Shadows Of The Knight

by Speaker-to-Customers

Sequel to Black Knight but you don't need to wait for that one to be completed before reading this. Captured by Irenicus, with some of her friends slain and even worse having been done to others, T'rissae must work with Jaheira to survive and rescue Viconia and Imoen. The mutual dislike between them is going to make that difficult...

5. Looking For A Stranger

Chapter Five: Looking For A Stranger

The body of Lord De'Arnise was beyond resurrection. Mangled almost beyond recognition and partially eaten. Nalia was horrified and heartbroken. She alternated between spitting out curses at the dead trolls and dissolving into floods of tears. Viconia did her best to console her, with a degree of success, and Nalia calmed down enough to tell us to take everything of value we could find.

"If I have to lose this place to the Roenalls," she said, "I want them to gain little from it. Take it all. Leave them nothing but the building and the lands."

And we did. Yoshimo found the cache of gold Lady Delcia had mentioned, ironically only a few yards from where the trolls had been torturing Lord De'Arnise for its location, and we took it. It was no great treasure; only just over twenty-one hundred danter, a few gems of moderate value, and a scroll of Feeblemind. Not a great amount to die for, but they'd have killed him anyway, from what TorGal had said, and at least it had meant that he could die knowing that he had kept the gold from his torturers. Viconia said something along those lines to Nalia, phrasing it better than I could have done, and it did seem to give the bereaved girl some comfort.

We gathered up things we had passed by as not worth the effort of carrying, such as a non-magical heavy crossbow and some non-magical bows, leaving only the personal possessions of those guards who had fled to the stockade and reentered the castle to assist us. We found three more trolls, hiding in a room that had seemed to be empty earlier, and killed them without difficulty. After our thorough search we were positive that the castle had been cleared of enemies and stripped of all valuables that were not actual furnishings.

We ate, and slept, before leaving. My sleep was disturbed by a vivid nightmare, similar in character to those I had experienced during the campaign against the Crusade, ones I now suspected had been sent by Irenicus. In this one I was in the grounds of a deserted Candlekeep, being escorted around by Imoen, passing various figures from my past both friends and foes, and with the dream Imoen saying that she was forgetting everyone and uttering dire warnings of an approaching danger worse than Sarevok. I awoke unsure whether this had been Irenicus sending me visions or just a product of my own sleeping mind giving form to my fears for Imoen. I decided to ignore it; if it had been sent by Irenicus, then it was what he wanted me to see, and he would be trying to spur me on to hasten to the Cowled Wizards' prison. I would not be swayed. I would follow my planned course and make no attempt to rescue Imoen until we had become stronger than we had been when we were captured.

Nalia joined us as we broke our fast and declared that she was leaving the castle. She could not face staying where the Roenalls would govern and asked if she could accompany us on our journeys. I warned her of the perils and hardships we would face but she was undeterred. And so, reluctantly, I accepted her into the party. She contributed ten thousand danter to our war chest, as payment for our deeds, and we departed together.

In the nick of time. As we were leaving a party of men-at-arms arrived under the command of one Quint Roenall, brother of Isaea, come to take possession of the castle. He was greeted warmly by Lady Delcia and I began to suspect that the old elg'caress had been involved in the invasion. She would have been well positioned to bribe those guards who had deserted, and to provide information on the castle layout to assist the attackers, and it was suspicious that she had escaped entirely unmolested by the trolls and Yuan-Ti. She had been an active supporter of the betrothal and I believed that the timing of the attack, three months before Nalia would have been able to break the engagement herself and just as Nalia was beginning to sway her father to her point of view, was too convenient to be coincidence. I didn't say anything to Nalia, as yet, but I resolved to look for more evidence.

First, though, we would return to Athkatla.

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My intention was to head directly to the Adventurers' Mart. With Nalia's contribution we had enough to purchase the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, which would increase Viconia's fighting ability dramatically. It was three a.m. when we arrived but the shop was open at all hours. Before we reached it, however, we were approached by a woman in the garb of a thief.

She introduced herself as Valen and said that her mistress wished to meet us, to make us an offer of assistance with our problems, and requested that we go to the Graveyard District during the hours of the night. She claimed that this would be superior to any help we could get from the Shadow Thieves but departed without revealing anything more.

Hardly had she left when we were approached again, this time by someone we had met, although briefly, when dealing with the Shadow Thief Gaelan Bayle. An urchin, Bayle's nephew, acting as a messenger for his uncle. He told us that Gaelan wanted to 'sweeten the deal' and said that we should see him before making any rash decisions. Bayle must have been watching out for us returning to the city and was aware that we would be approached by the mysterious other party. I acknowledged the request but made no promise that I would act upon it. It seemed there were two factions involved and I would investigate the unknown one before making any commitment.

We continued on across the market-place and were addressed by a Priest of Talos. He warned us that the streets were a dangerous place during the night, with a shadowy war raging between two factions, but would not be specific about who they were. Only twenty yards further on we saw evidence of this conflict for ourselves.

A woman in Calishite garb was fighting three leather-clad Shadow Thieves. Fangs flashed in the torchlight and I realized that the woman was a vampire. My first thought was that she was Safana but a second look told me that this was a stranger. The Shadow Thieves might not be my favorite people but they were potential allies and definitely the lesser of two evils when up against a vampire. I ordered my comrades to attack and led the way with my sword. Minsc's axe Azuredge hit the vampire before I had reached striking range and the enchantment had deadly effect. The vampire toppled, turned to mist, and drifted away. Not slain permanently, alas, but forced to return to her coffin to regenerate her body. The Shadow Thieves were effusive in their gratitude for our aid.

Eventually we made it to the Adventurers' Mart. We sold off our unwanted gear, purchased the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, and sold the Mauler's Arm mace as the girdle made its strength benefits not just superfluous but a liability, as it would interact badly with the Giant Strength enchantment and, if used by me or by Minsc, it would actually decrease our strength. Viconia took over Krotan's Skullcrusher from Minsc in its place. We bought nothing else for the time being but, instead, headed off directly to the Graveyard District so that we could get there before daybreak. I had a bad feeling about Valen's mistress and her specification that we meet her only by night; if she represented a vampire faction, as the fight we had just intervened in indicated, then she might lead us to Safana. It was my duty to free my comrade from her undeath and allow her to truly pass on. And if I got the chance to end any other vampires, I would seize it.

