7. Big Top Battle
10 FLAMERULE 0600 NASKEL - THE NASHKEL INN
Onyx was first up that morning; just in time to see dawn. He hunched over the window of their room and looked east out over the farmlands of Nashkel, watching the sunrise. While it wasn't necessarily rare that he saw them - the around-the-clock style of adventuring party he led meant that they were as likely to be up at dawn as any other hour - it had been quite some time since he'd just stopped to enjoy one.
Jaheira was next to wake from a light sleep. As other powerful druids, she had learned the art of the timeless body and fatigue no longer plagued her, sleep no longer called her. It was only to memorize spells, heal, and keep sync with her companions that she slept. As such, she easily awoke as soon as she heard stirrings, which were those of Onyx. She joined him by the window, but in awkward silence. The druid was gradually gaining the ability to sense the thoughts of others, more easily those that were close to her and those that felt open with her, and that was Onyx. She sensed his feelings of confusion and shame give way to a better understanding of what they had seen and he came to accept it, but still his mind would continue to wonder about what might have been, as would hers.
Valygar was next up. With a whispered word to the other two he went downstairs to order a breakfast to be cooked for them. At last Minsc rose, awakened by the yawn-squeaks in his pocket. Jaheira's ear perked up as she heard stirrings from the inner room. She led Onyx and Minsc downstairs, tactfully giving Anomen and Arra the chance to emerge from their room unseen. It was all irrational of course, it was not as if anyone else - even Minsc - had not noticed, nor was it as if anyone would have been other than happy for them, but still, it has always been the case that new lovers well emerge the next morning somewhat sheepishly, even when surrounded by happy but tactful friends. The pair did join the other four downstairs in good time, and the six ate a hearty farmers' breakfast while going over in hushed voices the agreed plan for confronting the circus that night.
And then at last, repacked and rejuvenated, the party mounted their horses again and rode north to Beregost.
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10 FLAMERULE 1200 BEREGOST
The circus caravan had stopped just west of Beregost. It had not curled into a ring as caravans often will, both for defense and convenience, when they stop, but rather was jumbled up in a chaotic temporary trailer park. The crew ran about setting up the circus. The tent had just been pitched over the rings and the bleachers, and now the cages and other equipment were being moved in. The acrobatics ropes were being strung, cannons and trampolines were being placed about, and various cages and other equipment were set just outside, to make their entrances during the appropriate moments of the show.
As the party rode into Beregost, they could see the circus tent off looming to the side of the town. They checked their horses into a stable and set across town on foot. The circus was set up in a large field next to town, surrounded by scatterings of trees and the cars of the caravan.
As per their arranged plan, Onyx ordered, "Valygar, Arra, you infiltrate the caravan itself, see if you can find any papers or overhear useful intelligence. Only kidnap if you're sure you can get all three of the ringleaders themselves; otherwise it's not worth losing the element of surprise. Minsc and Anomen, you comb the taverns and inns in the northern half of town; Jaheira and I will comb the southern half. Hopefully we can find some crew members of even the ringleaders off guard. But be careful, they may be onto us."
The party split up.
Donning cloaks of non-detection and swigging potions of invisibility, Valygar and Arra crept up to the edge of the circus camp. It had the look of a gypsy settlement, with caravans and small tents erected haphazardly around the large tent. Crew members were attending to equipment and caged demihumans and animals while others loudly advertised the night's show and tried to hawk trinkets to passersby. The two slipped in and out of wagons, rifling through desks and papers, but finding nothing important. Meanwhile, the others went from tavern to tavern in the town, finding and talking to various off-duty or AWOL crew members, but not seeing anyone matching the description of the ringleaders, or talking to anyone who seemed to know anything special.
Hours later, the six reconvened and ate before returning to the big top. It was almost time for the show.
**********
10 FLAMERULE 1900 WEST OF BEREGOST - THE CHAOS CIRCUS
The three rings were totally empty. Bards were strolling through the audience, hawking refreshments and trinkets - and picking a pocket or two - but a few townspeople were beginning to catcall for the show to start.
Then, in an instant, the audience gasped and fell silent as a puff of smoke appeared in the center ring. As it dissipated, from out of nowhere stood a lone figure. He was a smallish quasi-elven man with a mask and blue hair. He stood grinning at the silent audience for a moment. Without clearing his throat or giving a warning of any sort, he began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Elves, dwarves, gnomes, and demihumans of all races! You are about to experience sights not seen anywhere else in Faerun or throughout the multiverse. Welcome to the one, the only, the two incomparable Chaaaaaaaaaaos Cirrrrrrrrrrcus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He laughed and bowed theatrically as the audience snapped out of their shock and burst into applause.
"Please welcome your masters of ceremonies. Myself, in the center ring, a master slasher, a deadly dancing dervish, a blade for any maid, a blade swinger and bladeslinger, the one, the only, the Blaaaaaaaade!!!!!!!!"
He indulged himself in another bow as the audience clapped before continuing. As he spoke again, a puff of smoke appeared in the right to his right.
"And in the ring to my right, the definition of epic rendition, a brave chanter of grave banter, a bard of the north who brings history forth, the one, the only, the Skaaaaaaaaaaald!!!!!!!!"
The smoke cleared and the Skald could be seen within, engaged in a slow, battle-like dance with his halberd. The Blade continued as a puff of smoke appeared in the remaining ring.
"And in the ring to my left, a laugh-invoker of a joker, there's no insaner gamester, there's no slicker trickster, you'll howl at his scowl and ache in his wake, you'll drown in your laughs should this clown cross your path, the only, the only, the Jeeeeessssster!!!!"
The smoke cleared and the Jester could be seen within, juggling skulls and laughing hysterically. One by one he tossed them at the audience and they floated overhead. Arra gasped at the apparent skull traps, but they soon exploded in showers of confetti and candy.
"And now," proclaimed the three ringleaders in unison, "Let's start this party with a bang!" They flung their arms wide and explosions of smoke went off across the floor. Animals and clowns were now everywhere in the rings. Bears, griffins, horses, displacer beasts, and otyughs paced about the rings with painted fur and various frills and hats strapped on. Most of the clowns were demihumans, but some were also trolls and orcs in clown suits. Some of them led the animals to and fro while others juggled, cartwheeled, flipped on trampolines, tossed things to one another, breathed fire, swallowed swords, or engaged in other unlikely feats.
Puffs of spoke appeared high in the tent, on the acrobatics platforms, and performers appeared and waved down to the audience. They began walking or riding unicycles across tightropes, swinging from platform to platform with trapezes, sometimes letting go in midair and catching each other. Swashbucklers engaged in mock duels atop the tightropes, with the 'losers' plunging to their 'deaths,' only to happen to hit one of the scattered trampolines and go vaulting elsewhere in the circus to begin another routine.
Other rogues came in from outside the tent wheeling pieces of equipment. Some of these were wooden boxes which they wound cranks on the sides of, causing them to play music for a moment before exploding in human jack-in-the-boxes which sent rogues flying into the air, caught by the acrobats and tossed elsewhere. Others resembled cannons, into which bards cast fireballs, causing them to go off with a bang a moment later and send some other helmet-wearing fool flying to the other end of the circus.
While the antics on the ground continued, the acrobats begin tossing ropes around, carrying with them when they swung, or hauling them up and down, and soon a web of ropes was strung from pole to pole across the circus. Some stretched across horizontally, some at angles, some went nearly vertical and had been made into rope ladders.
The three ringleaders disappeared in puffs of smoke and reappeared on the large crows-nest-like platform high up on the center pole.
"Any now, for your interactive entertainment," the Blade laughed maniacally, "Could we have a few volunteers? Ah, nothing will be required of you, in fact, you'll merely be taken captive by our daring and charming band of swashbucklers!" at his words, trapezing swashbucklers flew off their ropes and landed in rolls and cartwheels amidst the audience. They quickly dashed through the audience and grabbed 'volunteers,' mostly young, slight maidens, hoisted them over their shoulders and then dashed back to the rings. They tossed the maidens up to swinging acrobats, who caught them out of the air and then completed their trapeze swings, landing on the top center platform.
"Thank you, thank you," the Blade laughed as he and his brothers tied the half-dozen maidens around the center post on the platform. "And now, I have a very, very special announcement. I'm going to need a few more volunteers. Your task, I fear, will be of a different nature. You won't have the luxury of being tossed and carried up here, you're going to have to run the gauntlet, for the entertainment of the house, and make your way here."
"A call! A call!" the Skald chanted. "A call has gone out to any courageous enough to venture into our rings of monsters and rogues, make their way up the web of tightropes and troupe of acrobats, and rescue these damsels in distress! Only the nimblest and bravest need dare!"
"And what is your prize for completing this little quest?" the Jester laughed. "Oh, what indeed? Oh, the question boondoggles us! Come and claim it, or drive yourself insane wondering what it might have been! Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah!!" the Jester nearly fell off the edge of the platform with laughter, but teetered on the edge for a bit and then finally fell back on.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Anomen asked as a number of ambitious youths in the audience made their way toward the edge of the ring.
"That this is a trap just for us?" Onyx inquired.
"Exactly," Anomen furrowed his brow.
Valygar nodded. "They didn't do anything like this in Trademeet."
"Jarek could have given us away," Onyx bit his lip. "As far as we can tell, he was taken by the slavers after they parted company with the circus. But who can guess the extent of their communication or cooperation."
"I just don't think Jarek would have given them a shred of information, no matter what they did to him," Arra shook her head.
"Well they already knew enough to capture him," Onyx said. "I have to wonder about that, actually. Did his...new slaver friend...just decide to make another random kidnapping, or is Bond a familiar face to them? I get the feeling he's more involved in this than we know," he looked pointedly at Arra.
"Fine," Arra sighed, "You were on a need-to-know-basis, but I guess you need to know. 007 has had a run-in with the growing Cyricist cult in the past. These slaving Purple Sun Assassins, whoever they work for, are probably part of the same cult, and his captor must have recognized him. 007 is almost too good an agent - he's sorta made a name for himself with our enemies, and he's a bit showy and never been the best about keeping as low a profile as he could or should."
"Arra! Why didn't you tell us earlier." Onyx sighed, "Now we almost surely know who the slavers are; whoever runs this cult!" Anomen shot him a scowl for his scolding tone with Arra.
"Well," Arra began nonchalantly, "Not really, Cyric has a pretty widespread and it was pretty disorganized until recently. The sect Jarek infiltrated his since scattered to the wind; I can only assume that the assassin that got him is either one of the ones he crossed paths with earlier, or heard enough about him from others who figure out who the swashbuckler she met in Nashkel was."
"Wait," Onyx furrowed his brow, "You said disorganized until recently. What did you mean?"
"A man seems to have gotten many of them under his control, and has recently led an aggressive recruiting and indoctrination campaign. I guess you were only back in Athkatla a few hours, but if you hadn't been gone for a month before fighting the Bhaalspawn War down in Tethyr, you've have seen the rise of Cyricist propaganda in Amn. They're converting - some people say kidnapping - people everywhere, streets, especially the slums, taverns, brothels, thieves' guilds, mercenary companies. Some say the Shadow Thieves have even come under his influence, supposedly symbolizing the alliance of Cyric and Mask."
"And who is this man?"
"No one knows anything about him except the name he goes by. Cyran. Or Saint Cyran."
"The Saint."
"Quite likely. But even so, it wouldn't help us find him. They've been looking for him, believe me, but all anyone ever finds is the few lowly clerics converting in the taverns. It's weird - these Cyricists, they all seem to know him, have heard him speak, but we can never find him."
Onyx looked back up at the ringleaders on their platform. "I really hope these guys know something about their supplier." The youths who had dared the challenge were trying to make their way into the three rings, to get to the poles or trampolines so that they could climb or bounce up to the ropes.
Audience members gasped in terror as the volunteers were quickly torn to pieces by the monsters and rogues. "Don't worry, good people, don't worry, it's all part of the show, trust nothing that you see, illusions are about in this circus of chaos!" the Blade proclaimed and reassured them. The audience winced at the sights of spurting blood and the sounds of cracking bones, but bards strolled through the audience strumming mesmerizing tunes on their harps and the audience seemed pacified and reassured and did not protest.
Anomen muttered a true sight spell. "No, this is definitely real. We can't let these fools rush to their own deaths!"
Onyx looked up. The Jester was now holding a scimitar to the necks of one of the maidens. He ever-so-slightly pressed in and blood trickled down the girl's neck from where the curved blade touched it. "Ooh hoo hoo hoo," the Jester laughed, "We are not impressed by the mere whelps we see below. Nimble and brave we said, not clumsy and foolish. Oh, we knows who is out there..." Onyx could swear the maniacally babbling Jester was staring straight at him, "Yes, we knows, now accept our challenge or your door prize will be these girlses heads laid at your feet...so to speak...no, literally! Ha ha ha!!"
