Thordin

Set in a fantasy world where seeing an elf create a fire from her hands is just Jenny from down the road making dinner.

THORDIN, a dwarf, a former solider, now a jaded hermit, lives in a hut outside the Human city of BOLDIER. Only entering to sell woodwork and to see his few friends; how he likes it. But some people know of his past as an investigator. So when a mage named KELSAR goes missing, a young mage SUNAN (24) comes to his hut and asks him to help. Thordin refuses, he isn't interested in helping out suits when they aren't interested in helping out the people anyway. But when he tells his friend ARTE (80's, scholar) about it, Arte insists they must help and will do it alone. But he soon goes missing too...

Thordin now has to work with Sunan and his friend JIRA to find where this mage was and why even looking for him got Arte kidnapped. With the guards (the police and army of the city) too busy to help, the trio have to search for clues themselves. They search Arte's home, stalk suspects and question everyone they can. But as the investigation unfolds, Thordin realises that there is far more to what is going on than he can handle. The missing mages were involved in a secret crime organisation that is influencing everyone from locals on the docks to the head of the guild herself.

Thordin tries to get around this by being secretive about his plans but when he gets caught by the guards, he faces punishment. Using reason and the evidence he's found however, Thordin manages to get the head of the guards to open up. But she didn't expect the guard in her room to be one of the organisation and is killed, framing Thordin on the spot.

He runs, chasing the real assassin. But is lead to their hideout and soon realises there's no hope. He is allowed to live and is told where Arte's body is. He finds the body and goes back to the guards to hand himself in, but they act like nothing happened. The organisation has swept it under the rug.

The friends hold a funeral for the only one of them willing to put his life on the line. They weep but Thordin vows not to let this happen again. If the guards aren't going to help the people, he will.