Binne Ofgren,
As Halaster Blackcloak no doubt did not ask, I will endeavor to do so in his place - let this be read as a formal request unto Binne, daughter of Sorcha Ofgren and Drak Black-Raven, to end this siege from the Underdark and stop the hordes of the Valsharess from invading Waterdeep. I trust the allies that you now have at your side are more up to this task than the ones you initially hired. I have taken care to inform and compensate their litigious survivors, as it is the task we set them out to do that they were slain upon.
I trust the Word enclosed will be of some familiarity to you, from your work in Neverwinter. I have crossed its path through no small expense to acquire it, but any expense that warrants an outcome where the people of Prime survive this onslaught is worth pursuing. This is precisely why you were summoned for this task. Though I profess no certain knowledge of future events, my partner is given to insights into matters where mortal eyes may not pry and has determined through her divinations that you are key to these unfolding events. The only future in which we all ultimately survive, is where you survive.
Use it well,
K.B.
BINNE
I slammed the letter down in my hands on Khelben's desk, mostly for dramatic effect, but also because I was irritated with the arch-wizard for his cryptic nonsense. He raised an eyebrow at me as if to say, 'Well? What are you going to do about it?' I raised one of my own eyebrows challengingly back at him.
"Good morning to you as well, Binne," the Blackstaff greeted, and pushed the letter back toward my hands. "I believe that belongs to you," he said.
"What is this nonsense?" I demanded. "Sharwyn gave me a few clues but I don't remember shit about the war! 'The only future in which we survive is where you survive?' What in the Hells is that supposed to mean?"
"Precisely what it sounds like," Khelben replied and steepled his fingers together. "Now, why don't you start from the beginning, from when you descended into Undermountain, and go from there," he suggested lightly.
So, I did. Not really because he had told me to, but because it felt good to decompress about all the nonsense we'd been through on our rocky journey to the Underdark and beyond. I could tell Ol' Khelby was barely listening to my ranting tale, but like a spell unfurling from Nathyrra's tongue, nothing short of being slapped with a Silence could have stopped me from talking. I could overhear Solaufein chatting up the Silverhand through the open door to the atrium, while Khelben and I sat across from each other in one of his many studies (well, he sat patiently and I fidgeted restlessly). Their conversation, at least, seemed less one-sided.
" . . . So the more I thought about it," I went on, flexing the hand that the Word of Power had sunken into, "the less I understood how it worked and what its limitations are, and before I knew it everything had already happened and it was over and didn't next fixing. And I figured I should just ask you about it, since I don't know how to get it out of my hand to give it back and since you seemed pretty dead certain on giving it to me, for whatever barmy reason."
I waited a polite amount of time for Khelben to reply, which he did eventually with, "Was there a question, or . . . ?"
"Oh, erm, yes the rune you called a Word of Power?" I reminded him politely. He was a big wizard with a lot going on, I wouldn't fault him if he had already forgotten.
"And to be perfectly clear, you are the one who received it?" He queried rather insistently, as he leaned forward on his elbows to regard me. I was briefly frightened by the intense look in his green eyes. They reminded me too much of spell-fire.
"Did I read the letter wrong?" I was confused. "It was addressed to me, I thought. It melted straight into my hand!" I complained, raising the offended hand again.
"Quite right, just wanted to be clear," the Blackstaff said dismissively, like it had all gone down just how he'd expected. "Wanted to be certain it went to the right person. I trust you'll have need of it one day."
I couldn't resist the eye-roll that was in my soul. "That doesn't sound ominous at all!" I quipped.
Khelben then leaned back in his chair and regarded me with amusement glinting in his green eyes. "You never got along with Magister Keane," he observed. "He was convinced you were lazy and willfully ignorant."
"He was an arsehole," I defended, and then looked about. "Is he standing behind me right now?"
"No," Khelben reported dryly.
"Complete arseface," I went on, "I thought he hated me on account of the horns, but it was because I'm lazy? Yeah, I suppose I can see that. I'm only more surprised the man in charge noticed. I only ever learned about transmutation from you and felt pretty certain you didn't notice I was there," I rambled.
