Chapter 2
Of Blood, Righteousness, and Shadows
Kalan walked inside a mage shop, asking both Adakor and Haikarith to stay outside, saying that they won't "understand" the ways of magic and might prove dangerous for their health. As he walked in, he heard a small but rough voice shouting, "Wait there!". Then a small gnome, with short white balding hair, heavy white eyebrows, brown skin, wearing a light blue robes run to him. The gnome looked up with beady little eyes, and asked, "Please deposit your magic items in the chest beside the door," he huffed, "safety reasons, mind you."
"Fine fine!", Kalan pulled out his sharp dagger with a black blade and a black hilt from his belt, a plain red wand, and took off a plain silver ring from his right middle finger. He placed all three items to the small chest on the floor.
"And potions too!", the gnome added.
Kalan rolled his eyes, "Yes yes", and pulled two small blue potions from his belt and added it to the stash, "now satisfied?".
"Yes thank you", replied the old gnome, smiling with a toothy grin, "so how may I help you stranger? Potions? Rings? A wand or two maybe?", he waved his hands towards his display. The room itself was small, in fact, aside from the displays and the counter, the only place any customer can go is a straight line.
"Well, I want to know if you know any sorcerers who can teach me additional spells, you see, I can now sense more untapped energy within me already", answered Kalan, without giving much interest to the items.
"Sorcerer, ey? Hmmmm. let's see. It is hard you know, I am a wizard, not a sorce---"
"That is why I am asking you if you know someone else?!" replied the usual- impatient Kalan.
"Well, now that you asked that, maybe I do know someone. yes of course I know someone. His name is Tager, or I think it is. He lives northeast of town, blue house with red roof. If you meet him, tell him old Noah said hi. hey where are you going? What about your stuffs?", but Kalan was already outside, and so he went to check the chest, and it is already empty. "Hmmm. good magic, that guy, or was I just not paying attention."
******
"I need to visit a guy named Tager, you better go stroll around, it might take a while."
"Don't worry, we will go with you."
"No we are not, Adakor! C'mon, let's find some cool place to shop!", Haikarith took hold of Adakor's right arm and dragged him in the opposite direction.
"OK Kalan, we will just meet you in the tavern we ate this lunch," replied a helpless Adakor.
As they walked around Secomber, Haikarith stated, "Hey I am getting bored here in Secomber, let us go somewhere else already!"
"What? But we just got here yesterday! And we paid for one week worth at the inn."
"So? It is only a couple of gold that we paid for it. It is not worth the boredom we are getting! Hey look, they are selling a good studded leather armor! Let's go check it out!", Haikarith ran towards the leather shop.
Knowing that there is no use to argue much further for Haikarith's attention is already somewhere else, Adakor just smiled and started to catch up when he heard something in a dark alley to his left. He heard some man's groaning, and some yelling. Looking at Haikarith, disappearing inside the shop, he looked back at the dark alley. Tapping the hilt of his long sword, wishing he is wearing his armor, he went slowly to investigate.
Using his darkvision ability - the ability to see heat patterns in the dark; for in truth, Adakor is a tiefling, a human with a tinge of infernal ancestry - either a devil or a demon, he doesn't discovered yet. And being a tiefling granted him some disadvantages and advantages. One of it is being able to see in the dark. So peeping in the alley, he saw five heat- patterned figures, two are down with what seems to be liquid heat patterns on the floor, which Adakor presumed to be as blood, while the other three are standing in front of them. Adakor didn't waste time entering the darkness, "What is this?", he asked in his usual emotionless voice when dealing with strangers.
"Who goes there?", replied one of the men in a surly voice. Adakor saw the red and orange pattern of the man holding a small and long grey pattern in the dark. Grey states of a cold thing in terms of darkvision, which Adakor thinks is a dagger. "I said, who goes there?", the first man repeated. As Adakor drew closer, one of the men took out a stone that glows with bright daylight from his pouch.
"AHHH!", said the first man, covering his eyes, "Edwin, I told you to warn us before you do something that will affect us too!"
"Sorry sir, just wanted to make sure."
