Tarsakh 14 Year 1368 Year of the Banner
The Unexpected Job
All Shadimir could think about was getting home and seeing his daughter again.
For ten days, the undead hunter named Shadimir Deachron has been traveling the city of Messemprar; capital of Unther, hunting the walking undead that have been recently rising and attacking holy sites throughout the city.
It was the end of his ten-day onslaught against skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and even a mummy, which also meant the end of his ten-day service to a stout fellow named Kibyo. Kibyo was a round man, whose four greatest loves in life were cleanliness, organization, tidiness and serving Mystra, goddess of magic. Though Mystra wasn't his patron deity, Shadimir had seen helping the round cleric, as a favor to his deity, Kelemvor, the recently appointed god of the dead, who had known Mystra when she was the mortal Midnight.
Shadimir had awoken early in his room at the Red Claw Inn, and quickly rushed to the temple to receive his gold. The hunter ran through the quiet streets, not noticing the people staring at his long flowing silver hair, a gift he had inherited from his astral deva grandmother.
Kibyo was giving his morning sermon to the dozens of young men and women, who made up the clergy of Mystra in all of Unther. The clergy was sat in the middle of a circle with seven white candles that brightened the room. The priest watched each of the smiling faces stare up at him. This is what I was born to do he said to himself before he paused to watch his fellow disciples pray in silent to their goddess. Before the round priest could continue his sermon, Kibyo noticed a familiar silver haired young man approaching the doorway. The other clerics didn't seem to notice the young man's appearance, which Kibyo thought was a good thing. "If you excuse me my brothers and sisters, I have some rather important business to attend to," Kibyo said calmly," Please remain praying."
Kibyo slowly walked from the circle and up to the silver haired young man at the doorway. "Do you mind, I am in the middle of something?" the priest whispered harshly.
The young man shrugged. "I know you were. I heard your speech as I ran up the stairs." He slowly looked out at the silent priests and priestesses sitting in their calm circle, then back at the round priest. "Now I'm sure you thanked Mystra for all the ghouls and skeletons being destroyed."
The priest sneered at the silver haired hunter. "You know, I didn't have to hire a faithless mercenary like yourself. Mystra listens to all who pray to her. With just one prayer, I could have easily destroyed all those undead."
Shadimir wanted to reach out his strong hand and pull the fat priest up by the shirt. The hunter wanted to shout at the priest how much he faithless he really was.
He wanted to tell him that back in Cimbar, a large city in the country of Chessenta, his mother Aprilana, was a high priestess of Mystra, who had more power and more love from Mystra than Kibyo could ever fathom. Yet, Shadimir knew neither Mystra, nor his mother would approve of him physically harming the cleric.
"I apologize if I have offended you, or your goddess sir," the hunter spoke calmly and quietly," Still, instead of praying to Mystra you decided to hire a faithless mercenary, and this faithless mercenary would like to get paid now."
The undead hunter slowly walked through Messempar's busy marketplace. Merchants were yelling loudly from their booths, selling high priced weapons, spices that would make the common food even good to kings, and beautiful women who would serve any command given to them.
The one merchant that seemed to catch the hunter's eye had a small wooden stand with necklaces, rings, and bracelets all sitting on golden silk sash. The merchant was a dark haired halfling female with brown eyes, and a beautiful body, even for a halfling.
Shadimir walked up to the stand, getting a better look at the variety of jewelry that was laid out before him. The only items that seemed to grasp his attention were two beautifully crafted lockets. One with a green jade in the middle, and another with two white pearls at each end.
"My daughter's birthday is a little ways away, how much for these lockets?" he asked the pretty halfling merchant.
The merchant's brown eyes lit up in surprise and her jaw slowly dropped. Quickly regaining her composure, she smiled," Ah, these are fine choices. Each locket has a special quality about it." She pointed to the locket with the jade in the middle and stated, "This one is said to be immune to any kind of poison."
The hunter gazed at the jade in the middle, then saw the halfling pull up the locket with a large pearl in the middle. "This locket is very lucky," she said smiling.
"Lucky?" questioned the hunter.
The halfling shrugged her shoulders. "Yes…well at least that's they told me when they pried it from the man's cold dead fingers," she answered.
Shadimir raised an eyebrow at the merchant holding the locket. "If the last person who held this locket died, how is it considered lucky?"
After thinking about it for a moment, the merchant remembered. "Well apparently, the last man to hold this, had died at the hands of seven beautiful succubae," she answered, her face turning a light shade of crimson.
"Oh," smiled the silver haired hunter, trying not to laugh. "So, how much for the lockets again?"
"I don't remember telling you exactly, and you say it's your daughter's birthday." Shadimir could see the halfling, stalling to think of a correct price. "Five hundred and fifty gold for all of them."
Good thing I'm rich, Shadimir thought as he pulled out a large sack of gold he had brought with him from his house back in Chessenta. "Great, I know my daughter Yondalla will be happy when she gets them," he said, placing the large sack of gold in front of the halfling.
