X: Rescuing the Blonde

The guard studied the papers Adele gave him, nodded and, without turning around, banged his foot to the high cast-iron gates of the Blacklake District.

"What?" came the voice from the other side.

"Here's visitors. With permission from Captain Brelaina," he answered and returned the papers to the woman. "All in order, lieutenant. You and your companions will be escorted to Aldanon's place."

"Thank you," Adele smiled, watching the wings of a gates opening slowly.

They stepped into the district through the opened chink, leaving the noise of the Merchants' quarter behind their backs. The guard on the opposite side of the gates gestured silently for them to follow, and they moved up the street, ascending a small paved hill, littered with impressive mansions of the nobles.

The streets were quiet, no one apart from the guards wandered between the trees in shady alleys powdered with first fallen leaves of early autumn. In the middle of the district there was indeed a lake, round, pure, enclosed with an ornamental fence of white stones. Following the soldier, they took right from the street that led further up, skirting the lake and running to the hilltop, where a huge imposing building stood out against the sky.

"Academy," Qara hissed, jerking her head in that direction. "Wonder if a throw a fireball from here…"

"Better don't," Adele advised in whisper and smirked, pointing at the guards with her eyes. "Not now at least."

The guard escorting them stopped in front of a three-storied mansion of red bricks.

"Aldanon, you said," he nodded at the front door. "There you go. Just don't expect too warm a welcome, though. The old guy's eccentric at best… Anyway, I'll wait here while you talk to him."

"Thanks," Adele passed him by and took a hold of a carved knocker, giving a couple of bangs at the door.

For a minute or two there was no answer, then came the rustling sound of footsteps, and an unexpectedly buoyant voice asked: "Yes? Are you here with the delivery?"

"Mister Aldanon? We're from the City Watch, wanted to ask you some questions."

"Oh? And what happened?"

"Nothing, but… wanted to get some information from you that might help us out."

"Oh, but of course, of course! One moment while I remove the wards… always ready to help the Watch, you know. And information is a love of my life you may say. Just one more… right, all disarmed, I think. Come on in!"

The door swung open, and they found themselves in a large, scarcely alight anteroom, which seemed almost dark after the sunshine outside. Blinking several times so that her eyes could adjust to the dim light of the only lamp standing on a table between two armchairs, Adele turned back. The door behind them was closed by a short old man dressed in a long crumpled robe. After fiddling with the lock for some time, he finally faced his guests and smiled broadly. His disheveled hair and short tousled beard were so white, that his wrinkled face seemed to be packed in flocks of cotton wool. His eyes sparkled with almost childish liveliness, the look was absent-minded but cheerful, and there was something about that look… something Grobnarish…

Adele suddenly felt a great relief at the fact that they had left the gnome in the Flagon with Elanee.

"Come in, come in," Aldanon started fussing around the room, whisking some books off the chairs and the couch right to the floor. "Have a seat. Please, forgive my rather rude questions at the door. I would never intentionally stand in the way of the City Watch… well, unless there was nowhere else left to stand, really… but that wouldn't happen unless there was a flood. I must confess, normally I'm rather, well, reclusive. Not that I dislike people, mind you - quite the contrary! But lately with all the troubles... a murderer on the loose and young nobles sneaking around, up to who knows what..."

Adele cleared her throat: "Mister Aldanon-"

"No, no, I know it sounds foolish, but lately I've seen figures sneaking around in the dark - and not that well-meaning sort of sneaking either. I know what they want, mind you. My house, of course. As if I would ever sell it, ha! Ridiculous. I'd sooner give up my left eye. But my right annoys me at times, so that would be an easier sell… You see, back when I first settled in Neverwinter, my humble abode was on the outskirts of Blacklake, bordering acres of untouched wilderness. Now, with Neverwinter being rebuilt following all that plague nonsense – bam! - and my house is right on the main thoroughfare of the "rich" part of Neverwinter. All the nobility wants to live in Blacklake, but there's no more room…"

Khelgar sitting behind Adele all of a sudden shuddered. The woman shot him a questioning glance, and the dwarf muttered: "Just imagined what'll happen if to get him drunk."

"Uh-huh… together with Grobnar."

"You two surely have sick fantasy," Qara shivered.

