It was, perhaps ironically, a vampire fighting two shadow thieves. Winning, of course, considering the thieves weren't anywhere near as well equipped as they should have been to deal with such a threat. Damiondred looked at Hexxat curiously, drawing a baffled look and shrug to indicate that it wasn't anyone she knew. She did, however, remove the cloak and stuff it into her pack before nodding towards the remaining thief who was still putting up a struggle. Releasing Noirog into the air to hover above, the bhaalspawn hefted the sword, nodded, and moved as quietly as he could over the stones before swinging the sword of chaos horizontally through the air. He caught the vampire assailant in the side and swept it (Her? Her.) a foot or so to the side before it dug in and halted its momentum. Damiondred clamped his eyes closed and opened his senses, relying on his familiar to direct him.

It worked, and he practically danced back to avoid swipe after swipe of her claws before Hexxat was able to ghost up behind her and stake her from behind. She froze, before the chultan vampire gave her a gentle shove to push her over onto her face, chuckling at the sound of the impact.

"That will only immobilize the vampire until it is removed. Leader?" Xzar glanced over at the bhaalspawn, who nodded and brought the sword across to sweep her head from her shoulders, watching curiously as it dissolved into mist and floated away. The necromancer pursed his lips as he watched what direction it dispersed in. " Graveyard district? Yes. Yes? Yes."

"Makes sense. You there." Damiondred leveled the greatsword he wielded at the remaining thief who was trying to strip his dead companion of anything he had of value. He looked up, flinching slightly. "Yes, you. Why was she attacking you?"

"She... She was tryin' to recruit us, People were disappearing, so we're t'travel in pairs, but... We can't fight these things."

"Go back to your guildmaster and tell them what happened. Maybe, if you're lucky, they'll either arm you better or send you out of town. Otherwise, tell them that I'm in the market, as it were." Grounding the point of the sword, the bhaalspawn leaned idly on it as the shadow thief nodded and scurried off, using his free hand to scratch idly at his chin and neck. "... Went better than I thought that would, but if nothing else this only drives home the fact that we need better equipment. Come on, let's get some rest."

It turned out that Hexxat did, in fact, need time to rest and recover just like a member of the living would. For her though it was just a matter of turning into a gaseous mist and drifting into the bag of holding she had given to the archer and settling into her coffin for a certain amount of time. She was understandably a night owl, and as such it was agreed upon that she could sleep the day away in the coffin and emerge once the sun was down. When the morning came and Xzar was healed, a runner from the Shadow Thieves knocked politely on the door, mentioning that Renal Bloodscalp wanted to hire them.

The Bhaalspawn left Hexxat with Viconia, trusting the former to protect the latter while she continued to rest with the understanding that neither archer nor necromancer would be gone for too long, and that the vampire could go back to resting the remainder of the day once they were back. She agreed, and the two of them set out to find the guildhall. It was surprisingly close, and after a little bit of diplomacy they had their first job, setting out for the secondary guild hall. Mae'var was a hassle to deal with, but after a tedious theft where a priest of Lathander and two dawnguards were baited away from a chest by a mud-smeared 'mad prophet' that capered into the hall gibbering and shrieking, they crossed paths with someone particularly surprising.

"Greetings. I am Edwin Odesseiron. You simians may refer-"

"Well now, pleasant surprise seeing you here." The archer perked up as he stepped the rest of the way through the door, Xzar following behind and working some of the larger clumps of mud from his hair with a damp cloth.

"-to me... as... You again." The Thavian's expression settled into a mix of surprise and a sneer. "Still alive, I see. (Surprisingly resilient. I thought they might have died by now.)"

"Mae'var sent us up to ask you what our next task was, but I can't see you being here, working for someone like that if you didn't have an iron-clad reason to. He's got too many powerful enemies. Want to compare notes?"

"(The simian has gotten sharper.) Prove your competence and it will be considered. There is a cowled wizard that, in a fit of envy, has sent an agent to tail me and eventually attempt to capture me. Deal with them, and I will see what notes there are to compare." Edwin lifted his chin, eyes narrowing as the bhaalspawn laughed easily. "What. What is so funny?"

