Searching For A Clue
It had been several days since the band of unlikely heroes had left Osilligar's cave. The search for Damian was not going well. Many of the leads they had investigated had come from unreliable sources at best, and usually amounted to dead ends, some even had a few swords waiting as well. Conditions in the Sword Coast had only grown worse. Groups of cutthroats traveled the streets openly, one only had to listen to the hushed whispers of anyone nearby to learn any particular band's reputation.
As they say, "News travels fast, bad news travels faster."
The Blue Knight and his friends had setup a meeting place in the Helm and Cloak Inn, a central location from where they could strike out and search for their target. All the time spent with their noses in the cold was starting to fray nerves.
"If I have to crawl through one more dark, smelly sewer," the Thief started, "someone is going to have a chasm wider than the Sea of Swords!"
The Knight only shook his head, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you drew the short straw, You also know the underground of Baldur's Gate better than the rest of us." The Thief only shot him a menacing flare as she fingered the knife at her belt. Before she had a chance to do anything, though, the Druid returned from her own search.
"Ho, Druid, the Knight greeted her, glad for the timely diversion. "Have you had any luck?"
The Druid shook her head, "No, I've questioned every deer, bear, badger and mouse from the Cloakwood to the Coast Way, none have any clue to offer. Did anyone else find anything?"
The Thief placed her fists on her hips and, with an annoyed air, said, "If anyone would let me finish instead of trying to ignore me, I have a lead that may help." Everyone in the room turned to her, the Bard decided to enter the conversation, "After all that whining, we all thought that you hadn't discovered anything. Why didn't you just tell us to begin with?"
"You didn't give me a chance."
The Bard rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh; the Thief just ignored her and continued. "While I was down there, I stumbled across one my former 'associates' who was trying to lie low after avoiding major incarceration."
"He was hiding from the authorities, you mean," the Mage said.
"Yeah, that's what I said. So, naturally I decided to ask him if he knew anything about that Damian fellow. When I mentioned his name, my former 'friend' didn't seem to want to talk about it."
"Which obviously meant he knew something."
"My thoughts exactly. So I decided I need to. persuade him to let me have the information."
"So what'd you do? I don't suppose you asked nicely?"
"Of course not."
"Bribed?"
"No."
"Interrogated?"
"Not exactly."
"You flat-out beat it out of him, didn't you?"
"Of course not! I'm not that mean."
"Then what did you do?
"I held my knife to his throat and said if he didn't tell me what I wanted him to know he would have another hole to breathe through." A loud groan engulfed the room as rampant head shaking overtook her companions.
"Well," the Mage said, "Did you get the information?"
"Yes I did. It seems that one of this 'Damian's' lieutenants is holed up in a fortress a little north of Neverwinter. If this guy is reliable, and under the right kind of pressure he's the most honest man in Abir-Toril, then this guy may know where to find Damian."
The Blue Knight stood, "Very good, we'll investigate this right away, unless anyone has anything better? We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready."
Everybody began to file out of the room to prepare for the journey north. Before she walked out of the room the Thief turned to the Knight and said, "You know, not everything I said back there was completely true."
"I figured as much, you didn't pull your knife on him, did you?" "Nah, he actually just told me. I just told everyone all that because whether I'm fighting on the side of good or not, I still have a reputation to keep."
"Don't worry, you're reputation is safe."
A few days travel later found the group camped just south of the city of Neverwinter. Huddled around the fire for warmth an listening to the Bard pluck at her harp, the adventurers began to think of how, after all this time, they really didn't know anything about each other.
The Blue Knight looked at his companions and said, "Well, we should at least find out what to call each other. It would probably be best not to use our true names in case the enemy could find a way to use such information against us. If you a name you would prefer us to call you by, speak it. I have told you already that I am called the Blue Knight, or just Knight if you prefer."
The Thief spoke from her place near the fire, "Many know me by the name Crimson Blade. You can call me that if you want."
The Mage was the next to speak up, "There are those who would call me Fade, although I haven't been doing much recently to hold true to that name. Still, if we can't use our true names, that one will do as any."
Lying on her blanket, staring up at the stars, the Druid said only, "Fel."
Crimson Blade looked at her, "Beg pardon?"
"Call me Fel, for that is what Nature calls me when she speaks." A silence took the camp as the companions thought on this.
Resuming her harp, the Bard said, "You're all going to laugh or ask the question that everybody asks me, but don't, not yet anyway, but call me Elfsong."
Fade looked over at her, "You mean like the-," a shoe thrown at her by Blade cut her off.
"Very well," Knight said. "Now I recommend that we all get some rest. Tomorrow is going to very busy."
--Ah, chapter four. Our characters now have names instead of just referring to them by class. This is another one I would like to re-write so it flows a little better, I probably should since I've got quite a few chapters already written but I'm lazy. So you guys get what I already have. Next chapter I'll tell you a little about how I write these.