Onyx began to rise. "You're right, Anomen. Trap or no, the show must NOT go on."
The Jester seemed to notice Onyx rise and drew his scimitar away, laughing triumphantly. Anomen, Arra, Minsc, Valygar, and Jaheira rose and the Jester rubbed his hands together and bellowed to the audience, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the real games begins!!"
The six fanned out as they reached the front of the aisle and approached one of the side rings. A phalanx of monsters and rogues stood before them.
"We can't just cut our way through this," Jaheira looked around, "We have to be smarter."
Arra thought quickly. "The grappling crossbows!" The men and monsters started advancing. "But we'd better at least neutralize them fast!"
Before she's even finished her sentence, Jaheira, Minsc, and Valygar had all cast entangle spells. Vines burst up out of the very ground and snaked around the limbs of most of the assailants, causing them to stop in their tracks and struggle in the grasp of the foliage. Onyx and Anomen each cast hold spells and many of the rogues froze dead in their tracks. Arra cast another hold spell and stopped some of the oncoming monsters. She then cast a horrid wilting spell around them while her companions engaged the few free foes in melee combat, causing whirling sand to appear and swirl at the attackers. They screamed in agony as swords and maces smashed into them and moisture was sucked from their bodies. As they fell, the six drew out their crossbows and fired up at the nearest pole, just above the level of a platform on it. The grappling hooks twirled around the pole and caught their ropes. The adventured pulled their triggers again, and were pulled up into the air as the crossbows winded their ropes back in.
Just as they landed on the platform over the side ring, swashbucklers came gallivanting down the tightropes at them, swinging scimitars or drawing short bows, some from atop unicycles. On the platform over the center ring, the ringleaders were each preparing spells.
Onyx reached over his own shoulder and pulled an orange throwing axe from his ammo strap. He flung it at an incoming rogue's unicycle, and the explosion from Q's axe caused the rope to snap and send all the rogues on it plunging to their deaths. Minsc swung his huge sword Gram through the next rope and all upon it went falling as they rope cave way, but one swashbuckler managed to leap off and land amongst them, while still others swung in from trapezes and flew onto the platform with blades already drawn, and several bards on the ground below dimension doored themselves to the platform.
Minsc lifted his sword again and impaled the incoming swashbuckler before he could even stop the momentum from his leap. Onyx managed to knock one acrobat out of the air with another exploding throwing axe, and Valygar destroyed a few more with exploding arrows. Anomen cast a ring-shaped storm of vengeance at the center platform and electricity, fire, and acid rained upon the ringleaders and their cohorts, injuring and disrupting them, while conspicuously avoiding the captives in the center of the platform. Arra cast a lightning bolt in the direction of a third tightrope, and the nicely lined-up swashbucklers on it screamed as the bolt blitzed through them all and many lost their balance.
The bards on the center platform tried to resume casting but Jaheira had just summoned a cloud of insects upon them. They cursed and screamed, which only invited the flying pests to zoom into their mouths, causing them to spit and scream more terribly still.
Valygar was firing arrows along a fourth tightrope, picking off the advancing swashbucklers on it by shooting through their legs and causing them to lose their balance. One danced along it, managing to avoid each arrow, and finally came leaping off the rope onto the platform. Valygar dropped his bow and drew his katanas just in time to meet the swashbuckler's scimitars, and the two swung and parried briefly until Minsc cleaved into the rogue's back, paralyzing him, and then Valygar kicked him in the chest and sent him flying off the platform.
The six looked around. The two tightropes to the central platform had been severed, but the two leading to other platforms remained. Below, the monsters were running amok and devouring other challengers, while the rogues among them tried in vain to keep them from charging into the audience, who were now screaming in terror at the obviously real carnage and fleeing out the doors.
"Oh, curse it, oh, most dreadful day, we're ruined!" the Skald moaned as the audience stampeded out of the tent.
"Hee hee hee look at the peasants runs!" the Jester pointed and laughed. "They trampleses each others in their haste and does the monsters' work for them! Hee hee hee hee hee!!"
"Now, worry not, my good fellows, we shall have this all cleaned up in no time, but for now, the show must go on!!" the Blade orated.
Minsc was advancing down one of the tightropes, Onyx down the other. Valygar and Arra were firing arrows and magic missiles from their platform at the central one, and Anomen and Jaheira were calling carefully aimed columns of fire and lightning down upon it. After Minsc killed the last swashbuckler on his rope, one at the other platform slashed through the end of it.
"Ahhhhhhahahhahahahahahahahhahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!" Minsc yelled as he swung through the air on the rope. His rope swung under and past the platform, then Minsc swung up again on the other side, then came around his circle back over the platform and managed to land on it safely despite his circuitous route. "Me Minsc you Jane!" he roared at the swashbuckling woman who stared startled at the huge berserker's acrobatics. She swung her scimitars at him, but they clattered against his armor and he brought the butt of his sword down upon her head, knocking her instantly unconscious. An assassin dashed up behind him and managed to drive a dagger through his armor into his back. Minsc screamed in rage and, frothing at the mouth, spun around and cleaved him clean in two. He ran around the platform, cleaning the clocks of another quartet of swashbucklers and nearly running off the platform himself in his mindless berserk state. Finally he came to, still looking as healthy as ever, the assassin's poison having already run its course and left him still standing and swinging.
Onyx stepped down the other tightrope, holding his longswords Argurvadal and Blackrazor out for balance, facing off with swashbucklers and engaging in high wire duels. A bard on the platform swung to cut his rope, but he cast a hold spell out and the three rogues on the platform all froze in their tracks. The next swashbuckler came bounding down the rope and engaged Onyx. He managed to strike him several times, not piercing his armor but nearly causing him to lose his balance. Onyx was unable to get through the man's parries, who used skillful feigning and dodging to avoid contacting the most powerful blows of the cavalier, which parried or no would surely have sent him flying off the rope to his death. At last Onyx had a flash of insight and began hopping up and down on the rope. The impact of the armored man's jumps caused the swashbuckler to hop unsteadily himself, and at last he slipped and his legs straddled the rope, causing him to land on it square on his groin. The rogue screamed in newly sterile agony, but his pain was cut short when Blackrazor swung by and lopped off his waist-height head. The body quickly went limp and fell.
"It's all part of the show, ladies and gentlemen," the Blade tried to calm the audience, "It's all part of the AAAH!" he screamed as Valygar's arrow sailed through his chest, its tail quivering as it stopped with the head sticking out his back. "Aah! Is it bad, doc?" he moaned theatrically to the Skald. "So it ain't so! Everything's goin dark! This looks like the end!" He overdramatically clutched the Skald and the Jester, who drug their felled friend around the platform, using the maidens around the pole to put a human shield between themselves and the sniper.
While the Skald fed the Blade a healing potion with overstated tenderness, Valygar continued to take potshots at other rogues on the various tightropes, trapezes, and platforms. Around him, Arra, Anomen, and Jaheira cast evocations and enchantments into the thick of thieves and monsters in the rings below, charring and confusing them by the dozen.
Onyx made the final dash across the rope and leapt onto the platform just as the bard unfroze and slashed the rope. In the same motion as his landing, he slashed Argurvadal through the bard's neck, instantly cauterizing and sending the body and head falling to the ground below. Two other swashbucklers on the side platform charged with shortswords and scimitars. Onyx summoned a deva who engaged the scimitars swashbuckler with her sword of flame while he parried the other's shortswords. Both pairs fought back and forth on the platform. He tried to knock his opponent back with powerful blows, but the clever thief managed to feign about, never quite getting pushed over the edge and managing to nick his opponent several times. In desperation, Onyx drew upon holy might and, with his next single blow, sent the surprised swashbuckler reeling back with the force of a charging elephant. The man screamed as he tripped over his own feet at the impact and went flailing through the air, landing in the maw of a hungry griffin below. The deva was wearing down her opponent, whom Onyx stabbed through the back with Blackrazor, drawing out the rogue's last life energy to heal his own wounds.
After beheading another swashbuckler who'd leapt onto his platform, Minsc turned his attention back to the central platform, which still held the ringleaders. He began a brave dash across the tightrope leading to it. The remaining audience below gasped at the spectacle of the enormous man managing to keep his balance on the tightrope as he engaged one swashbuckler after another, cleaving through them with the edge of his sword or sending them flying off the tightrope with the flat of it. Before reaching the central platform, the Jester, huddled behind the captive maidens, noticed the oncoming Rashemanian and cast a flame arrow at the edge of the tightrope, which began to burn through. Just as Minsc made the final dash to the platform, the Jester ran out from behind his human shield and, holding his hammer Clown Faeyr high, smashed the mighty berserker in the chest and sent him flying back. Minsc fell back with his legs straddling the burning tightrope, most thankful for the codpiece of his platemail. He sheathed Gram and used his hands to get himself into a stand on the rope again, but before he could make another leap to the edge of the platform, the rope burned through.
The Jester laughed hysterically as Minsc fell screaming to the ground below. His fall crushed a griffin beneath him and somewhat broke his own fall. But heavily bruised and with broken bones, before he could get up again, a swarm of assassins was upon him, plunging poisoned daggers deep all over his body. His companions watched in horror and the Jester clutched his sides and continued laughing as Minsc, a score of daggers sticking out of him, heaved and then ceased to struggle.
The Jester's laughing stopped abruptly when Valygar took advantage of his exposed position and shot an arrow through his neck. He grasped his bleeding throat and made a horrible gurgling noise as he fell to the ground. The Skald dashed out and pulled him behind their human shield, then broke the arrow and pulled the halves out of his neck. The Skald poured a healing potion directly into his torn throat, and the Jester resumed laughing as his vocal cords healed.
"We'll see who delivers the punchline!" the Jester laughed and pulled an enormous crossbow from seemingly out of nowhere - in truth, from the bag of holding at his belt. Peeking around the side of the bound maidens, he pointed it back at Valygar and squeezed the trigger. A short pole shot out and unfurled a flag that read "BANG!"
"Wrong toy!" the Jester laughed and tossed the crossbow away. He pulled out another one, which had a giant boxing glove mounted on it. He aimed at the segment of pole just below the platform where Valygar and the three spellcasters were standing. He pulled the trigger and the boxing glove flew through the air, smashing into the pole and splintering it.
"Time for some acrobatics of our own!" Valygar shouted as he and Jaheira dashed for the trapezes that had used earlier by previously dispatched incoming swashbucklers. They grabbed the handles and pushed off, and began swinging through the air toward the central platform. Meanwhile, Arra had cast a dimension door and grabbed Anomen's hand to pull him through. But just as she disappeared and he moved to follow, the Jester fired another boxing glove into his chest. His hand slipped from Arra's and the portal closed. He was nearly thrown off the platform and fell onto his back. The platform broke from the shattered pole and fell, and Anomen's body was jarred painfully as it smashed onto the ground, fracturing into several pieces and crushing another of rogues and beasts beneath it. Bruised, battered, and broken by the fall, Anomen could not make himself move from the pile of debris and struggled to maintain consciousness. As thieves with menacing daggers closed in around him, he had just barely enough time and energy left to mutter a sanctuary spell. He felt his surrounds grow faint as if they were suddenly far away, and the thieves began to thrust but then stopped short, looked around confused, and then just wandered elsewhere in the fray. Anomen breathed a sigh of relief as creatures swarmed around the debris ignoring him, and began to chant a healing spell upon himself.
As Valygar and Jaheira swung through the air toward the central platform, Onyx was flying toward it in the grasp of his deva and Arra's dimension door was opening at the edge of the platform. The Blade, the Skald, and the Jester looked nervously at the incoming heroes, then at each other, and then began chanting the same spell. Dimension doors opened for each of them.
"Face me, cowards!" Onyx screamed as his deva dropped him onto the platform and he ran after them, slashing his longswords through empty air just as they disappeared. Arra stepped through her own dimension door and Valygar and Jaheira let go of their trapezes and the heights of their swings and landed on the platform. Jaheira landed on the very edge and nearly fell backwards into the throng below, but Valygar and Onyx caught her arms and pulled her to safety.
"Oh, thank you!" "Our heroes!" "Please untie us!" the maidens cried in uncanny unison and Onyx and Valygar set about doing just that. On the platform over the other side ring, three dimension doors open and the Blade, Skald, and Jester stepped through. They watched the captives getting untied and began to clasp each others' shoulders and tried to suppress laughter.
"Wait, something's not right," Arra mused and chant a true sight spell, but nothing happened.
As Onyx slashed the ropes from the last maiden, she smiled seductively and walked up to him, beginning to undo her blouse. He arched an eyebrow and took a step back, muttering a detect evil. His eyes opened wide as he completed the spell and the maiden tore off her blouse and skirt. Underneath she wore a clownlike polka-dot catsuit and had two katanas strapped tightly to her back. The other five tore off their dressed to reveal similar garb.
