SILVERYMOON
Chapter 19
"Well, this place looks familiar." Alexis and everyone else, including Corimin, who had agreed to the terms, had come to Mithral Hall. So there they were, sitting in an inn. Rick and Corimin had Dwarven Ales to drink while Alexis had wine. Kate, of course, was sitting there.
"He'll find us, he said." Alexis still wasn't so sure. This place was huge, while the inn was maybe not so big. It was also looking like it wasn't all that busy.
"We're the only humans in the place," Kate noted since she had her eyes open, looking for a Dwarf that looked lost or was trying to find someone. "Half-Orc, Half I-don't-know-what, and is that group real Orcs?" There were only three of them. They were in a corner paying attention to no one, including them.
"We haven't even met who wanted us yet," Rick complained a little. They had a counter offer to present. And that person wasn't here. At least not yet.
"Here we go," Kate whispered when in walked two Dwarves. One was wearing clothing, and the other, clad in armor, had a weapon or two, a backpack, boots, and looked ready for some action.
The one in clothes looked around and walked right to them. "You are Silverymoon?" he questioned them.
"We are. I'm Kate." She introduced the others. "This is Rick, Alexis, and Corimin."
"This is Ghared. She will be going with you," he said bluntly.
"She!?" Alexis didn't see it save maybe for the armor. It had bumps where the breasts would be.
"Typical humans." Ghared's lip raised in derision and her tone that said she had a huge chip on her shoulder. She didn't like humans much.
Kate tried to be diplomatic. "We were told Ghared was a man. That was wrong, obviously. Nothing more. We're happy to have the help."
"You are aware of the terms?" he queried. So long as they agreed, he would ask what they wanted and arrange to have it made while they were gone.
"We are, however, we have a counter offer," Kate told him.
Alexis spoke up. "I'm training to be a Sorceress, and Corimin here is a Sorcerer. We have no proficiency with any of your weapons or armor, so we have a counter offer for you to consider."
He finally looked them over. None of them were wearing armor, and save for maybe a hint of a tiny weakling dagger, didn't have any weapons either. How did they plan to survive this? Still, he said nothing and waited.
"We would like one Rod of Many Wands and one +3 Composite Short Bow of Oath. That's it, nothing else. No gold, no Mithral, or any other metal. No special armor nor a one-of-a-kind weapon. Just those two items," Alexis told him.
Alexis had asked her Master and other Wizards in the School any number of questions. And Kate had done the same with her Master and others. Corimin was happy with his Staff of Power, and Rick was willing to let those two get what they wanted most.
That had him lifting an eyebrow. Neither of these items could be made by them easily. They were Dwarves who specialized in weapons and armor made from Mithral. Yes, they had Wizards and people that could make a bow and a magical Rod. He just didn't understand. However, two items that could be made instead of four sounded like a bargain.
"Agreed. What you have requested will be ready by the time you come back. May Moridin shine his light on you. Safe travels, Ghared." He gave her a nod, turned, and left her behind.
"Sorceress and Sorcerer. And you two are?" Ghared questioned. She needed to know with whom she would be traveling. What were their capabilities? Was she going to have to protect all four of these humans?
"Rogue and Warlock." Kate left off the training-to-be part. To Kate, Ghared looked like she didn't much like humans. Kate didn't want to look weak; she hated weakness as it was.
Ghared's eyebrows shot up at that. Three magic users and a Rogue or Thief. It was an interesting group. They had no hand-to-hand combat experience in the bunch. She didn't mind getting her hands dirty in Combat. "I'm a Battlesmith, 7th class. I studied under the Great Durgeddin," she replied proudly. "He is a Master Smith. It was an honor to learn under him. When I heard about this, I volunteered immediately. I know where we're going well."
"No offense, but what makes him so great?" Kate inquired.
"Durgeddin is renowned as a Master Weapons maker. No other Dwarf has his skill. He alone is responsible for some of the greatest Dwarven weapons ever made. If any of those weapons have fallen into enemy hands, the Dwarven Nation will go to war to recover them," Ghared explained.
"I guess that answers that." Alexis had wondered just what was so important about this place.
"If you're ready, we can leave immediately. We can stop for food supplies on the way out." Ghared was ready to get started. Where they were going was several days from here, and it wasn't going to be an easy trip. She was not looking forward to the Desert of Anauroch's burning heat during the day, even in winter, and freezing nights that were even worse now.