Valen's mistress met us near the graveyard entrance and led us through it, past several crypts, without letting us get into fighting range. When I did get close enough to take a good look at her I realized two things; one, she was a Surface Elf and two, she was a vampire. Her being a darthiir didn't bother me, except that it might have made her slightly more likely to be prejudiced against me than if she had been human, but her vampire status automatically put her on my 'Kill' list. I would let her speak first but, unless she could come up with something very special, I would be attacking her with lethal intent in the very near future.

She stopped in front of a crypt at the far end of the graveyard, introduced herself as 'Bodhi', and offered to aid us in getting to Imoen and Irenicus, for a fee of only fifteen thousand danter, in return for us aiding her against the Shadow Thieves. She knew too much about us for my comfort, and what she said more or less confirmed my deduction that the guild opposing the Shadow Thieves was run by vampires, and probably in league with Irenicus. I turned down her offer and gave the signal to attack.

She reacted with incredible speed, dodging Minsc's thrown axe with apparent ease, and dived through the crypt door and slammed it behind her. I managed to nick her with the tip of my blade but that was all. I was only a couple of seconds behind her in reaching the door but it would not open. There was no lock to pick; it had been bolted from the inside, and resisted all our attempts to open it by force. The door was as solid as any I'd ever encountered and gave the impression that nothing short of a full-scale siege battering ram would break it down.

I wasn't ready to give up. I wondered if there might be a way through from the next crypt in the row, and led my group into it. It was occupied by an undead spectre, who called himself the Crypt King, and he reacted to our intrusion by casting a Fear spell on us and then attacking with a sword. Nalia was the only one affected by the Fear and Viconia cast Remove Fear to counter it. The Crypt King was strong and skillful, and proved to be immune to non-magical weapons, and he managed to cut me severely enough to require a Cure Critical Wounds spell before we slew him. The encounter proved profitable, however, as his sword was a twice-enchanted blade named 'Namarra', or 'Neversleep', with the power of casting a Silence spell upon foes three times a day. A very useful weapon against mages or clerics, although as none of us were trained in the wielding of the single-handed longsword it was less useful than if it had been another type of weapon. Although it would be very saleable I decided that we should keep it, for the time being, as an anti-mage weapon. And if we met Suna Seni again I was sure she could make good use of it.

A thorough search of the crypt revealed no secret passages through to the one Bodhi had entered. We found a useful spell scroll but that was the only thing, other than the sword, we had gained from this crypt. I saw no point in wasting time battering futilely at the reinforced door and so led the party back to the gate through which we had entered the graveyard. On the way we met a ghost.

A very small ghost; that of a halfling child named Wellyn. He spoke to us and told a heart-rending story. He had been murdered by a thief, who had broken into his house, and who had taken not only the family's valuables but also the boy's stuffed bear toy 'Littleman'. It was because he didn't have the bear that he had become an unquiet spirit rather than moving on to the afterlife. He implored us to help him retrieve the bear so that he could rest. The thief, he told us, was named Llynis and could be found at the Copper Coronet. The ghostly child had visited the thief, pleading for the return of the bear, but without result. I promised that I would do what I could and we set off for the tavern.

Llynis was an unprepossessing example of a thief, little threat to anyone more formidable than a halfling child, but he panicked when I threatened him and attacked when I blocked his path so that he couldn't flee. I killed him, we searched his room, and found the bear. We found a couple of valuable gems, a set of Gloves of Pickpocketing, and three spell scrolls in his locker and of course we took them.

We stopped off briefly at Gaelan Bayle's house, as his nephew had requested, before returning to the graveyard. He told us that the fee demanded for his organization's assistance had been reduced to fifteen thousand danter; no doubt to prevent Bodhi's faction from undercutting the Shadow Thieves. I told him that I was glad to hear it, but that we had other expenses and so were not yet in a position to pay. He accepted this and told us that, when we were ready to pay, he would be waiting.

Back to the graveyard we went and restored the stuffed bear to its ghostly owner. He took it with delight, returned to the vicinity of his grave, and faded away. A good deed done. I decided that, as we were in the graveyard anyway, it might be worth investigating some of the other crypts. There might be more undead there, perhaps vampires, and if so then any valuables we found would be legitimate spoils of war. We headed for the crypt nearest to the boy's grave and entered.

Two Skeleton Warriors arose and attacked us. We destroyed them, Minsc and I taking a few wounds in the process, and gained two once-enchanted greatswords and a couple of necklaces of moderate value. The next crypt along turned out to be the entrance to an underground complex. This, I felt, could be a route to the vampires' lair.

My guess may well have been right. We traversed corridors that held hidden traps, and which swarmed with giant spiders of several lethal breeds, coming at last to what seemed to be the entrance hall of an ancient temple. I had a fairly good sense of direction, even when unable to see landmarks or the sky, and I estimated that we were, indeed, not far from where the crypt into which Bodhi had fled was located. Viconia, who shared my ability, concurred. Unfortunately, the temple entrance led only to a barred door at least as strong as the one above the ground. We had no hope of getting through and had to give up and retrace our steps.

We cleared the corridors of traps and spiders and were left with two doorways unexplored. One was a square opening under a stone lintel. The other was a hole in the side of a domed structure that seemed to be made of spider webs, reminding me very much of the abode of Centeol in the spider-haunted region of Cloakwood. It had been Irenicus who turned Centeol into a grossly obese, almost immobile, monstrosity dependent upon spiders to survive. Could this dwelling house another such victim? There was only one way to find out.

Three spiders rushed out as we approached. A Phase Spider, a Sword Spider, and a Wraith Spider. I took on the Wraith Spider and my colleagues bombarded the others with arrows and bullets. The fight was brief and we prevailed without harm. Then on through the doorway.

The occupant was nothing like Centeol. Not obese but slim, not hideous but rather pretty, not human but a Drow. I was surprised, Viconia was surprised, and the other Drow was just as taken aback.

"You will fall here, interlopers!" she cried, in the Common Tongue rather than in Ilythiirra. "I did not build this sanctuary for you to tear it down in passing. Feel the wrath of the arachnids, of the divine eight-legged!"

"A hivemaster!" Viconia exclaimed.