"I see you've met my Krazy Kensai Katana Klowns!" the Jester laughed. "They play a tad rough!"
Onyx was already thrusting toward the first one with the swords he'd used to slash her bonds, but she feigned away and as quickly came forward again with her katanas drawn and slashed into both of his shoulders. He winced and slashed in from both sides, but she leapt off the ground, tucking her knees in and clearing both his blades, then kicked him in the chest with both legs. He stumbled back at her surprising strength and nearly fell off the platform. As the kensai charged, the deva swooped down and swung her ethereal sword through the warrior's head, cleaving it in two. Onyx sidestepped the still-charging body and it flew off the platform.
Another kensai klown was charging Arra but she yelled a dire charm just in time and just before crossing staff spear and katana, the kensai turned to parry another who was bearing down. A third charged past her at Arra, and the elven woman spun her staff spear around and knocked both katanas aside, then thrust forward a hand, from which went flying a swarm of magic missiles that smashed into the kensai's face. They burned black polka dots into the kensai's catsuit, but she growled and kept charging. Arra thrust her staff spear forward, but the kensai twisted her thin midsection around it and slid along the shaft, swiping at Arra's neck from both sides. Arra ducked back and narrowly avoided the blades while chanting. She completed a vampire touch spell and promptly lifted one hand from the staff spear. While the kensai drew her katanas back for another pair of swings, Arra grasped her neck with freakishly clawlike fingernails and hissed, showing fangs. She nearly broke the kensai's neck as she squeezed it and leaned in, then sunk her fangs and began to suck her blood. The kensai moaned, weakened, and dropped her katanas. She pulled daggers from her catsuit and lifted them high to plunge them around into her foe's back. But as her blades came down, Arra bit hard and then jerked her head sideways, breaking her opponent's neck with the tremendous strength of own neck and jaw. She turned her staff spear sideways and pushed the instantly- dead clown woman away from her with the shaft.
As her vanquished foe fell to the floor, Arra watched her charmed kensai dance in her fierce duel with the other. She saw one artfully twist around her opponent's katanas and then behead her. The victor turned to face Arra, who wasn't taking any chances and was already waving her hands and chanting a terrible-sounding spell. An invisible but disturbing and nearly tangible ripple of energy sailed through the air at the kensai and disintegrated her on the spot.
Just as Valygar had begun receiving similar treatment as Onyx from he last 'maiden' he freed and had seen the catsuit under the blouse, he had drawn his own katanas as quickly as his opponent and the two had begun an intricate ballet of swordplay. For several minutes on end, Valygar failed to even graze his opponent, who glanced his armor several times and managed to whack off most of his dreadlocks as they flew through the air around his head. The newly close-cut Valygar growled and cast haste upon himself. At blinding speed, he slashed and stabbed at his opponent but still could not find her flesh. As he feigned back from her slashes, he pointed Celestial Fury straight at the kensai and stared down the blade at her. He squeezed the handle and called a bolt of lightning into the katana and out the tip. The charging kensai was knocked back by the burst of electricity, and cried as her hair singed and her flesh steamed. Before she could recover, Valygar struck her again with the katana and sent another burst of electricity through her body. She moaned and fell to the floor, but no sooner had she hit it than Valygar drove Hindo's Doom straight through her heart.
Scimitars and katanas crossed over the heads of Jaheira and the sixth kensai klown. The kensai quickly kicked Jaheira square in the stomach of her armor and sent her reeling, almost over the edge again. The kensai charged, but Jaheira cast a druid spell and a small, glowing gem appeared in her hand. It began to burn with bright light and Jaheira tossed the searing orb just as the kensai came upon her, and the woman screamed as the burning stone struck her chest and exploded in a cloud of fire that consumed her. She continued charging blindly, missing Jaheira with her katanas but running herself through on the outthrust scimitars.
Jaheira tried to thrust forward, but the force of the impact sent them both hurtling over the edge of the platform. Jaheira gasp in frozen terror as she felt nothing beneath her feet. The impact and sent Jaheira falling back, and she was beneath her dead opponent as she fell. She landed on a running thief, somewhat breaking her fall, but then the kensai's body smashed on her as well. She screamed as she skull of the thief being crushed beneath her jammed against her armor, leaving a large bruise on her back. Then the weight of her former foe, light though she was, crashed onto her and knocked out her wind, and she thought she could feel and hear some of her ribs breaking. She lay in a daze and could vaguely make out a burly bard standing over her and raising a halberd high to behead her, but had barely the consciousness or the muscular control to move.
From above, Onyx witnessed this spectacle in horror just after he'd watched his own opponent tumble to her death. "Jaheira!" he roared and leapt off the edge of the platform, sheathing his longswords in midair and curling forward in an arms-first dive. He tackled the bard out of the air, sending the halberd flying into a troll across the ring. He slammed the bard into the ground, crushing the hefty man's spine and ribcage instantly with the force of his tackle, and felt his own arms give out several sickening crunches and pops.
The rather angry troll pulled the halberd out of its chest and came running toward him with its claws outstretched. With his broken arms, Onyx struggled to get up. Beside him, from her own crumpled misery, Jaheira watched the oncoming monster and began chanting a spell which summoned a fire elemental to intercept the troll just before it fell upon Onyx.
As the fire elemental flailed on the troll, cauterizing all the wounds it caused, Onyx rolled off the bard's body, and pulled his broken arms together, pressing his hands together and using each's healing powers to heal the other arm.
"Indeed, one hand heals the other," Jaheira smiled and the helped each other to their feet. "You save me, I save you," she glowed while Onyx warmly chanted a healing spell and put his hands over her chest and healed her internal wounds.
"Always, J," Onyx gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. The thud of the charred troll as it fell to the dirt brought their attention back to the fray, and they both spun around with scimitars and longswords drawn. The throng of thieves and monsters had been considerably thinned by the party's earlier evocations, and now many of those who remained were still under the effects of their enchantments and battling one another, growing yet even less in number. In the ring where Anomen had fallen, he had used his sanctuary to heal and then imbue himself with a number of protections and enhancements, and now stood in the center of the ring, a tornado of blades spinning around him and slashing down all who came close while he bellowed divine spells to smite all who stood away. He hadn't been able to get to Minsc, but he'd summoned a deva of his own who stood guard over the body, slashing down all who tried to approach and loot or desecrate it.
The monsters and ruffians were still thicker in the opposite ring. Above them on the pole's platform stood the ringleaders, trading arrows and magic missiles with Arra and Valygar's position on the central platform. The bards tried sending a few fireballs and cold cones their way as well, but Arra had managed to completely adjure herself against them, whereas Valygar was desperately stealing swigs of healing potion in between shots.
"Enough! Let's finish them!" Valygar shouted to Arra and ran toward the edge of the platform. The bards had slashed all the tightropes leading to theirs, but Valygar grabbed a trapeze. "Teleport and meet me there!" he called as he dashed off the end of the platform and sailed through the air.
"It's a trap! A skull trap!" Onyx yelled as the Jester drew two of his juggling skulls and tossed them forward. They froze in midair at the front edge of their platform, and just as Valygar somersaulted onto it, he flew into them and they exploded. The bards were cowering at the back of the platform as bits of skull flew everywhere, a few hitting them but many more raking through Valygar's flesh. The ranger screamed, his hands over bloodied face, and the Skald drew an enormous spear and began charging as Arra teleported to Valygar's side. She moved with her own staff spear to intercept the Skald, but the Jester laughed and tossed a banana peel under her foot and she slipped on it, falling on her back. The Skald completed his charge and just as Valygar took his hands away from his face, the spear- wielding bard ran him straight through. Onyx and Jaheira watched in horrified disbelief from above as the small but apparently strong Skald lifted Valygar off the floor on the spear and held him impaled over the side of the platform. The Skald smiled and began to sing.
"And now we reach the part of the quest, For dramatic tension in the brawl; The noble warrior has done his best, But for the story's sake he must...fall!"
The Jester pointed and laughed hysterically as the Skald let the spear go and Valygar fell, clutching the shaft and landing on the bare ground with a sickening crunch. Arra was beginning to rise to a kneel and chant a spell, but the Jester added a grease spell around his banana peel and she slipped again. As the Skald drew out another spear and raised it to impale Arra, Onyx was already running toward the base of the pole with Carsomyr drawn, hacking down men and beasts on both sides without missing a step. As the reached the base of the pole, he roared and began a single mighty swing which cleaved straight through the pole.
"Heads up, Arra!" he yelled up at her, hoping his gamble that she's survive the fall better than the Skald's spear would pay off. The Blade rushed to the edge of the platform and peered down angrily at him. Onyx gave the severed pole a kick and it began to tilt towards the far ring.
The few surviving rogues and beasts saw the pole about to crash down and followed the remains of the audience in a bolt for the doors of the tent, screaming in terror as the creaks of snapping wood were heard all around them.
The Blade lost his balance and teetered on the edge of the seesawing platform. "Methinks the sanctimonious oaf means to be the one to really bring the house down tonight!" he cried as he lost his balance and fell through the air. He recovered in a somersault and landed on his feet a few paces from Onyx, shortswords already drawn. The cavalier held Carsomyr high and faced him.
The pole tilted and the top pulled free of the roof of the tent, which began to sag. As the platform sloped sideways, the Skald missed with his spear and jammed the point into the floor next to Arra. He stumbled, planting his feet on the grease as well. When the pole had fallen over to the point that the platform hung diagonally over the middle ring, Arra and the Skald slid helplessly along the grease and off the end of the platform. Jaheira ran across the ring to catch Arra, and the Skald craftily aimed for and landed on one of the trampolines. He bounced into the air again and landed near Arra and Jaheira, his ridiculously huge double-ended halberd already drawn.
The Jester was wrapped around the pole for dear life when it smashed into the ground of the far right. Its platform crashed into the pile of debris that remained of the previously felled platform, bringing it to a near halt before the Jester was squished between the pole and the ground. He laughed happily and dropped the last few feet to the ground, then drew Clown Faeyr and his scimitar Sanity's Edge and faced nearby Anomen.
The Helmite called a bolt of glory down upon his foe, who appeared to disappear through a dimension door just in the nick of time and the bolt struck the ground. Anomen looked around for the door his foe would reappear through, and was caught completely off guard when the Jester appeared out of nowhere right in front of him.
"Stop! Hammer time!" the Jester laughed. As he swung Clown Faeyr into his chest and he went flying across the ring, Anomen realized belatedly the Jester must have cast a shadow door. Anomen skidded across the ground to a stop. The few remaining henchmen in the ring came running upon him, but he chanted to Helm and then slammed his fist into the ground, causing an earthquake spell to ripple across the ring and knock them all to their feet, where they were bounced and smashed to pulps by the shaking ground. The Jester too tried to get up over and over only to fall and hurt himself. He sprang up for good as Anomen charged him, and began chanting a spell. It sounded as if he completed it, but nothing appeared to happen except for the priest smashing his mace into his head and sending him to the ground again. Before he rose, Anomen called a column of flame upon him and then beat him to death with his mace. Anomen gasped in shock again as the body merely vanished. A mislead spell!
"Can't touch this!" he heard the Jester laugh. He turned quickly to look for his real foe, and soon saw Clown Faeyr swinging at him again. He blocked it with his shield, but she sheer power sent him stumbling back several feet. He drew upon holy might as the Jester charged, and managed to keep his footing as he blocked the next blow. Anomen swung in with his mace, but the Jester caught it on the inside of his scimitar, then slid the curves sword down the mace's shaft and sliced into Anomen's gauntlet. The knight hopped back with a deep gash wound in his wrist, and quickly healed it as the Jester created a dozen mirror images around himself.
Anomen quickly jogged backwards while strapping his mace to his belt and pulling out his sling. With expert quickness, he fired bullet after bullet at the charging horde of Jesters and watched the phantasms disappear one by one. While he took them out, the Jester fired a lightning bolt straight at him. He cursed and knelt in pain as the electricity coursed around his metallic armor and through his body, and as he tried to stand again, the lightning bolt, having reflected off the pole in the ring, shot into his back and he fell again while the Jester laughed and ran aside of it. Anomen's fall was 'broken' by an upswing of Clown Faeyr into the side of his head, and he went flying into the pole and crumpled at the base of it. The Jester cast a slow spell upon him and a haste upon himself and then charged. Moving like molasses, Anomen tried to lift his shield, but the Jester was upon him too soon. Clown Faeyr knocked his mace to the ground and Sanity's Edge grazed over the top of his slowly rising shield and sailed smoothly through the chainmail between his helmet and body armor, slicing off Anomen's head and finally stopping in the wood of the pole.