"Everything is in our room. We can meet you at the front door." With that, Kate got up, followed by everyone else.
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Ghared wasn't all that surprised when they joined her. None of them had armor or any real weapons. She saw all of them had a simple dagger, and two of them had staves that she was betting were magical. All of them had backpacks much like her own. However, she did have one surprise.
"Is that animal on fire?" Ghared had spotted Patches.
"His name is Patches, and he's an Ember Cat," Alexis said. "He's with me. He hates dogs."
"MEOW!"
"Well, you do," Alexis retorted.
"A familiar. I've never seen one like it. You can collect your horses while I collect my ride," Ghared told them and turned to leave the inn.
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The four of them were at the first Gatehouse, waiting for her when she showed up. But what she had wasn't a horse. "Is that...a ram?" Alexis asked her since what she looking at was a surprise.
"A Battle Ram. Chalk is his name. He's a devoted companion and well-trained." Ghared petted him and kissed his white hair. He was much larger than any ram that Rick, Kate, and Alexis might be used to seeing. His horns were long and had just a touch of curl going backward. He had a lot of white hair and almost had a lion's mane of white hair.
They watched as he snorted and looked at all of them. Then he actually bent down to look closer at Patches. "Snort!"
"She told me its name is Patches," Ghared explained to her Battle Ram since she understood what Chalk said perfectly. "Different, isn't he?"
"MEOW?"
"Patches asked if he hates fire." Alexis waited impatiently for her to answer.
"I guess we'll find out." Both Ghared and Chalk were used to fire, but not animals that were on fire. "Did you stop for food and water? The desert can be harsh," she warned them.
"We have everything we need," Kate replied. So with that, they each walked their rides all the way out and through the tunnel till they were outside. Once outside, they found that it was lightly snowing on the other side of the mountain.
Each mounted their ride while Ghared took the lead and led them to the lone bridge over the river. It was still days to Silverymoon where they would stop for food or anything else. After Silverymoon, the only city left to them was Sundabar.
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At their first stop on the way to Silverymoon, they found out Ghared had no intention of sharing their tent and apparently, didn't need to. She took off her cloak, shook it out to get the snow off, and said a word they didn't understand. Suddenly, a small two-person pup tent with a little fire right out front was there.
Like their tent, it was perfect inside. Next, Ghared rolled out a sleeping bag that looked very similar to theirs. She came back out, her armor was off, and she carried no weapons. She walked over to Chalk, petted him, put a feed bag on him, and petted him again. Then she walked back to her tent, sat at the entrance, and began cooking something for herself.
Two of their horses got a feed bag as well. The four retreated into their tent to eat something cold and get ready for bed. "I'm not sure Ghared much likes us," Corimin commented since he had been watching and keeping silent.
Alexis grumbled, "She called us humans like that was a bad thing."
"Maybe to her, it is," Kate said and spread out her sleeping bag on a cot.
"There are Dwarves at home, just not that many of them. Her home is all Dwarves. Explains why all non-Dwarves can't get past that one inn," Rick mentioned and rolled out his sleeping bag.
"By the time we get there, we'll know each other pretty well." They had at least a week, and that was after they made it to Silverymoon, which was four days away.
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It was Winter, and animals that were hurting for food, so far weren't hungry enough to attack five people riding animals that might outrun them. That didn't mean they weren't watching them as they passed by, looking and hoping for one to trail too far behind, but none of them did.
Ghared on Chalk was out front of everyone, while Alexis and Corimin came next, riding side by side, and Rick and Kate took up the rear, also side by side. Kate, unlike Rick, kept looking behind her to see if anyone or something was trying to sneak up on them.
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Silverymoon turned out to be just a quick stop to put food in their Fresh Bags and make sure they had enough food and water for the desert, before moving on. It was two days or more to Sundabar, and Ghared had them going slow through the pass with hills on either side. She had all of them on alert, looking for an ambush. Because of that, it took them three full days to reach Sundabar.
Ghared hadn't been in this City in years, while Rick, Kate, and Alexis never had. They had no reason to come here. Corimin hadn't been here in years either, and he had just been a little kid at the time with his parents.
Sundabar was broken up as 54% humans, 33% dwarves, 8% gnomes, 8% halflings, 1% half-elves, and 1% others. They didn't know that, but it felt like it when they stopped and even got three rooms at an inn to spend the night.
