Forgotten Realms is owned by the Wizards of the Coast. Setting is used here for the story purposes only.
Characters other than those owned and created by WotC, are mine.
If this story, or any of its elements, collides with the official novels or fanfics, it's purely coincidental.
Inn of the Singing Owl, somewhere in the Dalelands, 1370 DR.
The inn was filling quite steadily. The Singing Owl was crowded with patrons and other visitors in several states of drunkeness already. Brawling wasn't expected but it wasn't uncommon either, despite the common sense of the patrons. It was the occasional visitors, mainly adventuring bands, which caused most of the fights. Several person sat randomly around the tables with their drinks while some had food. One distinguishing feature was an old man in the darkest corner of the inn. He sat far enough from the glow of the hearth to be shrouded in shadows but not totally covered by them. From there he saw all those who entered the inn and those who emerged from the rooms upstairs and landed by the stairs on the western wall of the inn since it was likely whoever he was waiting for might already be at the inn.
He hadn't spoken to anyone, ordered anything. After stepping inside, he'd went straight to the chair near the fireplace, sat down and fixed his gaze towards the door.
He looked seasoned enough, resembling a man who has seen about fifty winters of life. But something in him hinted he was far more.
He was waiting for a certain person carrying a valuable item to appear. All he knew that the courier would stop at the inn. Either the courier was sleeping in the inn already or traveling towards the place, it didn't matter. The man was patient enough to wait for the courier's appearance. His master, Ghalaster of Thay, didn't tolerate failure. Either he managed to seize the item or face death. The Red Wizard, Meron, had been placed under a geas to insure he wouldn't flee with the item or use it against his master.
The inn was dimly lit, but enough light came from the few windows the inn had and from the chandelier hanging from the roof that visitors could see the entire room from doorway to back wall. The most of the light and warmth came from the huge fireplace on the east wall.
The furniture of the inn was very casual, just what you'd expect for an inn. Walls were adorned with various banners and shields, even a few swords were hanging on the walls. The owner, Garrat of Mulmaster, had maintained the inn for ten years. He'd inherited the inn from the previous owner after the Time of Troubles had ended. He had helped to protect the inn and its previous owner against brigands during the Time of Troubles. Against all odds, he had kept the inn running after that.
He hadn't had any major trouble running the inn. The occasional brawls which occurred from time to time never escalated too far. Those who usually started the fights generally beated themselves senseless, ending the fight in good time. If it did escalate, one of the local patrons, a sturdy fighter called Brennon or 'Bren' to his friends, stepped forth and brought an end to the fight rather quickly with his powerful fists which felled a man in one blow.
The evening was starting well. Only few regulars appeared, travellers worn by the road appeared in great numbers and before the sun had set, the inn was nearly full. Garrat thought it looked to be a beginning of a splendid evening.
Meron, the old man, appeared to be calm on the surface, but inside he was almost screaming from frustration. The courier was almost two hours late from the meeting. Had something gone wrong? Meron hated the thought he would have to go search the roads for the courier. He swore he would take all the additional waiting and frustation from the couriers hide.
About half an hour later, Meron was just about ready to stand up and leave the inn when the door opened and a single male entered the inn. He was rather young, around thirty winters. He had regular travellers clothes. On his back was a packbag which seemed to be rather full. He looked content, like nothing troubled or would trouble him. Meron nearly jumped from his seat as he realized this person matched the description given of the courier.
The youth went to sit on one of the few remaining tables on the other side of the room and soon a maid came to receive his order. The girl left soon and the youth began waiting. He had placed his packbag on the floor next to him.
Despite his rigid Red Wizard training, Meron could barely contain himself. Finally the frustrating waiting was over! His mind was already racing for the most excruciating torments for the courier. But not before the job was done. He had prepared a spell to handle the matter as fast as possible and with minimum of fuss. No one in the inn would ever realize what had taken place, except the courier but he wouldn't live with that knowledge very long.
As Meron made final preparations, a figure emerged from upstairs. A comely woman in her late 20's. Short brown hair. She was dressed in leathers suitable for travelling and fighting. A long sword hung from her belt on her left flank and a bow was strung on her right shoulder. Meron saw her appearance almost immediately and he quickly deduced the woman was a ranger. She walked down the steps slowly, yawning. She walked to a table which was just about to be vacated, the table was few steps away from the courier. There she sat down and immediately a serving girl came to clean away the previous dishes and took the ranger's order as well.
