The Jade Dancer
Following the squeaking, nose pointing, directions of the rat on her shoulder, Aleina led Jhelnae and Fargas off the broad thoroughfare called the Way of the Dragon and onto the smaller, but still cobble paved and streetlamp lit, Spices Street. Strangely, despite the name of the street, none of the closed and locked up shops here seemed to specialize in spice selling. Instead, one sign proudly declared its store as Khostal Hannass's Fine Nuts and another shop further down the street followed this creative naming convention and its sign identified it as Felhaur's Fine Fish.
The aasimar, half-drow, and halfling had enjoyed a nice dinner with Lady Jeryth at Phaulkomere after Kuhl, Sky, and Surash had departed to Undercliff by some sort of plant teleportation spell to deal with the scarecrow threat there. Although dining with was a relative term when your dinner host was a disembodied voice. After dinner the Chosen of Mielikki had taken over the consciousness of a rat to guide them to the hostel that served as the front of the Shard Shunner gang of wererats. Despite the late hour, plenty of other travelers were on the road and they did a double take at the rodent on Aleina's shoulder.
"He's a pet," the aasimar said to a staring gray-haired and wizened skinned female sailor.
For some reason Aleina kept feeling the need to provide complete strangers an explanation to the rat on her shoulder. The sailor didn't even acknowledge her, just continued to stare without a word or even a change of expression as they passed each other.
"Out of all the rats in Waterdeep," the aasimar mumbled. "You had to pick this one. You're making me look bad."
The rat on her shoulder didn't look much like a pet - unless Aleina was the worst and most neglectful pet owner on all of Toril. The rodent had a nasty scar on his head, the product of an old injury that had also taken off an ear and its gray fur was mangy and matted with patches missing. But that fur was at least clean. The first thing Lady Jeryth had done after taking control was make it bathe in Phaulkonmere's courtyard fountain.
The rat holding the consciousness of the Chosen of Mielikki responded to Aleina's grumbling with a bout of squeaking laughter that almost took her borrowed body off the aasimar's shoulder. Then she stopped, stood on her hind legs and tapped Aleina on the cheek before pointing with a quivering nose.
"I think this is the place," the aasimar said.
"Squeak!"
Based on what they had agreed on over dinner, one squeak meant yes.
"It doesn't look like much of a gang hideout," Jhelnae said. "Looks like a normal hostel."
The three-story wood building did look fairly ordinary. Even needing a fresh coat of paint and some of its window shutters repaired like most of the other buildings in the Dock Ward. The only thing hinting it might be the home of a gang was a scowling halfling in a chair on the porch of the hostel, obviously guarding the door.
"Of course it doesn't look like a gang hideout," Fargas said. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be much of a hideout. Remember, let me do the talking. We'll walk up, I'll say we're here to see Dasher Snobeedle. All you two need to do is smile."
"We got it, Fargas," the half-drow said, with an exasperated sigh. "Stand back, look pretty. You don't need to keep reminding us."
"Not just pretty when we meet Dasher," the halfling said. "We want him to come back with us and go back to his family. So, sultry and seductive and sweet and enticing."
He pointed at Jhelnae and Aleina in turn.
"Sweet and enticing?" the aasimar said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't even know what that is supposed to look like."
"Well, I'll give you a hint," Fargas said. "It looks nothing like your current expression. That is more exasperated and incredulous."
"Fargas," the half-drow said. "Read my facial expression."
"Not sultry or seductive at all," the halfling said, with a shake of his head. "You look irritated and frustrated."
"Good!" Jhelnae said, throwing up her hands. "Because that is precisely how I feel. Can we just get on with this?"
"Squeak!" the rat holding the consciousness of Lady Jeryth voiced in support.
"Fine," Fargas said, turning and moving towards the hostel.
He muttered under his breath as he walked. As usual for him, however, every word of his complaining was audible to his companions.
"Simple task, just use a soft touch on the lad to help reel him in. But can they handle it? Oh, no. Can't even have them coyly playing with hair in the background since they chopped it all off. All under the advice of someone famous for having long silver hair hanging down past her waist. How was that not a clue to not listen to her?"
"By all that dances," the half-drow sighed.
She and Aleina shared an eye roll before they followed.