"Wait!" I cried. "We have not come here to destroy you and your home. Let us talk." I doubted that the confrontation could end peaceably but I was willing to try. There were scores of spiders in the chamber, swarming over the dead bodies of several humans, not giants but relatively small ones about the size of cats. They were highly venomous, I knew, and such a large number would be a significant threat. I expected that she would send them at us as soon as the conversation ended. This pause before the storm was giving me the chance to think of the best tactics, however, and I told Nalia "Get ready to cast Stinking Cloud."

"There is nothing to talk about," the hivemaster sneered. "That you are Drow is only more galling. I sense that you support the killing of spiders. Bitches! No wonder you walk the surface. You will all die!" She called out to her spider horde, commanding them to attack, and raised her arms in a spell-casting gesture.

"Now!" I told Nalia, and I charged at the hivemaster with my sword raised. The spiders swarmed forward, Nalia cast her spell, and the air became filled with noxious vapors. Most of the spiders stopped in their tracks, reduced to helplessness, and Nalia and Yoshimo fell unconscious too. The others began to loose missiles at those spiders still moving and I struck with my sword.

It was another short fight. The Drow went down quickly, the mobile spiders were picked off before they made it to close quarters, and killing the immobile ones didn't take long. A cheap victory, although one that could have cost us dear had we fought in a less organized fashion. We vacated the gas cloud, carrying Nalia and Yoshimo clear of the vapors, and they regained their senses before long. Then it was just a case of waiting for the spell to end, and the vapors to disperse, and then searching the Drow's body and the lair.

We found two very useful mage spell scrolls, Spell Immunity and – perhaps predictably – Spider Swarm, and two unusual and valuable magic items. An onyx figurine of a spider, which once a day could transform into a phase spider under the holder's command for an hour, and a Pale Green Ioun Stone that granted a boost to the combat skill and fortitude of one who wore it in place of a helmet. The figurine went to Jaheira, as Viconia was averse to spiders following her experiences when cast out of House De'Vir, and I gave the Ioun Stone to Yoshimo as I felt he could make the best use of it. Our equipment was building up nicely, although we still were well short of what we had owned before our capture, and I judged this to have been a highly profitable excursion.

What lay beyond the square doorway was more challenging. Undead, hordes of them; wraiths, shadows, skeleton warriors, ghouls, ghasts, mummies, and a vampire. The floor was trapped in several places, too, making our progress even more hazardous. Azuredge served us well, as did Viconia's skeleton warrior and Jaheira's fire elemental, enabling us to keep the undead at a distance most of the time and pick them off in relative safety. It was nerve-wracking, and we expended quite a few enchanted arrows, bolts, and bullets, but we cleared the area of undead without suffering more than a few scrapes and bruises. We didn't gain a lot of treasure from the expedition, as it seemed that someone had been there before us and had looted some of the tombs, but overall it was worthwhile.

Our main objective, to gain access to the vampires' lair, remained unfulfilled. When we emerged into the outdoors I led us to another crypt. It held two mummies and a skeleton warrior, a tough fight but well within our capabilities, and we gained another once-enchanted greatsword and a valuable Laeral's Tear necklace.

A short distance further on we heard sounds coming from a grave. Either someone had been buried alive or it was a vampire attempting to rise; the second option was unlikely, as by now it was full daylight, and any vampire rising now would have an undead career that was painful and brief. We excavated the grave, which was only partially filled as if the gravedigger had been lazy or scared away by the noises, and opened the coffin. It contained, as I had guessed, a living man.

The man, a merchant named Tirdir, was effusive in his gratitude for us saving him from a dreadful fate. He told us he had been abducted, and held for ransom, but he had not been released when his family had paid up. He had been knocked out and had awoken, not long before we arrived, in the coffin. What I had seen thus far of law enforcement in this city did not fill me with confidence that the guard would be able to catch the kidnappers and I resolved to do my best to track them down. Tirdir had managed to tear away part of the robe of the man who had stunned him, a piece of bright red cloth, and he had still been holding it when he found himself in the coffin. He passed the cloth on to us, and told us that he was fairly sure the kidnapper had spoken with the gravedigger. It wasn't a lot to go on but I decided to see what the gravedigger had to say.

He didn't know a great deal, but it might be enough. He was bribed to ignore the burials – more than one, so other victims had met the same fate – and to keep his mouth shut. His purchased silence didn't stand up to my threats. He knew little about the man in red, his paymaster, save that he sometimes saw him walking in the Bridge District. The gravedigger could tell me nothing more and so I told him that I would inform the guards of his participation in the horrible crimes. He panicked, and fled the graveyard, and I suspected that he wouldn't return and the city would have to find a new person for the position. No doubt we would find occasion to visit the Bridge District, where Yoshimo had told me the best inn in the city could be found, in the near future and I would be sure to keep an eye open for the man in red.

We continued our exploration of the graveyard and had encounters ranging from perilous to pleasant. We arranged for a paladin, whose son had died, to adopt an orphaned little girl. We met the parents of the halfling ghost Wellyn and were thanked for enabling him to rest in peace. And we fought two Shadow Fiends and a Mummy, in a confined space where our tactics gave us little advantage, and gained only 38 danter and a small garnet as our prize for this brutal fight. Other, unguarded, tombs gave us a twice-enchanted axe and a quarterstaff with enchantments of defense and healing. Once we had ventured into every tomb and catacomb, save for the two areas behind impenetrable locked doors, we departed from the graveyard and headed for Waukeen's Promenade to sell off our acquisitions.

On the way we came upon a group of thugs surrounding an injured man. Their leader ordered them to attack us, saying that there must be no witnesses, but they would have been far better advised to have fled. We killed them all in mere moments. Their victim told us that his name was Renfeld and that he had been poisoned. He was too ill even to stand and, when we offered to cure him with healing spells, he told us that he had already cast Neutralize Poison on himself without effect. He implored us to take him to his friends at a building in the Docks District, where he believed he could get effective aid, and he gave a sign to Jaheira that caused her to support his request. A Harper, then, I deduced.

The bodies of the dead foes gave us a sheaf of spell scrolls, several useful potions, and a few pieces of saleable gear. I have no objections to profiting from good deeds. We put together a stretcher using two quarterstaffs and the robes of one of the fallen thugs, who had been a mage, and carried Renfeld on it as we altered our course and set off for the Docks.