"…so lately they've been trying various ways to convince me to sell my land," Aldanon continued, shifting his frighteningly joyous stare from one of his guest to the others. "First they tried offering me ridiculous sums of gold. Why would I need more gold?"

Neeshka gave a quiet sigh. "Wish more people would give that question a little thought."

"Next they tried making loud noises late at night. But I need little sleep, so the only thing they accomplished was scaring away the nightbirds that raid my garden - for which I thanked them. But now it gets absolutely ridiculous - I look out in the middle of the night and see them there, in the dark, watching me!"

Adele cocked her head to her shoulder: "You sure these are nobles?"

"Of course! Who else would sneak around my home?" he fell silent for a second. "Well, present company excluded," his eyes flared up. "Oh, that's right - you came here for a reason, yes?"

The woman breathed out in relief: "Yes, thanks for reminding, almost forgot myself. I was told to… seek your counsel on some matter. You see, a few weeks ago my native village, West Harbor, was attacked and…"


When she finished, Aldanon's eyes were lit up with such childlike gleefulness like he was having hard time not to dance.

"Great Tyr, what a tale!" he clapped his hands. "This is absolutely wonderful!"

This totally Grobnar's exclamation made the others choke with stifled laughters. Even Casavir's ever-stony face cracked into a repressed smile. The old man paid no attention to that, staring at Adele, who had to bit down the corners of her lips to keep a straight face.

"The moment you arrived I knew I'd be interested in meeting you! Wish I'd known that when I first greeted you, would have saved some time! But you've certainly come to the right place. A while ago I found another shard, with properties similar to the ones you possess!"

"…Where did you find it?" Adele wondered, taken aback.

"Well now, I'm sure it would make for a fascinating tale! Except that I don't remember…" he engrossed in thoughts. "Someone had to have given it to me, right? Hmm… I remember a well-dressed man, perhaps nobility… though I'd never ask such a personal question! He gave me this shard, asked me to study it and report my findings… Now that I think about it, he's never returned for the answer. Not that I had what to give him! And I never did catch his name, so I wouldn't be able to find him, either… Irrelevant - since, like I said, I haven't been able to glean any useful information from my single shard. I've done every possible test on the shard, but learnt little. However, I've never had another shard to compare it against! If you'd like some answers I'll gladly run some tests on your shards - I have just enough quicksilver left to do it."

"…Alright," Adele passed him the pack cautiously. "But I expect to get them back."

"Oh, sure, sure!" Aldanon took the bundle from her and disappeared behind the door, with a light oozing from under it.

"…Wow," Neeshka drawled. "A fabulously tiring Grandpa."

"Yeah," Adele smirked. "Now I get Sand's irony when he said I could try speaking to Aldanon to find out anything."

Qara made a grimace: "Don't even mention that name… By the gods, that smug arrogance… asking me about the Academy, my studies – how dare he?"

She had no opportunity to add anything as at that moment something hissed in the next room, then exploded, and Adele gave a start, feeling a tang of pain in her chest.

"I knew it!!!" Aldanon exclaimed, running out of his lab in a cloud of reddish smoke. "Oh, this is marvelous! These shards contain latent magical energy! It is either caused by a strong enchantment from when they were whole, or from their method of destruction. Furthermore - the shards resonate when they are brought together, increasing their magical energy output accordingly!"

"…I've no idea what he said," Khelgar confessed with a grunt.

Aldanon flourished the bundle with shards with triumph: "These shards are pieces of a broken githyanki silver sword! Are you familiar with the githyanki?"

"…Skin-deep, let's say," Adele replied.

"Ages ago, the ancestors of the githyanki were human, and inhabited another plane where they were enslaved by the illithids. Then came Gith. Little is known about her outside the githyanki, but she led the rebellion to free her people of the illithids, and is considered the hero and founder of the githyanki people."

"Uhm… concerning the sword?"

"Oh? Oh, yes, yes, thank you for reminding me. The githyanki silver swords are forged with the special purpose of severing the silver cord that connects the form of an astrally projecting traveler to his or her material counterpart. They look like a regular githyanki weapon, until used in combat, at which point they turn into a column of flowing, shimmering liquid. Really quite amazing, I'm told."

