Chapter 3: Social Disorder
A shadow fell over the leader, blocking the bright sun which, despite his mood and predicament, he had been enjoying. "Harrian! Say we will be going after Irenicus, and dealing the righteous butt-kicking he deserves!"
Minsc, without even waiting for a response, leant down and grabbed the thief by his leather armour and yanked him to his feet in a way they were all sure the ranger thought was gentle, yet was enough to jar their leader into full consciousness.
"We cannot let Dynaheir's murderer escape, not when he has taken little Imoen with him too!" the massive warrior continued, fairly shaking Corias briskly in his overly-earnest need for assurance.
The thief's eyes snapped open fully, no longer glazed over, and he clutched Minsc's arms in an attempt to balance himself. It was futile; like trying to rely on the ground for stability during an earthquake, and perhaps less steady.
Finally, the thief was able to prise Minsc's hands off him, and almost stumbled back to the floor as his knees buckled, hindered as he was by the sudden and deep fatigue that had set upon him. But the ranger had been hardly deterred, and supported his friend easily, seizing his shoulders in an iron grasp to stop him from sliding to the ground.
After a few seconds, Harrian pulled himself together enough for him to stand on his own two feet. "Don't worry, Minsc," he muttered. "We'll get Irenicus." The declaration visibly perked up not just his giant friend, but himself, and he straightened up proudly. "Irenicus will learn that whoever crosses us, regrets it. Whoever takes our loved ones from us, regrets it. And this shall be no exception."
The words were spoken with a conviction he forced upon himself, so they rang a little hollow, even to his own ears. But Minsc's suddenly hearty and delighted expression reassured him somewhat. Lying, if it brought back faith to the others, was a perfectly acceptable thing to do, he reasoned.
"Bold words," Yoshimo spoke from beside Jaheira, not averting his gaze from the rubble below them. His tone was not condescending, but merely that of someone offering a comment. "Where do we go from here?"
Jaheira saw some panic in her friend's eyes, enhancing her suspicion that he was more shaken up by the whole situation than she had first suspected. Though he had put on a strong face in the dungeon – most likely for Imoen's benefit – it didn't take a master to read how deeply the whole experience had affected him.
She could also see that Corias had no idea how to proceed. He was giving them another bold outlook, a brave front, because he knew that there was nothing more demoralising than a panicking leader, but he was holding onto that mask with by a very thin thread. Best to put little stress on him.
"To an inn," she said firmly, in that instant deciding to take control of the party during their leader's temporary lack of presence of mind. At least, she hoped it was temporary. Either way, she was the wisest person to lead the group during Harrian's… 'episode', for she didn't trust Yoshimo, and Minsc was far too unbalanced for such a responsibility.
Harrian, damn him, was well enough to throw her a look of betrayed indignation as she took charge for a moment. In any other circumstances she'd have given him a verbal kick and told him to get a more mature view of the group's leadership, but here realised that it would be a destructive decision.
"We need rest and can decide how to proceed tomorrow," Jaheira added. Anybody else would have rushed the words so as to smooth ruffled feathers faster… but the druid rushed for nobody. Definitely not in matters as inconsequential as these.
Yoshimo nodded, seeing the way the wind was blowing. "I agree," he stated coolly, offering the impression of a democratic decision at work to ease Corias's mind. A split in the party could be a disastrous thing for all people, all agendas.
The other thief nodded firmly as his eyes covered his three comrades. "Then yes, we should find an inn," he declared, as if they were merely concurring with his own decision and he'd never lost an ounce of control, of either the group or his mind. As he set off away from the rubble, head high, not even checking to see if they were following him, Jaheira rolled her eyes.
The confirmation that they were in Athkatla had not flown over Harrian's head, and he enjoyed the unusually warm – for a man of the north – sun on his face. For a second, he began to feel alive again, human again, out of that dark, stifling dungeon. Stumbling on a bit of rubble, however, brought crashing back the memory of Irenicus, and Imoen.
He pushed it out of his head for a moment, and looked at the sign of the tavern he had reached. The Mithrest Inn. A glance inside confirmed a clean-looking, brightly decorated establishment. Perfect.
Yoshimo's eyes widened as Corias entered one of the most up-market inns in Amn wearing scruffy dark clothing – very scruffy dark clothing – battered leather armour, and smelling as if he had just spent three days trapped in a cage in a filth-ridden dungeon.
Harrian pushed the door open, glancing brightly at his friends and gesturing that they enter with him. He stepped into the slightly gloomy room as Minsc caught the door behind him, and blinked, adjusting his eyes to the darker interior.
The quiet hum of conversation came to an abrupt halt as he entered, and Harrian realised his mistake as he narrowed his eyes, spotting the fancy attire of all of the patrons, and coming to the conclusion that he had picked a slightly too refined establishment in his haste.
He was about to discreetly leave and find a slightly more rough and tumble tavern, when he caught the eye of one of the nobles at the bar, giving him an arrogant and very disdainful glare. A clear message that he didn't want riffraff like the four adventurers in here. And there was a touch of triumph in his eyes as he saw Harrian was about to go.
The swashbuckler came to an abrupt halt. Who was this nob to tell him where he could and couldn't have a drink? There was no law stopping him from going in (and, as a thief, it probably wouldn't have stopped him anyway). The only thing disallowing him from getting a room here was the social structure.
Harrian put on an arrogant swagger, considered straightening his clothes, then decided against it and ruffled them. He strolled forwards towards the bar. Minsc, behind him, seemed to be watching the proceedings with curiosity, Jaheira with indifference, and Yoshimo with well-concealed trepidation.
He stepped up to the counter, brushing shoulders with the man at the bar roughly, and sticking his elbows on the surface. He knew that aggravated these people. He was in no mood to be pushed around by these people. In a burst of uncharacteristic vindictiveness, he secretively picked a few gold coins from the noble's purse, and slid them across the bar towards the well-tailored innkeeper.
"Bartender, if you would happen to have a free room or four tonight which myself and my compatriots could make use of, I would be more grateful," Corias declared smoothly, meeting the portly owner's eyes.
The other man looked at him with barely controlled disgust, though his gaze lit up a little as he saw the coins the thief was proffering. Still, this was a high class establishment, and they didn't come much less high class than the party of four he was presented with here. "I suggest you try the Dale next door, sir."
There was an edge to the 'sir' that made the bouncers take notice. Yoshimo tightened his grip on his katana as his three companions looked on, oblivious. Well, Minsc was oblivious. Jaheira plainly didn't care, and Harrian…
Well, their leader was revelling in it. The bounty hunter's deadpan expression became more grim, and he hoped their dramatic entry to the city wouldn't then be followed up by a dramatic brawl in an expensive establishment.
"No, I believe I may be fine here," the swashbuckler was saying, somehow managing to swagger in his speech, a feat that impressed Yoshimo no end. It sounded like an amazingly fast route to the prisons.
The nobleman next to him snorted quietly yet derisively, and Harrian turned to face him, eyebrow arched with a face that was doubtless supposed to be imposing but definitely failed to intimidate the other man. "Come now, come now… the man is being reasonable. The lodgings here are far too fine for a rabble such as yourselves to indulge in. Why, the price of breakfast alone is, I'm sure, far beyond your purse."
Harrian Corias didn't answer at first, merely looked at the three gold coins he had stolen from the noble, before reaching into the purse (kept, Yoshimo noted, in a pocket on the inside of his black jerkin, not on the belt) and emerging, only the hint of a triumphant smile on his face, with a fistful of yet more gold coins, which he placed in the bartender's stubby fingers.