"What is it?" Edwin asked, almost yelled to the nervous man who interrupted him.
"Sir, Y-Your carriage is ready." He replied. The servant motioned towards the cart to take his master to Athkatla. Edwin sneered at the small, pitiful man.
"Very well" He said and closed his spell book, replacing the binds and following the driver out the door. Edwin was glad the journey was nearly over. Pausing to dust his blood-red mage robes, he started downstairs to the tavern.
Stopping to pay the innkeeper for his room, he muttered something to himself, catching the old man by surprise and strolled out the front door. He could see the city now, in the far distance. He had hoped whatever the wizards of Thay had asked him to do in this wretched place did not take too long. He had seen enough of the meaningless city.
Climbing into the back of the carriage, he motioned for his servant, whipping boy to start, not even bothering to verbalize the request. In truth, the boy was his apprentice, given to him by his superiors in the wizards order, though Edwin had no intention of teaching the boy any magic he did not want to fall out of favor with the powerful mages. Not again.
His mind wandered back to the last time he had angered the mighty wizards and shuddered. He was pleased now that through his adventuring with that incessant Bhaal brat he was able to curry favor with the council.
Or so he thought. Truth be told he thought very little of Archon and his foolish, pesky 'friends'.
The council had seen fit to send him back to Athkatla, on a mission they said was of 'dire importance' he snorted at the image. Probably some brat mageling needing a few golum's destroyed. He yawned to himself and stared out the window at the rolling hills.
Noticing a small rabbit outside the carriage, the wizard lazily flicked his hand sending a wave of magic missiles towards the animal, instantly killing the creature for no reason other than extreme boredom. He yawned, finding no relief from minor rodents. He absent-mindedly stroked his slowly graying, but still trimmed beard.
After maybe an hour, Edwin knocked on the latch to talk to the driver.
"You. Lackey. How much longer until we get to this pathetic city?" He demanded loudly.
Still not used to his master's constant insults, the apprentice Farrel flinched, "A few hours more, Sir. Shall I steer us to a stable when we get in?"
"No, fool" Edwin hissed back "I will do the business in the city and then we shall leave. I have no interest in staying any longer than I have to"
"Yes Sir, if you.." The boy's words were cut off as Edwin closed the latch, stopping any further conversation. With a wicked grin he leaned back in his chair and rested until they arrived at their destination. He took out his spell book to begin memorizing.
Edwin woke with a start. Angry, he was about to knock on the door to slap his careless apprentice for hitting a bump, but stopped as he realized they were there. He could recognize the Government district anywhere. He had been many, many times while traveling with his inept leader on various adventures.
Farrel had stopped the cart directly outside their contacts house, as per his master's wishes. He hopped out of the driver's seat and opened the door for Edwin, who merely sneered.
"You will stay here." Edwin called as he approached the huge door, leading to the grand building, it was the newly organized mage's guild set up in Athkatla. Edwin guessed they needed some experience in command there.
"But, Master Obessisdon, the council… They have requested that I follow you in this mission." He complained.
Edwin shot only a cold look at the apprentice, who quickly returned to the cart. Rolling his eyes, Edwin turned the doorknob and entered.
"Ah, you must be Edwin." A handsome robed man greeted as the mage walked in. "Welcome. My name is Roland." Edwin met the greeting with a scowl.
"The council of the wizards of Thay have sent me here to help you in an urgent matter." He replied.
The room was surprisingly small, compared to its larger appearance on the outside, Edwin guessed that it had been made that way for appearances. A table stood in the center and it was surrounded by three wizards including Roland, who seemed the youngest of the three, but spoke for the rest of them. Edwin found that odd.
"I would like to get to the matter at hand." Edwin said, not acknowledging the other men in the room. Roland nodded slowly. "Very well. We have been… informed that there is to be a new development in Athkatla. A development that you should be greatly interested in."
Edwin moved to stand at the table.
"Go on." He sneered impatiently.
"We need a Balor. Thay has sent you for your… shall we say, immense magical powers to summon it for us? With the Balor's help we will overrun the rival guilds located in Waukeen's promenade"
He pointed to a map showing the locations of the rival guilds. Not one to be bought by flattery, Edwin was skeptical.
