Author note: I know that, in this chapter, Meg acts in a way that may seem unfitting for an Ilmatari. But I quote from the section about Ilmater in the D&D manual "Faiths and Pantheons": «Although he is slow to anger, the wrath of the Broken Deity is terrible in the face of extreme cruelty or atrocities. He takes great care to reassure and protect children and young creatures and he takes exceptional offense at those who would harm them». And since Meg is Ilmater's priestess, I think her behaviour here is in line with that of her patron deity.
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When the door to his cell opened, Hendak beamed, raising his sword, "We are free at last, brothers! Go and free the women, I will plunge my sword in our so-called master's chest, so that he will never cause trouble again! Go and taste your freedom!".
The freed slaves engaged the slavers in battle, helped by the party, while Hendak and Meg walked back to the common room, where Lethinan stood. As soon as he saw the former gladiator, the inn's owner sneered with contempt, "What? Hendak!
You ignorant and barbaric slave, this is all of your making, isn't it? I will kill you, I will skin you alive!". "Shut up, demon! You don't own me anymore and I'll make sure you won't own anyone else ever again! I've been fighting in your hellish pits for years now…You're not a real foe for me anymore!". "We'll see!".
Hendak was right, of course and soon Lethinan was lying face down on the floor, gutted like the beast he was and gurgling his last breath, a pool of blood widening beneath him. The former gladiator spat on him, "There.
It's over, all the years of misdeeds and evil acts, only to have more coins in your pockets. Burn in the Abyss, demon". Meg nodded, "Despite my faith, I agree, he was a monster. Now sit down, please, I have to heal your wounds".
He complied, a bit uncertain, "But my friends need it more than me…". "Jaheira, Anomen and Aerie are already healing them". "Thank you, then. I wish I could reward you for your help…". "There's no need for it, Hendak: all of you are safe and free and that's all that matters". "But I must do something!
I claim this tavern as my own, as a compensation for my slavery and from now on, you and your party will be my guests: you won't have to pay for rooms and food anymore". "But we…", the Ilmatari hesitated, but then she sensed that he was more stubborn than her and smiled, "Thanks, Hendak".
"I'm the one who should thank you…Also, because I have one more request for you. I wish I didn't have to ask, but there are still some slavers in Athkatla. They still have some children, who are held captive in their base".
"Children? How dare they!", she turned to her companions, her face pale with fury and noticed that Minsc had rejoined them too, "You're all okay with teaching those monsters a lesson, aren't you?".
Yoshimo didn't seem so convinced and nibbled his thumb fingernail nervously, "Defeating the slavers? In their territory? I don't know…It's a good deed for sure, Meg, but don't think it will be easy".
The Rashemi frowned, "There are children kept as slaves! Boo feels insulted by the Evil that nests in this city like an angry weasel! We must save the children, little Meg, we must save them!", he shouted, his normally kind face clouded with rage.
"Well said, Minsc", Jaheira nodded, she hated slavers more than anything, "Let's erase that scum from the face of Mother Earth for good!", her hands twitched eagerly in anticipation while remembering her last Harper mission, when she and Khalid, together with other Harpers, had destroyed a ring of slavers headed by some baron Ployer.
Anomen gripped his mace more tightly, his smooth voice turned into a low growl and his handsome face twisted in a furious snarl, "I'm at your side, my lady, as always. I will not tolerate such cruelty! Those slavers will pay dearly for daring to harm innocent children!".
Even the gentle and pacific Aerie was shaking with anger, painful memories of her own slavery in the circus resurfacing and fuelling her hate, "We m-must free those poor c-children, Meg! Slavery i-is a terrible evil and we m-must stop it!".
Hendak smiled, relieved at hearing those words, "I knew you wouldn't let me down, my friends. Their base is not far from here, it's inside a landed ship right on the other side of the street. It could be dangerous to pass by the front door: I've heard some people saying that there could be a secret passage here, connecting the sewers of the Coronet to their base, but I don't know where it is".
"That's not a problem, we'll pass by the front door and whoever dares to try and stop me will sorely regret it! I'll teach those bastards to keep their hands off of children!", Margaret Dawn growled, storming to the slavers' base, her green eyes flashing golden for the briefest of moments.
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The guard at the entrance didn't stand a chance against an enraged Bhaalspawn and the lock on the door didn't stand a chance against Yoshimo's superb lock-picking skills, so the adventurers entered the building and found a small group of slavers, sat at a table and busy counting gold coins and gems.
One of them, a lanky man with salt and pepper hair dressed in a wizard's robe, turned to the party with an annoyed expression, "By the Gods! Didn't we pay the Council enough to prevent you idiot Amnian soldiers from storming in here every time you need to reach your monthly share of arrests?".
The Helmite walked forward, growling, "We are not corrupted soldiers, you miserable slaver! Now you will pay for your crimes!". "Well, that changes everything. Get at them, guys! The first kill will be rewarded with a pearl!".
The first kill was made by Yoshimo, who cleaved a slaver in two with his katana and Meg laughed. "The pearl is yours, it seems. Let's go get it, shall we?", she said, while landing a blow that snapped her foe's neck.