The halfling sitting on the porch saw them approaching and sat up straighter, eyes narrowing.
"Good day to you fine sir," Fargas said as they walked up
"It's nighttime, not day," the aasimar said helpfully.
"I meant good evening," their halfling companion amended, taking the time to give Aleina an annoyed look.
"Right," she said under her breath. "Silent and pretty. Sorry. I forgot."
"We're here to see…"
Fargas got no more out before the door to the hostel flew open and a running halfling barreled out of it. He partially collided against the sitting guard on the porch knocking him and his chair over. Three others followed the runner - a tiefling boy, a skinny dark-haired girl, and a chubby brown skinned human boy - all also moving at top speed. They sprinted down the few wooden steps onto the cobblestone street and turned left, running hard.
The companions just watched them go for a moment, stunned.
"Wait a moment," Aleina said. "Were those the three pickpocket children you and Sky met on the rooftop of that Dray?"
Before Jhelnae answered, another wave came running out of the hostel, obviously in pursuit of the first group. Most of these were halflings, but there was also a big, dark-haired man in black leather armor with a sword sheathed at his waist and another thin man in a long cloak with the hood thrown back to expose his graying hair as he ran.
"Don't just sit there, Roscoe!" one of the halflings yelled. "They're getting away!"
The previous guard of the door, Roscoe apparently, picked himself up and dashed after the others. The companions were left staring after the runners, the door to the hostel left wide open.
"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"
The rat on aasimar's shoulder started jumping up and down.
"What is it, Jeryth?" Aleina asked.
The rodent pointed down the street, back the way they had come, in the direction everyone had run. Jhelnae figured it out first, partially anyway.
"Of course," she said. "Dasher is part of the gang. He must be among the halflings chasing the others."
"Squeak, squeak," the Chosen of Mielikki said through the possessed rodent, shaking her head.
Two squeaks for no.
"He is the one getting chased," Fargas guessed. "Along with the three children."
"Squeak!" the rat affirmed, with another insistent nose point.
The companions started running but they were already far behind, and the others moved quickly. By the time they reached the Way of the Dragon, no one they pursued were in sight - the chase having obviously progressed off the the lamp lit broad thoroughfare and onto one of the numerous darkened alleyways between buildings off of it. But which one? Travelers on the street to their right were stopped and looking around, still in a state of surprise.
"Did you see a group of mostly halflings run by," Jhelnae asked as they jogged to a stop. "Which way did they go?"
Mostly blank stares met their inquiries. One well dressed older gentleman started to point, but his wife slapped his hand down.
"Don't answer her, you daft fool," she scolded. "Half the first group were some kind of creatures and she is a drow. And that one has a mangy rat on her shoulder. Best not to get involved. Never any of the Watch around when you need them!"
Fargas caught up with them at that moment.
"You know what I don't have?" he huffed. "Feral were-creature speed! Where is a tabaxi with magic boots when you need one? Which way did they go?"
"We don't know," Aleina said, glaring around at the evening travelers on the road. "No one will tell us."
The driver of a hire coach seemed to decide he'd rather be somewhere else at that moment and cracked his whip in the air over his team of horses. They started off down the Way of the Dragon with the clip clop of hooves and the clatter of wheels over cobblestones. Others followed his lead, quickly walking on their way, avoiding meeting gazes with the companions.
"I think that is the Runaway Aasimar Bride," the old woman who had stopped her husband from pointing said, glancing back as they hustled away. He must be hard of hearing because she spoke overly loud into his ear. "Remember that picture I showed you in the Wazoo? I read a follow up article that the stupid girl did it all to be with the drow. They've been seen renting rooms for passionate trysts at the Mermaid Arms."
"Sounds romantic," her husband said. "We should spend a night in the Arms sometime."
"This is why I manage the accounts you doddering nitwit," the woman snapped. "Why throw good coin away at a place like that to spend just another night wide awake and unable to sleep because of your snoring? And what did those two do to their hair? They had such long pretty locks in their picture in the Wazoo."
Jhelnae snorted out a laugh and blew the retreating couple a kiss with a wink. Aleina, meanwhile, found herself admiring the woman's hardheaded pragmatism, despite the unkind words directed her way. But she pushed this distraction out of her mind. They still didn't know which way to go.
