Hammer 12 1370 DR, Year of the Tankard
The Three Day Wait & The Street Demon
"I'm sorry sir, but Mirt is quite busy this evening, and can not see anyone else for the rest of the night. Perhaps you should try tomorrow," the beautiful young secretary suggested to the young man with short silver hair, while she was exited the gates in front of Mirt the Moneylender's place of residence.
Wearing his finely made elven chain armor over his traveler's clothes, Shadimir Deachron followed Mirt's secretary for just a moment as she began to walk down the street. "But that's what you been saying for the past three days," he pleaded, looking into the woman's dark eyes," I need to see Mirt for a business deal."
The beautiful secretary flipped back her strawberry blond hair and tipped the glasses she was wearing. "I'm sure whatever you need to see Mirt for is very important, but you have to understand, Mirt the Moneylender is a very busy and a very important man." Shadimir was about to say something, but the woman cheerfully added," They don't call him Mirt the Moneylender just because he gives out a lot of money. I'm sorry, but you'll just have to meet with him tomorrow."
The secretary wrapped her finely sewn blue cape around her shoulders. She let out a girlish giggle, then walked away from the young man.
"You are an expert at fighting the walking undead Shadimir," he muttered softly to himself, as he looked back at the ominous site of Mirt's mansion," but when it comes to business, you're about as useful as a one legged pony in a horse race."
Keeping his green cloak wrapped around him, Shadimir walked down the dark streets of the Castle Ward. For the last three days, he had been staying in the famous city of Waterdeep, in hopes of meeting the one of the city's most cunning businessman, Mirt the Moneylender. The undead hunter planned to by some property from Mirt the Moneylender.
Shortly before leaving Silverymoon, Lady Alustriel, Shadimir's tutor (under unfortunate circumstances) told the undead hunter he would more and likely have to wait a day or two before speaking with Mirt.
Shadimir didn't mind waiting for the first two days during his time in the City of Splendors. When the secretary had told him Mirt was busy, the young man did some shopping in the Trade's Ward, buying some bright colored robes for his daughter Dalla, some books on the kingdom of Cormyr for Stephanie, some broken magical devises for Jepetto, and various jewelry for Deidra and Aliyah. The hunter even went and replaced the old hilt on his magical sword Gabriel, giving the blade a shiny new pommel with black leather gripping wrapped around it. While he stayed in Waterdeep, Shadimir spent his nights at the Inn of the Dripping Dagger located in the Trades Ward.
Like many tourists, Shadimir came into Waterdeep with a lot of money, and as he walked down the street of Waterdeep Way on his way to the Inn of the Dripping Dagger, he kept both hands on the handles of his weapons, incase any thieves decided to surprise him. However, the dark street of Waterdeep Way seemed deserted for the evening.
The temperature in the night air dropped a few degrees, causing Shadimir to wrap his cloak around him a little tighter. His sky blue eyes continued to scan the area in front of him, but he forgot about the cool air and any possible images of thieves walking in front of him, when his ears picked up the sound of soft growling, followed by monster like breathing.
In one swift motion, Shadimir snatched both of his weapons from his belt. His magical light mace in his left hand, and Gabriel in his right hand, the undead hunter turned to see a very muscular demon with a dog like head, two large pincers, and two clawed arms. The demon's large and very sharp fangs dripped with saliva.
Shadimir looked up at the demon, its huge size towering over the hunter's six-foot stature. Its wide violet eyes squinted down at the silver haired human, wondering if he could be lured by temptation of power.
The demon never had a chance of finding out. As it was just about to speak, Shadimir jumped forward, slashing his bastard sword across the demon's hip. Gabriel's holy power surged through the demon like a lighting bolt.
He had heard of glabrezu, demons who lured humans, elves, and other races with promises of power. As Shadimir was ready to follow up his attack with the mace in his left hand, he noticed small flickers of fire forming at the demon's fingertips. The flames shot from the glabrezu's fingers, and Shadimir barely dodged the fire. All that was hit by the magical fire was his arm.
The fire burned through his chain, scorching the hairs off his arm, but it was a minor pain. Before he could survey the damage the demon's burning hands spell had done to him, two large pincers came at his face. Shadimir used Gabriel to parry both pincers, then used his momentum to quickly step left and drive his mace into the demon's unguarded side.
