Nurgal

The goblins of the Pickclaw tribe were not known for their wit. In fact, because of their extreme lack of intelligence, they have been abused in trades by just about every merchant in Norrath. If one were to wonder why the citizens of Highkeep permit the clan to live in the mines beneath their homes, the answer is quite simple, they are good miners and they trade the ores cheaply.

The goblins would slave day in and out looking for the "shiny rocks" for which the stupid humans gave them coin. The fact that these same rocks actually made the coin they received was a feature that escaped them.

In addition to the humans of Highkeep, the goblins also made secret trades with both the Teir`Dal of Neriak and the Fier`Dal of Faydwer. The Teir`Dal would reward the goblins with decent arms and generally paid the best. They were dangerous to deal with as they were just as likely to kill you as pay you. Trading with the Fier`Dal was rather uncommon. The Fier`Dal only came seeking the few rare stones they used to create their arcane runes, which was fine for the pickclaws as no one else wanted those dull looking rocks.

The Pickclaw miner Nurgal was on par intellectually with of the rest his clan. Nurgal was quite happy this day as he had found a new vein in his section of the mines. In fact, he'd already pulled three shiny yellow bricks today and was sure to get at least a fistful of copper for them! After chipping a few more layers he hit something very hard with his pick, so hard that his pick bent.

"Whaza!" he exclaimed.

In the crevice he revealed was a slightly glowing blue rock. "Hmm," he thought, "me never seen a blue rock a'fore." He tried chipping at it a little bit more but could not even put a scratch into it. Finally in a display of rare brilliance, and after ruining several more tools, he decided to carve around the rock and yank it out.

The rock was spherical in shape, about 8 inches in diameter. Nurgal's eyes gleamed as he guessed how many allies he could buy with this rare find. He quickly concealed it in his belt pouch, wary as always that some of the larger goblins might see it and take it from him. He scrambled out of the hole he was working in and started off to the city to find the dark elf ambassador. The dark elves had always given Nurgal the best prices for rare finds, and this would be no exception he decided.