The revenge Chapter 18, a baldur's gate fanfic

Disclaimer:

I don't own Baldur's Gate, the great masterpiece of role-playing.

The story on hand, ‚The revenge' is fan-fiction. I wrote it, because I love to write, but I will not use ‚The revenge' in any commercial way.

Rating: 'M'. Some scenes may be a 'T', but I had the feeling that a few scenes should be rated as 'MA'. I think, in general it's OK, to give 'M'. If you don't like that or if you are too young, don't read!

Chapter18 – 1

Hammer26th, 1370

Athkatla, Amn

The night was starlit.

Men like Isaea Roenall didn't care much about the stars, but even he realized that it was one of the first starlit nights in Hammer.

The noble left the building of the council and headed for his home. It had been a hard day and all Isaea wanted was to sleep… Suddenly he sighed angrily when he thought to the last conference: Shelara was still out there and they had lost her trace in the forest of Tethyr.

It was clear that she had headed to Suldanessalar, but it wasn't known when they had left the city. The cold and the snow had forced Isaea's scouts to leave their positions in the forest.

So it wasn't known where Shelara and her party had gone.

He sighed, thought to Nalia… and felt anger rising again in her heart. Perhaps she WAS a mighty archmage, but she also was the heir of her family. Her way, the way of all noble women in Amn, was to give her husband the heirs he wanted. And Isaea wanted to be this husband, even if this meant to break Nalia's will, to kill all persons who were important to her or to ally with overwhelming creatures.

He entered his home and closed the door behind him. How had this come so far? Everything was just Shelara's fault and he would make her pay for that. Before Shelara died she would suffer in unbelievable torture…

The trap was set and after Shelara's next move, not even Sune could help the priestess.

Suddenly he stopped when he heard anything in the shadow behind him.

Then a knock at his head…

Isaea woke up in a dark stinky room in a bedstead.

He moaned in pain and felt the thudded knock again… then he tried to move and realized that his hands and feet were tied to the bed. Isaea smiled: Their plan worked.

Four men stepped out of the shadows and Isaea identified them after a short moment. They were Aran Linveil, Keldorn Firecam, the high priest of the temple of Lathander and Jan Jansen.

"What dare you!" Isaea hissed. "To kidnap an important noble and a captain of the guards is a serious crime. All of you will pay for that!"

Aran Linveil grinned, "We're here deep below the docks. Cry as loud as you wish, coward. No one can hear you."

He got a dangerous look by Keldorn and by the high priest and then the thief sighed, "But of course I promised these two holy men to don't torture you in any way. They may despise me, but today they need me."

Keldorn rolled his eyes and Linveil kept on talking, "But don't be afraid, there are more possibilities to force you to tell the truth… Priest! He's yours."

The priest made a step to the noble, placed his hand on his chest and whispered a charm spell… The hand of the priest flashed in red light and the light seeped in Isaea's body. The noble tried to fight it, but he hadn't a chance. A moment later he fell in the bedstead and stared at the ceiling expressionlessly. Keldorn nodded and made a step to him. He looked at him for a moment, and then he asked his first question, "Isaea Roenall, did you order to kill Valygar Corthalo?"

The bewitched noble nodded, "Yes. I did this because I wanted to show you what happens to those who try to infiltrate the council."

"It wasn't necessary to kill him. "

"I thought it was."

Keldorn stared at him, but then he asked the second question, "You, Corneil and a third one invoked a creature to destroy Shelara. Who is the third one?"

"Gaal."

"Who's Gaal?"

"The high priest of the beholder in the sewers below the temple district. Shelara had killed him after she had destroyed the beholder, but a blind priest had survived the massacre and had resurrected him. Since then he'd hid himself in the sewers."

The priest of Lathander closed his eyes, "Lathander, help us…"

"Hm?"

"The invocation was made by a dark priest, a fallen and mighty mage and an angry noble who blames Shelara for everything what went wrong in his life. That's exactly the combination to invoke even the worst creatures of the hells."