The faintest flicker of a smile nearly lit up the Blackstaff's face as he recalled, "You used to nap in the back of the class. You would snore, and someone would always kick you in the leg to wake you."
I was faintly embarrassed. Yeah, that was me. "You remember me?" I was more impressed than I probably should have been, after all, I stood out from most people and was fairly memorable on account of the horns, tail, and rampant attitude.
Khelben replied, "You reminded me of me, when I was your age. I had hoped you would have grown out of it."
"Inconveniently napping?" I surmised and thought about all the various naps I'd taken on Cavallas' boat, or in Solaufein's bed, or on him or Valen, and said, "No, no, no, not at all."
"In any case, you will keep the Word. I am sure you'll find a suitably creative use for it," Khelben replied and waved his hand in the air like it didn't matter.
"Yeah?" I scoffed. "Any more cryptic advice to give me or is that all, Your Arch-Wizardly-Ness?" I was actually running on full sleep but my tone didn't imply it, because I was running out of patience with this blasted all-powerful man, whose job I had done.
Khelben frowned. "I hardly see how that tone is necessary when addressing me."
I scoffed gutturally, in the back of my throat. "Oh don't mind me, I'm just a little irritated at the man who summoned a girl without her consent."
"I suppose I'll never live that down, hmm?" His tone was back to the amused one he had before when he was recalling all of my napping in class. "Did it occur to you for even one moment that I could not concern myself with trivial matters such as your feelings? That I was facing a war, and an arch-devil behind it? That you were the only one in the world who could possibly stop Mephistopheles?"
"Wha . . ." It took me an embarrassingly long moment to piece together the implications of everything he'd said, and when I pointed at him accusingly, he simply raised a black eyebrow in scrutiny. "YOU KNEW!" I rightfully accused. "You knew all along what I am, who I am! You knew, you scrying bastard!"
"Knew what? As far as I'm concerned, there was only one future left to see. The one where you, and your allies, triumphed over Mephistopheles," he declared officiously.
I rolled my eyes again and slouched in my seat, defeated by the arch-wizard. "Oh right, says the man who rode into battle on the back of a griffon and stabbed the bastard back to Hell!"
"After you and Solaufein had successfully banished him," he reminded me. "Only you could have freed the Knower of Names from her prison, Binne. Do not forget that. We all owe you our lives." We lapsed into silence for a moment before he added, "You may go."
I perked up and sat a bit more upright in my chair, figuring that wasn't exactly the most impressive posture I could be engaged in when facing an arch-wizard of potentially unlimited power. However, my big mouth ruined it: "Oh! Right. Important man, Masked Lords and Ladies, Waterdeep awaiting and such," I said, because I was still very much miffed with him for summoning me in the first place. "Might I make a request before I leave, your lordship?"
"You may, if you cease that overly sarcastic tone," he said acerbically.
I had enough grace to feel slightly embarrassed by own petulance, but I had a point and I wasn't afraid to defend it. So I said to him, "Well, that is, next time - might try a letter before outright summoning a girl. Sure it's faster, but it's disconcerting to suddenly find myself one second piling hay before reading a missive and the next trapped in a tower behind a binding circle with a bunch of extremely powerful wizards staring at you!"
Khelben finally acknowledged my pain and said, "Ah, yes. You may wish to change your summoning name, now. You'll find yourself mistaken for Mephistopheles again, otherwise."
"I wouldn't be in this predicament if I knew how to do that!" I argued.
One of the Blackstaff's eyebrows crawled up his forehead. "Did you sleep through that class, too?"
"Well — I — I — I wouldn't know that, now would I?" I defended, sort of.
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well, I will teach you this - and then you will be on your way," he insisted.
I grinned. "Thanks! I knew you liked me."
"You have grossly misconstrued our relationship," he informed me with no uncertainty.
Perhaps I had, but I was unable to stop myself from going on, "Said the man to his favorite student ever. Who just saved the world from being taken over by Mephistopheles. Whom you definitely owe a solid drink," I added, since it then occurred to me that he might have access to vintages I'd never ever heard of.