"You want me to kill a cowled wizard? Hells, Edwin, I'll do that one for free."

Damiondred felt like he really understood his brother now, or at least more than he had before. Wielding unbridled power was a heady thing, but he still disagreed with Sarevok's methods. The larger bhaalspawn had been particularly hamfisted, and for all his scheming had let his temper get the better of him. The archer resolved not to let that happen to him, no matter how frustrating the situation. Still, it was disappointingly easy to kill unarmored opponents with the proverbial oar he was swinging around, and he almost mournfully looked down at the human that gurgled on the floor as Xzar attempted to stem the bleeding long enough to get a few answers.

"Clumsy! Sloppy! Inefficient!"

"I sort of... Thought he might have better defenses."

"Well, yes, but you crept behind him before he could activate them and almost cleaved him in twain from behind, stern to stem!" The necromancer pursed his lips, exasperated as he finished tying the tourniquet off around where the greatsword was still embedded in the torso. "Speak man, while you have breath left to speak with! Where is Imoen and Irenicus!"

"You will... Die... For going against... The cowleHURRK!"

"Leader!" Xzar waspishly snapped at the apologetic-looking bhaalspawn after Damiondred had jostled the sword a little bit.

"What! It's motivation!"

"Who is the expert? Who? Speak!"

The bhaalspawn sighed and deflated slightly. "You're the expert."

"Naturally. I- Oh bother. He's dead"

"Umm... Oops? Eh, let's just take his head back to Edwin and be done with it. He wasn't going to tell us anything anyways."

"I happen to have a key to Mae'var's strongbox that holds what I know are incriminating documents. It was a short term arrangement only, but he has proven unstable. (Any fool who thinks to lead in this manner only invites his own disaster.)"

"Great. I'll head downstairs and get them, Xzar you circle around and distract the guard at the top of the stairs down that we saw on that level, and Edwin? Go out the side and meet us outside the front door. Xzar and I will be out shortly, then we'll all head out and hand this in." Damiondred turned, only to pause as he noticed that the conjurer wasn't moving. "... Edwin?"

"You presume that I will simply fall into line, following you like a duckling? That I will obey you, simply because I worked for you in the past? You betrayed me, and Dynaheir lives! My superiors were most displeased with me after my report. (As if they thought they could keep me in the dark for so long...!)"

The bhaalspawn turned to properly face the Thavian, canting his head to the side. "I used you to kill my enemies on the false pretense of a woman's death - a woman who is, in fact, dead and in a ditch somewhere along the sword coast I might add - and you're upset? Upset that I lied to you, when you were nothing but honest about your intentions to hunt down and kill someone because... Why, Edwin? You never would tell me."

"It was never your business-"

"If it wasn't my business you shouldn't have tried to hire me. But you thought I was easy to manipulate, because I was basically fresh out from under the skirts of my father, reeling from his death that first time and didn't seem like I was more than a bumbling fool. And I was, largely, but you missed a lot of growth and change between then and when we met in the Cloakwood. You follow through to the letter of your word, because that's who you are, but trust me when I say that the recognition for saving a city that you included in your last report to your superiors is going to be nothing when compared to what I'm about to do next."

Damiondred smiled slightly, almost carelessly as he spread his arms and raised his hands. "Nothing's stopping me from just taking the whole chest and hauling it out to the Bloodscalp, Edwin. I don't exactly need the key. But without people to work for you - because, really, who's going to now that you've been associated with Mae'var the traitor - you automatically fail at whatever you were trying to do. On top of that, you need out, because you threw your lot in with Mae'var in the hopes that you could puppet him for whatever purposes you're actually in the city for. If you come with me, I'm guaranteed to give you that out, and you'll be there in person to see it. No tricks, no traps, no deception, and after that you tell me what you're in the city for and we'll take care of it together while you work for me."

Edwin studied the bhaalspawn for a long moment, stroking his chin as his eyes narrowed. "... The witch is truly dead?"