"But we've fought the githyanki," Casavir pointed, bending a bit forward in his chair. "And none of their weapons had the properties you describe."

"Oh, common githyanki would never possess a silver sword. These swords are rare and highly prized. They are given by the Lich Queen to only the greatest of githyanki knights. When one of their silver swords falls into the hands of a non-githyanki, they will go to extraordinary lengths to recover it."

"…You have our evidence of that," Adele shook her head. "Well, I do understand that they want to recover the priceless relic of their people and all that, but I have only pieces of the sword. What would they want with a broken sword?"

"I don't' know," Aldanon shrugged. "I've never heard of one being broken before. It could be that the githyanki are as interested in how it was broken as they are in reclaiming the pieces. But that is my mere suggestion. Ammon Jerro could tell you more…"

"Who?"

"Ammon Jerro. He was a court wizard of Neverwinter, decades ago. I met him a few times. He was a nice fellow... a little absent-minded, with a tendency to drift off the subject... He reminded me of my old mentor, Master Grahler. Had the largest collection of noisy, exotic birds, made quite a racket you know, chirping and squawking..."

"Oh gods…" Qara groaned, dropping her face into her hands.

"What?" Aldanon blinked, coming back to reality, and smiled. "Oh, yes. Anyway, Ammon Jerro was the real expert in githyanki and their silver swords. He actually possessed one! Though I have no idea how he got it. He was a gentle sort, so I doubt that he stole or killed for the sword."

"Is there any way to find him?"

"Hmm, well, he's dead now – so I doubt finding him will help you much," he sighed. "You know, when word of Ammon's death reached me, it was from a messenger, who heard it in passing. The nobles who ruled Neverwinter at the time must have assumed I would simply know if another scholar passed away, for they had not mentioned it to me - it was almost an afterthought. But it is sad… really sad in this age when the passing of a humble scholar and indistinct court wizard barely warrants a footnote in history. It makes me wonder... will anyone remember me when I'm gone?" he gave another sigh, but his eyes lit up again quickly. Seemed that Aldanon simply wasn't able to be sad for a long time. "Though I learned later that it was partly due to what Ammon's family wanted... and what had been requested by the deceased - to enter life quietly and to leave it the same way."

"But, perhaps, there are any… researches of his left?"

"Oh, I'm sure of it! I wanted to uncover them. But, unfortunately, any information Ammon had on the githyanki was either lost to the grave, taken far away by his family or locked in his Haven."

"Haven?"

"Yes, it was a private retreat of some sort, where he went for solitude. I know it exists, but I don't know where. His family might know, but they were said to have moved away from Neverwinter after the war with King of Shadows. Oh, those were dark, confusing times, so much death and chaos – all brought about by some self-proclaimed "King" of Shadows…"

Adele gave a deep patient breath: "So, about Ammon Jerro…"

"Oh? Oh, yes, yes! What about him?"

"Is there a possibility to find someone of his family?"

"Well, I suppose the Neverwinter Archives, here in the Blacklake District, might possess some information. They typically keep noble family records in the secured archives… I petitioned to be allowed to peruse them, but I was denied because... because, well, some silly misunderstanding regarding misplaced books that somehow ended up in my possession. You can try to petition for access also, which would take several weeks," he fell silent, deep in his thoughts again. "However… there is a way... Ask the guards at the archives to speak directly with Archives Administrator Cotenick. He has been known to let me in... quietly, on occasion. A nice man, really understanding."

"Got that," Neeshka rose to her feet. "Thanks for your help and all that. Guess, we need to go," she looked hopefully at Adele.

"Oh, I see," Aldanon smiled. "I had no intention to take much of your time."

"…yeah," Qara grumbled.

"Thank you for your visit and for letting me chat with you. Quite enlightening really. Good luck to you. Oh, and do be careful - I plan to raise my wards again after you leave."

"Mmm…" Adele smiled. "The shards?"

"Oh, yes," he handed her the bundle. "By the way, you may take my shard as well. Its previous master is unlikely to come back for it. And I've no use for it any longer – since I've already discovered what it is."

"Thank you."