The rat on the aasimar's shoulder scurried down her body and onto the street. There it gave a confused shake of its head, then darted off the roadway and into the shadows. A coo sounded from above and, through her dark vision, Aleina saw a pigeon take flight from a nearby rooftop. It circled high overhead and then flew down one of the nearby alleys, cooing more as it did.
"I think that is Lady Jeryth and that she wants us to follow," the aasimar said. "This way."
"Great," Fargas sighed. "More running."
They ran, finding themselves in a twisting warren of small dark alleys between buildings that would have had Aleina lost, if not for the cooing of the possessed pigeon overhead. Aleina started to wonder if Lady Jeryth actually knew where they were going since she sometimes reversed direction and sent them back the way they had come. At least those times allowed poor Fargas to keep pace with them. Alley denizens started in surprise as they ran past, but their group's pace gave them barely enough time for a shouted catcall towards their retreating backs. Eventually, the aasimar saw four familiar figures running towards them - a halfling, a dark-haired skinny girl, a tiefling boy, and a heavy set brown skinned boy trailing them all. Both groups slowed to a stop as they approached each other, the group with children fearfully glancing over their shoulders.
"Dasher," Fargas wheezed. "Lady Jeryth Phaulkon sent us here to help."
"Then let us by," the named halfling said, starting forward.
The dark-haired girl was rapidly signing with her hands to her companions.
"You're right, Nat," the brown skinned boy said between gasping breaths and using hand signals while he spoke. "It is that mean dark elf lady. I didn't recognize her at first since she cut her hair."
"Mean dark elf lady?" Jhelnae sputtered. "You little brats! You tried to steal from us!"
"Why are you being chased?" Aleina asked.
"No time," Dasher said.
It turned out he was right. The thump of heavy feet of the big human in dark leather armor and the lighter tread of the thin gray-haired man, a pair of female halflings, twins it seemed, and bunch of partially shifted wererats, announced the arrival of those in pursuit.
"Dasher!" a wererat growled. "You miserable traitor! We took you in when you had no where to go, and this is how you repay us?"
"I can't let them just kill them, Brynn" Dasher pleaded, backing away with his charges towards Aleina's group. "They're only children."
"You're not touching any of them!" Aleina yelled, motioning Dasher and the others to get behind her.
The children and halfling jostled by to obey. The aasimar set a raised hand ablaze to give weight to her words. Beside her, Jhelnae mimicked her, her hand glowing with eldritch power. Overhead the possessed pigeon circled and cooed.
"Oh, I wouldn't mess with her when children are involved," Fargas called out. "Really strong protective maternal instinct. Very dangerous."
Unfortunately, the other party was unimpressed. The big human drew his short sword and smiled a wicked smile while the wererats crouched and gave a collective feral growl. One of the twin halflings did a backflip and dropped into a fighting stance and her sister punched through a nearby rain barrel with a crack and then did the same. Apparently, the barrel was mostly empty since no water came gushing out. Most disconcerting of all, the thin human held up his hand and conjured his own fire. Up above, two leathery winged small devil creatures winked into existence, the same type as the one Aleina had seen with Jhelnae in the City of the Dead attacking the deep gnome. They stabbed the pigeon with tail stingers and the bird dropped like a stone to the packed dirt of the alley with a light thump.
"Oh, Hells no," Fargas said. "Did she just break a barrel with her bare fist?"
A beggar, previously unnoticed by the aasimar, scrambled to his feet from behind some crates and barrels and took off running.
"Change of plan," Aleina said. "Everyone shut their eyes."
She focused, drawing as much light from her internal celestial well as she could muster and sent it forth in a burst of blinding radiance.
"Now run!" she shouted.
They ran, but not fast. Apparently, the dark-haired girl, Nat, hadn't followed her order to shut her eyes and was now blind. Her two friends each held a hand, guiding her stumbling flight as best they could.
A crackling beam of energy streaked skyward from Jhelnae's outstretched hand.
"Damn it!" the half-drow cursed, indicating she'd missed her target. "We need to take out those fliers or we'll never get away!"