"Yondalla!" asked the shocked halfling, surprised that a human would honor the halfling goddess. "You are getting these for the halfling goddess?"
Shadimir laughed for a second, then shaking his head softly he replied," No, my daughter is also named Yondalla, well Dalla for short."
"Well why didn't you say so?" the halfling smiled, reaching into the sack, pulling out a handful of coins, and giving the rest of the gold and the bag back to Shadimir. "I only need a small amount. I am done for the day anyways. Just when you give your daughter the lockets, tell her Deidra wishes her a happy birthday."
"I will, and thank you Deidra," Shadimir nodded as he began to walk away, then heard the someone yelling and the halfling merchant crying from behind him. Turning his head, the hunter saw a large man standing above the halfling, bringing his hand down fast to smack her.
Listening to the voice in his mind that said 'Help her', the silver haired hunter darted over, drawing his mace with his left hand, and intercepting the large man's hand with his mace. Surprised, the large man stood back, clutching his hand that was bruised from landing hard on top of the mace. "I don't want any trouble lad, but me slave owes money for those lockets she sold you," the man said with a drawl in his voice.
"She didn't tell me she was a slave," Shadimir muttered under his breath, looking down at the frightened halfling, then back at the large man. "Does she now," he said coldly.
The man nodded at the silver haired man seeing that he might get to whip his slave for her impudence after all. What he was unable to see, was the young man's hand reach into his pocket. "In that case, here's the rest of the payment," the hunter's shouted, his hand whipping out an even larger sack of coins then before, and struck the large man in the face, knocking him through the merchant stand scattering all the jewelry everywhere. Shadimir threw the large sack of gold on top of the man, then turned to the halfling.
Deidra dried her tears and watched her master lying on the broken pile of what was once her stand, now a large pile of firewood and a fat man who was no longer her master anymore, in the middle of it all. She looked up at the silver haired man, who now to her was the most handsome man she had ever seen. Not seeing her master rise up, she looked up at Shadimir. "Does that make you my new master now?"
Smiling, Shadimir bent down to the halfling and softly spoke," We'll discuss that later, now lets take all these jewelry and go."
Deidra went and picked up the scattered pieces of jewelry. The halfling took one look at her master, seeing a large purple welt that darkened the middle of his face. "What did you hit him with?" she looked up, asking her rescuer with long silver hair.
Shadimir picked up other pieces of jewelry then tilted his head to the halfling. "Oh about one thousand copper pieces, five hundred silver, five hundred gold, and an assortment of diamonds, rubies, and pearls."
Deidra smiled and quietly hummed a song as she continued to snatch the pieces of jewelry from the ground, making the hunter smile once more. As his fingertips brushed the smooth edge of a silver bracelet, a tall purple-cloaked figure appeared in front of him. "Go to the temple of Osiris, and seek your god," he said looking down at Shadimir before he walked away.
Shadimir nodded, seeing Deidra running to catch up with the robed man, in an attempt to try and sell him something. The undead hunter immediately knew Kelevmor had a task for him.
The hunter took one last look at the unconsuis slave owner, then looked around, seeing no one paying any kind of attention. It must be the quiet hour, he thought as he quickly rose from the ground, and trailed after the halfling, before she could get into any serious trouble.
Shadimir the hunter, and Deidra the halfling marveled at the large structure that was Osiris' temple The pair hurriedly walked up the grey stone steps to the entrance, where they were greeted by a beautiful dark skinned half-elven woman in white robes, and wore a wooden symbol of the goddess Isis around her neck. The woman, whose name was Jess, led them down a vast hallway that held floating torches in the air. Shadimir quietly noted the hieroglyphs on the walls that depicted the god Osiris as a large mummy, yet they also said he was a god of justice. The pictures also depicted Osiris' death and resurrection, and the war he had with the evil god Set.
As they continued down the halls, Jess spoke about the different teachings of Osiris. What pulled the hunter's attention from the hieroglyphs and onto the beautiful woman's words, were the views Osiris' had about death, being another great journey. To Shadimir, the god's views sounded similar to Kelevmor's.
What caught Deidra's attention, and stopped Jess from talking, was how Shadimir's hair seemed to glow in the dark spots on the temple.
Jess stopped at two large rooms. "These rooms are for those of other religions come to pray to their deities. Your god will await you in there," She said, looking at Shadimir, then looked down at Deidra. "I sense that you want to pray for your goddess as well," she gave the halfling a wink.
Deidra blushed and looked up at Shadimir, then quietly walked into the room on the left. The silver haired hunter thanked Jess, then stepped into the other room.
The hunter slowly closed the door behind him, turning the room into nothing but blackness. Shadimir closed his eyes, switching to his dark-vision, a gift granted to him by his god. The shape of the room came back to hunter, but only in black and white.
In the middle of the floor, Shadimir saw a long white rug. The hunter quickly went to his hands and knees and closed his eyes, awaiting for the god's arrival.
