I The Death of Thomas and Shayna Butterball I
Ches 6 1335 DR, Year of the Shaking Serpent
In the middle of the night, the halfling Shayna Butterball quietly watched her son sleeping in his small bed.
She had short black hair and brown eyes and stood just above three and a half feet. Her slim figure that was covered in a green robe. Her brown eyes gazed at the small body that lay in the bed in front of her. "It's hard to believe he's gotten so big," she said softly in her musical voice.
Standing behind her, her husband Thomas had just put on his grey-black robe. Only a few inches taller than his wife, Thomas was a stout halfling with brown curly hair and blue eyes. In his hands, he held his Staff of Power. "Yes. He's six years old, and he eats like..."
"Like his father," Shayna interrupted with a giggle as she turned and wrapped her arms around her husband. She then gently kissed his cheek, which made Thomas blush softly, and cuddled into his chest for just a moment.
Thomas looked down at his wife and smiled. It was hard to believe that just a year ago, she had been chasing him around Waterdeep trying to kill him.
Thomas Butterball was a Harper and an apprentice to Khelben Arunsan, the Lord Mage of Waterdeep. Shayna was a Zhentarim assassin assigned to kill him by Manshoon, the Lord of Zhentil Keep.
One dark and rainy night, she had successfully cornered him in an alley. The halfling assassin had her chance to kill Thomas, but instead of killing him, she ended up falling in love with him.
Shayna had quickly fled to Zhentil Keep, and asked Lord Manshoon to leave the Zhentarim. Manshoon was known for being cold and manipulating. Shayna expected him to just kill her on the spot, but instead Manshoon bid her farewell. He made a promise to her, that he would never harm her.
"You were one of the only people I have ever considered as a friend Shayna. Go and live your life in what way seems best to you," were Manshoon's last words to her before she left Zhentil Keep.
Months later, Shayna joined the Harpers Organization and became friends with Storm and Sylune Silverhand.
One evening, Storm introduced her to Khelben's halfling apprentice. Thomas, recognized the halfling who had tried to kill him. He put the past behind them, and asked Shayna to dance.
What resulted in their dance together was a loving marriage, a small house in Shadowdale, and a beautiful son named Bowie.
Thomas and Shayna quietly sat in their den, enjoying the sweet silence.
Their den was small, with three chairs scattered across the room. It was well lit with three bright candles, and a large wooden fireplace.
Hung over the wooden fireplace was Shayna's magical sword, Deathwaltz. Shayna had used this weapon in her days as an assassin. The enchanted weapon would continue to make her victim's wounds bleed, but the sword had another special power. If Shayna hit someone hard enough, the sword would magically cast Otto's Irresistible Dance in her target, causing the person to dance while she would continue to stab with her weapon.
Thomas quietly pulled out his spell book. It was a large book that had red dragon hide for the outside cover. The halfling wizard glanced over at his wife with a loving smile, and then began to look over his spells. Shayna was looking through a small book of Harper ballads she had borrowed from Storm a day earlier.
As Shayna and Thomas were spending their leisure time reading, their fireplace's flames began to spout large black flames.
Quickly taking notice of the black flames, Thomas and Shayna placed down their books and watched the fireplace for a moment.
From the flames, jumped a medium sized man covered in black robes, black boots, and black gloves. At his side, was a long sword with a green hilt and a black blade. On his head, he wore a black leather mask that covered the majority of his face, except for his eyes and his mouth. The shape of the mask resembled something like the face of a devil or a demon from Myth Drannor.
Right away, Thomas and Shayna knew who this person was. "Greetings Lord Manshoon," Shayna said softly.
The person dressed as Manshoon reached over at the fireplace, and grabbed Deathwaltz. He looked at it for a moment, then tossed it at Shayna.
Using her reflexes, Shayna caught her weapon. She noticed the long sword at Manshoon's side, then looked up at his face. These eyes didn't belong to Manshoon, nor did he ever carry a sword. "That's not Manshoon," Shayna screamed at her husband.
The former assassin was ready to strike at this imposter, but the Manshoon imposter pointed his black-gloved finger at her. From his finger shot a black ray that flew right at Thomas' chest.
Thomas let out a small groan as the black ray hit his body.
Shayna watched in horror, as her husband's body began to glow for a second, then he vanished. All that was left, was a small pile of dust.
"Now it's your turn Shayna," the Manshoon imposter declared coldly as he drew his long sword.
Shayna jumped forward, swinging Deathwaltz left, but she missed the imposter.
With an evil grin, the imposter quickly snapped his wrist forward, stabbing his blade deep in Shayna's stomach.
The halfling shivered as she felt the sword's power draining her of her energy. With her last bit of strength, she threw Deathwaltz behind her.
The Manshoon imposter smiled as he watched tears stream down Shayna's face. "Do not worry Shayna. All I need is the essence of Bane that is inside of you, then your can be with your filthy husband soon in the afterlife."
He quickly placed Shayna's body on the floor, then began chanting. A neon green mist flew out of the halfling's mouth and into the hands of the Manshoon imposter.
He quickly pulled the sword from Shayna's dead body and stepped back over to the fireplace. He was just about to go cast another Fire Stride spell, when he heard footsteps behind him.
The Manshoon imposter looked behind him and saw a small brown haired halfling boy holding Deathwaltz in his hands. "He must be her son," he muttered under his breath.
How long had the boy been standing there, the imposter asked himself, but before the imposter could guess, the little halfling boy ran towards him.
Rage burned inside of young Bowie. He had woken up to tell his mother and father goodnight, but when he walked into the den, he saw that his father was missing, and that his mother was lying on the floor. Then he looked up, and saw the man standing at the fireplace.
The Manshoon imposter brought his long sword up, ready to kill this halfling runt with just one quick slash.
As he brought his sword down, Bowie jumped left, then leaped up and quickly slapped his mother's sword across the murderer's face.
The Manshoon imposter covered his eye for a second. He felt small drops of blood leak from the sword's cut.
Bowie was ready to attack his mother's killer, but then he felt his entire body go stiff.
A loud crashing sound came from the other room. The imposter looked into that direction, and saw a tall beautiful woman with long silver hair appear in the other room. She had creamy skin and wore a long white gown.
"The Witch of Shadowdale," he muttered before he jumped into the fireplace and disappeared from the scene of the crime.
Sylune Silverhand quietly walked into the next room. The Witch of Shadowdale was ready to cast some spells at Manshoon, but she had accidentally broken some plates when she had teleported into the kitchen. She looked over and saw Shayna's body on the floor, and the dust left from Thomas' body. Her eyes burned with anger as she looked at the fireplace. "Damn you Manshoon," she muttered under her breath as a tear fell from her eye.
She looked down, seeing Bowie with tears of his own streaming down his face. He continued to hold Deathwaltz, which had a small stain of blood on the tip of its blade.
Sylune gently walked over and wrapped her arms around Bowie. She felt his warm tears seep through the middle of her dress. "Shhh, everything is going to be okay Bowie."
Despite feeling a small bit of comfort in Sylune's words, Bowie continued to weep. His mother was lying on the floor, and his father was gone. He didn't know why that man was here, or why his mother wasn't getting up.
"What is going on Sylune?" Bowie asked Sylune, looking up at her.
Sylune shook her head, as tears began to form in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Bowie, your mother and father are dead."
The Witch of Shadowdale continued to hold onto Bowie for the rest of the night, continuing to tell him that everyone would be all right.