A cacophony of cawing erupted from the night sky as a swarm of pecking crows descended on the two little flying devils. Apparently, Lady Jeryth Phaulkon had returned with a vengeance, none too pleased with having the pigeon holding her consciousness murdered. The flying infernal creatures shrieked in pain and struck out with claws and stinging tails to defend themselves. But they were fighting a flurry and both went invisible to try and escape the onslaught. This, seemingly, didn't completely hide them from their avian assailants and a knot of crows continued to harry the two invisible devils as they flew away in retreat.
"Two problems down,"Jhelnae said. "Many more remaining."
They moved faster now, the girl Nat having recovered her sight and able to move on her own without assistance. Unfortunately, their pursuers had also seemingly recovered from their temporary blindness and the sound of running footsteps warned they gained ground from behind.
Aleina and her group spilled out from the darkened alley they followed onto a well lit wide plaza paved with smooth concrete tile. A crowd was gathered at the far end in front of a three story fest hall, apparently awaiting admittance.
"You think those people will help us?" Fargas asked.
Some herd instinct of safety in numbers made them all collectively slow from run to fast walk now that they were in view of a crowd.
"They won't help," the tiefling boy said. "No one ever wants to get involved. They'll just yell for the Watch who will arrive too late."
The aasimar was tempted to argue that wasn't true, but she'd just seen evidence he was right. Also, he probably had far more experience of how people would react in these sorts of situations than she ever would.
"Then let's get off the street," Fargas said. "Into that fest hall."
Bright light lit the timber and stone columned building - constant white light from magic imbued sconces on the wall rather than flickering lanterns or torches. The sign above the entrance showed a green feminine figure performing a back bending dance move and named the place the Jade Dancer. The walls were sealed by a coat of plaster with bricks pressed in slanting courses in a geometric design. The facade, however, couldn't fully disguise the fest hall from what it was - a warehouse with a grand front tacked onto it. Booming music came from inside, far louder than should have been possible from even an orchestra of musicians playing. They were halfway across the plaza when Dasher hissed a warning.
"They've caught up to us!"
Aleina glanced back to see their pursuers leaving the alley. They also slowed, eyeing the crowd warily, the wererats shifting fully back into their halfling forms. But the hands on their dagger hilts and their hurried steps across the plaza in pursuit, showed they hadn't given up the hunt.
"Quickly," the aasimar said. "Inside."
But an easy entry was foiled by a big half-orc that blocked the way to the door.
"Where do you think you lot are going?"
"Inside?" Fargas said hopefully.
The door jack answered with a hard-eyed stare and slight shake of the head. The watching crowd waiting to get in grumbled in disapproval.
"I might let you and you bypass the line," the half-orc said, pointing at Aleina and Jhelnae. "But not with these others and not dressed like that. This is the Jade Dancer, not some common tap room to pop into for a bite and a drink after a day at the market. You want in? Next time wear something that shows some skin."
"I should be insulted," Fargas said. "But I can see the good business sense in that policy."
The aasimar looked down at her clothes. She wore her green and brown skirt with matching hose leggings that was both nice and practical, good for meeting a Chosen of Mielikki who might have a mission for them to perform. A glance towards the waiting crowd, however, showed a lot of tight-fitting silk with plenty of slits, low cut bust lines, and bare midriffs. They were way underdressed, or maybe overdressed was the appropriate word.
She suddenly remembered that some people could always get inside places like this and never had to wait, no matter what they wore. Her former fiance by way of example.
"Would you believe I come from a patriar family?" she asked. "The equivalent of a noble in Baldur's Gate?"
"Of course, I would," the half-orc rumbled. "And I'm Lord Dagult Neverember's bastard son after he fell in love with me mum."
He jabbed a finger to the back of the line, which brought a bout of jeering laughter from the waiting crowd.
"And lose the children," he said. "This ain't no orphanage. It's the…"
"Jade Dancer, we know, you said that already," Jhelnae finished for him. "And we don't have time for this!"
She held up her hand, twisting it in an intricate pattern and catching the attention of the door jack as she cast her charm spell. The half-orc's eyes glazed over for a moment, then refocused on the half-drow. A smile brightened his features.
"My friends and I need to get inside," Jhelnae said. "And quickly."
"Of course," he said, moving aside and giving an inviting gesture. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you before."
