Orval Finkus Wants His Dragonborn Returned

When the story returned to Root Barrel Farm, Orval Finkus explained the farm in the language of care and ownership at the same time. Displaced dragonborn refugees had been living and working there after Castro pushed them out and Gravenhurst would not accept them. Orval described himself as someone providing shelter, work, and order. He also kept calling them my dragonborn and my nest, which made the protection feel possessive enough to set teeth on edge. Several dragonborn were missing. Green had vanished near the fields. Red was tied to the cathedral or cave area. Black was hiding somewhere. Blue was unaccounted for. Orval offered payment if the party found them and brought them back. The job was simple on paper. It was not simple in tone. Root Barrel Farm had already looked like a controlled labor site. Orval claimed the dragonborn were free to leave and that he was worried because they had disappeared without goodbye. Both things could be true. Both could also be part of the performance. The party now had a rescue job inside a question: were they returning refugees to safety, or back to a prettier cage?