Adakor, also partly blinded with the sudden light, partially saw one of the men drew near holding a blackjack. The man swung hard towards Adakor's head, and reacting more out of instinct than logic, Adakor held the man's upcoming right hand his left. Cursing his lack of strength, and the man's strong muscles, Adakor placed a boot to the man's stomach, kicking him backwards. A second man, the one called Edwin, charged in with his short sword, Adakor blocked Edwin's high thrust and managed to push the man's attack away, and quickly following it with a downward diagonal slash from the man's right shoulder down to his left-side belly. The wound, though not deep, sent the man staggering backwards. "What is going on here?", Adakor asked sternly, as he saw two men, one either stunned or dead, and one lying down, coughing blood, and both have wounds in their stomachs.
"It's none of your business, fool!", the one who have not attacked yet shouted.
"It is my business. every unaccounted violence is my business, especially if those violence are maliciously or injusticely done, then YES, it will be and is my business to stop", Adakor said as adrenaline rushes to his tainted blood, "now I ask you politely, what is going on here, before I.", then Adakor felt his head and blood burn, his heart bleed, Adakor's inner fears is awakening, he fears that his past, either the inherited past or his personal past will once again cloud his judgment and actions, "TELL ME BEFORE I FEAST UPON YOUR DEATH, HUMANS!", Adakor almost didn't recognize his voice, for it is the voice with great anger and hatred. Adakor then advances and when the man with the blackjack tried to attack once again, Adakor easily dodged back his body from the upcoming attack, then retaliated with a stab at the man's throat. The second attacker, ran towards the backend of the alley in terror.
"Come back you fool", the third man looked back towards his running companion, and looked back, obviously shaken. But as a trapped goblin, the third man instead of logically running back too, charged forward with a dagger. He stabbed quickly, once, twice, as Adakor dodged the first attack away then meet the second attack with his long sword. Long sword and dagger clanged, and as the dagger flew away from the man's hands, Adakor grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed it hard with his left hand.
"Explain", was the only thing that Adakor said.
The man, trying to punch his way out vainly, gave up and stammered, "Th.those. two. they owe our. master. money. Ple.please. I was.I was just hired. to do this." the man, spittle going down his mouth begged, "plea.please have. mercy".
Adakor drew his face near to the man's, "And you think that taking away life is the price to pay for debts?!", the man can plainly see the anger through Adakor's dark eyes, even without his words. "Who hired you and where can I find him?!", added the tiefling.
"Goraine, a. a Zhentarim priest of.B.Bane, he. is.pretending to be a.to be a. an artist. at the Wayward Inn."
Suddenly a figure at the alley's front warned, "Hurt him and you're dead", the man, a chubby fellow wearing a leather armor and carrying a light crossbow motioned for Adakor to drop the man and his weapon. Adakor, looking at the man with an emotionless face, dropped the man to the floor and too, his long sword.
"You "good guys" are always predictable. And you believe us to keep you alive just because you did what we told you ---," the man gurgled his last words as blood spurt from his mouth. He fell forward, belly first, as a dagger is planted at the back if his neck. A dagger placed by Haikarith.
"HELLO! I can't leave you for one minute without getting yourself into trouble, huh, Adakor?", boasted Haikarith, "and you consider yourself a paladin, tsk tsk tsk. what a shame.", she kneeled down to pick up her dagger from the man's neck, "eooooowwww! This will take a while to get it back from its original condition!"
A whistle then cuts in the air, "Oh no! Secomber soldiers heading this way! Somebody must have heard and told them! Hide!", Haikarith muttered as she ran inside the alley, "what are you waiting for Adakor? Don't tell me you will submit yourself to the officials? AHA! A ladder!". Without hesitation, Haikarith started climbing upwards, "well, won't you come along?!"
"I think this is the right thing to do. you go ahead. I am not the one at wrong here, so whatever judgment or interrogation they will pass on me, if I know I am in the right position, I have nothing to fear," Adakor smiled even though he knows clearly that Haikarith will never see it in suck a dark corner, "you go ahead".
"Eh. whatever you say," Haikarith, already halfway on the ladder said, "see you in the tavern!" As she disappeared above, three Secomber soldiers appeared just outside the dark alley. The soldiers wearing a violet and red sash over chain mail armor drew their long swords as Haikarith, way on top the ladder, heard one of them issue a command for Adakor to surrender himself. "Stupid paladin.", she told herself.
******
Kalan reached the northeast part of town, a part where the town is most rugged. Dirty people with dirty stalls, selling dirty merchandise and goods, Kalan thought, "quite a place to find a sorcerer who can teach me new spells", he joked sarcastically. The streets are busy with people, adults and children, most of them thieves no doubt, Kalan thought with disgust, as he checked his gold pouch on the right side of his belt. As Kalan was about to turn back, totally convinced that he has been tricked by the gnome, he then saw the house - blue with red roof. "Well, let's get this over with.".