In the center ring, the bard had danced and spun his double-ended halberd around and around, parrying the blows of both his opponents. Jaheira tried to back up and cast a druidic spell, but moments after knocking Arra's staff spear aside, the Skald artfully opened his hand next to his head and shot a flurry of magic missiles back over his shoulder into her. While still polearm-fencing Arra, he danced backwards and uppercutted the stunned Jaheira with one end of her halberd. The druid went flying into the air, her jaw smarting painfully but her thoughts thankful for her helmet. Arra backed up to cast a spell of her own, but the Skald's hand shot forward again and sent a power word silence straight at her. Arra stopped midchant, no words coming from her mouth, and angrily charged again. The Skald lodged the back end of his halberd against the ground, caught the underside of Arra's outthrust staff spear with the front end, and used his strength to lever her off the ground and catapult her over his head through the air. He'd aimed perfectly and she crashed into Jaheira just as she was beginning to rise and the both went crashing to the floor again.
The Skald cast a dispel magic at Arra, erasing her protection from energy, then fired a blast of chain lightning which successfully sizzled them both. He fired a lightning bolt into Arra's face just as she got off the ground and off Jaheira and she clutched the sides of her heads in agony, trying to keep her mind from scrambling as electricity coursed through it. The Skald threw down his halberd, cast a power word silence over Jaheira's lips just as she was beginning to mouth a spell from her physically helpless position beneath Arra, and then drew out his two-handed sword Circusomyr, a Holier-Than-Thou Avenger.
Before Arra could recompose herself, the Skald had pulled his sword behind his shoulders, charged up to her, and handily lopped off her head. He lifted the sword high, and Jaheira tried to rise and push Arra's body off her, but Circusomyr plunged through her chest before she could get up, and she was pinned to the ground again and instantly killed as the Skald twisted it in her chest.
As Onyx charged, the Blade cast a half-dozen magic missiles at him, but the cavalier held Carsomyr forward and let them smack the holy avenger and fizzle. Then he was upon the Blade, who planted his foot down and began a spin just in time to avoid being smashed across the ring by the mighty blow. Onyx tried unsuccessfully to hack through the shortsword cyclone, and as he Blade finally slowed down out of his spin, he managed to get a hit across his back, which sent the bard toppling to the ground.
Onyx lifted Carsomyr high for a killing blow, but just then he glanced aside and noticed the Skald and the Jester bearing down on him. He glanced past them and his eyes widened in horror as he caught the bodies of Anomen, Arra, and Jaheira strewn about with the rest. The Blade rolled along the ground away from him and popped up, beginning a spell just as the Skald and the Jester did.
Onyx knew they were too spread out to engage simultaneously, and he wouldn't have time to toss throwing axes at them all before their spells came at him. He calmly chanted an armor of faith spell and smiled as ethereal blue armor and white wings appeared over him. He held Carsomyr high in front of them and smiled. For between his weapon, his spell, and his acquired natural resistance, he could achieve every wizard slayer's dream: immunity to magic.
He laughed and drew upon holy might again as the bards cast protection from magical weapons upon themselves and then proceeded to assault him with harmless fireballs, ice storms, and lightning bolts. He merely pointed Carsomyr at each of them in turn, shooting a dispel magic out the tip of the blade and dispelling their protection. As he charged the Skald in the middle, they cast domination spells upon him, to no effect. The Skald lifted Circusomyr to parry Carsomyr while the Blade and the Jester tried to petrify and disintegrate Onyx, again in futility. Even the strong Skald was smashed to the ground by Onyx's titanic blow, dropping his Holier-Than-Thou Avenger, and as the other two bards cast acid and flame arrows which fizzled against his assailant, Onyx brought Carsomyr down upon his stomach, smashing him into paralysis with a stunning blow, and then knocked him unconscious with a blow of the hilt to his head.
While Onyx turned to face the Jester, the Blade fired a lightning bolt at his back, which passed harmlessly through him and fried the Jester in front of him. Onyx charged while the Jester screamed, but the bard's contingency kicked in and another protection from magical weapons shield formed around him just as Onyx swung in. It was to little avail, as Carsomyr's first hit dispelled it, and then Onyx brought the flat of his blade upon the Jester's forehead with another stunning blow, sending his second opponent to the ground frozen and out cold.
As Onyx turned, the Blade had finally given up on magic and was now hurling darts at a frantic pace. They bounced harmlessly off his armor as he charged, and the Blade began altering himself with Tenser's transformation just before his opponent closed in. He crossed his shortswords above his head just in time to block Carsomyr's downward swing, then kicked Onyx in the chest and managed to send him to the ground with his newfound strength. Just as he lunged to drive his swords into Onyx, the cavalier rolled back and hopped to his feet, swinging Carsomyr up and slashing the Blade across the face.
The tip of the sword sliced the Blade's mask in two. Its straps popped and it fell from his face. Onyx's face was one of shock as he saw the face with the numerous tattoos and the devilish grin.
"Haer'Dalis?"
"The same!" Haer'Dalis laughed. "About time you figured it out, tin- can-man, I daresay the audience of our little play has known for several acts now!" He gripped Chaos and Entropy tight, but didn't step forward, and neither did Onyx. "Philanderer of many planes and many lovers, at your service!"
"But we found you a captive of Mekrath? And a member of the troupe before and again? And yet this circus trio has persisted for years."
"As I said, my raven!" Haer'Dalis laughed, plunging with hammish, theatric gluttony into his exposition, "Philanderer of many planes. I was the Blade before the troupe, and now I am again."
"We saved your life! How could you?"
"Ooh," Haer'Dalis mocked, "How could I? How could I? Because I CAN, you idiot-paladin! I can do anything I want!"
"If I'd known you were responsible for this...I can't believe I almost let you join us!"
"Ah, yes, but you didn't, did you? And we both know why. Don't tell me how you've no use for a showman in your Pious Paladin Party, I know the truth! Yes, I saw the way you looked at her, and at me when I looked at her! Why, I just wanted to console the poor dove, ah, losing her wings, such a tragic tale..."
"Stow it, ringleader. I always wondered how you instantly knew she was a wingless avariel. Now I do. You're the very reason she's wingless at all."
"About time you figured it out, pala-dolt."
"And I suppose our meeting wasn't just a coincidence then? Likely you more Mekrath's guest than captive."
"Ah, there your heroic inferences lead you astray. You'll find no ever-scheming villain here. You underestimate the power of chaos and sheer chance. It was pure coincidence that I met my little dove again! Imagine my surprise. I never wanted to sell her and the rest to that goofy old gnome, you know, but my brothers had me two to one on it. If only dear Aerie had just been a few years older...ah, it so nearly didn't matter anyway. I left for the troupe in anger and played across the multiverse in their company. Mekrath was merely an old...creditor of mine whom I'd been a bit sluggish in repaying. I suppose the fact that he caught me with his wife was what really broke the camel's back, though. And thanks to you, dear hero, for breaking HIS back and for my valiant rescue! And imagine my delight when who should be among you, but none other than my little dove, now blossomed into womanhood! For a moment I almost believed in fate, order, and meaning!"
"You fool yourself, philanderer. If you'd had your way, she'd soon have been just another conquest and you'd have forgotten all about her by now and gone back to your troupe."
"Ah, perhaps so. You know, I came back to the circus but a few days ago....my troupe had decided to put on a play of your exploits, my raven, and I'd have none of that - they'd have made me play you! Imagine the irony! But that, my raven, is what this is really all about. I can immerse myself in your character; I can see what makes you tick. We're really not so different, you and I. We simply chose slightly different paths."
"You see, my raven, there are three paths for great ones such as ourselves, three paths to wealth, women, and power. There is the path of the hero, perhaps a noble knight, which you have taken, banking on that shiny armor and dashing demeanor to swoon the ladies and the people and keep bureaucratic buffoons heaping gold upon you to kill a few orcs now and then. There is the path of the player, the rogue, which I have taken, using cunning and charm to entertain and enthrall and keep people throwing their coins and their bodies at me - and I'm not above reaching into a pocket or a skirt to take them for myself now and then, so to speak. And then there is the path of the villain, which your brother chose, amassing an army of mercenaries, thieves, or fanatics, and bringing down a gauntlet upon the land in order to take for yourself whatever you please."
"You have done well in this first path, my raven, almost as well as I have in the second, and I have a certain admiration for you, as sickening as is the chivalrous face you must wear to get what you want. And so, while the heroes and villains shake the world in their struggle, the rogues dance about in the middle and take what is shook loose, as I almost did with our dove as you and Irenicus struggled."
"You're wrong. I'm not like you. I'm no soldier of fortune."
"It's in you, my raven, it's there! Don't deny the temptation! Think what we could be together! Every hero needs a minstrel to sing his praise, and every minstrel needs a hero to keep the tales coming! On the one hand, we have you, heroically saving the day from the nefarious masked Blade over and over, the wry Haer'Dalis at your side all the while. It's perfect! There's no real villain, no need to risk your life and limb or suffocate in dank dungeons, and none will no the different, for I shall play the part of the villain behind my mask, and without it too be the spinner of the tales, I'll exaggerate far and wide our staged exploits! We'll have everything we ever wanted, fame, fortune, glory, women, all without so much as a real scratch on our armor. The illusion will be foolproof!"
"You're insane, Haer'Dalis. You know I'd never do that. Even if I wanted the things you claim I do. A heroic deed is its own reward. As for women, I've the one I love, and that's the only one I want."
"Ohh, my raven," Haer'Dalis shook his finger mock-scoldingly, "I know ya better than that! I know how much wealth and treasure you keep, all cleverly hidden in your bags of holding, or in assets being the ridiculous number of priceless 'weapons' you have. The one you love? Aerie - a one- woman man? I think not. I know about that little spoiled de'Arnise girl friend of yours and all the assets you're accruing together in dungeons or in court. And I know about another girl in your party too, that 'sister' you've been oh-so-close to for soooo many years. All those years in a stifling library together, and the long weeks in the Sword Coast wilderness! Don't pretend do you didn't have thoughts! Don't act like a sanctimonious little noble-boy with me, raven! I know the heart of a man, and you are a man among men. And oh, last and best of all, the last woman in your party, I know about her too. That lovely half-elf half-druid, I saw the way you looked at her when first our paths crossed, and I saw the heroic little dive-tackle stunt you pulled for her just now."
"You're a fruitcake. I've always said some bards spun a ballad of lies for every stanza of truth."
"Oh no, I can see what's going on, my raven! Don't worry though, your secrets are safe with me! But best you give me something to sing about instead, just in case! Join me now, and imagine how much we could make out of this night along. Imagine the ballad I could weave about your valiant annihilation of the iniquitous Chaos Circus! With Haer'Dalis fighting by your side all along! But lo, the Blade escaped, and therein lies the ticket to our next fabricated adventure, and further riches and laurels!"
Onyx had been stealing glanced at the unconscious forms of the Skald and the Jester, suspicious that Haer'Dalis was merely trying to give his pals time to recover. "Enough talk, garrulous bard," he dismissed, "We don't want the same things out of life, except for Aerie. I'll never join you."
"Ah, dear raven, there's room for negotiation! Aerie's not so important, have her by all means, I've a score of avariel to keep me company now, and there's this hot little number from the Elemental Plane of Fire I've had my eyes on lately! And don't worry, I don't carry a grudge, you know I live for the moment, not in the past. Come see my new playmates! Elf maids of all kinds! You'll love them! Aerie and your friends never have to know. Our little deal can be a secret, but they can tag along, and we'll all get rich and famous!"
"You just don't get it, fiendling. I believe in justice and love. And you? You don't believe in anything. You're a nihilist."
"No, you just don't get it, knighty! All your precious concepts of love and faithfulness and valor and good and evil, are all nothing! Look around you, look at the destruction you've wrought tonight. You, the tireless slayer and smiter, the very prince of murder, a destroyer like no one's ever seen, of all people should understand what I do, that nothing is permanent, everything dies, decays, or disappears. Ergo, all your absolutist concepts of morality are void! How can there be any eternal values when nothing is eternal? Any absolute truths when nothing is absolute? Ask yourself this, and you will arrive at the only possible conclusion - nothing really matters, and thus, all that's left is having fun! Gold and glory, wine and women! We each have accrued much, we deserve it, we're the exceptional few in this grand play we call reality, but together we could be so much greater! We could have so much more FUN!"
"Enough!" Onyx roared and began an underhand swing at Haer'Dalis. The blade crossed his swords to parry it, but the force of the blow sent him back. As if anticipating this, Haer'Dalis used the momentum of the upward swing and pushed off with his own feet, leaping high into the air in a flashy backwards somersault. He landed on a trampoline and bounced off it, sailing even higher and grabbing a tightrope. He leapt onto it and began to cast. While Onyx hurled Hangard's Axe through the air to cut the rope, Haer'Dalis opened a dimension door and disappeared through it just in the nick of time. Onyx cursed as his prey escaped and the axe reappeared in his hand.