"She died about three months ago on the road. I can show you the rashemi berserker she was traveling with if you need proof."

"... I will meet you downstairs. (This simian had better keep his word this time.)"

The archer blinked at Renal, one very satisfied Hexxat standing a short distance behind him while a bloodless head lay on the floor before them, an unintentional laugh bubbling out of him before he faltered. "You're... Nine hells, you're serious, aren't you. About running that branch of the guild."

"I am."

"I'll have to decline. I don't plan to stay here any longer than I have to, and I can't let myself get bogged down with responsibilities like that. Tempting as it is."

"Ah, then I suppose a monetary reward it is then. Hmm, take this sword, too. We'll keep in touch if we get anything else for you."

"Thank you, Renal. If I see any more shadow thieves being attacked in the streets, be certain that I'll do what I can to help them."

"Of course. I look forward to dealing with you again."

The group (which now consisted of Damindred, Edwin, Hexxat, Viconia, and Xzar) sat in the room they had rented in the Five Flagon's Inn. The necromancer had settled on the floor with the shortsword across his lap, eyes rolled back into his head while his lips twitched and quirked rapidly. Edwin kept his arms folded and stared at the bhaalspawn, until the archer threw up his hands.

"Alright, alright. I'll go first then. My sister and I were kidnapped by a mage named Irenicus. He tortured us, killed some of our traveling companions, and after the shadow thieves attacked we got free until, on exiting his compound, Imoen and Irenicus were taken by the cowled wizards to who knows where. I'm raising a boat-load of gold to pay the shadow thieves to find her, and then the plan is to kill everyone between point 'ey and point bee, get her back, and then make him regret ever drawing breath."

"Do you know why you were taken?"

"Some sort of experimentation, from what Xzar and I can tell. He cut a lot of spots repeatedly to measure how fast I healed, how quickly my bones would mend, how much blood I could lose before passing out... I never quite appreciated what Xzar and Viconia could do until then." The bhaalspawn sipped at the tea he had been handed almost blandly, not really tasting it as he tried not to focus too closely on the memories that rose unbidden through his mind. "It was only about three months, but I'm going to skin him and wear the result like a cloak."

"He also shows increased aggression and a loosening of already not-particularly-strict morals. Consdiering the lack of torture marks upon Jaheira and Minsc, we are led to believe it might also be due to his heritage." Xzar blinked rapidly as he focused on the room, green eyes flitting between the two other arcane casters in the room only to settle on Hexxat. "This would be best served in either our Leader's hands, or your own Misty lady. While he has his brother's sword, this will serve you well should we come across more vampires in the streets."

"Thank you, Necromancer." She shifted from where she had leaned against the wall to saunter over and accept the blade, weighing it in her hands. "His heritage... I thought I could smell something unusual from his blood."

"It is well suited to the talents you display. Strike swiftly, strike silently, and the blade will do the rest." Xzar patted the air idly, before stretching and glancing towards the bowless archer.

"I'm a bhaalspawn. Gives me something of an urge to kill rampantly, though I try and curb it only to people that deserve it." Damiondred admitted as he set his drink aside. "I hope I don't have to worry about that making you think I look tasty."

"Hmm, no, but now that you mention it I am curious as to what the blood of a half-god would taste like..."

"Metallic. Like iron. Just like everyone elses." The bhaalspawn shook his head, chuckling. "I've broken my nose and busted a lip enough to know that much, at least."

"So, after paying for the casting licenses, between Jaheira's group and ours we're at... Roughly eight thousand gold all told. Just about half-way there." Damiondred leaned back on the couch, raking his hands back through his hair and grimacing as he watched Xzar pack and try to figure out how to smuggle two ghouls and a flesh golem out of his house and into the graveyard. "You know, why not turn them invisible and walk them there?"

"The ghouls are rambunctious, and would try to scatter."

"Maybe one at a time?"