Kalan approached the house, blue as the gnome said, partly that is. Most of the house's blue paint has been chipped away by time and weather. Almost half of it is now the house's original color of grey stone. The door and windows weren't doing any good either, all of them in bad condition, as if soaked in water for years. Kalan, lowering his cowl, not wanting to look suspicious to whoever is inside, began to knock. A moment later, the door opened, and to Kalan's surprise, a half-orc answered.
"What do you want?", the half-orc answered with a grumbling voice.
"I was told that a sorcerer lives here, I wish to see him. to learn some spell or two", Kalan answered, thinking indeed that the gnome tricked him. But seeing the half-orc's unusual clothing and traits, maybe this half-orc is indeed the sorcerer. The half-orc, standing six and a half feet tall, light green skin, bald hair, black eyes, short tusks, with strong, bulging muscles is quite expected from a typical half-orc, but what intrigued Kalan is the half-orc's scar like markings all over his body, markings that Kalan is sure not from battle. More to, is that the half-orc is wearing a dusky brown, wizard types of robe - very unusual for the typical half-orc, for most are the warrior type and prefer to wear armors.
"You wish to learn spells, do you?", the half-orc scanned Kalan from head to toe, "and what spells are you interested in?"
"Any offensive spells will do.", Kalan said, and would you mind at least letting me in you big oaf, Kalan added in his thoughts.
As if reading his thoughts, the half-orc gave a toothy chuckle, "Fine fine, buy me some food and bring some water too and meet me in the burned warehouse east of here", the half-orc begin to close the door, "and by the way, price depends on difficulty of the spell. Fifty gold for the easiest spells, fifty more for every complexity, is that fine with you?"
"Yes whatever, as long as I get what I want", Kalan leaving without even waiting for the half-orc's reply, replied. And after walking some blocks, he managed to buy two whole pies from a pretty yet dirty looking young woman, and ate a piece. Looking for a store where he can buy a drink, Kalan stepped on a puddle on the side of the street. He looked at his wet boots and smiled, "this is for sending me on a stupid goblin errand.".
Kalan walked inside a mage shop, asking both Adakor and Haikarith to stay outside, saying that they won't "understand" the ways of magic and might prove dangerous for their health. As he walked in, he heard a small but rough voice shouting, "Wait there!". Then a small gnome, with short white balding hair, heavy white eyebrows, brown skin, wearing a light blue robes run to him. The gnome looked up with beady little eyes, and asked, "Please deposit your magic items in the chest beside the door," he huffed, "safety reasons, mind you."
"Fine fine!", Kalan pulled out his sharp dagger with a black blade and a black hilt from his belt, a plain red wand, and took off a plain silver ring from his right middle finger. He placed all three items to the small chest on the floor.
"And potions too!", the gnome added.
Kalan rolled his eyes, "Yes yes", and pulled two small blue potions from his belt and added it to the stash, "now satisfied?".
"Yes thank you", replied the old gnome, smiling with a toothy grin, "so how may I help you stranger? Potions? Rings? A wand or two maybe?", he waved his hands towards his display. The room itself was small, in fact, aside from the displays and the counter, the only place any customer can go is a straight line.
"Well, I want to know if you know any sorcerers who can teach me additional spells, you see, I can now sense more untapped energy within me already", answered Kalan, without giving much interest to the items.
"Sorcerer, ey? Hmmmm. let's see. It is hard you know, I am a wizard, not a sorce---"
"That is why I am asking you if you know someone else?!" replied the usual- impatient Kalan.
"Well, now that you asked that, maybe I do know someone. yes of course I know someone. His name is Tager, or I think it is. He lives northeast of town, blue house with red roof. If you meet him, tell him old Noah said hi. hey where are you going? What about your stuffs?", but Kalan was already outside, and so he went to check the chest, and it is already empty. "Hmmm. good magic, that guy, or was I just not paying attention."
******
"I need to visit a guy named Tager, you better go stroll around, it might take a while."
"Don't worry, we will go with you."
"No we are not, Adakor! C'mon, let's find some cool place to shop!", Haikarith took hold of Adakor's right arm and dragged him in the opposite direction.
"OK Kalan, we will just meet you in the tavern we ate this lunch," replied a helpless Adakor.