That was where Rick and Kate stopped and stuffed their backpacks with hay for the horses. Oats were nice, but too much was bad for them, and there wouldn't be any grass of any kind in the desert.
Then they got the idea to mound all this hay, wrap it up in cloth, and strap it on each horse's back. So instead of more hay, they bought more waterskins for themselves and the horses and put those in their backpacks.
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At the end of the first day after leaving Sundabar, they had Ghared in their tent as Rick rolled out the map he had that they could follow. "We were told these two locations are abandoned ruins of small cities or just settlements. This one is on the edge of the desert while this one is in the desert. After that, we were told that it's all ice." Rick waited for Ghared to respond.
She offered her thoughts. "We will need to avoid both places. Old abandoned places are perfect locations for Undead or worse."
"Worse?" To Alexis, the only thing possibly worse was more Dragons.
"Worse could be the remnant of an army that's starving to death and willing to attack anyone. Win and feast, or die and end their suffering. Undead could be something simple like Skeletons or Zombies, but my gold's on there being at least one Ghost looking for a companion to join it," Ghared said.
"We were thinking of not entering the ice," Kate told her. "It's hard on us and hard on the horses."
"I suggest we camp in these small woods here. Then go around it and out into the desert. Eventually, we will reach this rise up to the ice field." She touched the map to show where it was. "Then we follow that to this mountain range here. Once we're there, we'll have to be careful. Cross a little bit of ice to reach this mountain range. The Stronghold of Khundrukar will be halfway up this mountain range. The entrance will be hidden, but I know a way in." Ghared looked at each of them.
"We were warned that there could be a Brown Dragon or Sand Dragon," Alexis mentioned since she desperately wanted to avoid one of those.
"That's possible. There could also be a Red Dragon, Silver Dragon, or even a Crystal Dragon of unknown type in this mountain range that's right here." She pointed at the Mountain Range they were headed toward.
Ghared told them what she knew might be there. "This mountain range could have Goliaths, large bands of Orcs, or even Fomorian, or Hill Giants. All are bad news."
Alexis moaned. "Everything we meet is bad news. I'd rather meet a Silver Dragon for a change!"
"It will take us a week to reach this first mountain range. Only the Nomads that live there know where the water is. Even I don't know where any of those are," Ghared warned them. "Water will be worth more than gold in the desert."
"We're ready." At least Kate was pretty sure they were ready. "We even have something to put the water in to water the horses."
"There will also be no wood for fires in the desert, so we need to take what we need with us, and eat cold a lot," Ghared told them.
"Maybe not." Rick had an idea, and it involved his empty Portable Hole.
"Fires in a flat desert can also be a signal to enemies." Ghared didn't know what he was thinking, but she planned to eat as cold as she could manage. Except there was her little fire in front of her tent. The problem was it never ran out of wood, and since it was magical, it never went out. She had planned try to hide it as best she could or sleep in the open or with them.
"That's right, ruin my idea of cooking in the desert. Are you sure you're not related to Kate? She likes to shoot down my ideas with her female logic," Rick complained, which got Kate to smile at him.
"So Rick, Kate, Alexis, and Corimin, tell me with whom I'm traveling. Why Silverymoon? I prefer Mithral Hall. Silverymoon was a little off for me." She was betting it was even worse in the Spring and Summer.
"Where to begin?" Kate wasn't sure just how much to tell her.
"Story time!" Rick was ready. "Save for Corimin, none of us are from this Realm. We were all born and raised in a different one. Everything was just fine until one day when we woke up in a Drow Prison.
"We escaped our Drow prison and ended up lost in the Underworld. Wandered around, totally lost with no idea where we were or how to get home." Just for her, Rick was keeping it simple.
"That's where we met Patches." Alexis reached out to pet him. "He was just a newborn kitten then."
"They were going to ship us off to some Drow City somewhere," Rick recalled.
"Menzoberranzan, City of Spiders. No one escapes from the City of Spiders. You got lucky." Ghared was actually quite impressed.
"Next came a city full of Kuo-Toa, big walking, talking frogs or some such." Rick still wasn't sure about them. "However, that's where we got a lead on how to escape. It took us 20 days to reach it. From there, it was another five days to the surface."
"Imagine our surprise when they told us that out there was Silverymoon. It was there that we learned we were in a land called Faerûn," Alexis added.