Keldorn turned to Isaea again, "Which thing do you have called?"

Silence.

"What a creature do you have invoked?"

Silence.

"Tell me!" Keldorn shouted.

Isaea started and opened his mouth, but he couldn't form a word."

Aran Linveil hissed, "Let me try. If the charm spell doesn't work, my knives will work!"

"No," Keldorn shook his head. "It would be senseless. He's under the spell of this creature. I think he wants to tell the name, but he can't do it."

The paladin asked another question, "Your plan was to use this creature to kill Shelara?"

"Yes. But when it came back it took control over the situation and formed an alliance against Shelara. It was killed by the priestess and wants to bring her endless pain."

"And you three?"

"Corneil and Gaal and me became its high priests."

"Hm, well let's come to another question... where can we find an evidence for Shelara's innocence?"

"Search in the old house of the slavers in the slums."

After a while the priest of Lathander whispered, "Why you did this to her?"

"Because I and my allies can't stand her attitude to fight for the good. "

Silence.

After a moment the priest whispered, "I pray for your poor soul, young one. I hope you find the right path in the future."

Keldorn cleared his throat "Jan, it's your turn."

The gnome nodded and charmed Isaea with a spell… Immediately the noble got unconscious.

"He won't remember to anything tomorrow. Perhaps he'll have slight headache, but that's all," Jan said.

Keldorn nodded, "I didn't know you can cast this spell."

Jan grinned, "Oh, sometimes it's important in my business to make some guys forget everything."

Aran Linveil smiled, "Well, we bring him back to his house through the tunnels."

Chapter18 – 2

Alturiak2nd, 1370

De' Arnise keep, Amn

"It's my fault," Shelara said and stared to the ground.

Anomen shook his head immediately, "No it isn't! Valygar was aware of the risks and decided that he would take it. He didn't die for you; he died in a fight against the evil in Amn."

"But…"

"Sis'! He's right!"

Shelara looked to Imoen who stood at her side at the top of Nalia's keep. After she has heard that Valygar had died she needed a moment outside. Anomen and Imoen had followed her.

The priestess sighed, "Damn! Everything I want is the well being of every man and women in Faerûn. Is that so bad? Why there must be people like Isaea all the time?"

Her sister smiled, "You're a naïve jerk. It's the nature of life that there are always scoundrels who want to get rich at the expense of the poor."

Shelara stared down the keep, but suddenly the archmage giggled, "And you know… it's our job to kick these asses."

The priestess managed a smile. Imoen was incredible. She drove away the shadows, no matter how dark the situation was. Shelara hadn't known what to do without her.

Suddenly they heard steps and when they turned around, Anomen grumbled, "That's perfect. We're talking of exploitation and she's coming…"

Viconia walked to the three and turned to the priestess, "Give me the ring!"

Shelara nodded, put down the ring and her two companions felt as much of Shelara's charisma felt down immediately. Imoen knew that her sister was much more difficult without the ring. The ring of human influence turned arrogance into a substantive personality. And Shelara was arrogant… Before she was without the ring, this arrogance combined with her naivety had made her companions lose their nerves many times. But of course she still was Shelara and had helped so many people out there.

Viconia put on the ring and suddenly Imoen had the feeling that the drow wasn't that dark. It was hard to believe that this gentle woman was… a creature of the night.

Viconia grinned, "Hm, good. This item will serves me well, I'm sure… I will leave now. Nalia already gave me the money."

Shelara nodded, "Farewell, Viconia. To fight with you is always… special. May your gods be with you."

The drow nodded, "So it's with you… You know, you're my favorite rivvil. [1] I will take you as my slave when the drow subdue the creatures of the surface. Aluve'!" [2]

Viconia left the three immediately and after a moment, Imoen cleared her throat, "I think that was a compliment."

Shelara smiled, "Immy, that was the nicest compliment, I've ever heard from her."

"Whatever," Anomen sighed. "Let's go back. We have to make plans."