The jeering laughter from the waiting crowd turned to cries of disbelief and anger.
"We've been waiting for hours!"
"They let urchin children in now? This place has really gone downhill."
"I couldn't see! Did the drow flash him a view of her chest or pass him some coin?"
"Both probably. Underdark slut!"
Aleina was very glad the half-drow had hidden her spell casting from view by using the aasimar's body as a shield, otherwise the angry waiting crowd might have torn them apart before those chasing them had a chance to catch up and knife them to death.
"And please don't let any of those coming across the plaza enter," the half-drow said, pointing.
"Not even if they wait in line," the door jack said, shaking his head.
"Good thinking," Fargas said as they hustled past the big half-orc and inside.
Music and swirling faerie lights assaulted the aasimar's senses on entry. Floating multicolored lights pulsed in time with the music which revealed twirling and gyrating bodies on a crowded dance floor. Three tiers of balconies rose above this space, all also crammed full of dancers and the bar that stretched almost all the way across the back wall looked like it was under siege by all the patrons trying to order drinks. Minstrels played on a gallery suspended from chains from the ceiling and above them were roof skylights currently cranked open to let in the nighttime breeze. Some sort of magic amplified the music, carrying it to every corner of the fest hall at a booming volume. But all those details seemed to flow into the background when Aleina caught sight of the Jade Dancer.
An eight foot tall, animated statue of jade danced at the center of the floor. Despite being made of stone, she moved with exquisite grace and flexibility. Green glowing, flowing hair and a gauzy dress to preserve her modesty whipped around her as she danced, and the translucent, illusory quality of her hair and clothes contrasted with the solid, stone presence of the Jade Dancer herself to give her a surreal, other worldly beauty, both mesmerizing and hypnotic. She danced in a circular area immediately around her left empty by the crowd. Given the velocity of those stone limbs as she twisted and twirled, it was no surprise no one invaded her space.
"Let's see if there is a back exit," Jhelnae practically screamed to be heard over the music.
"You expect us to push our way through that?" Fargas yelled back, with a wave at the pressed crowd.
"Don't push your way through," the half-drow yelled. "Dance your way through. Follow me!"
With that, Jhelnae started dancing, hips and shoulders moving in time with the music, then she started slipping through the crowd, guided by the beat and rhythm. Fargas gave Aleina an incredulous look, but she motioned for him to follow the half-drow's lead and started to dance herself. Her halfling companion rolled his eyes but did as directed. He wasn't as graceful as Jhelnae, but was a good deal smaller, and he managed to find space between the press of bodies. One by one, the tiefling boy, the brown skinned boy, and Dasher went after.
But the girl, Nat, was a problem. With the signing, the fact she'd missed the warning to shut her eyes, and her lack of dancing now, Aleina understood she must be deaf. She grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her along with her after the others, trying to share the beat of the music with the deaf girl through their joined hands.
Surprisingly, after a few awkward starts, through the combination of the pulsing lights, the flow of the surrounding dancers, and the aasimar's grasp, Nat found the rhythm and started moving in time with the crowd. For an all too brief glorious moment, the girl smiled a smile of pure joy and Aleina grinned back as they made their way across the dance floor. Then Nat's face sobered and she lost the rhythm as she pointed.
Aleina spun to look the way they had come, and her eyes widened in surprise and fear. The ones hunting them had also gained entry. There was the big man in leather armor and there were the halfling twins as well. All the Shard Shunner wererats were accounted for - in halfling form to better blend in. But the thin gray-haired man was missing. Or rather another took his place. Under the hood of the cloak he had worn was someone wearing Jhelnae's face and body. Across the room their eyes met and the cloaked figure gave a cruel twisting of the lips that seemed foreign and unnatural on the half-drow's features.
Abandoning all pretense of blending in, the aasimar pushed her way forward, dragging Nat after her, jostling dancers and earning angry looks and a few malicious elbows for her efforts. When she reached Jhelnae, she tugged at her tunic to get her attention and showed her what Nat had seen.
"By all that dances!" the half-drow cursed, barely audible over the music. "That bastard stole my appearance and used it on the door jack I charmed!"