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Hardly had we arrived at the Docks when we were accosted by a Priest of Cyric, who commanded us to convert, and attacked us when I told him to alu lu'vith dosstan. Athkatla seemed to be infested with people suicidally unable to recognize when the odds were against them. After killing him, and taking a few items of moderate value from his corpse, we delivered Renfeld to his colleagues at the door of a large, brightly-painted, mansion. We were given a reward of three hundred danter for our deed and, although the expectation of financial reward had not been anything to do with our giving aid, I saw no reason to turn it down when it was offered.

Yoshimo was nervous about being in the Docks District without calling upon Renal Bloodscalp of the Shadow Thieves and I agreed that we should do so. The guild would have a fence, no doubt, and so we could kill two birds with one stone by selling off goods whilst we were there. We headed in that direction but were interrupted again.

This was a non-violent encounter, for a change. A man in the robes of a wizard stood in our path and called out to us. He was an odd-looking character, his face adorned with tattoos or face-paints in garish fashion, wearing a skull amulet at his neck. The tattoos were no doubt meant to be terrifying but I thought they merely looked childish.

Jaheira knew him, and addressed him as 'Zhent', meaning that he was one of the Zhentarim, an organization of ill repute. It seemed he had a history with Jaheira, and she revealed that they had, briefly, worked together on the way to investigate the Nashkel mines. The wizard's partner had been her party's thief but Jaheira had expelled the pair from her group when she discovered their allegiance to the Zhentarim. That had been why she had entered the mines without anyone capable of disarming traps, a decision that had proved disastrous, and that had led to the elves Xan and Kivan being captured and imprisoned.

The Zhentarim wizard, who was called Xzar, appealed to Jaheira for help and, when she rebuffed him, turned his attention to me. He knew me by reputation, and had seen me in Baldur's Gate, although I'd never noticed him before. He told me his halfling companion Montaron had sneaked into the Harper building, the one to which we had just delivered the poisoned Renfeld, to spy upon the Harpers. He had not returned and Xzar pleaded with me to investigate and discover Montaron's fate. He claimed to have information about Irenicus that he would reveal only if we helped him.

I had some sympathy for him; even evil people could have friendships and worry about their comrades. It wasn't enough to get me to agree to help him, however, and I was skeptical about his claim to know anything useful about Irenicus. I had intended to ask the Harpers if they knew anything about where the Cowled Wizards kept their prisoners, and about Irenicus, but I believed it best to deal with Yoshimo's Shadow Thief problem first. I declined Xzar's request but indicated that I might consider it at some time in the future. That was enough to get rid of him, for the time being, and we continued on to Renal Bloodscalp's guildhall.

There was a fence there, as I had expected, and we sold off our surplus gear. Yoshimo knew the way to Bloodscalp's office and we made our way through the building. The Guildmaster was physically unprepossessing, short and squat, but he wore high-quality Shadow armor and I assessed him as formidable in a fight.

He proposed that we perform a task for him that would erase all the Guild's grievances against Yoshimo. Another, less senior, Guildmaster named Mae'Var was suspected of plotting to usurp Renal's position as overlord of the Docks branch of the Shadow Thieves, probably by assassination, and Renal wanted us to pose as mercenaries assigned to Mae'Var's branch by the Shadowmaster who controlled the overall Shadow Thief organization. He would provide papers to that effect. Once there we were to spy on Mae'Var and discover proof of the plot – or of Mae'Var's innocence, in the unlikely event of that being true.

I wasn't enthusiastic about the prospect but it would be very useful to gain the goodwill of the Shadow Thieves. I agreed, subject to the proviso that I would not perform any deeds that would harm innocent third parties, and Renal was happy to accept that condition. His willingness surprised me until I realized that if I refused such an order from Mae'Var the thief would be likely to try to have me killed, I would respond with violence, and Renal's objective would be attained anyway. There was no deadline for this operation, Renal said we could take as long over it as was necessary, and I decided we would eat and rest at the Sea's Bounty tavern before approaching Mae'Var's guildhall.

Of course, as usual in my life, things didn't go smoothly.

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We entered the Sea's Bounty tavern, which both Yoshimo and Jaheira agreed served very fine seafood meals, and before we could place our orders a man stood up and addressed Jaheira.

"Jaheira, my darling, so good to see you," he said. "Won't you come sit and chat awhile?"

Jaheira replied as if she did not know the man, insisting that he introduce himself.

"Baron Ployer, of the Calimshan Ployers," he said, sounding irritated. He didn't look like a baron and, although he did have the accent of a noble, my first thought was that it was simply a forename. He carried a two-handed sword but wore battered leather armor over clothes that, although they might once have been fine, were now stained and worn. "Come now, you must have some inkling?"

Jaheira again claimed not to remember him and this provoked him to fury.

"My name means nothing? I am Baron Ployer! PLOYER! You ruined me! Not remembering is an even greater insult! You are why I am destitute today! You and your Harper kin accused me of breeding slaves in Calimshan. My businesses in Athkatla were taken. I was made a pauper and you do not even remember?"

"I remember well but I wanted you to say it," Jaheira revealed, "and I wanted others to hear. Quite the outburst, Mister Ployer. I assume you are still at odds with your new life?"

They flung insults at each other for a while as the tavern's patrons listened with interest. Jaheira revealed that she had wanted Ployer dead, not merely ruined, but seeing him reduced to poverty was an acceptable second-best. Ployer talked of Khalid, Jaheira told him not to mention him again if he wanted to keep all his teeth, Ployer said he would exact payment for Jaheira's slanderous accusations and Jaheira pointed out that it wasn't slander if it was proven. Ployer said that Jaheira had ruined him, and now he was going to ruin her. That is when the argument, which had been purely verbal, suddenly turned into something much worse.

Three wizards in dark green robes appeared in the bar. Either they had teleported in or had been there all the time but invisible. One of them cast a spell at Jaheira before we could react. It seemed to do nothing at first but Ployer shouted that he had destroyed her, as she had destroyed his life, and that she was going to die and that she should give her regards to 'Belgrade' when she saw him. Now that Ployer and his mages had made an overt attack he became a legitimate target. I drew my sword and went for him, but there were other customers in the way, and he disappeared before I could reach him. The three mages had teleported away taking Ployer with them.

Jaheira sagged at the knees. She uttered an imprecation at the departed Ployer but her voice quavered as she spoke. She had been cursed and was weakened. Viconia had Remove Curse memorized and, without prompting, cast it on Jaheira immediately. It had no effect.