10 FLAMERULE 0600 NASKEL - THE NASHKEL INN
Onyx was first up that morning; just in time to see dawn. He hunched over the window of their room and looked east out over the farmlands of Nashkel, watching the sunrise. While it wasn't necessarily rare that he saw them - the around-the-clock style of adventuring party he led meant that they were as likely to be up at dawn as any other hour - it had been quite some time since he'd just stopped to enjoy one.
Jaheira was next to wake from a light sleep. As other powerful druids, she had learned the art of the timeless body and fatigue no longer plagued her, sleep no longer called her. It was only to memorize spells, heal, and keep sync with her companions that she slept. As such, she easily awoke as soon as she heard stirrings, which were those of Onyx. She joined him by the window, but in awkward silence. The druid was gradually gaining the ability to sense the thoughts of others, more easily those that were close to her and those that felt open with her, and that was Onyx. She sensed his feelings of confusion and shame give way to a better understanding of what they had seen and he came to accept it, but still his mind would continue to wonder about what might have been, as would hers.
Valygar was next up. With a whispered word to the other two he went downstairs to order a breakfast to be cooked for them. At last Minsc rose, awakened by the yawn-squeaks in his pocket. Jaheira's ear perked up as she heard stirrings from the inner room. She led Onyx and Minsc downstairs, tactfully giving Anomen and Arra the chance to emerge from their room unseen. It was all irrational of course, it was not as if anyone else - even Minsc - had not noticed, nor was it as if anyone would have been other than happy for them, but still, it has always been the case that new lovers well emerge the next morning somewhat sheepishly, even when surrounded by happy but tactful friends. The pair did join the other four downstairs in good time, and the six ate a hearty farmers' breakfast while going over in hushed voices the agreed plan for confronting the circus that night.
And then at last, repacked and rejuvenated, the party mounted their horses again and rode north to Beregost.
**********
10 FLAMERULE 1200 BEREGOST
The circus caravan had stopped just west of Beregost. It had not curled into a ring as caravans often will, both for defense and convenience, when they stop, but rather was jumbled up in a chaotic temporary trailer park. The crew ran about setting up the circus. The tent had just been pitched over the rings and the bleachers, and now the cages and other equipment were being moved in. The acrobatics ropes were being strung, cannons and trampolines were being placed about, and various cages and other equipment were set just outside, to make their entrances during the appropriate moments of the show.
As the party rode into Beregost, they could see the circus tent off looming to the side of the town. They checked their horses into a stable and set across town on foot. The circus was set up in a large field next to town, surrounded by scatterings of trees and the cars of the caravan.
As per their arranged plan, Onyx ordered, "Valygar, Arra, you infiltrate the caravan itself, see if you can find any papers or overhear useful intelligence. Only kidnap if you're sure you can get all three of the ringleaders themselves; otherwise it's not worth losing the element of surprise. Minsc and Anomen, you comb the taverns and inns in the northern half of town; Jaheira and I will comb the southern half. Hopefully we can find some crew members of even the ringleaders off guard. But be careful, they may be onto us."
The party split up.
Donning cloaks of non-detection and swigging potions of invisibility, Valygar and Arra crept up to the edge of the circus camp. It had the look of a gypsy settlement, with caravans and small tents erected haphazardly around the large tent. Crew members were attending to equipment and caged demihumans and animals while others loudly advertised the night's show and tried to hawk trinkets to passersby. The two slipped in and out of wagons, rifling through desks and papers, but finding nothing important. Meanwhile, the others went from tavern to tavern in the town, finding and talking to various off-duty or AWOL crew members, but not seeing anyone matching the description of the ringleaders, or talking to anyone who seemed to know anything special.
Hours later, the six reconvened and ate before returning to the big top. It was almost time for the show.
**********
10 FLAMERULE 1900 WEST OF BEREGOST - THE CHAOS CIRCUS
The three rings were totally empty. Bards were strolling through the audience, hawking refreshments and trinkets - and picking a pocket or two - but a few townspeople were beginning to catcall for the show to start.
Then, in an instant, the audience gasped and fell silent as a puff of smoke appeared in the center ring. As it dissipated, from out of nowhere stood a lone figure. He was a smallish quasi-elven man with a mask and blue hair. He stood grinning at the silent audience for a moment. Without clearing his throat or giving a warning of any sort, he began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Elves, dwarves, gnomes, and demihumans of all races! You are about to experience sights not seen anywhere else in Faerun or throughout the multiverse. Welcome to the one, the only, the two incomparable Chaaaaaaaaaaos Cirrrrrrrrrrcus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He laughed and bowed theatrically as the audience snapped out of their shock and burst into applause.
"Please welcome your masters of ceremonies. Myself, in the center ring, a master slasher, a deadly dancing dervish, a blade for any maid, a blade swinger and bladeslinger, the one, the only, the Blaaaaaaaade!!!!!!!!"
He indulged himself in another bow as the audience clapped before continuing. As he spoke again, a puff of smoke appeared in the right to his right.
"And in the ring to my right, the definition of epic rendition, a brave chanter of grave banter, a bard of the north who brings history forth, the one, the only, the Skaaaaaaaaaaald!!!!!!!!"
The smoke cleared and the Skald could be seen within, engaged in a slow, battle-like dance with his halberd. The Blade continued as a puff of smoke appeared in the remaining ring.
"And in the ring to my left, a laugh-invoker of a joker, there's no insaner gamester, there's no slicker trickster, you'll howl at his scowl and ache in his wake, you'll drown in your laughs should this clown cross your path, the only, the only, the Jeeeeessssster!!!!"
The smoke cleared and the Jester could be seen within, juggling skulls and laughing hysterically. One by one he tossed them at the audience and they floated overhead. Arra gasped at the apparent skull traps, but they soon exploded in showers of confetti and candy.
"And now," proclaimed the three ringleaders in unison, "Let's start this party with a bang!" They flung their arms wide and explosions of smoke went off across the floor. Animals and clowns were now everywhere in the rings. Bears, griffins, horses, displacer beasts, and otyughs paced about the rings with painted fur and various frills and hats strapped on. Most of the clowns were demihumans, but some were also trolls and orcs in clown suits. Some of them led the animals to and fro while others juggled, cartwheeled, flipped on trampolines, tossed things to one another, breathed fire, swallowed swords, or engaged in other unlikely feats.
Puffs of spoke appeared high in the tent, on the acrobatics platforms, and performers appeared and waved down to the audience. They began walking or riding unicycles across tightropes, swinging from platform to platform with trapezes, sometimes letting go in midair and catching each other. Swashbucklers engaged in mock duels atop the tightropes, with the 'losers' plunging to their 'deaths,' only to happen to hit one of the scattered trampolines and go vaulting elsewhere in the circus to begin another routine.
Other rogues came in from outside the tent wheeling pieces of equipment. Some of these were wooden boxes which they wound cranks on the sides of, causing them to play music for a moment before exploding in human jack-in-the-boxes which sent rogues flying into the air, caught by the acrobats and tossed elsewhere. Others resembled cannons, into which bards cast fireballs, causing them to go off with a bang a moment later and send some other helmet-wearing fool flying to the other end of the circus.
While the antics on the ground continued, the acrobats begin tossing ropes around, carrying with them when they swung, or hauling them up and down, and soon a web of ropes was strung from pole to pole across the circus. Some stretched across horizontally, some at angles, some went nearly vertical and had been made into rope ladders.
The three ringleaders disappeared in puffs of smoke and reappeared on the large crows-nest-like platform high up on the center pole.
"Any now, for your interactive entertainment," the Blade laughed maniacally, "Could we have a few volunteers? Ah, nothing will be required of you, in fact, you'll merely be taken captive by our daring and charming band of swashbucklers!" at his words, trapezing swashbucklers flew off their ropes and landed in rolls and cartwheels amidst the audience. They quickly dashed through the audience and grabbed 'volunteers,' mostly young, slight maidens, hoisted them over their shoulders and then dashed back to the rings. They tossed the maidens up to swinging acrobats, who caught them out of the air and then completed their trapeze swings, landing on the top center platform.
"Thank you, thank you," the Blade laughed as he and his brothers tied the half-dozen maidens around the center post on the platform. "And now, I have a very, very special announcement. I'm going to need a few more volunteers. Your task, I fear, will be of a different nature. You won't have the luxury of being tossed and carried up here, you're going to have to run the gauntlet, for the entertainment of the house, and make your way here."
"A call! A call!" the Skald chanted. "A call has gone out to any courageous enough to venture into our rings of monsters and rogues, make their way up the web of tightropes and troupe of acrobats, and rescue these damsels in distress! Only the nimblest and bravest need dare!"
"And what is your prize for completing this little quest?" the Jester laughed. "Oh, what indeed? Oh, the question boondoggles us! Come and claim it, or drive yourself insane wondering what it might have been! Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah!!" the Jester nearly fell off the edge of the platform with laughter, but teetered on the edge for a bit and then finally fell back on.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Anomen asked as a number of ambitious youths in the audience made their way toward the edge of the ring.
"That this is a trap just for us?" Onyx inquired.
"Exactly," Anomen furrowed his brow.
Valygar nodded. "They didn't do anything like this in Trademeet."
"Jarek could have given us away," Onyx bit his lip. "As far as we can tell, he was taken by the slavers after they parted company with the circus. But who can guess the extent of their communication or cooperation."
"I just don't think Jarek would have given them a shred of information, no matter what they did to him," Arra shook her head.
"Well they already knew enough to capture him," Onyx said. "I have to wonder about that, actually. Did his...new slaver friend...just decide to make another random kidnapping, or is Bond a familiar face to them? I get the feeling he's more involved in this than we know," he looked pointedly at Arra.
"Fine," Arra sighed, "You were on a need-to-know-basis, but I guess you need to know. 007 has had a run-in with the growing Cyricist cult in the past. These slaving Purple Sun Assassins, whoever they work for, are probably part of the same cult, and his captor must have recognized him. 007 is almost too good an agent - he's sorta made a name for himself with our enemies, and he's a bit showy and never been the best about keeping as low a profile as he could or should."
"Arra! Why didn't you tell us earlier." Onyx sighed, "Now we almost surely know who the slavers are; whoever runs this cult!" Anomen shot him a scowl for his scolding tone with Arra.
"Well," Arra began nonchalantly, "Not really, Cyric has a pretty widespread and it was pretty disorganized until recently. The sect Jarek infiltrated his since scattered to the wind; I can only assume that the assassin that got him is either one of the ones he crossed paths with earlier, or heard enough about him from others who figure out who the swashbuckler she met in Nashkel was."
"Wait," Onyx furrowed his brow, "You said disorganized until recently. What did you mean?"
"A man seems to have gotten many of them under his control, and has recently led an aggressive recruiting and indoctrination campaign. I guess you were only back in Athkatla a few hours, but if you hadn't been gone for a month before fighting the Bhaalspawn War down in Tethyr, you've have seen the rise of Cyricist propaganda in Amn. They're converting - some people say kidnapping - people everywhere, streets, especially the slums, taverns, brothels, thieves' guilds, mercenary companies. Some say the Shadow Thieves have even come under his influence, supposedly symbolizing the alliance of Cyric and Mask."
"And who is this man?"
"No one knows anything about him except the name he goes by. Cyran. Or Saint Cyran."
"The Saint."
"Quite likely. But even so, it wouldn't help us find him. They've been looking for him, believe me, but all anyone ever finds is the few lowly clerics converting in the taverns. It's weird - these Cyricists, they all seem to know him, have heard him speak, but we can never find him."
Onyx looked back up at the ringleaders on their platform. "I really hope these guys know something about their supplier." The youths who had dared the challenge were trying to make their way into the three rings, to get to the poles or trampolines so that they could climb or bounce up to the ropes.
Audience members gasped in terror as the volunteers were quickly torn to pieces by the monsters and rogues. "Don't worry, good people, don't worry, it's all part of the show, trust nothing that you see, illusions are about in this circus of chaos!" the Blade proclaimed and reassured them. The audience winced at the sights of spurting blood and the sounds of cracking bones, but bards strolled through the audience strumming mesmerizing tunes on their harps and the audience seemed pacified and reassured and did not protest.
Anomen muttered a true sight spell. "No, this is definitely real. We can't let these fools rush to their own deaths!"
Onyx looked up. The Jester was now holding a scimitar to the necks of one of the maidens. He ever-so-slightly pressed in and blood trickled down the girl's neck from where the curved blade touched it. "Ooh hoo hoo hoo," the Jester laughed, "We are not impressed by the mere whelps we see below. Nimble and brave we said, not clumsy and foolish. Oh, we knows who is out there..." Onyx could swear the maniacally babbling Jester was staring straight at him, "Yes, we knows, now accept our challenge or your door prize will be these girlses heads laid at your feet...so to speak...no, literally! Ha ha ha!!"