As they walked around Secomber, Haikarith stated, "Hey I am getting bored here in Secomber, let us go somewhere else already!"
"What? But we just got here yesterday! And we paid for one week worth at the inn."
"So? It is only a couple of gold that we paid for it. It is not worth the boredom we are getting! Hey look, they are selling a good studded leather armor! Let's go check it out!", Haikarith ran towards the leather shop.
Knowing that there is no use to argue much further for Haikarith's attention is already somewhere else, Adakor just smiled and started to catch up when he heard something in a dark alley to his left. He heard some man's groaning, and some yelling. Looking at Haikarith, disappearing inside the shop, he looked back at the dark alley. Tapping the hilt of his long sword, wishing he is wearing his armor, he went slowly to investigate.
Using his darkvision ability - the ability to see heat patterns in the dark; for in truth, Adakor is a tiefling, a human with a tinge of infernal ancestry - either a devil or a demon, he doesn't discovered yet. And being a tiefling granted him some disadvantages and advantages. One of it is being able to see in the dark. So peeping in the alley, he saw five heat- patterned figures, two are down with what seems to be liquid heat patterns on the floor, which Adakor presumed to be as blood, while the other three are standing in front of them. Adakor didn't waste time entering the darkness, "What is this?", he asked in his usual emotionless voice when dealing with strangers.
"Who goes there?", replied one of the men in a surly voice. Adakor saw the red and orange pattern of the man holding a small and long grey pattern in the dark. Grey states of a cold thing in terms of darkvision, which Adakor thinks is a dagger. "I said, who goes there?", the first man repeated. As Adakor drew closer, one of the men took out a stone that glows with bright daylight from his pouch.
"AHHH!", said the first man, covering his eyes, "Edwin, I told you to warn us before you do something that will affect us too!"
"Sorry sir, just wanted to make sure."
Adakor, also partly blinded with the sudden light, partially saw one of the men drew near holding a blackjack. The man swung hard towards Adakor's head, and reacting more out of instinct than logic, Adakor held the man's upcoming right hand his left. Cursing his lack of strength, and the man's strong muscles, Adakor placed a boot to the man's stomach, kicking him backwards. A second man, the one called Edwin, charged in with his short sword, Adakor blocked Edwin's high thrust and managed to push the man's attack away, and quickly following it with a downward diagonal slash from the man's right shoulder down to his left-side belly. The wound, though not deep, sent the man staggering backwards. "What is going on here?", Adakor asked sternly, as he saw two men, one either stunned or dead, and one lying down, coughing blood, and both have wounds in their stomachs.
"It's none of your business, fool!", the one who have not attacked yet shouted.
"It is my business. every unaccounted violence is my business, especially if those violence are maliciously or injusticely done, then YES, it will be and is my business to stop", Adakor said as adrenaline rushes to his tainted blood, "now I ask you politely, what is going on here, before I.", then Adakor felt his head and blood burn, his heart bleed, Adakor's inner fears is awakening, he fears that his past, either the inherited past or his personal past will once again cloud his judgment and actions, "TELL ME BEFORE I FEAST UPON YOUR DEATH, HUMANS!", Adakor almost didn't recognize his voice, for it is the voice with great anger and hatred. Adakor then advances and when the man with the blackjack tried to attack once again, Adakor easily dodged back his body from the upcoming attack, then retaliated with a stab at the man's throat. The second attacker, ran towards the backend of the alley in terror.
"Come back you fool", the third man looked back towards his running companion, and looked back, obviously shaken. But as a trapped goblin, the third man instead of logically running back too, charged forward with a dagger. He stabbed quickly, once, twice, as Adakor dodged the first attack away then meet the second attack with his long sword. Long sword and dagger clanged, and as the dagger flew away from the man's hands, Adakor grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed it hard with his left hand.
"Explain", was the only thing that Adakor said.
The man, trying to punch his way out vainly, gave up and stammered, "Th.those. two. they owe our. master. money. Ple.please. I was.I was just hired. to do this." the man, spittle going down his mouth begged, "plea.please have. mercy".
Adakor drew his face near to the man's, "And you think that taking away life is the price to pay for debts?!", the man can plainly see the anger through Adakor's dark eyes, even without his words. "Who hired you and where can I find him?!", added the tiefling.
"Goraine, a. a Zhentarim priest of.B.Bane, he. is.pretending to be a.to be a. an artist. at the Wayward Inn."