"This curse must have been tailored to me specifically," Jaheira said, "and designed to resist removal by normal means. We will have to track Ployer down and force him to remove it."

"Then that is what we shall do," I said. "Any thoughts on where to look? From what he said, and his appearance, I'd guess the Slums would be the most likely place for him to be living."

"A good thought," Jaheira agreed, "but searching them without a starting point would take a long time. He mentioned Belgrade, who helped me expose Ployer, and he used to frequent the Copper Coronet. Bernard might know where to find him, and he may be able to help us locate Ployer."

"To the Coronet, then," I said. "I'll grab something to eat from a street stall on the way."

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Belgrade wasn't going to be any help. Bernard told Jaheira that Belgrade had been found dead in the east of the Slums, having succumbed to some unknown illness, not long before we arrived in the city. That gave us a starting point. There weren't many residences along the east side, most of it being taken up by a big house belonging to a large family of gnomes, the residence of Gaelan Bayle, and the dry-docked ship that had been the Slavers' headquarters. The other side of the street was fully taken up by the Copper Coronet itself, leaving only a few possible houses to investigate. We tried the one adjacent to the Slaver ship first, because of Ployer's connections with that business, and sure enough that was where he was.

Ployer appeared at first to be alone, but when I threatened him the three mages teleported in to his defense. Unfortunately for them, I had expected them to arrive and prepared accordingly. I shot the one who had cast the curse with an envenomed crossbow bolt, Nalia shot another with an envenomed arrow, Yoshimo loosed acid arrows at the third, Jaheira and Viconia used their slings on whoever presented the best target, and Minsc engaged Ployer sword to sword. The continuing pain from the envenomed missiles disrupted spell-casting and the mages went down quickly. One did manage to cast a Monster Summoning spell, bringing an ogre and an ettercap to join the fight, but the monsters died without harming us. It was an almost flawless victory. The flaw was that Ployer died, too, without removing the curse.

"Vith!" I exclaimed, as I looked at the corpse. "We might have to Raise him to get the cure and then kill him again."

"There might be something on the bodies that will give us the cure," Yoshimo suggested.

There were several items of value on the corpses; a scroll of Summon Efreet, a set of bracers enchanted to give protection equivalent to that from once-enchanted studded leather, a Cloak of Protection, an enchanted quarterstaff, several gems, a hundred and sixty danter in coin, and… a lock of hair, matching the braid that had been cut from Jaheira's head during her imprisonment by Irenicus.

"That is my hair," Jaheira said, taking the braid and scrutinizing it. "So, either these wizards or Ployer himself must have had dealings with Irenicus."

"I have heard of a curse involving a lock of the victim's hair," Viconia said. "If this is the same one, possession of the hair will negate the curse. You should recover naturally if you rest for a full day and night."

"I feel somewhat better already, merely from holding it," Jaheira agreed. "I think you are correct – Viconia. I thank you."

"Accepted," said Viconia. "I would not want you to die – Jaheira. You are… tolerable, for a tu'rilthiir."

That was certainly a step forward in their relationship. Fighting alongside each other was turning their hostility into comradeship, it seemed, and my own dislike of Jaheira had faded away. Something I had heard Aunt Cierre say came to mind; Abbilen ph'bwael pholor l'tangi d'xonathull, meaning 'Friends are good on the day of battle'.

Cupboards in the poorly-furnished apartment contained another twenty-four danter and a note, from one of the deceased wizards, confirming that they had prepared the spell to complete the contract and acknowledging receipt of their fee. I considered having one Raised, to interrogate about Irenicus, but decided that the chance of his having revealed anything of importance to them was negligible and, when I consulted them, both Jaheira and Viconia agreed. We left their bodies lying and departed.

Then it was back to the Copper Coronet, to find rooms, and spend the next day and night resting and waiting for Jaheira to return to health.

I spent some of that time in telling Nalia and Yoshimo more of our history, rather shocking Nalia, but we had been through enough together that the revelation that I was a daughter of the God of Murder didn't spoil our budding friendship. I told her, also, what I had deduced about the attack on her castle. She agreed with me that it was very possible that the Roenalls were behind it, or at least that Isaea was; she respected Isaea's father Lord Farthington Roenall, and he had always been pleasant to her, and she couldn't see him as cold-bloodedly planning the death of Lord De'Arnise so that the betrothal remained unbroken and the Roenall family could take over the castle and lands. She remained unconvinced of my idea that her aunt, Lady Delcia, had been the traitor within the castle who had provided the information and bribed the deserting guards. I conceded that I had no proof, but advised her not to trust either her aunt or Lord Roenall unreservedly, and she promised that she would treat them with caution.

I had another disturbing dream. Irenicus appeared, uttered cryptic words seemingly about the futility of life, and said that I 'will accept the gifts offered to me'. Again, I could not tell if this came from my subconscious or was an actual sending. Again, I resolved not to let it affect my plans.

I received some job offers during this time. A dwarf wanted to gather a party to retrieve a valuable book from the catacombs under the graveyard; I told him that we had been through the area and found no book, but had seen signs indicating that some of the tombs had been looted already, and he cursed and declared that his previous comrades must have gone there without him. A Lord Jierdan Firkraag offered us ten thousand danter to free his lands outside the city from ogres and trolls. Gaelan Bayle had mentioned that Lord Jierdan was seeking adventurers but I had had other priorities. And that was still the case. I told Lord Jierdan that I would consider his offer and get back to him once I had dealt with another matter.

And a human girl thief, who called herself Hexxat, also sought assistance in retrieving a treasure from the Graveyard District. She made it sound both fairly straightforward and extremely profitable and so, to fill in the time while we waited for Jaheira to recover, I agreed that we would assist her. We left Jaheira in the inn, where she could rest safely on her own under Hendak's protection, and set off to the Graveyard District once more.

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It wasn't a straightforward expedition after all. The tomb where the treasure could be found turned out to be inside one of the crypts we had already visited, but behind a secret door, and it was infested with Shadows and Shadow Fiends. And vampires. We had to retrieve a key in the form of a rod, guarded by a former knight who had been turned into a vampire, in order to progress. He retained some memory of his human existence, and his honor, and willingly gave me the key before I granted him a final death. After that we had to fight a vampire chieftain named Dragomir, who might have been a formidable foe had I not been an Undead Hunter and immune to his life-draining powers, and I held him off until Minsc could slay him with Azuredge. I found and staked his corpse, ensuring that he would not rise again, and took from the dust a cloak enchanted to enable vampires to walk under the sun. Such an item I deemed too perilous to allow to exist and, using our enchanted swords, I sliced it to ribbons.