Onyx began to rise. "You're right, Anomen. Trap or no, the show must NOT go on."
The Jester seemed to notice Onyx rise and drew his scimitar away, laughing triumphantly. Anomen, Arra, Minsc, Valygar, and Jaheira rose and the Jester rubbed his hands together and bellowed to the audience, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the real games begins!!"
The six fanned out as they reached the front of the aisle and approached one of the side rings. A phalanx of monsters and rogues stood before them.
"We can't just cut our way through this," Jaheira looked around, "We have to be smarter."
Arra thought quickly. "The grappling crossbows!" The men and monsters started advancing. "But we'd better at least neutralize them fast!"
Before she's even finished her sentence, Jaheira, Minsc, and Valygar had all cast entangle spells. Vines burst up out of the very ground and snaked around the limbs of most of the assailants, causing them to stop in their tracks and struggle in the grasp of the foliage. Onyx and Anomen each cast hold spells and many of the rogues froze dead in their tracks. Arra cast another hold spell and stopped some of the oncoming monsters. She then cast a horrid wilting spell around them while her companions engaged the few free foes in melee combat, causing whirling sand to appear and swirl at the attackers. They screamed in agony as swords and maces smashed into them and moisture was sucked from their bodies. As they fell, the six drew out their crossbows and fired up at the nearest pole, just above the level of a platform on it. The grappling hooks twirled around the pole and caught their ropes. The adventured pulled their triggers again, and were pulled up into the air as the crossbows winded their ropes back in.
Just as they landed on the platform over the side ring, swashbucklers came gallivanting down the tightropes at them, swinging scimitars or drawing short bows, some from atop unicycles. On the platform over the center ring, the ringleaders were each preparing spells.
Onyx reached over his own shoulder and pulled an orange throwing axe from his ammo strap. He flung it at an incoming rogue's unicycle, and the explosion from Q's axe caused the rope to snap and send all the rogues on it plunging to their deaths. Minsc swung his huge sword Gram through the next rope and all upon it went falling as they rope cave way, but one swashbuckler managed to leap off and land amongst them, while still others swung in from trapezes and flew onto the platform with blades already drawn, and several bards on the ground below dimension doored themselves to the platform.
Minsc lifted his sword again and impaled the incoming swashbuckler before he could even stop the momentum from his leap. Onyx managed to knock one acrobat out of the air with another exploding throwing axe, and Valygar destroyed a few more with exploding arrows. Anomen cast a ring-shaped storm of vengeance at the center platform and electricity, fire, and acid rained upon the ringleaders and their cohorts, injuring and disrupting them, while conspicuously avoiding the captives in the center of the platform. Arra cast a lightning bolt in the direction of a third tightrope, and the nicely lined-up swashbucklers on it screamed as the bolt blitzed through them all and many lost their balance.
The bards on the center platform tried to resume casting but Jaheira had just summoned a cloud of insects upon them. They cursed and screamed, which only invited the flying pests to zoom into their mouths, causing them to spit and scream more terribly still.
Valygar was firing arrows along a fourth tightrope, picking off the advancing swashbucklers on it by shooting through their legs and causing them to lose their balance. One danced along it, managing to avoid each arrow, and finally came leaping off the rope onto the platform. Valygar dropped his bow and drew his katanas just in time to meet the swashbuckler's scimitars, and the two swung and parried briefly until Minsc cleaved into the rogue's back, paralyzing him, and then Valygar kicked him in the chest and sent him flying off the platform.
The six looked around. The two tightropes to the central platform had been severed, but the two leading to other platforms remained. Below, the monsters were running amok and devouring other challengers, while the rogues among them tried in vain to keep them from charging into the audience, who were now screaming in terror at the obviously real carnage and fleeing out the doors.
"Oh, curse it, oh, most dreadful day, we're ruined!" the Skald moaned as the audience stampeded out of the tent.
"Hee hee hee look at the peasants runs!" the Jester pointed and laughed. "They trampleses each others in their haste and does the monsters' work for them! Hee hee hee hee hee!!"
"Now, worry not, my good fellows, we shall have this all cleaned up in no time, but for now, the show must go on!!" the Blade orated.
Minsc was advancing down one of the tightropes, Onyx down the other. Valygar and Arra were firing arrows and magic missiles from their platform at the central one, and Anomen and Jaheira were calling carefully aimed columns of fire and lightning down upon it. After Minsc killed the last swashbuckler on his rope, one at the other platform slashed through the end of it.
"Ahhhhhhahahhahahahahahahahhahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!" Minsc yelled as he swung through the air on the rope. His rope swung under and past the platform, then Minsc swung up again on the other side, then came around his circle back over the platform and managed to land on it safely despite his circuitous route. "Me Minsc you Jane!" he roared at the swashbuckling woman who stared startled at the huge berserker's acrobatics. She swung her scimitars at him, but they clattered against his armor and he brought the butt of his sword down upon her head, knocking her instantly unconscious. An assassin dashed up behind him and managed to drive a dagger through his armor into his back. Minsc screamed in rage and, frothing at the mouth, spun around and cleaved him clean in two. He ran around the platform, cleaning the clocks of another quartet of swashbucklers and nearly running off the platform himself in his mindless berserk state. Finally he came to, still looking as healthy as ever, the assassin's poison having already run its course and left him still standing and swinging.
Onyx stepped down the other tightrope, holding his longswords Argurvadal and Blackrazor out for balance, facing off with swashbucklers and engaging in high wire duels. A bard on the platform swung to cut his rope, but he cast a hold spell out and the three rogues on the platform all froze in their tracks. The next swashbuckler came bounding down the rope and engaged Onyx. He managed to strike him several times, not piercing his armor but nearly causing him to lose his balance. Onyx was unable to get through the man's parries, who used skillful feigning and dodging to avoid contacting the most powerful blows of the cavalier, which parried or no would surely have sent him flying off the rope to his death. At last Onyx had a flash of insight and began hopping up and down on the rope. The impact of the armored man's jumps caused the swashbuckler to hop unsteadily himself, and at last he slipped and his legs straddled the rope, causing him to land on it square on his groin. The rogue screamed in newly sterile agony, but his pain was cut short when Blackrazor swung by and lopped off his waist-height head. The body quickly went limp and fell.
"It's all part of the show, ladies and gentlemen," the Blade tried to calm the audience, "It's all part of the AAAH!" he screamed as Valygar's arrow sailed through his chest, its tail quivering as it stopped with the head sticking out his back. "Aah! Is it bad, doc?" he moaned theatrically to the Skald. "So it ain't so! Everything's goin dark! This looks like the end!" He overdramatically clutched the Skald and the Jester, who drug their felled friend around the platform, using the maidens around the pole to put a human shield between themselves and the sniper.
While the Skald fed the Blade a healing potion with overstated tenderness, Valygar continued to take potshots at other rogues on the various tightropes, trapezes, and platforms. Around him, Arra, Anomen, and Jaheira cast evocations and enchantments into the thick of thieves and monsters in the rings below, charring and confusing them by the dozen.
Onyx made the final dash across the rope and leapt onto the platform just as the bard unfroze and slashed the rope. In the same motion as his landing, he slashed Argurvadal through the bard's neck, instantly cauterizing and sending the body and head falling to the ground below. Two other swashbucklers on the side platform charged with shortswords and scimitars. Onyx summoned a deva who engaged the scimitars swashbuckler with her sword of flame while he parried the other's shortswords. Both pairs fought back and forth on the platform. He tried to knock his opponent back with powerful blows, but the clever thief managed to feign about, never quite getting pushed over the edge and managing to nick his opponent several times. In desperation, Onyx drew upon holy might and, with his next single blow, sent the surprised swashbuckler reeling back with the force of a charging elephant. The man screamed as he tripped over his own feet at the impact and went flailing through the air, landing in the maw of a hungry griffin below. The deva was wearing down her opponent, whom Onyx stabbed through the back with Blackrazor, drawing out the rogue's last life energy to heal his own wounds.
After beheading another swashbuckler who'd leapt onto his platform, Minsc turned his attention back to the central platform, which still held the ringleaders. He began a brave dash across the tightrope leading to it. The remaining audience below gasped at the spectacle of the enormous man managing to keep his balance on the tightrope as he engaged one swashbuckler after another, cleaving through them with the edge of his sword or sending them flying off the tightrope with the flat of it. Before reaching the central platform, the Jester, huddled behind the captive maidens, noticed the oncoming Rashemanian and cast a flame arrow at the edge of the tightrope, which began to burn through. Just as Minsc made the final dash to the platform, the Jester ran out from behind his human shield and, holding his hammer Clown Faeyr high, smashed the mighty berserker in the chest and sent him flying back. Minsc fell back with his legs straddling the burning tightrope, most thankful for the codpiece of his platemail. He sheathed Gram and used his hands to get himself into a stand on the rope again, but before he could make another leap to the edge of the platform, the rope burned through.
The Jester laughed hysterically as Minsc fell screaming to the ground below. His fall crushed a griffin beneath him and somewhat broke his own fall. But heavily bruised and with broken bones, before he could get up again, a swarm of assassins was upon him, plunging poisoned daggers deep all over his body. His companions watched in horror and the Jester clutched his sides and continued laughing as Minsc, a score of daggers sticking out of him, heaved and then ceased to struggle.
The Jester's laughing stopped abruptly when Valygar took advantage of his exposed position and shot an arrow through his neck. He grasped his bleeding throat and made a horrible gurgling noise as he fell to the ground. The Skald dashed out and pulled him behind their human shield, then broke the arrow and pulled the halves out of his neck. The Skald poured a healing potion directly into his torn throat, and the Jester resumed laughing as his vocal cords healed.
"We'll see who delivers the punchline!" the Jester laughed and pulled an enormous crossbow from seemingly out of nowhere - in truth, from the bag of holding at his belt. Peeking around the side of the bound maidens, he pointed it back at Valygar and squeezed the trigger. A short pole shot out and unfurled a flag that read "BANG!"
"Wrong toy!" the Jester laughed and tossed the crossbow away. He pulled out another one, which had a giant boxing glove mounted on it. He aimed at the segment of pole just below the platform where Valygar and the three spellcasters were standing. He pulled the trigger and the boxing glove flew through the air, smashing into the pole and splintering it.
"Time for some acrobatics of our own!" Valygar shouted as he and Jaheira dashed for the trapezes that had used earlier by previously dispatched incoming swashbucklers. They grabbed the handles and pushed off, and began swinging through the air toward the central platform. Meanwhile, Arra had cast a dimension door and grabbed Anomen's hand to pull him through. But just as she disappeared and he moved to follow, the Jester fired another boxing glove into his chest. His hand slipped from Arra's and the portal closed. He was nearly thrown off the platform and fell onto his back. The platform broke from the shattered pole and fell, and Anomen's body was jarred painfully as it smashed onto the ground, fracturing into several pieces and crushing another of rogues and beasts beneath it. Bruised, battered, and broken by the fall, Anomen could not make himself move from the pile of debris and struggled to maintain consciousness. As thieves with menacing daggers closed in around him, he had just barely enough time and energy left to mutter a sanctuary spell. He felt his surrounds grow faint as if they were suddenly far away, and the thieves began to thrust but then stopped short, looked around confused, and then just wandered elsewhere in the fray. Anomen breathed a sigh of relief as creatures swarmed around the debris ignoring him, and began to chant a healing spell upon himself.
As Valygar and Jaheira swung through the air toward the central platform, Onyx was flying toward it in the grasp of his deva and Arra's dimension door was opening at the edge of the platform. The Blade, the Skald, and the Jester looked nervously at the incoming heroes, then at each other, and then began chanting the same spell. Dimension doors opened for each of them.
"Face me, cowards!" Onyx screamed as his deva dropped him onto the platform and he ran after them, slashing his longswords through empty air just as they disappeared. Arra stepped through her own dimension door and Valygar and Jaheira let go of their trapezes and the heights of their swings and landed on the platform. Jaheira landed on the very edge and nearly fell backwards into the throng below, but Valygar and Onyx caught her arms and pulled her to safety.
"Oh, thank you!" "Our heroes!" "Please untie us!" the maidens cried in uncanny unison and Onyx and Valygar set about doing just that. On the platform over the other side ring, three dimension doors open and the Blade, Skald, and Jester stepped through. They watched the captives getting untied and began to clasp each others' shoulders and tried to suppress laughter.
"Wait, something's not right," Arra mused and chant a true sight spell, but nothing happened.
As Onyx slashed the ropes from the last maiden, she smiled seductively and walked up to him, beginning to undo her blouse. He arched an eyebrow and took a step back, muttering a detect evil. His eyes opened wide as he completed the spell and the maiden tore off her blouse and skirt. Underneath she wore a clownlike polka-dot catsuit and had two katanas strapped tightly to her back. The other five tore off their dressed to reveal similar garb.