Meron studied her deeply. There didn't seem to be anything suspicious about her behavior but it was better to be safe than sorry. There was a chance that other interested parties could be after the same thing Meron was. If that were the case, Meron's task would be more trickier. But he had prepared for that eventuality.
Meron gazed the room for anything else out of ordinary. Most of the people in the room concentrated on their drinks or their companions, few had passed out already from drinking. Two men on the table near the doorway and a single dwarf next to a table in the middle of the room.
Meron had started to hate this place the more it got crowded, he wanted to get this over quickly. He stood up and slowly began walking towards the courier's table. For some reason, no one paid any attention to him as he stood up and began walking across the room, squirming through the crowd of drunks. Some resemblance of sense still possessed the drunks since none of them tried to touch him. Better for them, Meron thought, otherwise his temper would've flared on the spot.
Moments later, he was finally at the courier's table. While Meron had stumbled through the crowd, serving girl had managed to bring al to the courier. Courier was eating steadily, like he was in no hurry. That was good, this would go better as long as the courier maintained his calmness, Meron thought. But first, the subtle approach.
"Is this seat free?" Meron asked in a polite tone.
The courier looked up from his food and continued to eat without pausing.
"Help yourself," courier responded, his mouth half-full.
Meron placed himself slowly on the chair, like he was old and weary with age.
Courier continued eating his stew without further thought to Meron. Meron waited calmly for courier to finish eating. During that time, serving girl came to ask what Meron wanted, he ordered wine. Meron sipped his wine calmly while courier munched his stew. By the time courier was finished, Meron's wine goblet was still half-full.
"You certainly enjoyed your meal, young man." Meron said in a hearty tone.
Courier wiped his mouth clean and pushed the plate aside.
"I did, considering I hadn't eaten anything for the entire day. I was sorely tempted to munch it all down in a hurry."
"That was good of you. It never pays to gobble down food too fast, even if you are starving."
"I know. I've had practice on that for several times already."
"Is that so? What do you do then, young man, that makes you so hungry?"
"I'm a courier. I carry various items and messsages across the land, sometimes the trips are short but mostly they span from here to Sword Coast. My rations usually run out before I manage to reach the closest inn."
Excellent! Meron thought. The fool has already fallen for my illusion of a kindly old man. Even now he is telling me more than he usually would to a stranger. It is only a matter of time before he falls completely under my subtle charm spell I am already weaving, then he will do everything I say. I only need to keep talking to him and, layer by layer, he succumbs to it. After that, the task is practically complete.
"Do you not have fixed paths? That way you could always reach the inn promptly."
"I wish it were easy as that, but for safety reasons, I must alter my path many times, mostly circling several good inns in the region to avoid being captured by those who wish to intercept my message or goods. Of course that varies depending how valuable my cargo or message is."
Meron could barely hold his smile under his beard, this was almost too easy!
"Apparently you now have something important since you have been without food for so long." He said in a neutral tone.
For a moment, the courier seemed to hesitate before answering. His face twitched slightly, almost like he disagreed with something, but then his face straightened and he continued talking like nothing had happened.
"You could say that. I've been forced to change direction several times, avoiding ambushes at almost every turn all the way from the edge of Anauroch to here. That's why I arrived here later than I originally planned and my rations ran out."
Meron had been warned of possible other parties being interested of the item but not that many. Or there could be just one group with several members in use. Nervertheless, it was imperative that the item must be acquired here and now.
"How soon you must leave? I mean, should you not rest first?"
"I'm in no hurry anymore. I was told someone who could better protect the item will relieve it from me here."
Quickly and without looking like he did it on purpose, he looked around him, scanning for anyone observing them. Everybody in the room acted normally and concentrated on their own matters. Meron mentally relaxed slightly, the contact apparently had not yet arrived. All the better.
"Then, young man, you are in luck. I am already here."
For a moment the courier had the look of disbelieving in his eyes but that passed soon.
"That's good then, I hope you didn't have to wait long."