After that we had to pass a barrier of force that repelled all of us save for Hexxat. After she had gone through the barrier dissipated and we were able to join her. Only for us to discover that the 'treasure' was in fact another vampire, the real Hexxat, who had been mentally controlling a girl named Clara to bring adventurers to free her from her prison. Hexxat killed Clara and then expected us to welcome her into our party. We slew the sadly deluded vampire, staked her corpse, and retraced our steps out of the tomb. I burnt the pieces of the cloak, to make doubly sure it could never be used, and we set off back to the Copper Coronet richer, not by a great treasure, but only by a few pieces of minor jewelry and a single twice-enchanted dagger.

By now Jaheira was fully recovered. We collected her and headed for the Docks District to carry out our mission for Renal Bloodscalp. When we reached there I threw the key to the tomb into the waters of the harbor. Hopefully no-one would ever find it.

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Yoshimo spotted that the house next door to Mae'Var's guildhall was protected by lethal traps on its door. This intrigued me and, before calling on Mae'Var, I asked local residents about that sinister doorway. They told me that no-one lived there and it was reputed to be haunted. Just the sort of place that vampires might use and so, once Yoshimo had disarmed the traps, we entered.

Once inside we found ourselves faced by three angry minotaurs. After killing them we found a staircase leading down, descended, and discovered a crypt containing a massive stone sarcophagus on an elaborate plinth. My suspicions about vampires seemed to be well grounded but opening the sarcophagus proved me wrong.

Instead of a vampire I found a golden skull that spoke to me. It said that its name was Kangaxx and that it had been cursed into a living death and confined to this coffin for ever. It pleaded with me to retrieve the rest of its body, legs arms and torso, so that it might return to mortal life. It promised great rewards but I didn't believe it for a moment. I told it that I would consider granting its request but in fact I decided to research 'Kangaxx' and find out the truth of its situation. If it was an evil member of the undead, as I strongly suspected, then my aim would be to destroy it for all time.

We moved on to Mae'Var's guildhall, which had an apparently innocent shop as its public face, and presented the shopkeeper with the 'transfer papers' with which Renal Bloodscalp had provided us. The shop had several interesting items for sale, one of which was a Nymph Cloak that I suspected was the very one that I had acquired in Baldur's Gate, one of many things taken from me by Irenicus. I didn't feel that it would be worthwhile trying to claim ownership and, as we had ample funds available, I simply purchased it back, together with a twice-enchanted shortbow for Nalia and a twice-enchanted sling for Viconia.

Mae'Var spent his time in the basement below the shop. A grim place, with cells lining the corridor that led to where he held court, which was more like a torture chamber than an office. He was engaged in torturing someone even as we entered, a poor wretch Mae'Var revealed was his own cousin, who had made the mistake of stealing from guild coffers. I resisted the impulse to bring the torture to an end by separating Mae'Var's head from his shoulders and played the role agreed upon. With my usual persuasive abilities enhanced by the Nymph cloak it wasn't surprising that Mae'Var believed our story, accepted us as provisional guild members, and set us a simple task to seal our membership.

'Simple task' was perhaps an overstatement. We were to steal an amulet from the Weathermistress of the Temple of Talos. At least it was something we should be able to accomplish without resorting to violence, and Talos was a deity to whom my own goddess was opposed. He was not a friend to Shar either, although the two deities were not actively enemies, and so Viconia had no objections to the mission. Mae'Var told us he believed that the Weathermistress wore the amulet only by day, and took it off to sleep, and so it would be much easier to steal if we waited until nighttime. It was mid-afternoon, and so we had several hours to kill before we could accomplish this task, and I decided we might as well visit the Harpers, whose building was on the other side of the marketplace from the guildhall, and see what information we could get from them about Irenicus, the Cowled Wizard prison, and the missing thief colleague of the Zhentarim wizard.

One day I shall have a set of robes made with the legend 'Nothing in my life is ever simple' embroidered upon it. The guard at the door of the Harper hold refused to admit us, or even discuss anything, unless we performed a task for the Harpers first. He told us that a mage named Prebek was conducting vile experiments, creating creatures that threatened the safety of the city, and we were to go to his house and slay Prebek and his creatures. Once we had done that we would be granted admission.

It seemed simple enough – I really must stop thinking that – and I agreed. We set off for the house; I noted that a building near to it was a library, operated by the temple of Oghma, and it occurred to me that it might be a good place to research the mysterious skull Kangaxx and perhaps find information on the Cowled Wizards. That could be left until later and first we would complete the Harpers' task.

The 'creatures' were goblins. The mage Prebek was a beardless youth and his colleague Sanasha a girl probably no older than Imoen. As threats to the city went, they were probably about at the level of a mild shower of hail. Prebek did show up as Evil to my spell but Sanasha did not. Slaying them, I felt, would be wrong.

"Wait!" I shouted, as they reacted to our intrusion with cries of alarm. "We're not going to harm you."

"You're not?" Sanasha exclaimed.

"We're not?" Viconia echoed.

"The Harpers seem to want you dead," I said, "but I don't want to kill people hardly older than children. Call off your goblins and let us talk."

"We're grown up, and we're going to be mighty mages," Prebek said. "And our master would punish us if we surrendered without a fight. He pulled out three of my toenails just for miscasting a cantrip, remember, Sanasha. If we just give up, he'll skin us and do his strange little dance on our hides."

They were merely apprentices, then, and the Harper guard had greatly exaggerated their menace. "Do you have licenses from the Cowled Wizards for your magic?" I asked. "If you don't, the moment you cast anything outside the house they'll swoop down, arrest you, and cart you off to a horrible prison. It's happened to a friend of mine."

"No, we don't have licenses," Sanasha admitted. "One day we will, and then the people who bullied us will be sorry."

"This is not the way to go about it," I said. "Find yourself a master who doesn't pull out your toenails, and don't get involved in things that draw the enmity of the Harpers."

"No!" Prebek cried. "We won't give up!" He cast a Stoneskin on himself, Sanasha cast a spell that I guessed was Protection From Normal Missiles, the goblins attacked, and the two young apprentices began casting offensive spells. We had no option but to fight back and, much to my grief, we slew them.

