Ernest Thaig

Ernest is the younger Thaig brother and somewhat skeptical of his brother's claims that their family was once nobility. Despite this, he cares dearly for his brother and has promised to help Bertrand in his quest into the Underdark to find their family's supposed lost holdings. Ernest is the more levelheaded of the two brothers, managing the expedition from a practicality standpoint while his brother dreams big.
Table of Contents

Welcome to Haven City Arc

Helping His Brother, Discreetly

Ernest introduced himself to two applicants for his brother's Underdark expedition, Elycia Mirais and Leh'ct, after paying some local urchins to pickpocket applicants and lead them on a chase as a test of skill. He congratulated their skill as well as their ethics, mentioning he'd had to put crossbow bolts through several legs to protect the kids as he tossed Elycia her pilfered coin purse. Ernest informed the pair he had an additional offer for them on top of what his brother had told them and could meet them an hour after sundown at the GnoName Tavern to discuss it, which they agreed to.
True to his word, Ernest walked into the GnoName Tavern exactly an hour past sunset and laid out the bare truth for the budding adventurers: the Thaig brothers were broke. They had most of the expedition preparations ready but fell short of funding. If they could each contribute 500 gold to the expedition, Ernest would ensure they were equal partners instead of hired hands. Seeing the group's various reactions to his statement, Ernest tried to encourage them by informing them that there was plenty of work around Haven City for making coin, pointing to a few troubled looking people sitting around the bar as examples. Finishing his drink, Ernest told them he'd come back in a weeks time to see if they'd made up their minds before leaving.

Contracting the Adventurers

Ernest walked back into the GnoName Tavern a week later, coming over to the corner booth the party had adopted as their own with a tray of drinks. He asked the party if they'd made up their minds about his offer and was pleased to learn they intended to join the expedition. They also said they'd already gathered a hefty amount of resources, which Ernest joked (or seemed to) that he hoped they hadn't killed anyone he knew to get them. He also advised the adventurers not to push themselves too hard, as the expedition wasn't leaving for another five weeks. Ernest recommended they might spend some time prepping for the journey and suggested talking to the wizard he and his brother had hired, Villamax, who was doing research on the Underdark at the Tower Library.
After their misadventure in the demiplane of Pompolius the Powerful, Elycia and Vinnie recovered to hear Ernest arguing with Bertrand. He was saying that the Underdark would be at least as dangerous as what these adventurers had just been through, which is why he wanted to hire seasoned people instead of taking along whoever. Itassis scolded both brothers for continuing to argue when the injured adventurers presented a more pressing matter and they moved their argument outside.
Ernest continued to meet with the adventurers weekly, checking in on their progress and pointing them towards the occasional job. By telling them about an incident at a nearby coal mine, Ernest was even indirectly responsible for K meeting Sonya Snowborne and their subsequent engagement. Around the time Vinnie was killed, Ernest met a warforged named Sunny who was seeking to join the expedition. Impressed by Sunny's ability to make and repair equipment, Ernest extended him the same partnership off he'd made the other adventurers to bring the warforged's useful skillset along.

Flight from Haven City

A few days later, he was just as surprised as his brother when the adventurers showed up on their doorstep after fleeing from the Crows. The adventurers, namely Leh'ct, had offended the Crows leader Marchioness Eve and the crime syndicate was out for blood. They needed to leave town immediately and though Ernest wasn't crazy about the situation, Bertrand pointed out they'd already made a contract to take the adventurers with them. Though Villamax was able to teleport the group to a rendezvous point where they would meet the guide who would take them to the Underdark entrance, they were forced to leave their pack animals and much of their supplies behind.