"May do for the golem, but the ghouls... Oh! Viconia." Xzar blinked rapidly, head tilting to the side and peering out through the curtain his hair formed. "The Dark Lady is powerful enough that lesser undead heed her call should she make the attempt. For myself, I would have to restart the process of enslaving them with control spells. Truly tedious, and more suited to the long term. 'Tis like some spellery where should you cast the same spell once a day at the same location, it will seep into the ground and remain unless removed."

"Sort of like Bhaal's blood at the Boareskyr bridge?"

"Sssort of? Such was not a repeated process however." The necromancer frowned, faltering for a moment as he looked back down into the box. "Bhaal's blood poisoned the water, and some flowed downstream, too. Hence the curse 'go drink from the west side of the bridge'."

"I've changed. I don't know if I like who I've become, Xzar. I feel like... Like I'm becoming Sarevok. I hate a lot of people now, and I don't... I don't know if I want that. Is it because I'm willing to do anything to get Imoen back? Is it just because I'm losing my humanity to the bhaalspawn heritage in me? I'm feeding people to you and Hexxat, and I don't... Really care as much as I should about what they've done before I do this."

Oh. Oh oh oh. Xzar glanced up, peering at the archer as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. Lips pursed, the necromancer pushed himself up and eased over, garnering a tired look from the bhaalspawn. Carefully, quietly, he hummed and leaned forward. "You see yourself becoming evil, indiscriminately and uncaringly so?"

"Yes. I'm not... I'm not Bhaal. I'm not Sarevok, and I'm not the half-grown kid I used to be when I left Candlekeep. Somewhere along the way I thought about becoming a god, and I mean who wouldn't if they had the chance? But... I think I've lost sight of what kind of god I wanted to be. I hunted down my brother because he killed the man I call father. I'm hunting down Irenicus because he dared to hurt and take my sister."

"Hmm. It has been... Less than a year, since we met. In eight months, you have changed more than most every likely do in their entire lifetime, yes? And now, remembering dreams and promises past, you wonder if... Feeding people to a vampire and a necromancer is going too far, morally?"

"I almost cut someone in half yesterday, Xzar, and felt bad only because I meant to let him live longer so that you could torture where Imoen was out of him. I used the allure given to me by my bloodline to help sway Edwin, and it's only because he's arrogant and particularly unwise that it worked. I took away his ability to really choose. I'm doing everything every storybook villain does."

"Da~mi~on~... Need I remind you that you just spent three months tortured by someone keen to cut to the core of your corporeal form?"

"You were tortured for ten years, and you turned out fine." The bhaalspawn sullenly dropped his gaze, jaw clenching.

"I broke. You played on my faith, tricked me into a temple and had my mind miraculously restored with a greater restoration. You took away the sharp edges and orbiting distractions." Xzar flicked his fingers, waving his hand through the air as if to brush aside the matter. "Recall my instability before you named me your priest. Even after, I am not the man I once was. Too much was cracked and lost, but you've replaced some of the very important pieces that fell out and were scattered along the road between Baldur's Gate and the Moonsea."

"Still, I should have-"

"Blah blah blah, I'm a bhaalspawn and I should be indestructible, infallible and a god by now." Xzar blew a raspberry, earning an exasperated look that he returned and improved upon by tucking his hands on his hips and leaning in. "You. Are. Mortal. Not even two handspan of months ago you were wild-eyed, shaken and dirt-smudged as you came across a pair of terrible little half-men, each half-men for different reasons, and thought to yourself 'hmm, seems like a good idea to travel with these two complete strangers once one of them pulls their arms out of the torso of a wolf'. The only reasons people survive torture is because their tormentor either becomes bored of them or because someone failed to keep them alive. Or they escape. Nobody is ever the same after that, regardless of the release they discover. Of the two of us, only you escaped. You freed me. You made me one of your people, and gave me something to have even the faintest bit of faith in that isn't a dead god."

Damiondred sat in silence for a long moment, frowning faintly as he rested his elbows on his knees and looked at his hands. With a quiet rustle of cloth, the necromancer knelt down and reached out, fingers tracing over the faint scars until they reached his wrists.