"You can pick out a bottle from my cellar after I teach you how to change your summoning name, and then you will be on your way!" He finished with a tone that brooked no further sarcasm or disagreement from my corner.
"I knew you liked me!" I said anyway. Blackstaff grumbled, but didn't disagree, which I counted as a victory.
It was rather a simple ritual that he walked me through, and we changed it without delay. I wasn't aware that such a thing was possible, but apparently it was a matter of some concern to those with demonic blood. I just had the misfortune of having a famous biological father whose summoning name didn't sound altogether different from mine, for cosmically coincidental reasons that I was trying not to squint at. Once the ritual was finished, Khelben Blackstaff escorted me down a few sub-levels and let me peruse his collection of vintage spirits. I picked a particularly large, ancient bottle of mead that made Ol' Khelby flinch slightly when I grabbed it, which meant to me that I had definitely selected a winner. I was intending on sharing it with the Seer, Lavoera and the others once we found them, and gracefully thanked my old mentor before waltzing up the stairs to collect Solaufein and mosey out of the Tower.
He wrapped up his mysterious conversation with Laeral a few moments after he saw me holding the big bottle and waggling my eyebrows, and together we left the Tower to where the others were waiting outside in the sunshine. The salted sea air greeted us, along with Valen, Nathyrra, Aribeth, and Deekin who stood from their lounging under a shady tree to meet with us. I noted Nathyrra had a sheer covering over her eyes, a mercy bestowed upon her by Solaufein who apparently had had a similar problem when emerging from the Underdark for the first time. Nathyrra did not complain when the sun arose, but I could see her pain in her posture, and her squint. She seemed better off with the shading for her sensitive, trained-in-the-darkness-eyes. Valen looked resplendent in his shining armor and freshly combed and pulled back hair. I waltzed over to him and gave him a peck on the lips because he was beautiful and he needed to be kissed more often. He was surprised but kissed me back, and I could see Solaufein from the corner of my vision smiling at us.
"That be a biiiig bottle," Deekin commented, looking at the mead in my hands.
I knelt down to his level and held it up for him to grab and examine. "Mind keeping it in your bag, master bard? I owe a particular Seer a drink."
"Deekin be careful to puts it between soft things in his bag," Deekin agreed and took it from me, stuffing it in his deceptively small bag of holding.
"Malla Laeral has given us a map to the nearest Underdark entrance," Solaufein announced. "She has spoken to the Seer, through the Mirror of All-Seeing," he revealed.
I supposed if the Seer had tried to contact anyone in the city, it was a good thing that it was the Silverhand, who was known to be fair and diplomatic. "Have they reached the city yet?"
"They are camped in the wilderness outside of it. We will go to them," Solaufein told us. He turned to Nathyrra, who looked like she was burning with questions. "I am told your brother is safe," he told her, and she actually smiled in relief.
I walked us to the city gates when we were ready to go, taking a more direct path than I had before, due to the city no longer being infiltrated with demons. Corpses still occasionally dotted the street but there was a concentrated effort to the cleanup, and many wizards had need of the demonic body parts. It made me squeamish, and I could tell it even bothered Valen a bit, but it was fair. They had attempted to invade Prime after all. As cleanup/harvesting went on in the streets, we were let out of the city gates immediately as the quarantine had dropped and managed to dodge a large dwarven convoy of goods that had likely been waiting some time to enter the city. Waterdeep was coming back to life with a steady stream of goods and gold flowing into the City of Wonders' veins.
The Silverhand had supplied Solaufein with a fairly detailed map of the outskirts of Waterdeep, and it indicated a ridge past the Dessarin river to the north near Amphail. There was apparently an entrance near the mountains that was only known to a few - drow were apparently rare on the surface in Waterdeep even with this entrance close by, because Lith My'athar had not engaged in surface raids like so many other larger cities. We avoided the town of Amphail altogether and stayed off the road, just due to the fact that we had two drow and two fiendlings and kobold with us and with Aribeth being the most normal looking out of all of us (and the most infamous), it was just easier to avoid people and their questions altogether.
