day. Most inhabitants of Vornheim care little for the specifics, and many in power are more than fine with that. Ascarious' manor was decidedly alien, its towers a patchwork assortment of spiral shapes of unknowingly ancient materials and stone-wrought residences. The expansive front yard had no lush grass or trimmed hedges of green, but transparent fractal cubes whose contents almost seemed to move within in the dim light of night.
A butler of indeterminate age and all-black threads let Alex and Kana into the building proper. The place was unlike many noble houes in West Brendor, or at least what the common imagination portrayed. Runes of unknown languages twisted and twined around columns in patterns before crisscrossing around the floor. "Watch for the lit ones," the butler cautioned as he leaped away from a sudden bright surge passing through the words. "They can give a nasty jolt if you're not careful!"
Finally they came face to face with Lord Ascarious, standing proud and tall in the grand hall. Fully clad in his signature armor even amid the company of fellow high society, he stood unmoved by the requests and suggestions of the barons and counts in his presence.
"It is good to see you, Lady Kana and Lady Alex," he said. "Forgive my apologies, but my servants could not ascertain your surnames in their recollection of your deeds. That does not mark any less respect for you."
He turned to the rest of the nobles. "Our meeting is now over. We will continue our negotiations at noon on the morrow." The attendant lords and ladies seemed surprised at their dismissal, and one of them (a mustached gentlemen carrying a weighty tome) stared daggers into the eyes of the newcomers.
"Don't mind them," Lord Ascarious said once they left. "The possession of money and land can make one think the world listens at their beck and call. Down to business, I need your help in scouting an expedition into a series of caves southeast of here, on the Torith Forest's boundary. Normally I'd send my own guards, but their expertise is in Vornheim, and the forest traditionally lies in elven lands. The border lies at the end of the furthest tree, as your kind know," he says as his helmet turns slightly towards Kana, "but most are loathe to test that."
"Archibald."
The butler produced a worn journal.
"This is the personal diary of a huntsman who traditionally lived in the environs. He, and others of his village of Redstall, long complained of people, things, living underground, but no soldiers nor knights could find evidence of mines or caves. Entreaties to the elves met with nothing, claiming to be preoccupied with the Blighter threat, as they call it, to focus on western affairs. But these later entries indicate more disjointed writings, of eyes in the ground and hungry mouths below and other ramblings of a madman, shortly before his corpse was found in a newly-formed collapse not too distant from the village. It is then that my hirelings found positive evidence of a system of caverns below Torith, but nobody dared go inside."
Lord Ascarious paused for a moment, the room full of silence, waiting for an answer.
"And that is where you come in."
"I will pay you twenty-five silver pieces each if you explore the caverns and report back to me on any significant findings, fifty if you map it to the extent of my satisfaction."
He approached Kana and Alex until he was but arm's length from the both of them. "And should you find any evidence of deliberate threat to the villagers of Redstall or the city of Vornheim, I'll pay you a hundred silver, each, if you report to me before anyone else. Whether it's human tampering or actual monsters matters not, we cannot let this go unchallenged. My house, more than anybody in East Brendor, has the power to repel large-scale attacks. The other nobles care only for their own holdings, and will claw at each other as the world burns." He turned to Kana. "Think on that, elf, if the tales of these Blighters are as true as I've heard."
Archibald provided Alex and Kana with the hunter's journal and a small map of roads and landmarks of the land between Vornheim and the northwest Torith Forest. Lord Ascarious entertained any questions the two of them had before declaring the meeting over and having his guards escort them off his estate. Travel to Redstall would be trivial, about a day on foot judging by the map.
Feel free to ask Lord Ascarious any questions you might have. It is known that the elves of Torith tolerate human villagers in their lands, but most human settlements stick to the west. Currently the majority of their efforts are focused on war with the Blighters of the east, and are lesser in number than before.
The runes in the manor are of unknown magic. You do not have enough time to examine them.
What is known of the Blighters is little in fact, but all agree that they practice dark magic and worship foul gods. The elves have nothing but venom to say of them, how they wither large swathes of forest and bring starvation, disease, and undeath to all of the lands that they touch. The elves and various human noble houses cooperated together in a rare show to halt their spread west with a huge wall. Aside from that, the wall is completely manned and controlled by the elves.