None of us even suffered a scratch in this unequal fight. I shook my head. "This wasn't necessary," I said. "The Harpers more or less tricked us into a pointless slaying."

"I fear you are right," Jaheira agreed. "Slaying their master might have been just, but these… children could have been spared with nothing more than a stern scolding. I commend you for trying."

"I failed, and I regret it," I said, "but it is done now. We might as well see what they had and then return to the Harpers."

We gathered up a dozen or so spell scrolls, some of them of spells Nalia did not know, and found a Wand of Magic Missiles also. Back to the Harper hold and the guard, who was delighted at what he described as the success of our mission, and he brushed off my complaints that the whole thing had been unnecessary.

"Excellent work!" he exclaimed. "You have earned the gratitude of the Harpers. You may go inside… but I warn you to keep to the first floor. The second floor is perilous; anyone but a Harper who goes there will be killed, and we could not help you." I wondered if that was what had happened to Xzar's missing companion. If so, getting confirmation should be easy enough.

The Harpers inside were willing to talk but only within limits. I asked about the Cowled Wizards, Irenicus, and Imoen and learnt that the prison was named Spellhold, but that its location was a strictly guarded secret. One of the Harpers told me that the Cowled Ones seemed to be terrified of their recently-taken prisoner Irenicus, and might even feel that they had bitten off more than they can chew, but he could give me no further details. The second floor, a Harper told me, was guarded by beings that Jaheira identified as Spectral Harpists. To go up there without one of the party wearing a special amulet, from a store in one of the side rooms, would be fatal.

"It is odd that they seem to be so open about these amulets," Jaheira said. "It is almost as if they wish to draw our attention to them."

"Perhaps they intend for us to discover the thief's fate," Yoshimo said, "without openly appearing to do so. A warning to the wizard Xzar."

"The 'strange little dance' that apprentice described, speaking of his master, reminds me of Xzar," Jaheira said. "He behaved like that during our brief association."

"If so, I wonder why they don't just kill him," I said. "Or trick us into doing it, if they don't wish to openly kill people on the street. Well, we might as well pick up one of those amulets and investigate for ourselves, especially as the Harpers seem to be turning a blind eye."

It wasn't hard to find the amulets. We took one, I wore it, and we went up to the second floor. There we were greeted by ghostly figures, Spectral Harpists, who told us that we were welcome. I asked them what would happen to a thief, if they caught one, and they replied in cryptic terms that implied that they would polymorph such an intruder into a bird. A letter on a table seemed to confirm this, with a mention of hoping that the thief would develop a taste for birdseed, and talked of releasing him once he had learnt his lesson. There was an aviary in a side room in which a brightly-colored bird, of no species familiar to me, fluttered and chirped. We opened the aviary and the bird flew down and perched upon my shoulder.

It seemed all too easy. I could only assume that the Harpers were indeed using me to send a warning to Xzar, intending to frighten him off, without giving away that they didn't intend to kill him. We took the bird, descended to the first floor, left the building and made our way to the corner where Xzar waited.

"Finally, Montaron will be returned to my side!" Xzar cried, gleefully, once I had explained what I had discovered about the thief's fate and handed over the bird. "This is excellent news, especially since I have heard that someone broke into my laboratory, slew my assistants, and slaughtered my creations."

Confirmation that Xzar had indeed been the master of the two late apprentices. Something about which I would have words with him later.

Or not.

"Before I reward you, I will polymorph Monty back into his proper form," Xzar went on. "Just to make sure you're telling the truth, you understand. Monty should have something interesting to say…"

He cast the spell and the bird transformed. Not into a halfling thief but into a darthiir maiden in grey leathers. She was holding a katana and, before Xzar could react, she thrust it into his chest and ripped down. The wizard collapsed with one brief, but copious, gush of blood before his heart stopped and the gush became a trickle.

By that time the point of my sword was against her chest. "Explain to me what is going on," I said. "This was a set-up, wasn't it?"

The woman lowered her sword. "I have no quarrel with you," she said, "but you were our pawn. You delivered the poison to his heart. We made the path difficult, but not unknowable, and in the end this fool did perish, as well he should."

"You did not need to get me involved," I said, "and I resent it. Why were you not more open? I was brought up by a Harper, and I have a Harper in my party, as you no doubt know."

"And it is her presence that has kept you alive, Drow," said the elf. "Jaheira could have delivered the killing blow herself when she first met Xzar, but duty forbade it. We sought the optimum time to destroy him. We must take care when dealing with such as he. You did not know what he was."

"One of the Zhentarim," I said, "but hardly one high in their hierarchy."

"A necromancer, creating abominations for sale to the highest bidder," she said. "Far from their normal range, but not an unexpected enemy. He could not lay low with such a flamboyant manner, and we knew of him quickly. You merely helped in the inevitable, and so you are free. You served well, if unknowingly, and so your agreement to help him is forgotten. The amulet is worthless… the blessed bear only Harper pins."

"I knew that," I told her, "and my attention was drawn to the amulets so clumsily that I knew that you wanted me to have one. But you could at least have waited until he had given me the information that he promised in payment."

"I doubt that he knew anything of worth," she said. "Begone, and hopefully your next dealings with the Harpers will be more pleasant."

"This has greatly diminished the respect I had for the Harpers," I told her, but she ignored me and walked off.

"My own Harpers have used us," Jaheira said. "I should have suspected… the gaudy necklaces, the invitation. Ah, well, if he was doing as she said, he deserved his fate."

"The 'abominations' were goblins," I reminded her, "and his apprentices hardly more than children. It seems to me that this affair was someone blowing up a minor threat out of all proportion, perhaps to win undeserved acclamation from superiors for ending it."

"I fear you are correct," Jaheira said, "but it is over now, and I say we should forget about it and move on."

With the Harper assassin gone, it fell to us to strip the valuables from the body of Xvar. A few spell scrolls, a few pieces of minor jewelry, a set of bracers matching the ones Nalia now wore, and a twice-enchanted staff spear which Jaheira claimed. Mae'Var's guildhall was only yards away, and we were about to head for it, when one of the Harpers we had met inside their building approached Jaheira.

"A word with you I would have, Jaheira," she said. "Listen carefully whilst I say what I must, for this brings me no pleasure." She commanded that Jaheira follow her and showed her Harper pin to prove that she spoke for the organization. Jaheira obeyed, with some apparent reluctance, but promised to rejoin us later.