It had been several days since the band of unlikely heroes had left Osilligar's cave. The search for Damian was not going well. Many of the leads they had investigated had come from unreliable sources at best, and usually amounted to dead ends, some even had a few swords waiting as well. Conditions in the Sword Coast had only grown worse. Groups of cutthroats traveled the streets openly, one only had to listen to the hushed whispers of anyone nearby to learn any particular band's reputation.
As they say, "News travels fast, bad news travels faster."
The Blue Knight and his friends had setup a meeting place in the Helm and Cloak Inn, a central location from where they could strike out and search for their target. All the time spent with their noses in the cold was starting to fray nerves.
"If I have to crawl through one more dark, smelly sewer," the Thief started, "someone is going to have a chasm wider than the Sea of Swords!"
The Knight only shook his head, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but you drew the short straw, You also know the underground of Baldur's Gate better than the rest of us." The Thief only shot him a menacing flare as she fingered the knife at her belt. Before she had a chance to do anything, though, the Druid returned from her own search.
"Ho, Druid, the Knight greeted her, glad for the timely diversion. "Have you had any luck?"
The Druid shook her head, "No, I've questioned every deer, bear, badger and mouse from the Cloakwood to the Coast Way, none have any clue to offer. Did anyone else find anything?"
The Thief placed her fists on her hips and, with an annoyed air, said, "If anyone would let me finish instead of trying to ignore me, I have a lead that may help." Everyone in the room turned to her, the Bard decided to enter the conversation, "After all that whining, we all thought that you hadn't discovered anything. Why didn't you just tell us to begin with?"
"You didn't give me a chance."
The Bard rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh; the Thief just ignored her and continued. "While I was down there, I stumbled across one my former 'associates' who was trying to lie low after avoiding major incarceration."
"He was hiding from the authorities, you mean," the Mage said.
"Yeah, that's what I said. So, naturally I decided to ask him if he knew anything about that Damian fellow. When I mentioned his name, my former 'friend' didn't seem to want to talk about it."
"Which obviously meant he knew something."
"My thoughts exactly. So I decided I need to. persuade him to let me have the information."
"So what'd you do? I don't suppose you asked nicely?"
"Of course not."
"Bribed?"
"No."
"Interrogated?"
"Not exactly."
"You flat-out beat it out of him, didn't you?"
"Of course not! I'm not that mean."
"Then what did you do?
"I held my knife to his throat and said if he didn't tell me what I wanted him to know he would have another hole to breathe through." A loud groan engulfed the room as rampant head shaking overtook her companions.
"Well," the Mage said, "Did you get the information?"
"Yes I did. It seems that one of this 'Damian's' lieutenants is holed up in a fortress a little north of Neverwinter. If this guy is reliable, and under the right kind of pressure he's the most honest man in Abir-Toril, then this guy may know where to find Damian."
The Blue Knight stood, "Very good, we'll investigate this right away, unless anyone has anything better? We'll leave as soon as everyone's ready."
Everybody began to file out of the room to prepare for the journey north. Before she walked out of the room the Thief turned to the Knight and said, "You know, not everything I said back there was completely true."
"I figured as much, you didn't pull your knife on him, did you?" "Nah, he actually just told me. I just told everyone all that because whether I'm fighting on the side of good or not, I still have a reputation to keep."
"Don't worry, you're reputation is safe."
A few days travel later found the group camped just south of the city of Neverwinter. Huddled around the fire for warmth an listening to the Bard pluck at her harp, the adventurers began to think of how, after all this time, they really didn't know anything about each other.
The Blue Knight looked at his companions and said, "Well, we should at least find out what to call each other. It would probably be best not to use our true names in case the enemy could find a way to use such information against us. If you a name you would prefer us to call you by, speak it. I have told you already that I am called the Blue Knight, or just Knight if you prefer."
The Thief spoke from her place near the fire, "Many know me by the name Crimson Blade. You can call me that if you want."
The Mage was the next to speak up, "There are those who would call me Fade, although I haven't been doing much recently to hold true to that name. Still, if we can't use our true names, that one will do as any."
Lying on her blanket, staring up at the stars, the Druid said only, "Fel."
Crimson Blade looked at her, "Beg pardon?"
"Call me Fel, for that is what Nature calls me when she speaks." A silence took the camp as the companions thought on this.
Resuming her harp, the Bard said, "You're all going to laugh or ask the question that everybody asks me, but don't, not yet anyway, but call me Elfsong."
Fade looked over at her, "You mean like the-," a shoe thrown at her by Blade cut her off.
"Very well," Knight said. "Now I recommend that we all get some rest. Tomorrow is going to very busy."
--Ah, chapter four. Our characters now have names instead of just referring to them by class. This is another one I would like to re-write so it flows a little better, I probably should since I've got quite a few chapters already written but I'm lazy. So you guys get what I already have. Next chapter I'll tell you a little about how I write these.