Role

Chapter 9

Gahthokarahzen Vehgtalzalen, or simply Gahtho Vehgtal, was born deep in the
tunnels of the underdark to an average family. He has two brothers, a sister,
and loving parents. From an early age he had helped his father in the crystal
fields, mining and collecting. As with most of his race he greatly enjoys
being within the earths embrace and working with stone. His early years were
average and somewhat uneventful, he went through what most young men do and
was content with his life.

At the young age of forty Gahtho married a young svirfnebli that he had grown
up with and together they purchased a small piece of land to mine and farm.
The couple were deeply in love and they never seemed to argue. They may
disagreements, but they always talked through any issues that came up and
came to a middle ground. It was bliss. After being married for a few years
they had a child, a beautiful female. Gahtho was living his dream life,
nothing could be better. He had a wonderful family and his own land to farm
and mine.
The bliss did not last long however. Shortly after their first child was
born, Gahthos father and brothers were killed. They were out working to
lengthen a tunnel and preparing a new bit of land that his father had
recently acquired when there was an odd cave-in, burring them all beneath the
stone. They were always so careful and tedious, Gahtho found it hard to
believe that they were responsible or that they simply had an accident. The
next day a crew of various races came to town for supplies. Apparently they
had been mining some areas just outside of the reaches of Gahthos home using
powerful magics to quickly excavate the land and mine the gems and other
minerals. At first the citizens saw them as a source of income, they
purchased many supplies quite frequently so they were eagerly welcomed. The
crew of oversiders had been able to mine enormous amounts of raw materials
utilizing their magics and the citizens began to feel its effects. It took
the commoners weeks to harvest a fraction of what the oversiders could
harvest in a day. Because of the shear bulk the oversiders were harvesting,
they sold the raw materials at a much lower price then the commoners could.

Poverty began to set in as their economy plunged into despair. Commoners went
hungry, supplies were running short, and their water supplies had somehow
become tainted. Another cave-in occurred killing more then a dozen of the
local citizens, the cause was a mispronounced syllable and careless planning
of the oversiders. The oversiders were no longer welcome and groups of the
commoners began to protest. Gahtho had joined a small group of svirfnebli
that led the protests and assembled rallies in an attempt to drive the
unwelcome oversiders away. The oversiders lashed out, unpleased with the idea
of having to move their mining operation while it was going so well for them.
Two members of the small protest group were found murdered and it caused
outrage. Everyone knew the oversiders had committed the murders but there was
little that they could do. Gahtho and a close friend began to make plans to
sabotage the oversiders in the hopes that they would finally leave. After
their third and final meeting before they intended to carry out their plans
Gahtho arrived home to find his wife and