"I see you've met my Krazy Kensai Katana Klowns!" the Jester laughed. "They play a tad rough!"
Onyx was already thrusting toward the first one with the swords he'd used to slash her bonds, but she feigned away and as quickly came forward again with her katanas drawn and slashed into both of his shoulders. He winced and slashed in from both sides, but she leapt off the ground, tucking her knees in and clearing both his blades, then kicked him in the chest with both legs. He stumbled back at her surprising strength and nearly fell off the platform. As the kensai charged, the deva swooped down and swung her ethereal sword through the warrior's head, cleaving it in two. Onyx sidestepped the still-charging body and it flew off the platform.
Another kensai klown was charging Arra but she yelled a dire charm just in time and just before crossing staff spear and katana, the kensai turned to parry another who was bearing down. A third charged past her at Arra, and the elven woman spun her staff spear around and knocked both katanas aside, then thrust forward a hand, from which went flying a swarm of magic missiles that smashed into the kensai's face. They burned black polka dots into the kensai's catsuit, but she growled and kept charging. Arra thrust her staff spear forward, but the kensai twisted her thin midsection around it and slid along the shaft, swiping at Arra's neck from both sides. Arra ducked back and narrowly avoided the blades while chanting. She completed a vampire touch spell and promptly lifted one hand from the staff spear. While the kensai drew her katanas back for another pair of swings, Arra grasped her neck with freakishly clawlike fingernails and hissed, showing fangs. She nearly broke the kensai's neck as she squeezed it and leaned in, then sunk her fangs and began to suck her blood. The kensai moaned, weakened, and dropped her katanas. She pulled daggers from her catsuit and lifted them high to plunge them around into her foe's back. But as her blades came down, Arra bit hard and then jerked her head sideways, breaking her opponent's neck with the tremendous strength of own neck and jaw. She turned her staff spear sideways and pushed the instantly- dead clown woman away from her with the shaft.
As her vanquished foe fell to the floor, Arra watched her charmed kensai dance in her fierce duel with the other. She saw one artfully twist around her opponent's katanas and then behead her. The victor turned to face Arra, who wasn't taking any chances and was already waving her hands and chanting a terrible-sounding spell. An invisible but disturbing and nearly tangible ripple of energy sailed through the air at the kensai and disintegrated her on the spot.
Just as Valygar had begun receiving similar treatment as Onyx from he last 'maiden' he freed and had seen the catsuit under the blouse, he had drawn his own katanas as quickly as his opponent and the two had begun an intricate ballet of swordplay. For several minutes on end, Valygar failed to even graze his opponent, who glanced his armor several times and managed to whack off most of his dreadlocks as they flew through the air around his head. The newly close-cut Valygar growled and cast haste upon himself. At blinding speed, he slashed and stabbed at his opponent but still could not find her flesh. As he feigned back from her slashes, he pointed Celestial Fury straight at the kensai and stared down the blade at her. He squeezed the handle and called a bolt of lightning into the katana and out the tip. The charging kensai was knocked back by the burst of electricity, and cried as her hair singed and her flesh steamed. Before she could recover, Valygar struck her again with the katana and sent another burst of electricity through her body. She moaned and fell to the floor, but no sooner had she hit it than Valygar drove Hindo's Doom straight through her heart.
Scimitars and katanas crossed over the heads of Jaheira and the sixth kensai klown. The kensai quickly kicked Jaheira square in the stomach of her armor and sent her reeling, almost over the edge again. The kensai charged, but Jaheira cast a druid spell and a small, glowing gem appeared in her hand. It began to burn with bright light and Jaheira tossed the searing orb just as the kensai came upon her, and the woman screamed as the burning stone struck her chest and exploded in a cloud of fire that consumed her. She continued charging blindly, missing Jaheira with her katanas but running herself through on the outthrust scimitars.
Jaheira tried to thrust forward, but the force of the impact sent them both hurtling over the edge of the platform. Jaheira gasp in frozen terror as she felt nothing beneath her feet. The impact and sent Jaheira falling back, and she was beneath her dead opponent as she fell. She landed on a running thief, somewhat breaking her fall, but then the kensai's body smashed on her as well. She screamed as she skull of the thief being crushed beneath her jammed against her armor, leaving a large bruise on her back. Then the weight of her former foe, light though she was, crashed onto her and knocked out her wind, and she thought she could feel and hear some of her ribs breaking. She lay in a daze and could vaguely make out a burly bard standing over her and raising a halberd high to behead her, but had barely the consciousness or the muscular control to move.
From above, Onyx witnessed this spectacle in horror just after he'd watched his own opponent tumble to her death. "Jaheira!" he roared and leapt off the edge of the platform, sheathing his longswords in midair and curling forward in an arms-first dive. He tackled the bard out of the air, sending the halberd flying into a troll across the ring. He slammed the bard into the ground, crushing the hefty man's spine and ribcage instantly with the force of his tackle, and felt his own arms give out several sickening crunches and pops.
The rather angry troll pulled the halberd out of its chest and came running toward him with its claws outstretched. With his broken arms, Onyx struggled to get up. Beside him, from her own crumpled misery, Jaheira watched the oncoming monster and began chanting a spell which summoned a fire elemental to intercept the troll just before it fell upon Onyx.
As the fire elemental flailed on the troll, cauterizing all the wounds it caused, Onyx rolled off the bard's body, and pulled his broken arms together, pressing his hands together and using each's healing powers to heal the other arm.
"Indeed, one hand heals the other," Jaheira smiled and the helped each other to their feet. "You save me, I save you," she glowed while Onyx warmly chanted a healing spell and put his hands over her chest and healed her internal wounds.
"Always, J," Onyx gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. The thud of the charred troll as it fell to the dirt brought their attention back to the fray, and they both spun around with scimitars and longswords drawn. The throng of thieves and monsters had been considerably thinned by the party's earlier evocations, and now many of those who remained were still under the effects of their enchantments and battling one another, growing yet even less in number. In the ring where Anomen had fallen, he had used his sanctuary to heal and then imbue himself with a number of protections and enhancements, and now stood in the center of the ring, a tornado of blades spinning around him and slashing down all who came close while he bellowed divine spells to smite all who stood away. He hadn't been able to get to Minsc, but he'd summoned a deva of his own who stood guard over the body, slashing down all who tried to approach and loot or desecrate it.
The monsters and ruffians were still thicker in the opposite ring. Above them on the pole's platform stood the ringleaders, trading arrows and magic missiles with Arra and Valygar's position on the central platform. The bards tried sending a few fireballs and cold cones their way as well, but Arra had managed to completely adjure herself against them, whereas Valygar was desperately stealing swigs of healing potion in between shots.
"Enough! Let's finish them!" Valygar shouted to Arra and ran toward the edge of the platform. The bards had slashed all the tightropes leading to theirs, but Valygar grabbed a trapeze. "Teleport and meet me there!" he called as he dashed off the end of the platform and sailed through the air.
"It's a trap! A skull trap!" Onyx yelled as the Jester drew two of his juggling skulls and tossed them forward. They froze in midair at the front edge of their platform, and just as Valygar somersaulted onto it, he flew into them and they exploded. The bards were cowering at the back of the platform as bits of skull flew everywhere, a few hitting them but many more raking through Valygar's flesh. The ranger screamed, his hands over bloodied face, and the Skald drew an enormous spear and began charging as Arra teleported to Valygar's side. She moved with her own staff spear to intercept the Skald, but the Jester laughed and tossed a banana peel under her foot and she slipped on it, falling on her back. The Skald completed his charge and just as Valygar took his hands away from his face, the spear- wielding bard ran him straight through. Onyx and Jaheira watched in horrified disbelief from above as the small but apparently strong Skald lifted Valygar off the floor on the spear and held him impaled over the side of the platform. The Skald smiled and began to sing.
"And now we reach the part of the quest, For dramatic tension in the brawl; The noble warrior has done his best, But for the story's sake he must...fall!"
The Jester pointed and laughed hysterically as the Skald let the spear go and Valygar fell, clutching the shaft and landing on the bare ground with a sickening crunch. Arra was beginning to rise to a kneel and chant a spell, but the Jester added a grease spell around his banana peel and she slipped again. As the Skald drew out another spear and raised it to impale Arra, Onyx was already running toward the base of the pole with Carsomyr drawn, hacking down men and beasts on both sides without missing a step. As the reached the base of the pole, he roared and began a single mighty swing which cleaved straight through the pole.
"Heads up, Arra!" he yelled up at her, hoping his gamble that she's survive the fall better than the Skald's spear would pay off. The Blade rushed to the edge of the platform and peered down angrily at him. Onyx gave the severed pole a kick and it began to tilt towards the far ring.
The few surviving rogues and beasts saw the pole about to crash down and followed the remains of the audience in a bolt for the doors of the tent, screaming in terror as the creaks of snapping wood were heard all around them.
The Blade lost his balance and teetered on the edge of the seesawing platform. "Methinks the sanctimonious oaf means to be the one to really bring the house down tonight!" he cried as he lost his balance and fell through the air. He recovered in a somersault and landed on his feet a few paces from Onyx, shortswords already drawn. The cavalier held Carsomyr high and faced him.
The pole tilted and the top pulled free of the roof of the tent, which began to sag. As the platform sloped sideways, the Skald missed with his spear and jammed the point into the floor next to Arra. He stumbled, planting his feet on the grease as well. When the pole had fallen over to the point that the platform hung diagonally over the middle ring, Arra and the Skald slid helplessly along the grease and off the end of the platform. Jaheira ran across the ring to catch Arra, and the Skald craftily aimed for and landed on one of the trampolines. He bounced into the air again and landed near Arra and Jaheira, his ridiculously huge double-ended halberd already drawn.
The Jester was wrapped around the pole for dear life when it smashed into the ground of the far right. Its platform crashed into the pile of debris that remained of the previously felled platform, bringing it to a near halt before the Jester was squished between the pole and the ground. He laughed happily and dropped the last few feet to the ground, then drew Clown Faeyr and his scimitar Sanity's Edge and faced nearby Anomen.
The Helmite called a bolt of glory down upon his foe, who appeared to disappear through a dimension door just in the nick of time and the bolt struck the ground. Anomen looked around for the door his foe would reappear through, and was caught completely off guard when the Jester appeared out of nowhere right in front of him.
"Stop! Hammer time!" the Jester laughed. As he swung Clown Faeyr into his chest and he went flying across the ring, Anomen realized belatedly the Jester must have cast a shadow door. Anomen skidded across the ground to a stop. The few remaining henchmen in the ring came running upon him, but he chanted to Helm and then slammed his fist into the ground, causing an earthquake spell to ripple across the ring and knock them all to their feet, where they were bounced and smashed to pulps by the shaking ground. The Jester too tried to get up over and over only to fall and hurt himself. He sprang up for good as Anomen charged him, and began chanting a spell. It sounded as if he completed it, but nothing appeared to happen except for the priest smashing his mace into his head and sending him to the ground again. Before he rose, Anomen called a column of flame upon him and then beat him to death with his mace. Anomen gasped in shock again as the body merely vanished. A mislead spell!
"Can't touch this!" he heard the Jester laugh. He turned quickly to look for his real foe, and soon saw Clown Faeyr swinging at him again. He blocked it with his shield, but she sheer power sent him stumbling back several feet. He drew upon holy might as the Jester charged, and managed to keep his footing as he blocked the next blow. Anomen swung in with his mace, but the Jester caught it on the inside of his scimitar, then slid the curves sword down the mace's shaft and sliced into Anomen's gauntlet. The knight hopped back with a deep gash wound in his wrist, and quickly healed it as the Jester created a dozen mirror images around himself.
Anomen quickly jogged backwards while strapping his mace to his belt and pulling out his sling. With expert quickness, he fired bullet after bullet at the charging horde of Jesters and watched the phantasms disappear one by one. While he took them out, the Jester fired a lightning bolt straight at him. He cursed and knelt in pain as the electricity coursed around his metallic armor and through his body, and as he tried to stand again, the lightning bolt, having reflected off the pole in the ring, shot into his back and he fell again while the Jester laughed and ran aside of it. Anomen's fall was 'broken' by an upswing of Clown Faeyr into the side of his head, and he went flying into the pole and crumpled at the base of it. The Jester cast a slow spell upon him and a haste upon himself and then charged. Moving like molasses, Anomen tried to lift his shield, but the Jester was upon him too soon. Clown Faeyr knocked his mace to the ground and Sanity's Edge grazed over the top of his slowly rising shield and sailed smoothly through the chainmail between his helmet and body armor, slicing off Anomen's head and finally stopping in the wood of the pole.