The woman took the shards from him and lingered a bit before putting them back in her pack. Even through the cloth they were wrapped in she could feel with the tips of her fingers the coolness of the shards, like pricking of tiny icy needles – but it was a strangely pleasant coolness, slipping under her skin, through her veins, to the heart, where again something ached slightly in response…

"Adele?" Casavir called her, and the woman looked up at him with a start. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," she tucked the bundle into her pack. "Yes. Let's go. Thank you again for your time, mister Aldanon."

"Oh, not at all!"

The guard outside met them with a puzzled glance: "You surely took your time. Almost fell asleep. So, you are ready to leave?"

Adele nodded: "Of course. But on our way can we make a small trip to the Archives?"

"…Well... actually, my orders are to take you straight to Aldanon and back out again, lieutenant…"

"Just on the way," she shot him a bit pleading broad smile, which made him predictably smile back. "I won't be able to stand getting caught up in red tape again to get another pass for a five-minute visit to the Archives. You know, all that paperwork…"

"…Well, yes, but…"

"If you want, you can go in with us – to make sure we are not plotting anything."

"Fine. I mean, not that I don't trust you, lieutenant, it's just…" the guard shrugged. "Oh, well, I suppose it would be alright. Just a short trip, though!"

He led them along the lake, down the street, until they reached a long building without a single window. Crossing a small garden in front of it, they approached heavy stone doors which opened relatively easy, letting them into silence and smell of book-dust.

"Urgh," Qara winced. "Hate libraries…"

"It is so quiet in here," Casavir remarked, his gaze sliding over the endless rows of bookcases and shelves as they passed them by.

"Not many visitors since the District is closed," the guard answered. "I personally…"

He stopped, stumbling over something, and looked underfoot, his eyes widening.

It was a robed man's body, blood leaking from the slit neck hadn't even clotted yet.

"Seems to be the Archive worker," Neeshka said.

"Damn…" Adele unsheathed her rapier, looking deeper into the building, then turned to the guard. "Find men, as much as you can. Now."

"Will do, lieutenant," the guard saluted and darted off to the street.

Exchanging glances with others, Adele nodded in the direction of the main hall, and they moved deeper into the Archives. Coming across another body in the corridor, they went around it and entered the major book depository.

Silence still reigned among the cases and shelves, disturbed only by a distant paper rustling as if from the pages being turned over…

Placing finger over her lips and gesturing for her companions to stop, Adele noiselessly approached the opened doors to the central part of the Archives…

…when she heard a rasping voice, which stroke her as suddenly familiar:

"We have the location of the Haven."

Holding her breath, the woman peeped into the room.

The gith. They were rummaging about among the pile of papers, turned over chests and shelves – and in the middle of this chaos, with a large book in clawed hands, Adele saw exactly the mage who led the attack on West Harbor… and killed Amie.

"Interesting… There is another Jerro," the gith creaked, following some lines in the book, then in one swift motion tore the book apart. "Zeeaire will want her. Wipe out all mention of the thief, then rejoin the others."

With those words the mage threw scraps of the book on the floor and vanished in a blink. Waving her hand to her friends to follow, Adele rapidly strode into the room, having no desire to allow the rest of the gith get away. One of the githyanki tossed his head up, noticed her and shrieked: "The Kalach-Cha is here! Kill her!"

Adele parried his attack, stepping aside to let forward Khelgar, who landed a fatal blow at the enemy. Casavir, coming alongside with them, cut off the head of the gith in one slash of the sword, then deflected the attack of another, beating off his blade with a shield and by that giving Adele the opportunity to pierce the gith through. Looking back for a second, Adele noticed Qara's lips starting to move – and the next instant Neeshka launched to the sorceress with a scream: "Wait, no, here's books everywhere!"

"Damn you!" Qara barked, blundering her spell, and shook her head furiously. "So what?! Good riddance!"

"We were lucky that they hadn't left larger forces here," Casavir said, looking at five corpses.

"Pfft, an' what's "lucky" 'bout that?" Khelgar grumbled.

"Guess they hadn't expected opposition," Adele muttered, picking up the destroyed book and without much hope trying to put torn pages together. "Gods, who can understand anything here now?" she turned several shreds upside-down, throwing away others, joined them and frowned. "No, wait… Seems that… Yes, here it's said that Ammon Jerro has one living relative… Shandra Jerro, Highcliff…"

"Shandra Jerro?" Neeshka echoed behind her back. "Isn't that the girl who got her barn burnt 'cause of us?"