"What of the City Guard?" He asked. Roland paused. "That is why we are going to summon the Balor directly in the center on the Promenade. To strike at the guilds before they can react! We need you to assist us!"
Edwin considered this. He didn't like bringing monsters as chaotic as Balors into the realms. But he certainly didn't want to lose favor with the powerful wizards. Plus he really hated Athkatla, he quickly reminded himself.
Finally he nodded his head in agreement. "And after we and the Balor storm the guilds, I desummon the beast correct?"
"Actually, we'll be assisting you to summon the monster, but then we will return to the guild, so as to not arouse suspicion from the guards. We will need you to keep the Balor under control"
Edwin nodded. Looking at the pathetic monkeys, he believed he would be the only one to control such a demon anyway. The others would get in the way. "When do we begin?"
Roland flashed a perfect smile. "Tonight."
The four mages gathered in the center of the district at midnight. They arrived at their agreed meeting place, between an alley and a few stalls.
"Begin." Roland said, motioning to a circle on the floor to summon the beast, drawn earlier in preparation.
Edwin looked around, the beast would surely kill a few innocents in his rampage. There weren't many in the streets, but Balors were typically erratic. Edwin hoped that he would desummon the beast as quick as possible. He thought not of the pathetic peasants but only of himself, for if there was too much evidence of the Balor, Edwin would surely be caught by the inept guard.
Sighing he opened his spell book and began the spell. It would take a while and he hoped that the other mages would stand watch. He was thankful that the cowled wizards had been disbanded some months ago, or he would never have gotten even this far.
After a few minutes of incantations by the four wizards, Edwin leading the summoning, the beast started to appear, smoke came from its body, and its bat wings struggled to expand.
Edwin felt a little safer knowing the Balor could not leave the summoning circle until the lead summoner willed it to. It was now fully revealed into the world. Edwin cast a silence spell on the demon as soon as it emerged, buying a few minutes until it was noticed.
The huge, red Balor was absolutely enraged. It clawed at the invisible walls of the circle trying to get out and wreck havoc on the population. Edwin backed off again.
"I am ready to instruct the creature to attack the ranger's guild." Edwin said, with more than a little fear in his voice.
The other wizards looked at each other, communicating silently.
"Did you not hear me you fools?!" Edwin screamed, not taking his eyes off the demon, he needed to concentrate solely on keeping the creature imprisoned until the commands were given. If the orders were not given the creature would attack anything that moved. Edwin included. He did not like that prospect.
Struggling even to talk through concentrating so hard, Edwin called again "Blast you! Cast the spells to will the creature!"
It was then that Edwin felt a sharp pain in his back. At first he didn't know what the irritating hurting was, his concentration was so high. It was only when he saw the tip of the dagger sticking out from his chest, and blood running freely down his already blood-red robes, that he knew what had happened. Roland slipped the dagger out of the older wizards chest and moved to face him. He grinned widely, enjoying the sight.
Edwin staggered backwards. "You.." His hand went to his chest in a vain attempt to stem the blood. He looked up at the Balor. The devil-like creature would soon to be free without his careful concentration. "You have doomed us all!" He fell backward. The mages laughed.
"You foolish Thay wizard" Roland said, and his hand went to his robe, pulling from it a medallion that Edwin recognized all too well. The sign of Cyric. The evil mad god of Death and Murder.
"We have used you to fulfill our great lord's bidding. The rivers of Athkatlan will run red with blood, pleasing the god of Death." He cackled insanely, enjoying revealing his own, true desires.
"Fanatical… Foolish… Monkeys" Was all Edwin could say as he struggled for breath. With his death he knew that his magic would dispel and the Balor would be free.
Slowly, Edwin closed his eyes for the last time. He muttered something incoherent to himself.
With a deafening roar the Balor told the city that he was free as the silence spell ended abruptly. The Balor broke free and unhesitatingly attacked the three remaining wizards, killing them brutally. Roland held up his arms and welcomed the embrace.
There would be no mercy from a demon of the abyss.