In the center ring, the bard had danced and spun his double-ended halberd around and around, parrying the blows of both his opponents. Jaheira tried to back up and cast a druidic spell, but moments after knocking Arra's staff spear aside, the Skald artfully opened his hand next to his head and shot a flurry of magic missiles back over his shoulder into her. While still polearm-fencing Arra, he danced backwards and uppercutted the stunned Jaheira with one end of her halberd. The druid went flying into the air, her jaw smarting painfully but her thoughts thankful for her helmet. Arra backed up to cast a spell of her own, but the Skald's hand shot forward again and sent a power word silence straight at her. Arra stopped midchant, no words coming from her mouth, and angrily charged again. The Skald lodged the back end of his halberd against the ground, caught the underside of Arra's outthrust staff spear with the front end, and used his strength to lever her off the ground and catapult her over his head through the air. He'd aimed perfectly and she crashed into Jaheira just as she was beginning to rise and the both went crashing to the floor again.
The Skald cast a dispel magic at Arra, erasing her protection from energy, then fired a blast of chain lightning which successfully sizzled them both. He fired a lightning bolt into Arra's face just as she got off the ground and off Jaheira and she clutched the sides of her heads in agony, trying to keep her mind from scrambling as electricity coursed through it. The Skald threw down his halberd, cast a power word silence over Jaheira's lips just as she was beginning to mouth a spell from her physically helpless position beneath Arra, and then drew out his two-handed sword Circusomyr, a Holier-Than-Thou Avenger.
Before Arra could recompose herself, the Skald had pulled his sword behind his shoulders, charged up to her, and handily lopped off her head. He lifted the sword high, and Jaheira tried to rise and push Arra's body off her, but Circusomyr plunged through her chest before she could get up, and she was pinned to the ground again and instantly killed as the Skald twisted it in her chest.
As Onyx charged, the Blade cast a half-dozen magic missiles at him, but the cavalier held Carsomyr forward and let them smack the holy avenger and fizzle. Then he was upon the Blade, who planted his foot down and began a spin just in time to avoid being smashed across the ring by the mighty blow. Onyx tried unsuccessfully to hack through the shortsword cyclone, and as he Blade finally slowed down out of his spin, he managed to get a hit across his back, which sent the bard toppling to the ground.
Onyx lifted Carsomyr high for a killing blow, but just then he glanced aside and noticed the Skald and the Jester bearing down on him. He glanced past them and his eyes widened in horror as he caught the bodies of Anomen, Arra, and Jaheira strewn about with the rest. The Blade rolled along the ground away from him and popped up, beginning a spell just as the Skald and the Jester did.
Onyx knew they were too spread out to engage simultaneously, and he wouldn't have time to toss throwing axes at them all before their spells came at him. He calmly chanted an armor of faith spell and smiled as ethereal blue armor and white wings appeared over him. He held Carsomyr high in front of them and smiled. For between his weapon, his spell, and his acquired natural resistance, he could achieve every wizard slayer's dream: immunity to magic.
He laughed and drew upon holy might again as the bards cast protection from magical weapons upon themselves and then proceeded to assault him with harmless fireballs, ice storms, and lightning bolts. He merely pointed Carsomyr at each of them in turn, shooting a dispel magic out the tip of the blade and dispelling their protection. As he charged the Skald in the middle, they cast domination spells upon him, to no effect. The Skald lifted Circusomyr to parry Carsomyr while the Blade and the Jester tried to petrify and disintegrate Onyx, again in futility. Even the strong Skald was smashed to the ground by Onyx's titanic blow, dropping his Holier-Than-Thou Avenger, and as the other two bards cast acid and flame arrows which fizzled against his assailant, Onyx brought Carsomyr down upon his stomach, smashing him into paralysis with a stunning blow, and then knocked him unconscious with a blow of the hilt to his head.
While Onyx turned to face the Jester, the Blade fired a lightning bolt at his back, which passed harmlessly through him and fried the Jester in front of him. Onyx charged while the Jester screamed, but the bard's contingency kicked in and another protection from magical weapons shield formed around him just as Onyx swung in. It was to little avail, as Carsomyr's first hit dispelled it, and then Onyx brought the flat of his blade upon the Jester's forehead with another stunning blow, sending his second opponent to the ground frozen and out cold.
As Onyx turned, the Blade had finally given up on magic and was now hurling darts at a frantic pace. They bounced harmlessly off his armor as he charged, and the Blade began altering himself with Tenser's transformation just before his opponent closed in. He crossed his shortswords above his head just in time to block Carsomyr's downward swing, then kicked Onyx in the chest and managed to send him to the ground with his newfound strength. Just as he lunged to drive his swords into Onyx, the cavalier rolled back and hopped to his feet, swinging Carsomyr up and slashing the Blade across the face.
The tip of the sword sliced the Blade's mask in two. Its straps popped and it fell from his face. Onyx's face was one of shock as he saw the face with the numerous tattoos and the devilish grin.
"Haer'Dalis?"
"The same!" Haer'Dalis laughed. "About time you figured it out, tin- can-man, I daresay the audience of our little play has known for several acts now!" He gripped Chaos and Entropy tight, but didn't step forward, and neither did Onyx. "Philanderer of many planes and many lovers, at your service!"
"But we found you a captive of Mekrath? And a member of the troupe before and again? And yet this circus trio has persisted for years."
"As I said, my raven!" Haer'Dalis laughed, plunging with hammish, theatric gluttony into his exposition, "Philanderer of many planes. I was the Blade before the troupe, and now I am again."
"We saved your life! How could you?"
"Ooh," Haer'Dalis mocked, "How could I? How could I? Because I CAN, you idiot-paladin! I can do anything I want!"
"If I'd known you were responsible for this...I can't believe I almost let you join us!"
"Ah, yes, but you didn't, did you? And we both know why. Don't tell me how you've no use for a showman in your Pious Paladin Party, I know the truth! Yes, I saw the way you looked at her, and at me when I looked at her! Why, I just wanted to console the poor dove, ah, losing her wings, such a tragic tale..."
"Stow it, ringleader. I always wondered how you instantly knew she was a wingless avariel. Now I do. You're the very reason she's wingless at all."
"About time you figured it out, pala-dolt."
"And I suppose our meeting wasn't just a coincidence then? Likely you more Mekrath's guest than captive."
"Ah, there your heroic inferences lead you astray. You'll find no ever-scheming villain here. You underestimate the power of chaos and sheer chance. It was pure coincidence that I met my little dove again! Imagine my surprise. I never wanted to sell her and the rest to that goofy old gnome, you know, but my brothers had me two to one on it. If only dear Aerie had just been a few years older...ah, it so nearly didn't matter anyway. I left for the troupe in anger and played across the multiverse in their company. Mekrath was merely an old...creditor of mine whom I'd been a bit sluggish in repaying. I suppose the fact that he caught me with his wife was what really broke the camel's back, though. And thanks to you, dear hero, for breaking HIS back and for my valiant rescue! And imagine my delight when who should be among you, but none other than my little dove, now blossomed into womanhood! For a moment I almost believed in fate, order, and meaning!"
"You fool yourself, philanderer. If you'd had your way, she'd soon have been just another conquest and you'd have forgotten all about her by now and gone back to your troupe."
"Ah, perhaps so. You know, I came back to the circus but a few days ago....my troupe had decided to put on a play of your exploits, my raven, and I'd have none of that - they'd have made me play you! Imagine the irony! But that, my raven, is what this is really all about. I can immerse myself in your character; I can see what makes you tick. We're really not so different, you and I. We simply chose slightly different paths."
"You see, my raven, there are three paths for great ones such as ourselves, three paths to wealth, women, and power. There is the path of the hero, perhaps a noble knight, which you have taken, banking on that shiny armor and dashing demeanor to swoon the ladies and the people and keep bureaucratic buffoons heaping gold upon you to kill a few orcs now and then. There is the path of the player, the rogue, which I have taken, using cunning and charm to entertain and enthrall and keep people throwing their coins and their bodies at me - and I'm not above reaching into a pocket or a skirt to take them for myself now and then, so to speak. And then there is the path of the villain, which your brother chose, amassing an army of mercenaries, thieves, or fanatics, and bringing down a gauntlet upon the land in order to take for yourself whatever you please."
"You have done well in this first path, my raven, almost as well as I have in the second, and I have a certain admiration for you, as sickening as is the chivalrous face you must wear to get what you want. And so, while the heroes and villains shake the world in their struggle, the rogues dance about in the middle and take what is shook loose, as I almost did with our dove as you and Irenicus struggled."
"You're wrong. I'm not like you. I'm no soldier of fortune."
"It's in you, my raven, it's there! Don't deny the temptation! Think what we could be together! Every hero needs a minstrel to sing his praise, and every minstrel needs a hero to keep the tales coming! On the one hand, we have you, heroically saving the day from the nefarious masked Blade over and over, the wry Haer'Dalis at your side all the while. It's perfect! There's no real villain, no need to risk your life and limb or suffocate in dank dungeons, and none will no the different, for I shall play the part of the villain behind my mask, and without it too be the spinner of the tales, I'll exaggerate far and wide our staged exploits! We'll have everything we ever wanted, fame, fortune, glory, women, all without so much as a real scratch on our armor. The illusion will be foolproof!"
"You're insane, Haer'Dalis. You know I'd never do that. Even if I wanted the things you claim I do. A heroic deed is its own reward. As for women, I've the one I love, and that's the only one I want."
"Ohh, my raven," Haer'Dalis shook his finger mock-scoldingly, "I know ya better than that! I know how much wealth and treasure you keep, all cleverly hidden in your bags of holding, or in assets being the ridiculous number of priceless 'weapons' you have. The one you love? Aerie - a one- woman man? I think not. I know about that little spoiled de'Arnise girl friend of yours and all the assets you're accruing together in dungeons or in court. And I know about another girl in your party too, that 'sister' you've been oh-so-close to for soooo many years. All those years in a stifling library together, and the long weeks in the Sword Coast wilderness! Don't pretend do you didn't have thoughts! Don't act like a sanctimonious little noble-boy with me, raven! I know the heart of a man, and you are a man among men. And oh, last and best of all, the last woman in your party, I know about her too. That lovely half-elf half-druid, I saw the way you looked at her when first our paths crossed, and I saw the heroic little dive-tackle stunt you pulled for her just now."
"You're a fruitcake. I've always said some bards spun a ballad of lies for every stanza of truth."
"Oh no, I can see what's going on, my raven! Don't worry though, your secrets are safe with me! But best you give me something to sing about instead, just in case! Join me now, and imagine how much we could make out of this night along. Imagine the ballad I could weave about your valiant annihilation of the iniquitous Chaos Circus! With Haer'Dalis fighting by your side all along! But lo, the Blade escaped, and therein lies the ticket to our next fabricated adventure, and further riches and laurels!"
Onyx had been stealing glanced at the unconscious forms of the Skald and the Jester, suspicious that Haer'Dalis was merely trying to give his pals time to recover. "Enough talk, garrulous bard," he dismissed, "We don't want the same things out of life, except for Aerie. I'll never join you."
"Ah, dear raven, there's room for negotiation! Aerie's not so important, have her by all means, I've a score of avariel to keep me company now, and there's this hot little number from the Elemental Plane of Fire I've had my eyes on lately! And don't worry, I don't carry a grudge, you know I live for the moment, not in the past. Come see my new playmates! Elf maids of all kinds! You'll love them! Aerie and your friends never have to know. Our little deal can be a secret, but they can tag along, and we'll all get rich and famous!"
"You just don't get it, fiendling. I believe in justice and love. And you? You don't believe in anything. You're a nihilist."
"No, you just don't get it, knighty! All your precious concepts of love and faithfulness and valor and good and evil, are all nothing! Look around you, look at the destruction you've wrought tonight. You, the tireless slayer and smiter, the very prince of murder, a destroyer like no one's ever seen, of all people should understand what I do, that nothing is permanent, everything dies, decays, or disappears. Ergo, all your absolutist concepts of morality are void! How can there be any eternal values when nothing is eternal? Any absolute truths when nothing is absolute? Ask yourself this, and you will arrive at the only possible conclusion - nothing really matters, and thus, all that's left is having fun! Gold and glory, wine and women! We each have accrued much, we deserve it, we're the exceptional few in this grand play we call reality, but together we could be so much greater! We could have so much more FUN!"
"Enough!" Onyx roared and began an underhand swing at Haer'Dalis. The blade crossed his swords to parry it, but the force of the blow sent him back. As if anticipating this, Haer'Dalis used the momentum of the upward swing and pushed off with his own feet, leaping high into the air in a flashy backwards somersault. He landed on a trampoline and bounced off it, sailing even higher and grabbing a tightrope. He leapt onto it and began to cast. While Onyx hurled Hangard's Axe through the air to cut the rope, Haer'Dalis opened a dimension door and disappeared through it just in the nick of time. Onyx cursed as his prey escaped and the axe reappeared in his hand.