"You once told me that you wanted to protect your people. A righteous wrath awaits any who would do so, this I can see. I do not need an open third eye to know this thing. I think your confusion comes from not really knowing who your people are. Are they only the ones you know, personally, that these hands have touched? Are they anyone willing to do whatever it takes to right a wrong done to them personally? Or are they the faceless innocents that are harmed for reasons beyond their understanding?" Green eyes searched the archers face, before Xzar sighed and pushed himself up. "You are young. You are young and you think that you are old, because you have grown and lived so much more than most people I've known."

"... I know I'm not old, Xzar. I'm not you." Damiondred glanced up, cracking a slight smile as the necromancer scoffed and folded his arms.

"Naturally not. Now stop making me worry. I've enough grey hairs as is."

The bhaalspawn stared at the ceiling. stretched out on one of the beds in the room he shared with Xzar. Hesitantly, he looked around to take in what he could of the dark room. Vague shapes of furniture, outlined only by the faint torchlight that penetrated the curtains across the window. Six feet away, the bed next to his was a solid rectangle with the lumpy outline of what could only have been the necromancer, face down with his head under a pillow atop it and most of the blankets kicked away and draped over the floor.

"... Are you there?"

The words emerged hesitantly into the room, almost swallowed by the darkness. The archer waited a long moment before sighing and starting to roll onto his side, giving up for the moment until he came face to face with his mirrored image. It was only further proof that the image was projected to him from inside his own head, considering he could see his heritage clearly despite the darkness.

What a surprise. You called for me without it being prompted by any particular physical threat looming in the immediate future.

"Just... Making sure, you know? I thought I lost you for about a month there with Irenicus. We're in this together, so it would be stupid of me not to make sure you're... I don't know. Alright, I guess? Can you be hurt by that sort of thing?"

Hmm. Sort of. But I'm stronger, for what he did to you. How much you want to kill feeds me, albeit less than the act of actually killing. This in turn makes us both stronger. Surely you must have noticed by now, how physically you've gotten stronger than your brother was. It's by about the same margin as the distance between the vampire's strength and your own.

"I did... Sort of. I don't think I was strong enough to bend the bars of a cage quite as easily as I did before. Not that it was easy, but..." He grimaced, and his mirrored image laughed soundlessly as it folded its arms on the edge of the bed and propped its chin up on them.

No. Not easy. It should be easier, but ... We're free now. And you have great things planned.

"Yeah., I suppose I do."

The archer settled onto his back once more, eyes closing as he sighed and drifted off to sleep, unaware of the green eyes that watched him quietly from underneath a pillow.

You know what you want. It is you, after all, which has brought us to the dream. Nothing is real... yet.

Damiondred jerked, sucking in a breath and shuddering as he woke abruptly. "... Xzar, do you have anything to suppress dreams?"

"Mrrrmn...? Hmm." The necromancer tiredly slipped to the side, off his bed, thumping into the ground with a grunt before he started to push himself up to feel around blindly for his pack. Eventually, a small satchel of something fragrant bounced off of the archer as he swung his legs over the bed and reached for the curtains, intent on pulling once open.

"Thank's. I... Hey, do you know if bhaalspawn can bring others into their dreams? Share them with them? Form a... I don't know, mental connection?"

"Whuzzat?"

"Right. Coffee first, panicked questions second."

"Covfefe..."

Nimloth! It's very much like Dexter's code, which is very much what he's sort of panicking about. He's started to notice that he's considering whether they've earned such a death less and less since he got out of Irenicus' dungeon. He -did- catch it though, so that means he's got a good chance to start being more careful and maybe recover a little bit of who he was before he was kidnapped. It's like when you're trying to adjust a setting in a game using a slider bar and it jumps from, on a scale of 1-20, 18 up from 14 when really you just wanted to set it at 15. He's overshot the mark he wants to be at.
Regarding Viconia, really it's only his mortification at Xzar outing him that has him really wanting to avoid talking about what happened. He doesn't think her promise was honest, considering the situation, and anyone giving their word under duress isn't going to be held to it by the bhaalspawn.
Questions? Comments? Consistency errors?
Leave a message after the tone,
-KD