"We never heard of it and had no idea where we were. And worse, even after explaining our world, we found out no one had ever heard of it. If they didn't know of it, they couldn't send us back there." Rick shrugged. "So here we are."
"Silverymoon is home now. Rick was or maybe still is a writer. I was a homicide detective, and Alexis was just beginning college." Kate shook her head. "Talk about a shock."
"No electricity, no taxis, no airplanes, no skyscrapers, no rockets to the moon, no moon." Alexis adds.
A little homesick now, Alexis looked at Ghared and said, "No electricity, no taxis, no airplanes, no skyscrapers, no rockets to the moon. No moon."
"We're trapped here. Even as a writer, Rick was my partner. It was our job to solve homicides. Find out who killed someone, arrest them, and put them in prison where they belonged." Kate took a deep breath to calm herself. "Now, instead of doing that, we're helping our new City. We stopped something called an Annus Hag from taking over the City. Next, we stopped a young Green Dragon and recovered four stolen Sisters of Mystra. We went to the Spine of the World, and there, we shut down a mine owned by an Ancient Colossal Red Dragon. And now, we're doing this."
"What we don't understand is why us? What makes us so special? We didn't know anyone here." Then Alexis added, "We even got to meet the High Lady Alustriel Silverhand."
"It is said she has great power. She must have seen something in you." Ghared was becoming impressed with these humans.
"Elves were fantasy, so were Dwarves and Dragons, and all the other races we've seen. This place is different, very different. We're doing our best to fit in and make a life because we can't get back," Kate told her.
"That's what the Lady and some Cleric told us," Alexis remembered.
"They might have lied. But why would they? Why would they want to keep us here? They don't even know who we are. Or didn't," Rick added.
Something clicked, and Kate looked at Rick. "Or they do know, and they did this."
Rick liked it; it made sense to him. "Yes, they needed someone no one knew, so they kidnapped us."
But Alexis countered that thinking. "By making us prisoners of the Drow?"
"A test for us, or maybe something went wrong," Kate suggested. "But that still doesn't explain why us."
Then Rick and Kate said the same thing, at the same time, "Because they know!" and smiled at each other.
"They know!?" Alexis stared at these two. "How could they know?"
Once again, Rick and Kate said the same thing, at the same time, "Because they lied."
"They know, and they either don't care, or else they need us for something. Maybe it's this?" Kate shrugged; she really had no idea.
"What are you three talking about?" Ghared demanded since she wasn't following. They knew something she didn't, and she wanted to know what it was.
"Why didn't we figure this out before now?" Kate didn't understand that part.
"A spell! They cast a spell on all of us!" Alexis exclaimed. "But what did that spell do? I don't feel any different. I still feel like me. I know I love Cor, and I'm happy I met him." Alexis looked at him and then had a terrible thought. "Are you in on this?" She stared at Corimin, her eyes huge.
"In on what, Lex? Even I'm not sure what you three are talking about." Corimin wasn't following some of this. Yes, he knew they weren't from here, but were they talking about the City that brought them here? That they kidnapped them and wouldn't send them back?
"I. Haven't. Done. Anything!" Corimin told them. "I love you, and I admit it." He finally and fully came to terms with the fact that he was in love with a Demon. However, she proved that she wasn't a Demon, at least not what he knew of Demons. Even Kate didn't want to bite him.
"Explain it to me." Ghared needed to understand exactly what was going on here.
"She's going to figure it out sooner or later," Kate said, looking at Rick and watching him eventually nod his head. "Do we use Alexis after this?" That was the plan. So do they change it?
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Oathbow
(Nock an arrow, friend, and hear this bow speak in a chosen tongue "swift defeat to my enemies." Making an Attack while speaking the Command phrase, "Swift death to you who have wronged me," will result in the bow declaring the target its Sworn Enemy. Receive the ability to see through any cover the target might try to hide behind as long as it isn't total cover. Any arrow placed in this bow is at a near can't miss hit rate. Couple these boons with the additional amount of piercing damage on all successful hits.)
Staff of many Wands
(This staff is as thin as any other, and looks like a typical wizard's accessory, wrapped in leather from the bottom towards the middle and constructed of Mithral it feels like a mace when held from the handle, just lighter. Upon further investigation you will notice that the head of this wonder is twice that of its tail and has three slots roughly the width of a typical wand. Holding three wands at the big end allowing the wielder to fire off three wands at the same time.)