Shelara looked around when they reached the ballroom.

Every one of them was here: Anomen, Keldorn, Aerie, Haer Dalis', Jan, Cernd, Minsc and Mazzy.

The priestess and Imoen stopped, when they reached the members of her party.

She was happy to have so many allies on her side… although Keldorn and Anomen had become pretty rude when they had seen that Shelara had brought the Spectator to the keep. The two knights hated the idea to be that near to a beholder, especially because knights of the order had been in the keep until now and were forced to be there until this situation calmed down completely. It was bad for the reputation of the Radiant Hearts to defend a place, where a beholder lived. At the moment he was tolerated by them.

But now they had to concentrate on their plans.

After every one had told their adventures, Shelara looked to them, "Well, let me repeat it: Isaea, Corneil and Gaal have invoked an evil creature which hates me and wants to destroy the old party. Gaal did it because we have killed him, destroyed his sect and killed his false god. Corneil's intention was to take revenge for his dead brother. Isaea hates us because we stopped him from taking this keep and taking Nalia as his wife."

"The better word is 'servant'," Nalia grumbled.

Shelara nodded and kept on talking, "We don't know what creature they had resurrected, but it WAS strong enough to hit us hard. We've almost had lost everything and we're still living just because of a few lucky coincidences… Whatever. I think it's time to attack them. We know that there is information in the old house of the slavers and I'm absolutely sure that we find the answers we need to solve this riddle."

"And to retrieve your reputation," Saerileth said with a smile.

"Eh, yes…"

Keto looked to her, "I really wonder, what creature they have called."

Shelara stared to the ground, like Yasraena and Imoen. Keto saw fear in their faces and asked, "You think of Irenicus?"

Shelara shook her head, "No. There were scarier things out there than Irenicus."

Silence.

Suddenly Jaheira whispered, "You need more than three little creeps to invoke him."

"The hells! Which creature you're talking about?" Keto asked.

Shelara looked at her, "Demogorgon."

Keto's face lost color, "The prince of the hells?? This Demogorgon?"

"Yes."

"But what does he has to do with you?"

"We killed him in the Watching Keep."

The bard stared at her, "You… WHAT??"

"Yes. He was enclosed in the keep by Helm, but when the signet was breaking we decided to help."

Keto swallowed down the shock, "Damn, you KILLED a prince of the hell! Why didn't you tell it? That's a fight worth an epos!"

"You really fought Demogorgon?" Keldorn asked.

Imoen grinned, "Yeah, we did. But it wasn't that difficult."

"Eh…?"

"When we met him, I said to him: Hey, you Demo-guy! Go out of my sight or I kick your ass…"

"Imoen!" Saerileth hissed.

The archmage started and looked to the paladin. Saerileth whispered, "You can make jokes about Irenicus if you want. Or make jokes about anybody else… But DON'T joke about Demogorgon or the Watching Keep!"

Imoen silenced and stared down.

Shelara turned to Keto and Keldorn, "Saerileth's right. This was the hardest fight we ever were in. I don't want to go through such a fight a second time."

There was a pause.

Jaheira cleared her throat, "Whatever. For me it doesn't matter, who or what is waiting for us, because we killed even a half goddess. We will manage that, too… And I say it again: You need more than three mortals to summon a prince of hell."

"And what do you think is our enemy?" Keto asked curiously.

"Don't know."

"Hm."

Jaheira turned to Anomen, "Well, do you know how we can enter Athkatla?"

"Yes. We can use the tunnels of the Shadow Thieves one more time."

Shelara sighed, "I had hoped we can manage this on another way."
"Aran Linveil was pretty obligingly: He just wanted to make an agreement with Imoen about the trade in Waterdeep. I don't know what he talked about but he told that Imoen would know."

The brown haired mage rolled her eyes, "Damn! Is there anybody who doesn't know about my future guild??"

Nalia smirked, "You mean your thief guild, which is a secret?"

-tbc-

[1] rivvil: human

[2]Aluve': I leave you