The Friendly Arm Inn

Author's Note: Hello again. I just want to know if anyone got any tips on who should join Thantalas little "party". I am keeping Imoen in, no matter what, because i dont think that the character Thantalas would just leave his sister like that. Also if anyone wants to betaread for me, just grammar and maybe some storylining, i would be grateful!

"Are you sure this is where Gorion and you was heading? It seems kind off dodgy. I love it!" Imoen spurted out. Five meters of high walls was towering over us, and a sign displaying the words ``The Friendly Arm Inn´´ was nailed onto the gate. Me and Imoen were both tired of the road and all we had been talking about for the last three hours had been beds, foods or a combination of both. We had had our fair share of gibberlings and wolves on our trip here, and it seemed like that was over for now. Imoen and I walked past the guards, who gave us friendly nods, and the necessary "Just don't go making trouble".

As we moved a little deeper into this fortified settlement, I saw the huge inn. Another name for such a building could be a castle or a fortress, because it certainly didn't look like an inn, Towering twenty meters into the air. Everything seemed to be fine here, even though that didn't seem to be the situation along the rest of the sword coast. As we walked over to a staircase leading to the entrance of the inn, I noticed a robed man standing in the doorway. I couldn't see his eyes, but I felt his eyes resting on my face. I leaned over, and whispered into Imoens ear.

"Imoen, have you noticed that man in the door? Be careful, he seems suspicious and I have had my fair share of suspicious people on my tail lately".

Imoen looked at me and seemed worried. "Of course, Than, but this seems weird. It feels as if he is preparing for something. We might need to stay close to the guards"

I nodded, and as I spotted a guard moving towards the doorway, the robed man began to move down the stairs. I spotted his face, a satisfied grin splattered on it. My hand flew up to stop Imoen, but she had already backed away a bit. As that happened I noticed my other hand had already gotten a nice grip on my sword handle. If this was another one like the assassins in Candlekeep, he would prove little to no trouble. When he was a couple of meters away, he began talking.

"Hello, My good fellows. I'm looking for an elf, fitting your description, on his way from Candlekeep. Could that be you, possibly?"

I answered quickly, maybe too quickly "Actually, no. We come from Beregost, south-east of Candlekeep."

"Hm, im pretty sure you are the one im looking for though! Here, I got something for you."

I looked in awe as he began mumbling. He was preparing to cast a spell. I knew this perfectly well since I had spent my whole childhood in a library, filled with powerful mages and priests. As I drew my sword from its sheath, I saw a red bolt of energy fly past me and hit the man in the chest, distracting, and cancelling whatever spell he was about to unleash. I quickly looked over my shoulder and saw Imoen standing with a short decorated stick, slightly glowing, while Imoen stood with a huge grin plastered on her face. I looked back and the man drew a small knife, all the while he was staring at me with a hungry look. He slashed after my head, but was clearly inexperienced with actual weapons, so I just stepped a little back, and delivered a hit directly to his left arm. That would make it a little harder for him to perform his arcane attacks. I could see the pain flash in his eyes, as he realized that we might have been a slightly too big challenge for him.

In anger he threw his knife at Imoen, as she seemed to be the more vulnerable target. The knife hit Imoen in the stomach, and as she screamed I lashed towards the mage, and I hit him in the ribcage with my armoured hand. There were so much force behind the attack that the man's ribs were pushed in, and his eyes grew, as his insides were smashed. The man fell over and I rushed to Imoens side, my hand finding its way to her neck to check her pulse. The pulse was there, and her eyes opened a bit. "Than, quick. Look in my backpack, I should have some medicine stored there! Quickly, it hurts"

I ransacked her belongings, and between all of her small, totally not stolen, treasures, there were three small flasks of blue liquid. It read ``Healing Potion´´ on them, and I quickly got the flask to Imoens mouth and poured the liquid into her mouth. I could see that she gulped, and I knew that it must have tasted horrific. She always did that when she tasted something bad. I pulled her shirt up a bit, and I saw the wound in her stomach, quickly dissipate as new skin covered the wound. She gasped

"Damn, that hurts!" She yelled. I grinned as I helped her up, and asked her, if she was doing okay.