Though no sound was made, and no light brightened the room, Shadimir could feel the presence of Kelevmor, Lord of the Damned.
"Well Shadimir, its good to see you received my message from Jergal," said the god Kelevmor, with his long flowing black hair, and dressed in silver chain armor, and standing tall, before his devoted hunter.
The dark room holding the hunter and the god illuminated with a white light, as Shadimir switched back to his normal, and lifted his eyes open, to meet those of the god of the dead. "That was Jergal you sent my lord?" Shadimir asked, still on his knees, looking upon the glamorous sight of his deity.
Kelemvor, Lord of the Damned nodded to Shadimir. "Yes, and tell your halfling companion Deidra he enjoyed the necklace he bought," the god answered, smiling.
Shadimir nodded, seeing the blue cape that wrapped itself around his god. "I will my lord," he said bowing his head. "Do you have a task for me my lord?" he asked raising rose his head up once more.
The Lord of the Damned nodded. "Yes, but we will get to that in a moment." Kelemvor motioned for Shadimir to stand up. "Mystra is quite pleased that you helped Kibyo and the temple with their undead problems," Kelemvor said proudly, to the hunter.
"Well no offense to the Lady of Mysteries, but hopefully the next priest of Mystra I deal with, won't be such a copper pusher." Copper pusher, was a term Shadimir used when those who hired him, then would try and cheat him out of the payment for his services.
Kelemvor nodded at the silver haired hunter. "Right, well I am sure you would like to get home to your mother and daughter soon. They are well, and they miss you very much, however…"
"However…" Shadimir crossed his arms, beginning to grow impatient with his deity's hesitation.
Kelemvor took a breath, and spoke calmly. "Before you can go home, I have something to ask of you. It's not really any sort of hack and slash mission, but something else." The Lord of the Damned watched Shadimir remain quiet, then continued," You will need to retrieve an artifact. A powerful object, the Scepter of Osiris. It is currently located in some old, but recently discovered ruins of the god Set."
Shadimir's mind went back to the temples hieroglyphs down the hall. He had seen some of the pictures of Osiris, battling Set, which the glyphs depicted the as a muscular man with a jackal's head.
"The scepter was stolen by four priests of Set, who offered it to their god," Kelevmor continued.
Shadimir bowed my head, and nodded. "I hear what you ask of my Lord Kelevmor, and I will retrieve…" The hunter stopped, forgetting about Deidra.
Kelevmor smiled and placed his hand on the young man's shoulder, already knowing what was the hunter's problem. "I know you travel alone Shadimir, but in sometimes it's good to travel with others. It might end up that you deal with evil gods, and in the end get killed by one of your friends, but isn't that the risks all reckless adventurers take?"
Shadimir smiled, but quickly noticed a look of concern on the god's face. "There's more isn't there?"
"The worst," responded Kelemvor softly. "After the priests gave the scepter to their god, they mysteriously vanished. Many servants of Osiris tried to retrieve the scepter. Though it seemed like an easy task, and it would have been, if not for the Minions of Set."
"Minions of Set?" asked the hunter, brushing some of his silver hair out of his eyes..
The Lord of the Damned nodded. "Yes, the Minions of Set, are beasts are unlike any you have ever faced. They aren't any type of undead, nor some hybrid troll or orc. They appear as normal humans, but don't let that fool you. These beasts have the killer instincts of vicious animals when crossed. Serving their master Set, and killing anyone who defies Set, are the only two reasons these creatures exist. I want you to be careful Shadimir. I haven't been a god for very long, and don't have many followers right now, so I don't want you to be one of the first of my faith to enter the Fugue Plane."
"I humbly thank you for your concern Lord Kelevmor." Shadimir said quietly.
Kelemvor smiled and surprised his follower with a hug. "It is not just I who have concern for you, but Arie…Mystra does as well."
Shadimir's face flushed for a moment as he looked at his god. "I appreciate her concern, and forgive me if I sound rude, but I really don't see any special reason for Mystra to carry any special concern for me. I am no Elminster, or Simbul, or Blackstaff. I can't even cast a simple spell. I am just a man who goes around and puts the souls of the walking undead to rest."
Kelemvor nodded, understanding the hunter's confusion about the motives of Mystra. Though he knew her, Kelevmor didn't quite understand her all the way through. Even though he was still coming to terms with his godhood, the lord of the dead did understand some things about religion. "It is said that sometimes the god chooses her chosen, not the other way around. Try and remember that before a ranting mage lectures you about it," Shadimir's deity returned softly. This brought a smile to the hunter's lips, but his attention was focused on what Kelemvor was telling him. "Now then, to get to the temple ruins," Kelemvor continued," You only need to travel on the outside of the Methwood forest. There, you will meet an elf named Carmanea Greensilk. She is a druid, and knows where to find the ruins."
Shadimir nodded, then just thought of another question to ask his god, but before he could say anything, Kelemvor slowly faded into the air, and the light that had brightened the room went with him. The god was gone, leaving Shadimir into a calm blanket of darkness.