Agate

Agate is a 13 year old tiefling girl from the city of Torca. She doesn't know her father, but her human mother is a servant for the Ciovic family manor house, the most powerful merchant family in the city. They control the trade of Larumar, a blue stone found nowhere else in the world. It is said that it contains the spirit of the ocean itself and is valued for its use in jewelry and arcane objects. The location of the mine is a closely guarded secret.

In order to become a servant in this household, one must first become a Vaulter or Vaultress. At the age of 15, a servant can become a Vaultress if she is illiterate and has a family member in the already in service. She must undergo a ritual tongue removal so that she is incapable of revealing secrets to anyone outside the household. Their life is restricted to the manor property alone. In return, they are given food, shelter and live a comfortable life. That is, as long as they bear a child into the family service.

The Ciovic family is extremely mistrustful of magic, and their power over the surrounding town has forced many local magic users into hiding.

To be a Vaulter or Vaultress is considered an honor passed down from generation to generation despite its limiting lifestyle. To Agate, it is seen as normal. She looks forward to being able to spend all day with her mother, but it isn't looking forward to losing her tongue. She spends her days while her mother is working inside the manor (where she is not yet allowed) training as a maid at a local inn. She is trying to remember all she can about the world outside.

One beautiful afternoon, Agate goes to watch the ocean and in her favorite, seaside alcove. There she sees Kusdius, the head of the Ciovic family, exit a ship she has never seen before. She watches as the cargo bay opens, and hundreds of chained, gagged, and malnourished gnomes are forced onto the beach. Kusdius mutters a few arcane words, and a small blue cave becomes visible in the cliffside, just large enough for a gnome to walk through. Kusdius' knoll assistants begin forcing them into the cave. Scared of being seen, Agate dashes back to the manor as fast as she can.

That evening after dinner with her mother, she is dragged to the manor dungeons under the pretense of immediately beginning her vaulting. Now that she knows the secret of the Ciovics' wealth and prosperity, she realizes being a vaultress is not a position of honor, but manipulation.

Agate begins to panic and scrambles to find a way to get out of her cell. After an hour of struggling she realizes there is no point and cries herself to sleep. While asleep, she sees a pair of green eyes staring at her. Agate wakes up to find her hands glowing with bright red light, and inadvertently blasts magic at her cell door. The energy melts a hole in the cell bars, she runs out and escapes. Agate runs back to the shipyards and sneaks onto the first ship she can find.