Of course, that was how they gained entry so quickly. Jhelnae had charmed the half-orc with magic and ordered him not to let their pursuers in. Who better to countermand that order while the spell lasted but the half-drow herself, or another disguised as her? Aleina had used a similar trick when she'd taken on the appearance of Ilvara during their escape from Velkynvelve.
The ones chasing them were crossing the dance floor, twin female halflings moving with disconcerting ease through the crowd and the wererat Shard Shunners not too far behind. The big human forces his way through and the Jhelnae look-alike followed in the wake he created.
"Fargas, you and Dasher take the children and try to find a back exit," Aleina yelled. "Meet us at Phaulkonmere!"
"You can't fight them!" Fargas yelled back over the music. "There are too many."
"Just go!" the aasimar ordered pointing. "I have an idea."
The half-drow gave her a questioning look as the others continued forward. Aleina danced in response, casting as she did so, and the pale radiance of her warding armor manifested. The crowd around her at first shifted back in fear, then clapped as the protective magic settled into place and disappeared from view, perceiving it as a brief celebratory light show of a fellow dancer. Within moments the gyrating crowd pressed around her again. Jhelnae nodded and followed the aasimar's lead, calling forth the shimmering cocoon of webbing that was her warding.
"What now?" the half-drow yelled.
She had gotten close enough to yell into the aasimar's ear and her nearness caused both their wards to flare in reaction to each other, pushing them slightly apart and causing those around them to clap again at the sudden light show.
"We make nuisances of ourselves," Aleina answered.
She danced forward, heading off the twin halfling in the lead. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jhelnae confront the other. The halfling eyes narrowed, but she craned her neck to look past the aasimar, because, as Aleina knew, she herself wasn't the target. She was just an interloper who had gotten in the way of the killing of some children. She got in the way again now.
Literally.
When the halfling tried to move around, the aasimar cut her off, dancing in that direction and encouraging others into a tighter impassable knot around her with gestures and smiles. It didn't take long for the halfling female to get frustrated and leap up in a pirouetting back kick. Aleina was ready for just such a thing, ready to dodge back out of harm's way, but the attack came so fast she barely had time to react at all.
Thankfully, it was enough that her warding armor flared and absorbed most of the blow. Still the aasimar was thrown back and careened off of several people. Quicker than thought, the dancers parted, leaving the female halfling at the center of a widening empty gap in the crowd.
"You!" a gruff voice yelled, easily heard even over the music. "Out! Now!"
Aleina smiled to herself at those words. People might not want to get involved, but a business protecting its interest was something else entirely. Of course a fest hall would have bouncers to stop brawls that broke out. They might not see a stealthy knifing of some urchin children, but a fight in the middle of the dance floor was another thing entirely.
"Are you alright?" the silk clad young man who had caught the aasimar asked.
"Oh, I'm great," the aasimar said. "Really, really good, actually."
He gave her a confused look and she patted his muscular exposed bicep in thanks for catching her in reply. Her touch might have lingered there a little longer than required as she extricated herself from his arms.
A surprise waited for her as she took in the scene and stared up at the tall female half-orc pointing at the halfling. She knew her! It was Ront's lady friend. Things were getting better and better.
"Yagra?" Aleina called out.
The half-orc glanced her way.
"Hey," she yelled. "You cut your hair."
The momentary distraction proved to be a mistake as the little halfling jumped up and kicked the bouncer three times in the chest before landing. The tall half-orc teetered back and fell like a tree, onlookers rapidly parting rather than break her fall.
The minstrels above stopped playing which stopped the pulsing, bobbing, and shifting of colors of the lights. They all went white and the room brightened. Patrons gasped in shock and surged towards the door as more bouncers rushed off the walls, but they had to contend with the crowd and made little progress.
Yagra started crawling to her feet and the halfling female raised a foot high to drop it on the half-orc. Not able to cast fire or cold for fear of hitting fleeing patrons, Aleina did the only thing she could think of. She tackled the diminutive fighter, having a vague plan of raining down clumsy untrained blows from on top of her.
The aasimar never got the chance. Her opponent used her legs and a twisting motion to end up on top. And the punches she sent down were not untrained. Aleina's warding armor flared to protect her, but sharp pain erupted from her ribs and she felt and heard them crack with every blow that landed.