With the use of both weapons and offensive magic, the slavers were taken down, until the floor was littered with their dead bodies. While Yoshimo was busy retrieving all of the valuables from both the chests and the corpses, from one of the cells came the weak voice of a child, "Help! Please, will you free us?".
The Ilmatari rushed to the door, "Oh, sweetie, of course! Luckily that scumbag who led them had the key in his pocket", she quickly opened two of the three cells and left the children in Minsc's care, but when she approached the last door, from behind it came an unmistakable sound, a roar…The roar of a Troll.
Aerie hid behind her, suddenly pale, "Oh, by B-baervan! M-maybe we should just leave the door closed…". "We can't do that. Take a look through the bars: can you see them? There are some children inside there".
"Yes, I-I see them…B-but Trolls are d-dangerous…". "Not nearly as dangerous as I can be", Meg hissed, then she tossed her staff on the ground, intoned the Flaming Sword spell and got inside.
The two Trolls were quite difficult to defeat, also because of their regeneration abilities, but thanks to Aerie's and Jaheira's magic and the fire swords they had at their disposal, the party won the fight and the small captives approached them, a little brown-haired girl of maybe six at the head of their group as a spokeswoman.
"Thank you, good sirs and madams, you saved us! Those bad monsters wanted to eat us!", the child said, still shivering with fear. The Painbearer kneeled with a sweet smile and stroked her hair, "We would never let anyone eat you. Where are you from, darling?".
"Well…We, here, are from Scornubel, but I don't know about the others. I don't know how we could go home". "For now, we need to find you a safe place to stay at. We'll bring you to the nearby Temple of Ilmater, okay? It's a nice place and you'll be treated well there".
"I want my mommy and my daddy!", a boy of barely four, with black hair, started to cry and she picked him up and rocked him gently, murmuring soothingly in his ear. "Sssh, it's all right, my child, you're safe now.
Come, little ones, let's leave this bad place", she said, stopping only to retrieve her staff, the led both the children and her companions out of the slavers' base and to the Temple of Ilmater on the roof of the Copper Coronet.
Once the children were safely left in the priest's care, the adventurers shared the loot they'd found in the slavers' base as they usually did: half of it went to the 'Imoen's ransom fund', while the other half was to be equally split among them. Still, given the circumstances, the party members decided to give up their share for a greater cause.
When they descended the stairs, they found Hendak waiting for them outside the tavern with a beaming smile on his hard-featured face. "They were children's voices, weren't they? You did it, didn't you?", he asked hopefully. "Yes, they are free and safe now. Brother Evan will look after them, until they can return home", Meg said.
"I can arrange passage for them all…But I'm afraid it won't be cheap", the former gladiator shook his head sadly, but she just smiled and turned to Yoshimo. "The honour is yours, my friend". The bounty hunter chuckled, took a leather purse from a pocket and offered it to the other man with a small bow, "Here is a little help for the cause", he announced.
Hendak took the purse, a bit puzzled and his puzzlement became astonishment when he opened it and saw the shine of gold coins and gems, "But...What is…Where did you…", he stammered, his eyes round as quarters.
"The slavers were counting them, when we came upon them. We thought their corpses wouldn't need the spoils", the Kara-Turan explained with a smirk and the former gladiator laughed. "You are truly amazing!", he said, giving Yoshimo a friendly pat on the back, "Not many would have given up this small fortune only to help some strangers!".
"Not many are led by little Meg!", Minsc remarked, smiling broadly and giving the Human priestess a look full of brotherly pride, "She is a true force of Goodness and Minsc and Boo are proud to fight by her side!". Margaret Dawn blushed and shuffled her feet shyly, "Uh, I'm just trying to help".
"Oh, I nearly forgot, I have something for you, my friends. Come with me", Hendak led them inside, to a small room near the kitchen and showed them a table covered with items, "I gathered some of Lethinan's more valuable items here, I hope they can be of some use to you".
"Oh, Hendak, you didn't have to…Thank you so much!", Meg looked at the equipment with shining eyes, "An axe to destroy the Undead! It's extremely rare!", she squealed with delight, taking Azuredge up and turning it over in her hands, with more than a bit of effort because of its weight.
"And it c-can be used both as a throwing weapon a-and as a ranged weapon", Aerie explained, shyly coming to stand by her side and pointing to the inscriptions on the hilt of the axe, "Do you see these runes? They m-make it go back to its wielder's hand after it's been thrown".
"Amazing! Who, among you, can wield it?". The ranger raised a big hand, "I can, little Meg". "Then it's yours". The Painbearer passed it to him and he beamed like a child on Christmas' morning.
"Oh, look at this! What a strange short sword…I've never seen anything like this". The Avariel examined it, "It's a Flaming Sword. How strange...I-I wonder how that evil man Lethinan managed t-to put his hands on this…". "All that matters is that it's ours now. Yoshimo, would you like to keep it? You're the only one of us who can wield it".
"I accept gladly, my lovely friend", he admired his new weapon with satisfaction, turning it over in his hands and making a couple of test lunges in the air, then he nodded to himself, "It has a perfect balance and it's very handy". They spent some time examining and sharing the items, then they gathered around their usual table for a good meal.