Suddenly a figure at the alley's front warned, "Hurt him and you're dead", the man, a chubby fellow wearing a leather armor and carrying a light crossbow motioned for Adakor to drop the man and his weapon. Adakor, looking at the man with an emotionless face, dropped the man to the floor and too, his long sword.
"You "good guys" are always predictable. And you believe us to keep you alive just because you did what we told you ---," the man gurgled his last words as blood spurt from his mouth. He fell forward, belly first, as a dagger is planted at the back if his neck. A dagger placed by Haikarith.
"HELLO! I can't leave you for one minute without getting yourself into trouble, huh, Adakor?", boasted Haikarith, "and you consider yourself a paladin, tsk tsk tsk. what a shame.", she kneeled down to pick up her dagger from the man's neck, "eooooowwww! This will take a while to get it back from its original condition!"
A whistle then cuts in the air, "Oh no! Secomber soldiers heading this way! Somebody must have heard and told them! Hide!", Haikarith muttered as she ran inside the alley, "what are you waiting for Adakor? Don't tell me you will submit yourself to the officials? AHA! A ladder!". Without hesitation, Haikarith started climbing upwards, "well, won't you come along?!"
"I think this is the right thing to do. you go ahead. I am not the one at wrong here, so whatever judgment or interrogation they will pass on me, if I know I am in the right position, I have nothing to fear," Adakor smiled even though he knows clearly that Haikarith will never see it in suck a dark corner, "you go ahead".
"Eh. whatever you say," Haikarith, already halfway on the ladder said, "see you in the tavern!" As she disappeared above, three Secomber soldiers appeared just outside the dark alley. The soldiers wearing a violet and red sash over chain mail armor drew their long swords as Haikarith, way on top the ladder, heard one of them issue a command for Adakor to surrender himself. "Stupid paladin.", she told herself.
******
Kalan reached the northeast part of town, a part where the town is most rugged. Dirty people with dirty stalls, selling dirty merchandise and goods, Kalan thought, "quite a place to find a sorcerer who can teach me new spells", he joked sarcastically. The streets are busy with people, adults and children, most of them thieves no doubt, Kalan thought with disgust, as he checked his gold pouch on the right side of his belt. As Kalan was about to turn back, totally convinced that he has been tricked by the gnome, he then saw the house - blue with red roof. "Well, let's get this over with.".
Kalan approached the house, blue as the gnome said, partly that is. Most of the house's blue paint has been chipped away by time and weather. Almost half of it is now the house's original color of grey stone. The door and windows weren't doing any good either, all of them in bad condition, as if soaked in water for years. Kalan, lowering his cowl, not wanting to look suspicious to whoever is inside, began to knock. A moment later, the door opened, and to Kalan's surprise, a half-orc answered.
"What do you want?", the half-orc answered with a grumbling voice.
"I was told that a sorcerer lives here, I wish to see him. to learn some spell or two", Kalan answered, thinking indeed that the gnome tricked him. But seeing the half-orc's unusual clothing and traits, maybe this half-orc is indeed the sorcerer. The half-orc, standing six and a half feet tall, light green skin, bald hair, black eyes, short tusks, with strong, bulging muscles is quite expected from a typical half-orc, but what intrigued Kalan is the half-orc's scar like markings all over his body, markings that Kalan is sure not from battle. More to, is that the half-orc is wearing a dusky brown, wizard types of robe - very unusual for the typical half-orc, for most are the warrior type and prefer to wear armors.
"You wish to learn spells, do you?", the half-orc scanned Kalan from head to toe, "and what spells are you interested in?"
"Any offensive spells will do.", Kalan said, and would you mind at least letting me in you big oaf, Kalan added in his thoughts.
As if reading his thoughts, the half-orc gave a toothy chuckle, "Fine fine, buy me some food and bring some water too and meet me in the burned warehouse east of here", the half-orc begin to close the door, "and by the way, price depends on difficulty of the spell. Fifty gold for the easiest spells, fifty more for every complexity, is that fine with you?"
"Yes whatever, as long as I get what I want", Kalan leaving without even waiting for the half-orc's reply, replied. And after walking some blocks, he managed to buy two whole pies from a pretty yet dirty looking young woman, and ate a piece. Looking for a store where he can buy a drink, Kalan stepped on a puddle on the side of the street. He looked at his wet boots and smiled, "this is for sending me on a stupid goblin errand.".