Then a big, booted foot kicked her assailant off of her.
"Turnabout is fair play you little runt," Yagra grunted.
"Look out!"
This warning was yelled by Jhelnae and several thumps and smacks followed. All the while Aleina lay in agony on the ground, every breath a torture. She forced herself to focus, push past the pain, put at hand on her ribs and let healing magic flow.
"You think I didn't see you sneaking up to help your sister?" Yagra mocked, but she couldn't keep the obvious pain from her voice.
As the hurt in her ribs ebbed, Aleina found she could once again move. She rolled to a crouch. The dance floor was almost completely empty now, but a few curious spectators hung back at the corners. The Shard Shunner gang was still there, shifted to humanoid wererat form. The two twin halflings remained as well. One picked herself up off the ground, much like Aleina did, while the other faced off against Yagra Stonefist in what looked like a ridiculous mismatch. But the sisters were fast and, given a solid hit, their blows could penetrate barrels and warding armor. The big human had once again drawn his short sword and didn't seem too concerned at the three bouncers bearing clubs who had come out on the dance floor to join the fight. Strangest of all, Jhelnae matched gazes with her cloaked twin across the room.
"You want to finish what we started in the alley?" the half-drow asked, holding out her hand.
Her abyssal blade misted into her grip.
"Gladly," the other Jhelnae said, hand bursting into flame.
And her voice actually sounded like the half-drow's, very close. Aleina suddenly wondered if the mimicry would improve if the one who borrowed the form and face of her friend got to listen to her speak more.
Then a towering animated statue made of solid stone took center stage in the confrontation. The false Jhelnae's eyes widened as it came forward and she, with a hand gesture, sent bolts of flame at the Jade Dancer. They struck and snuffed out with no visible effect. The statue raised a finger and waggled it in admonition, then advanced.
"The targets have fled," the false half-drow said. "Nothing to be gained here."
In a swirling of her cloak, she turned and ran for the entrance. She seemed to grow in stature as she ran and the aasimar suspected she already wore another form they wouldn't recognize if they gave chase. The others in her group followed her lead, halfling twins making rude gestures as they exited the fest hall.
"Nine hells," Yagra groaned. "Those little runts can hit. What did you start in the alley and why did you bring it here into the Dancer? I'm hired to intimidate drunk patrons into playing nice and paying up. Not to fight cartwheeling and kicking halflings."
"We didn't start anything," the half-drow said, dropping her sword.
As always, it misted away before it struck the floor.
"So, you were just walking around, minding your own business, when you got into a fight with some halfling monks, their wererat friends, and someone who I'm going to guess is not your long-lost twin sister?" the half-orc asked, snorting in disbelief.
"Believe it or not," Aleina said, climbing to her feet. "That is almost precisely what happened. I think Fargas and the others actually made it out. Is there a back way out of here?"
She looked around but didn't see the urchin children or Dasher. If they didn't find a way out, they probably would have come back by now with the commotion dying down.
"There is a back way out," Yagra said., "And it's the almost part where I think I'm going to learn you two brought trouble into my fest hall and when I learn that, I'm not going to be too happy about it."
"We didn't even know you worked here," Jhelnae said, throwing up her hands. "By the way, since you work here, you think you could get us in sometime without waiting in line?"
The half-orc gave her a look, then shrugged.
"Why not, she said. "But not dressed like that."
"Fine," the half-drow sighed. "We have some black silk bodysuits that might be appropriate."
"More importantly," Aleina said. "We need to get to Fargas and learn why those people were trying to kill those children."
Their simple mission for the Chosen of Mielikki to repay the debt of the unicorn ride had gotten unexpectedly complicated very quickly. The aasimar breathed a heavy sigh. That always seemed to be the way it worked with their group.
Okay, I tried to have some fun with this and I know the Jade Dancer fest hall is not a dance club. Based on canon it is a place where you sit and drink and watch a Jade Dancer take the stage. But I thought it would be more fun if it was like a dance club where the Jade Dancer danced with the patrons. So I changed it up.
I was going for zany and fun, but sometimes it goes too far into the ridiculous. Let me know if that is the case. I was really tired at the end and just wanted to be done with it. Let me know if that shows.