"Yeah, yeah. It doesn't hurt that bad anymore. But I hope that this man burns in the deepest of the seven hells! Ouch, that hurt". I looked down at the body of the man who had just almost killed Imoen. My hands quickly searched his pockets, and I found a couple of scrolls, with what looked like arcane symbols on it, but also a note written in the common tongue. I quickly read through it.

"Imoen. There is a bounty on me, look! Who would put a bounty on me! Im just some random ward!" Imoen put her hand on my back and began patting it. I looked at her, and smiled weakly. No matter who or what was coming after me, I knew that me and Imoen would stick together, all the way through this.

We were met with a wall of warm air, smelling of farts, sweat and beer. Just as an inn was supposed to smell like. Me and Imoen speared through the people but was stopped by a man, rambling about his uncle called Greenbeard or something, and the roads being more dangerous than ever. As we moved further through the inn, I got the idea of speaking to the people here. They could know more than we knew, about what was going on in Faerun. Me and Imoen parted, as we began talking to the visitors of the inn. I quickly noticed a huge man in armour, standing in the corner of the inn. I walked casually to him. As I was in front of him, he seemed to notice me just that moment and looked at me, with something that looked like despise in his eyes.

"Servant, Fetch me another drink"

I looked at him, displeased with the lack of respect. "Im sorry, but I am no servant. By what right do you talk to me like that"

"Hm, I talk with all the right in the world, little man. If you are no servant then stop wasting my time!"

I glanced at him one more time, before I turned my back to him. He was not really the type I would want to talk to. As I looked for more people I could speak to I noticed Imoen standing in the other end of the inn, with two other folk, one looking like a nervous wreck of a warrior and was a man, and the other one, a woman, standing in some leather jerkin, looking incredibly serious. As I finally pushed my way through the crowd, I got a closer look at Imoens two new friends. They were both half-elfs I noticed with slight surprise. The female of them stepped forth and began introducing them.

"Hello, Gorions ward. Thantalas, am I right? Don't worry, we are not here to hurt you. My name is Jaheira, and this is my husband, Khalid. We were some of Gorions close friends. We travelled with him for a couple of years, before he decided to retire in Candlekeep"

"Uhm, hi. Yes, my name is Thantalas, and this is Imoen as you probably already know. Are you the friends who were supposed to meet me and Gorion here?"

Jaheira smiled briefly. "Yes, we are indeed. But may I ask you, young one. Where is Gorion. I have missed him." I looked at Imoen, and she looked at me. I could see the tears she was holding back and I felt a sadness deep inside of me as well.

"There is something you must know. Gorion is not here anymore"

"What do you mean. Are you saying that he is…". I saw her eyes begin to water, but it quickly disappeared, by some extreme amount of willpower.

"Yes. Gorion is dead. We were ambushed, and he told me to run. Imoen saw his body" I looked away in shame, afraid that they would blame me for running.

Jaheira looked at Khalid and looked worried.

"Good thing you ran, young one. Whatever that was able to take down Gorion would be able to rip you apart easily. But what could be so powerful. I have seen that man take down giants and what is worse, with nothing else than a couple of words"

"Well, there actually were a couple of ogres in the ambush. But also an archer and a huge armoured man, who just seemed to ignore Gorions spells. He was the one who asked for me"

We talked with the couple until the moon stood high upon the sky. It was at this point Jaheira came with a tempting offer.

"So, Thantalas, do you think you could use some company? The roads are harsh, if you travel alone, or almost alone" she looked at Imoen and back to me "There is safety in numbers these days, and we are travelling down to Nashkel right now. To investigate the iron "disease". Iron weapons are barely usable these days, and we could certainly use some good company. Who knows, maybe you are even more safe from these people who are after you, if you are on the road. It is, after all, harder to hit a moving target" Imoen looked at me, smiling. I knew she was looking forward to more human interaction. Or half-elven interaction. I smiled to her as well and answered. "Of course. We would love to travel with you!"