We stumbled upon the Seer's encampment quite a ways before we could make it to the Underdark entrance, in a small secluded little valley hidden by the mountainous ridges and ensconced by a copse of deciduous trees. The Sword Mountains were behind us, and the forest seemed to creep up into the mountains, surrounding the ridge in a protected grove that seemed like the perfect spot for the Seer's people to rest and recuperate from their flight from the Underdark.
A scout saw us first, and ran back to fetch a few others from the group with a victorious and joyful shout in Ilythiiri toward us. Sharwyn was amongst those who were fetched, and greeted all of us with hugs. She sported a new scar that trailed across her left cheek bone, which in my opinion did not detract but rather enhanced her beauty. If anything, it made her look fierce, and I told her so when I gave her a big hug. She laughed it off, touched it fondly with a finger, and said she was happy to keep the scar as a memento of her time in the Underdark. Apparently a succubus had grazed her for all of a moment before Tomi had back-stabbed the fiend to death, and it hadn't had time to heal until they ceased in their flight. She described a harrowing escape as they had to move as slow as their slowest member, all the while fending off Mephistopheles' forces. Her expression darkened when she related those who had passed in their flight and were unable to be resurrected, and to my regret Imloth was amongst them.
Lavoera flew overhead and waved at us, coming to a land near Deekin. The kobold bard engulfed her legs in a hug and claimed he was glad to see her, and it was endearing. I even submitted to a hug from the deva as her aura didn't bother me as much anymore, but Valen refrained and only shook her hand. She even subjected Nathyrra to a hug, who seemed not to know what to do with her arms when she was in such an embrace and only remembered what to do a moment before Lavoera let go. She rambled excitedly for a moment before flying back off to go and find the Seer.
Sharwyn walked with us into the camp where we were greeted by everyone who had escaped Lith My'athar. Even Tomi greeted us, though not with hugs like Sharwyn. Aghaaz was amongst them as well as many other golems, who were mostly stone-faced and greeted us with nods. The dark elves that followed Eilistraee embraced us and folded us into their ranks and followed our group to the Seer's tent which was situated closest to the mountains and near a particularly beautiful tree.
The Seer was seated outside, and rose to greet us, but did not approach. She smiled, and by her side was Vaendrith, who fidgeted restlessly. Nathyrra approached first and reached out her hand to her younger brother, who reciprocated the touch ever so tentatively. I could tell she was smiling, as was he, but they were still so new to the concept of affection that they seemed to not know what to do. "It's called a hug!" I shouted to her, trying to be helpful.
The Seer laughed, at least. I approached her first and held out my arms, and she gave me a big and warm embrace. She followed it up by hugging all of us in turn, even Deekin as she knelt down to his level. It was all very-heartwarming. I pulled out the bottle from Deekin's bag and passed it over to her, claiming it was a gift to her from the Blackstaff and I insisted that we all drink it together.
Some glasses were fetched from around the camp, and we all sat down in her tent next to each other to tell her the story of everything that had happened since. I didn't leave out the part with Mephistopheles being my father, figuring if anyone could keep my secret it was the Seer. Everyone took turns telling various parts of the story, but we did leave out most of the details of our rather painful transition into Hell. I suspected, from the look of empathy on the Seer's face, that she knew exactly what had happened.
We all had a glass of mead with the tale, and Aribeth even let down her hood and had a glass - I was very proud of her for that. The Seer told us all to avail ourselves of their supplies and stay with them for the evening, inviting us all to travel with her and the others to her grove near Silverymoon past Neverwinter in the north come the morning. I agreed on the condition that I could stop in Neverwinter to visit my folks, and Valen and Solaufein surprised me by offering to go with me. I supposed all three of us were rather attached now. The thought of my parents meeting the both of them filled me with equal parts terror and glee, just for the looks on my parents' faces. I wasn't sure if my mother would lecture me or congratulate me when she met them, but I was eager to find out and see my parents again - and to have a good drink (and cry) with my da. I needed to, after everything that had happened.