"Not too long." Too long for my liking you idiot, ambushes or not, Meron thought with barely containable fury.
"Good. Let's make the exchange procedure."
Meron figured it would come to this. Althought the courier clearly didn't know the contact by face, they still had some sort of code to identify each other to prevent the item being given to wrong hands. But Meron didn't need it, the Charm spell had already taken the courier completely under its power.
"You can relieve the package to me without concern , you have done your duty. You can go rest now and let me worry about the dangers in the road. I have the means to elude them completely. The item will be safe."
Courier's body almost trembled, he was resisting the spell with all his power but the wizard's spell and will was too strong for the young courier to resist.
"Here you are." He pushed the backpack under the table next to Meron.
"Thank you, young man. Here is to your health." Meron dropped a small capsule into the wine goblet and pushed it towards the courier. "Please drink it. It's the least I could offer to you. It will help you sleep."
Yes, it will help you sleep indeed. But not before you have gone through undescribable pain, Meron thought with delight.
With a trembling hand, the courier lifted his right arm towards the goblet. Just as he was about to touch it, another hand landed on the goblet, preventing it being taken.
Meron gazed up and saw the ranger woman he'd observed earlier had placed her hand on top of the goblet. At the same moment courier blinked his eyes and shook his head, he was free from the Charm spell. Courier was as surprised as Meron by the ranger's sudden appearance. Meron realized the woman probably had known about the exchange and observed the whole thing somehow without him realizing it. Now he had to make every step carefully.
"It's not a good idea to drink that, too spicy," the ranger said in cheery tone. In her other hand was a dagger which seemed to be sharp and judging by the faint shimmer on it, enchanted.
"What is the meaning of this?" Meron asked in mock-innocence.
"Just making sure that nothing undesirable happens to this young man here," ranger replied, giving a wink to the puzzled youth. "It's not a good idea to take a drink from a stranger, especially one such as you."
"I do not like your tone woman. What are you implying?" Meron said with barely contained hostility.
"I don't take kindly those who would cause needless and unnecessary suffering to living beings. Your intention was obvious enough. Now I suggest that you leave while you still can." To make her point, ranger quickly whirled her dagger and pointed it slightly, without drawing any attention, towards Meron's throat.
Meron swallowed. He had prepared for trouble from external forces but never he had imagined it would get so close to him without realizing it until it was too late. Or, maybe not. His contingency could still work. Although he hadn't casted any protections against weapons, magical or otherwise, he could still avoid being stabbed by that dagger the meddling woman wielded.
"Let us not be hasty here, my lady. Rash actions like that prove nothing. These matters can be handled in a civilized manner."
Ranger nearly snorted after hearing Meron's reply.
"First of all, I'm not a lady. Second, this is the only civilization your kind understands. I won't warn again."
Meron supressed an outburst, calmed himself and slowly stood up.
"Very well. If that is your last word, I have no choice but to comply. But before I go, allow me to offer a small advice for future." Meron said in a apologetic tone.
Before the ranger managed to reply, Meron lifted his right hand, holding both middle and forefinger up. Instantly from the corner where Meron had come, volley of magic missiles erupted. Ranger barely saw them before they all hit her squarely and she collapsed on the floor into a kneeling position.
Then the illusion of the kindly old man melted away from Meron and a Red Wizard of Thay emerged, in the full crimson red robe. His head was decorated with the tattoo of the Kossuth, Lord of Flames, on his forehead.
"Never threaten a Red Wizard of Thay, woman. That is a mistake which will cost you your life."
The ranger, Alina, gasped for breath. She should've expected treachery like that from a Red Wizard. After making sure the wizard didn't have any accomplices with him, she had dared to make her move, but still the wizard had a surprise in his sleeve. Alina thought that either she hadn't been thorough in her survey or the wizard was more cunning than expected. Anyway, result was same, she had been caught unaware.
Alina turned her head to the direction where the magic missiles had came. Soon another figure stepped into the light and he was identical in every way with Meron. The duplicate walked right next to Meron.
"Simulacrum spell can be quite handy at times. That is all the backup I needed, casting it in advance and making it invisible worked perfectly, did it not?"