There were still several hours to kill before nightfall and I decided we could take the time to look into one of the other matters still outstanding; the kidnapping ring, one of whose members was the 'man in red' who frequented the Bridge District. Jaheira's absence seemed irrelevant to that investigation. We called into the shop at Mae'Var's guildhall briefly, and left the Wand of Monster Summoning with the storekeeper to be recharged at a cost of fourteen thousand eight hundred danter, and set off for the Bridge District. We were ambushed on the way, by a pair of thugs I suspected of being slavers, backed up by six Orogs. We killed them, of course, but these attacks were getting annoying and, indeed, worrying. There had to be some Slaver authority still remaining, to be ordering the attacks, and I hoped that we'd be able to track them down, and finish them off for good, before too much longer.

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The Bridge District turned out to be the scene of a number of grisly murders. Someone was preying on the poor and homeless and taking their skins. The guard commander in the area, a Lieutenant Aegisfield, was at a loss. He knew of some potential witnesses but they, being beggars and prostitutes, were almost as wary of the guard as of the serial killer and would barely talk to him. I resolved to see if we could help. First, though, came our search for the man in red.

And we found him without difficulty. He was leaning on a rail looking out over the river, in plain view, no doubt believing himself to be totally unsuspected. When I addressed him, commenting on his red robes and telling him that Tirdir sent his regards, he panicked and, instead of bluffing it out, fled into a nearby house. I followed and found him being berated for his cowardice by two armored accomplices, who killed him before fleeing out. They ran straight into my friends and, their escape cut off, they turned to fight.

After we had killed them, and stripped their bodies of some nice items including Boots of the Cat, we investigated the house and found another kidnap victim tied up inside. We freed her, received her thanks, and emptied the house of an unimpressive store of valuables before leaving.

A nearby door was trapped in exactly the same fashion as the house next to Mae'Var's hall, where we had found the golden skull Kangaxx, had been. We investigated, and found an almost identical crypt to that of Kangaxx. This one, however, held not a golden skull but a fully animate Elemental Lich. Luckily it fell victim to a well-thrown Azuredge before it could unleash its fury upon us. It had been guarding a golden rib-cage, no doubt one of the missing parts of Kangaxx's body, and before it fell it had said something about us falling for Kangaxx's lies. There was no way that I was going to restore the body parts to the sinister skull without doing a considerable amount of research first.

The murderer who skinned his victims was a more pressing matter and I sought out the witnesses mentioned by Lieutenant Aegisfield. One beggar had found a piece of strange hide at the site of a murder, which a local stallholder identified for us as being elephant hide, and a prostitute had noticed an odd smell in the vicinity of another murder. She said it had smelt like guril berries, which seemed incongruous, but we asked the stallholder if he knew anything that smelt like guril berries and he provided a few possibilities. The prostitute, after sniffing the samples, decided that oak bark, used by tanners to produce tannin, was the one she had smelt. This pointed to the killer being someone who worked with leather and hides. There was a leather-worker's shop in the area and so that was where we went next.

I rather expected that this would turn out to be a false lead but in fact we had struck gold. Rejiek Hidesman, the leather-worker, not only admitted his guilt straight away but openly boasted about his skill before fleeing down some stairs. We followed and found ourselves in a room in which the floor was laid with several deadly traps. We were in time to see Rejiek flee down yet another set of stairs and, after Yoshimo cleared our path, we followed.

This basement room opened onto the river below the bridge. Rejiek escaped in a boat as our path was blocked by two men garbed as thieves, a wizard, and two ghasts. The wizard, who named himself as 'Vellin Dahn' as he gave orders to the presumed thieves, teleported out as soon as Rejiek was clear. The thieves fought to the death, skillfully enough that I suspected they were trained assassins, and the ghasts fought like the almost mindless creatures that they were. One of the assassins managed to wound me quite badly, despite my armor, but even so they didn't last long. Long enough for Rejiek to escape, however, so our mission was not an unqualified success.

Decently profitable, however, as we found several useful spell scrolls, two once-enchanted shortswords, some gems, and a bowstave created by a legendary bowyer of the past. Useless in its current state, as it would require a bowstring specially matched to it, but when complete it would be a formidable weapon indeed. Returning to the floor above we found more gems, a Potion of Fire Resistance, and a set of leather armor that appeared to be made out of human skin. That, it seemed, had been the reason for the murders. A cupboard held a letter directing Rejiek, when the 'project' was finished save for the final ingredient, to seek out the writer in the Umar Hills and signal his identity with the purchase of the book 'History of the Zhentarim' and the use of a code name, constructed from the name 'Vellin Dahn' by a process of letter substitution following instructions in the letter. I worked out that the code name would be 'Darcin Cole', memorized that, and replaced the letter whence it came. If I visited the Umar Hills in the future a book-seller would get a very nasty, and hopefully terminal, surprise.

I ripped through the disgusting human-skin armor with my sword, weighted it down with a non-magical axe of small value, and sank it to the bottom of the river.

In the course of our questioning possible witnesses to the murders we had heard mention of a cult summoning demons in a storehouse not far away. I suspected this would be a wild rumor but, with the murderer case concluded save for the capture of the perpetrator, I decided that it might be worth checking out this alleged cult.

It was no wild goose chase, but a genuine cause for alarm. The fight that ensued, when we interrupted the cultists' ceremony, was brutal and both Minsc and I, who bore the brunt of the enemies' blows and spells, were quite badly hurt. I was in such a bad state that Viconia had to use a full Heal spell to restore me to full health. The rewards were worth it, however, as besides armor and spell scrolls we found gems including a valuable star sapphire and a Laeral's Tear necklace. Our funds were mounting up nicely.

Lieutenant Aegisfield was pleased with our efforts, and gave us the five hundred danter reward offered by the city; more important than the money was that it would raise our reputation with the city's authorities and make it less likely that we would be harassed because of me and Viconia being Drow.

And, by now, nightfall was approaching and it was worth our while to head for the Temple District and the Temple of Talos. I made myself refrain from even thinking that stealing the amulet would be a simple task.

Glossary of Drow Phrases

Alu lu'vith dosstan! = Go and fuck yourself

Vith! = Fuck!

tu'rilthiir = half-elf

Abbilen ph'bwael pholor l'tangi d'xonathull = Friends are good on the day of battle

darthiir = surface elf