A celebration broke out as the sun went down amongst the Eilistraeens. Supplies were limited and no one had thought to bring much in the way of liquor with them, but that didn't stop people from having a great fucking time playing music and dancing. I hadn't been able to enjoy the celebration in Waterdeep due to, uh, circumstances, so I had fun dancing with Lavoera and the others. She at least seemed in no rush to go back to Celestia and wanted to spend some time on Prime, or - as she confided in me - at least ensure that the Seer was safe. She seemed rather attached to the woman, perhaps taking the place of Valen as the Seer's new bodyguard (I was also told few of the Seer's personal guard had survived, although the Seer was apparently quite proficient with a sword and capable of defending herself and many others in battle).
We sang, we danced, we drank - far into the evening and past the sun going down. I finally collapsed in exhaustion on the ground somewhere, and then got helped up by Lavoera and Tomi and dumped into Solaufein's lap. It was a comfortable, familiar place, and I closed my eyes and hummed as he ran his fingers through my hair. Valen joined us a moment later, sitting himself next to me and putting a comforting hand on my leg. I could feel my tail sway in contentment, stirring the grass. It couldn't have been more perfect, the ending to that day. For once, I wasn't haunted by any unwanted thoughts or mental images. I was sure there would be monsters to face ahead, and nightmares aplenty, but I thought with them by my side life would be nothing short of wonderful.
When we awoke, Aribeth had taken off sometime in the night. It was unexpected and stung a bit, but she left a note at least. The note said some garbage about a 'calling from the north' in the Dessarin wilderness, but the Seer assured us that with her Mirror she would occasionally check in on Aribeth and see how she was doing. I worried about that woman, fierce and dangerous as she was. I still remembered her breaking down in tears at Solaufein's feet. She was more fragile than she let on. Still, she was a big girl, and she had to know that she would always be welcome in our company should she find her way back.
We told Sharwyn and Tomi about her and how we'd met, and they were rather shocked to discover the hooded woman was their traitorous ally from so long ago. Tomi at least shrugged off his initial shock and said, "Maybe she'll do us a favor and hunt Bishop down and kill his sorry arse."
Her note unfortunately did not detail her destination and judging from the swiftness of her exit in the night, she probably didn't have a clear idea of where she was going or what she was doing. Solaufein had apparently talked to her in the night, however, and said of the matter, "She has found her faith."
I didn't want to have another discussion about gods and faith with him and the others, so I left it at that. There would be time to worry about the future later. We had the whole road, and our whole lives ahead of us. I trusted in Aribeth's capabilities, and wished her well in my heart. Sharwyn decided to travel with us to Neverwinter, but Tomi parted ways with us that morning professing that his gold was burning holes in his pockets and needed to be spent in Waterdeep. I sent him with a note to Welreeve with my regards, and in it promised her a copy of Deekin's book when it was published. As for the bard, he wanted to see the north, Silverymoon in particular. He had a book to finish after all, and a good - if incredible - ending.
With camp broken down and put up, we hit the road and headed north without looking back. I walked beside Nathyrra and gave her a smile as we headed out, and she smiled back easily behind her black sun-veil. Smiles had not always been so on her face when we had first met, but her face was made for them. It felt incredible, being besides people I trusted with everything the way they trusted me back. Though Valen and Solaufein perhaps occupied the largest parts of my heart, everyone I'd met so far had room in there with more to spare. Sharwyn strummed as she walked, humming, seeking a marching song perhaps from her memory, and the sun shone down from overhead alighting our path through the wilderness. I breathed the fresh air - deeply, wholly relieved to be out of the Underdark and out of Hell - and I thought life couldn't be more perfect.
We are at the end of this story! Thank you so much to everyone that has read, reviewed, bookmarked, or given this story a cursory gander and ended up with entirely more than they expected. Thanks most of all to Trisa_Slyne for editing this story and all her support!
Future adventures with these folks are planned, but will be a long time coming. The next story in this series will focus on Baldur's Gate, and Aphra and Imoen of Candlekeep, and will be titled: Scourge of the Sword Coast.