The glabrezu clutched his side, while taking a knee on the ground. The hunter's attack did more damage than he thought, as more holy power shot through the demon, this time causing more pain. The holy enchantment placed in magical weapons was the bane of all evil, and both Gabriel and the hunter's mace were infused with such power.
"I will make your death slow and painful," the demon coughed, slowly regaining its stance. It looked into the hunter's eyes, spitting out small droplets of blood. It wanted to kill this human here and now.
Shadimir merely smirked at the demon's threat. "You could try, but we've only been fighting for a minute, and I already have had you down on a knee," he remarked coldly.
"I'll bring you to both knees!" the demon spat as it charged the hunter. Shadimir was ready to finish the demon with one final attack, but his eyes witnessed something that surprised him. As it came closer, Shadimir noticed another glabrezu, looking exactly like the glabrezu he fighting, only a few feet away from him.
"Its a mirror image spell," he muttered softly, remembering his lessons in magic with Alustriel, remembering he could go through mirror images. He was ready to charge through the fake demon in front of him, but a large pincer connected hard with his jaw.
The force of the demon's pincer sent Shadimir flying to the ground. His mouth slowly bled, but he sprang back up, and charged the demon. Grinning, the glabrezu waiting till the hunter was a few inches away, then vanished before his eyes.
Shadimir sighed, knowing the demon would appear right behind him, and he wasn't disappointed.
With its large pincer poised for the attack, the demon's claws snatched the human in the air, then threw him into the wall of the closest building.
Shadimir didn't have time to react, as he suddenly found himself lifted off of the ground. The next moment, he flew through the air quickly, crashing through the wall of little inn called the Jade Jug. He didn't much of a look as he was buried under scraps of wood, broken dishes, and a very frightened barmaid.
The barmaid climbed out of the rubble, then screamed and ran, as the demon quickly walked closer to the hole in the wall. It grinned wickedly, then fished Shadimir from the pile of scrap, and threw him on the ground outside of the inn.
Shadimir's vision had become a little distorted when the demon picked him up. He saw the demon's huge form, but he saw another medium sized, red colored form come into his view.
"Come here and let me crush you," the red colored form said in a soft womanly voice.
The demon turned and it's violet eyes widened in fear as he saw the woman's greatsword come down on him from above, then go through him between the eyes. It had gotten a good look at the woman and her sword, but when she made her cut, he felt half of his body slowly falling left.
The greatsword ripped through the demon's rough skin, the cut going down the middle. The demon's body split in half, its left side falling down left, while the other stood standing.
His eyesight returning to normal, Shadimir brushed the dirt and small pieces of wood off of him, and saw the half of the dead glabrezu's body still standing, then looked over at the woman who had just saved his life, who was adjusting her red scale mail armor.
She appeared to be a little over five foot, with light brown hair tied in a bun. Shadimir noticed small streaks of grey inside of her hair
She's attractive, Shadimir thought as he watched the woman walk over to him, her brown eyes looking him over. "That appeared to be a nasty fall," she said softly, her hands touching the bottom of his cloak. "Not a scratch on you."
The hunter smiled, looking at both halves of the demon's carcass that now cluttered the street of Waterdeep Way. "What about you," he commented," that was a pretty impressive feat of strength, slicing a demon in half with just one attack."
"Well, its easy if you have a powerful sword with a very sharp edge, and you know how to cut down the middle just right, hitting the vital organs," she responded then added a laugh that sent a shiver down the Shadimir's spine. After she finished her laugh, she held up her heavily gloved arms. "It also helps if you have magical gauntlets to," she said, showing off her thick leather gauntlets that covered her hands. "This is pretty calm for me. If I weren't on my way to work, I probably threw him into the helmet shop across the street."
The woman's comment caused her to laugh once more, making Shadimir nod politely than turn his head away from the sound of her atrocious laughter. He then jumped a little when he felt the woman's hands brush the dirt off of his back.
"Looks like we better get you cleaned up," she said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"That's fine and all," he responded smoothly, as he turned around to face the woman," but I only let strangers clean me up after they give me their name."
"Its Iris," she responded playfully," Iris Fikkleleaf."