Alina didn't bother to reply, merely stared and waited what the wizard would do next. She noticed that the other people in the room hadn't moved at all, just stared transfixed at the disturbance in their midst. Even the innkeeper hadn't intervened, only seemed to wait if the situation would escalate. Alina was puzzled by this, usually Garrat would alert Bren at the first sign of violence. She concluded that he was afraid of earning the Red Wizard's wrath on him and his inn.
"Now, hand over your pack, courier. I will see to it that you die quickly, while this meddling ranger receives the fate I originally intended for you."
The courier clearly saw that he had no other choice. He had figured the ranger would've been his contact, otherwise she wouldn't have saved him from the wizard's poison. Despite that, he felt he had a chance to escape that fate, although at the cost of the item and the life of the contact. If he refused, he would lose his own life too. With a sigh of one resigned to his fate, courier stood up, lifted his pack and started slowly walking towards the Red Wizard.
"You're a fool if you think he lets you live." Alina said.
Courier pretended he didn't hear it, instead in some faint way he was still willing to believe the wizard. He didn't realize that the Charm spell the wizard had casted earlier still affected him slightly, despite it being disrupted earlier. He had barely taken two steps towards the wizard when he suddenly stopped immobile in mid step. After that, Meron's simulcranum disappeared.
Meron stared in disbelief, what trickery was this? He gazed the ranger.
"What did you do woman? Speak or…" Meron stopped mid sentence, seeing that the ranger was as surprised as he was.
Then a sound of hands clapping emanated from few tables away. Meron and Alina gazed the source of the sound. The clapper was a young man in his mid 20's, slightly younger than Alina. He was dressed in a purple robe of a servant of Cyric, god of Strife. Next to him on the floor was a brown travellers cloack which had hidden his true appearance.
"Brilliant deduction, Thayvian. Too bad you weren't able to see me earlier since I too can weave illusions to mislead unwanted eyes," priest said with a touch of arrogance.
Both Alina and Meron had similar thoughts running in their head, they had expected trouble in this matter but not that much it would involve the religious sects, and of all those, it had to be Cyricists.
Their puzzlement seemed to amuse the priest since a faint smile formed on his face.
"I'm flattered that you admire my presence so much but unfortunately I don't have the time. So if you'd be kind to move aside, I wouldn't want to cause unnecessary mess in this place because I liked the food."
Meron couldn't keep disdain from his voice.
"And how do you propose to do that, whelp? I see nothing on you except that cheap rag you fancy as a priestly robe. I can tell from looking you that your Cyric given powers are no match to me." Someone chuckled in the room for that but it was so faint that no one could place it.
The smile disappeared from the priest's face, but it was soon replaced by a more cunning smile.
"One never knows, I have more means in my disposal than you could imagine."
Then the priest snapped his fingers and four men from the table behind him stood up and dropped their
cloaks. They were all in the regalia of the Zhentarim militia.
Alina wasn't surprised, Cyricists alone weren't able to conceive the attempt to seize the item. They were much too disorganized for a job like this and the constant infighting among the Cyricists kept their attention. Zhentarim was behind this and they had one Cyricist in tow as a backup. Some backup, the priest might turn on them if he learned the true value of the item they were trying to seize.
"Well," the priest prodded.
"You should keep out of matters beyond your comprehension and power, Zhentilar." Then he snapped his fingers and four flying Darkenbeasts appeared above the Zhentarim.
This finally caused panic, people began removing themselves from the tables and pushing towards the door. Those who were already passed out remained in place. Garrat pointed his thump down, it was the signal for Bren to take action. Bren appeared from a door next to Garrat's post and picked up a heavy axe from a compartment next to the door and rushed towards the Darkenbeasts.
Zhentarim exploded into action, they drew their swords and prepared to engage the Darkenbeasts. The priest quickly intoned something and pointed his hands towards Alina and Meron. Faint tingle passed Alina but nothing else happened but Meron wasn't as lucky, he was held immobile. Despite the spell holding only the wizard, Cyricist wasn't disappointed, the more dangerous of the two had been immobilized. The woman still seemed to be weak from the magic missiles so he wasn't worried as he began approaching her.
Kneeling next to her, priest pushed her gently and Alina collapsed to the floor, lying on her back.