Journey Into the Underdark Arc

Entering the Underdark

Ernest's guide arrived on schedule but evidentially knew something about the expedition members' involvement with the Crows being in an uproar. He refused to guide them personally, instead providing a map before scampering back to Haven City. Though Ernest had paid the man for his silence as much as his map, he acknowledged his companions concerns that his contact might sell them out and suggested they get a move on.
It didn't take them long to find the cave that led down into the bowels of the earth, the expeditionary force moving down a long sloping tunnel before coming to a cavern that housed a deep chasm. Villamax approached him at that point and suggested collapsing the tunnel behind them in case they were indeed being followed. Bertrand was somewhat skeptical this was a good idea, but Villamax assured the dwarf that his magic could both make this look like a natural collapse and open the tunnel back up if they needed out through it later. Now convinced, Ernest sent the adventurers to scout ahead while he and the rear party stayed behind to collapse the tunnel.
They met the adventurers at the bottom of the deep pit afterwards to get a sit rep about what they'd found while scouting. After resting up a bit, they kept moving forward onto the Silken Paths where Ernest remained with the rear party. When they were attacked by both giant spiders and darkmantles, Ernest used his trusty crossbow to pick off targets that slipped past Villamax and Itassis while also finishing off creatures the pair managed to simply wound rather than kill. Sunny, having noticed the explosions from Villamax's fireballs, arrived shortly afterwards and provided fire support as they finished the monsters off.
Sunny told them he planned to return to where they entered the Silken Paths and kill the ettercap there to prevent it from informing any drow of the expedition's passage. Ernest was a bit concerned about the ethics of this, considering how Leh'ct had insisted on passing by peacefully before, but Villamax managed to convince him it was for the best in terms of the expedition's overall safety.
Bertrand was noticeably shaken by this and asked to speak with Jake about how common things like this were. Jake, not one to sugarcoat things, was very blunt and honest with his opinion. Ernest took Jake to the side privately and told Jake that his brother is a dreamer whereas he's the practical one. He'd take care of his brother, physically and emotionally, as best as he but requested Jake take it easy on him for the time being.

Time at the Deep Spire

When the expedition arrived at the Deep Spire, Ernest spent much of his time there assisting Bertrand with bartering for maps of the local area as well as the caves and tunnels beyond. Maybe even one showing their family's ancient holdings in the ancient city of Auldbaern, if they were lucky. The adventurers he hired informed him of the Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern during this time (after they learned the story from Lord Varl) as well as the fact that what was one the dwarven city of Auldbaern was now the drow city of Vlyn'darastyl. Later, Ernest was present when Leh'ct burst into the room to warn everyone about his run-in with "Black Hand" Kelly, as well as the subsequent investigation that revealed the "arrest" Leh'ct witnessed had been faked and the bounty hunter was long gone.

Welcoming Ban

Later that afternoon, Ernest was having lunch with Bertrand and Leh'ct when Jake and Elycia returned alongside a different-looking Sunny. Come to find out this was not Sunny but rather his brother Ban. The adventurers had been ambushed by bounty hunters led by "Black Hand" Kelly and Sunny was "killed" in the process. Except he wasn't, because Sunny had been a hamster piloting a construct rather than a warforged the whole time and managed to eject from his self-destructing Gundam.
Though still alive, Sunny was badly injured and had to return home for medical treatment. Ban stated he'd be following the party around, both to finish hunting down the Light Gundam (which Ban clarified was a construct that had kidnapped his brother Haz rather than Haz himself as Sunny had previously insinuated) and get a shot at the bounty hunters who'd injured his brother. Bertrand sealed the deal by shaking hands with Ban (Ban using both paws while Bertrand used just a pinky).
With that settled, the adventurers were ready to get moving before Lord Varl started to make war with Brazenthrone. Unfortunately, Ernest informed them they'd have to wait because Mott had taken it upon himself to hire the Grinning Widow's services out to Gobo.
The goblin merchant had talked his way into catering for the Conclave of the Fleet and needed a ship to get all the food there. After the group decided to see if Gobo would hire them on too so that they could keep an eye on the ship, Elycia suggested the rest of the expedition come along so they could try to sail ahead of the Tideborne Tribe's war fleet. Unfortunately, this wasn't an option as Villamax and Itassis had gone off somewhere and would be returning to the Spire after their business was concluded. They had no way to tell the pair to meet them somewhere else. For now, the advance party would have to settle for traveling with Gobo (who hired them as bodyguards from pirates and sea monsters for 200gp each).

The City of Brazenthrone

Preparing for Departure

Weeks later, the advance party sat down with Ernest and the rest of the expedition to go over what they'd been up to while caught up in local events. Among other things, they'd discovered (or rather, been led to by Mother Moth) the Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern and found stone tablets detailing the Thaig family history. Bertrand was able to translate the ancient dwarven text; though it appeared to confirm what he wanted to know, he was disappointed to find the document was not notarized. However, he seemed to think that if this document survived for so long that a notarized version may have as well.
To continue their quest, the expedition would need to pass through Brazenthrone. While willing to go, the Thaig brothers were uncertain how the duergar there would welcome a pair of surface dwarves like themselves. This was apparently something that Villamax had been mulling over as well and he stepped over by the brothers and plopped a Hat of Disguise on each of them to make them look like duergar. Though he did also warn them that these disguises would only take them so far, as the illusion would do nothing to hide their accents or let them copy local mannerisms.

Magic Items
Hat of Disguise