"Too bad there's no time for a pleasure but the acquisition of the item comes before anything else," the priest said as he began caressing Alina's right thigh. "It's been a while since I've laid my eyes on a fine specimen like you."
Suddenly Alina's left hand rose and she punched the priest square in the face, he fell back, holding his face. Alina picked up her dagger and stood up, then she saw the wizard had freed himself from the Hold spell, they both locked gazes and Meron lifted his finger towards Alina. Alina quickly threw the dagger towards the wizard, instead of finishing casting, Meron made an attempt to dodge because he hadn't prepared a spell to protect him. Meron was one second too slow and the dagger buried itself to his ribs. He screamed and collapsed to the floor, holding his side.
Although she hadn't managed to kill him, he was now out of the way. She turned her gaze to the Cyricist who was getting up, still holding his nose which seemed to be broken and bleeding. The fury on his face told her he wasn't too happy about it.
"You broke my nose you witch! Do you know what happened to the last woman who did that!? She was more than ready to go kiss a Beholder before I released her from her miserable life. You'll do much more before I'm through with you."
"It's more surprising that your nose hasn't been cut off already, if that's your style to handle women." Alina replied.
This caused the priest to scream in rage and charge towards Alina. Alina waited calmly and at the right moment kicked the priest in the groin. He collapsed to the floor, gasping for air and hardly making a sound.
While Alina and the priest were scuffling, Meron had tried to remove the dagger from his side but it wouldn't budge. Despite the pain, he concentrated and prepared to cast a Death spell on Alina and the priest. Before he managed to utter a word, a twisting pain erupted from his side and he screamed like never before. He saw the dagger was twisting itself in the wound. His robe was stained by another kind of red.
Meron began screaming at the moment the priest had collapsed to the floor. Alina turned to look and stepped closer.
"Did you truly think I would trust the wound to stop you?"
If looks could kill, Alina would've beeen dead. Seething with fury, Meron spoke.
"If you think this is the end, you are more wrong than ever. I will not forget this. For interfering with my acquisition of the item, wounding me and tearing my robe, you shall suffer in ways you can hardly begin to imagine."
Then one of Meron's contingency spells triggered and he was teleported away, only Alina's dagger remained. Alina picked it up and returned her attention to the fight in the room.
The four Darkenbeasts were already slain, resulting in two rabbit and rat bodies. One of the Zhentarim was apparently killed by the Darkenbeasts and three remaining ones were battling with Bren. One of them fell when Bren lopped his head off. Two remaining fighters intensified their efforts but Alina knew it wouldn't save them. She turned her attention to the Cyricist.
He was still kneeling on the ground, panting. Alina grabbed a sword dropped by one of the dead Zhentarim fighters. Then she walked to the front of the Cyricist.
With an effort the priest raised his head, and seeing Alina, stared her with murderous hatred and spat a single word, "Bitch."
Alina nodded calmly and then beheaded the Cyricist.
After the priest's body fell, Alina surveyed the battle around her. A single Zhent fighter was still left and was struggling to hold his ground against Bren. With one powerful swing, Bren disarmed the fighter and then grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the eastern wall, resulting in a powerful crack that broke his spine.
When Bren noticed there weren't anymore enemies, he cleaned his axe and then walked to Garrat and began talking with him. Alina turned her gaze to the courier. The spell holding him had just worn off and he was lying on the floor, trying to sort things out. Alina walked to him.
"The exchange didn't went as smoothly as originally planned, didn't it?"
The courier could only nod as he went into a sitting position, still shaking his head. Alina went to the courier's bag which held the much coveted item. Picking it up, Alina noticed that it hardly weighted nothing.
"It's probably better I take the item right now before someone else comes to claim it."
Courier could only nod feebly before losing consiousness for all the strain which had happened in the last few minutes. Alina quickly went to her room, picked up her stuff, and exited the inn.
Garrat and Bren could only wonder the reason behind this latest brawling. Since no one was there to provide answers, only option left was to clean up and continue onward.
One of the passed out patrons, the dwarf who was in the middle of the room, woke up. He surveyed the room and when he finally realized the situation in his drunken condition, he stroke the table with his fists which buckled from the force of the blow.
"By Moradin's hand. I missed it again," the dwarf bellowed as he realized he'd missed the fight of the evening once again."
The End