"Small world," Khelgar grinned.

"You've burnt someone's barn?!" Qara laughed. "I can't even believe you can reproach me for anything after that!"

Adele didn't pay attention to them, thinking frantically.

"…The gith are probably on their way already… Damn, damn, damn… Well, if we take the horses…" she looked up at the others, marking how the dwarf and the tiefling winced at the mention of horses, and nodded. "Alright, Khelgar, Neesh, you stay here, wait for the Watch and explain them what happened here. Casavir, Qara, we're after Shandra."

The paladin nodded in agreement. The sorceress just shifted her shoulder indifferently…


…They crossed the bridge and by the Main Road got to Highcliff for several hours at full speed. The sun was already low in the sky, when they took turn near the town to the farms.

"There!" Adele gestured the direction, seeing a glimpse of the black shell of burned barn.

Reining her horse back, she jumped off, looking around. Casavir caught Qara sliding off her horse as well, and they both came up to Adele, also staring at the large field behind the farmhouse with a rickety scarecrow stuck up in the middle. Placing her hand above her eyes to cover them from the sunlight, Adele peered into the distance until far off she finally saw a lonely figure, moving slowly through the field with a sickle in her hand.

"Shandra!" the woman shouted, rushing towards her.

Shandra jerked her head up at the sound of someone's voice, but before she could figure anything another scream wafted from the hill: "There she is! Capture her! Zeeaire wants her alive!"

Casavir and Adele dashed to Shandra, while Qara blurted out a spell, hurling a jet of flame to the githyanki running down the hill. Most of the creatures were sent flying by the fireball, yet the three of them managed to break through to the woman, who froze in the middle of the field. She backed away, but instinctively hit straight from the shoulder the first gith to run up to her, ripping his chest open with her sickle – an then, using the halt, took to her heels towards the house. But halfway she stopped sharply, her widened eyes catching the sight of Adele and the paladin. The gith, loping up to her from behind, caught Shandra by the waist, but she wrenched herself free, falling on her knees – and Casavir, arriving in time, brought down the two of the remaining enemies. Adele stooped down, grasping Shandra's elbow and helping her to her feet.

"What…?" Shandra mumbled, lifting her gaze, and, seeing Adele's face, jumped back, swinging her sickle defensively. "You again?! Stay away!"

"Shandra, look, there's no time to explain, but you have to go with us."

"What?! Where?! I'm not going anywh-"

Above their heads flew a fireball, followed by Qara's shout: "Behind you!" Seemed that the survived githyanki, coming back to their senses after the first magical attack, didn't intent to give up.

"Why won't you all just leave me alone!" Shandra groaned, moving back, and darted towards her house again, the giths at her heels

"Hey!" Adele screamed to them, hoping to get their attention off the woman, and threw her hands in the air. "Kalach-Cha!"

One of the githyanki stopped, looking at her, and grinned: "The girl and the Kalach-Cha - both within our reach," he turned to others. "Three with me, the rest capture the girl alive."

"…Damn, didn't work," Adele took a step back, her eyes following the creatures running to the house.

"I shall take them," Casavir said, stepping between her and the approaching gith. "Save the girl."

"Alright, be careful", she clapped him on the plated back and, waving to Qara, rushed to the doors.

Together they ran into a small corridor, all doors leading to the rooms flung open in haste.

"Break the door!" came a raspy gith's shriek. "She's in there!"

Adele and Qara went at the sound; the sorceress gave a sharp blow with her staff to the scull of the first gith jumping on them from round the corner, and Adele finished him off with a stab in the throat. Stepping over the corpse, they entered the dining-room, meeting with two more gith trying to force the locked door. Without giving them a moment to collect themselves, Adele glided between them, plunging her rapier deep into the side of one and kicking another under his knees to make him fall and kill already on the floor.

Pressing her forehead to the wooden door, Adele caught her breath and knocked softly: "Shandra?"

No response.

The front door creaked, and in a heartbeat Casavir stepped into the room. "Everything fine?" he asked.

"In a way," Qara snorted, placing her staff flat on her shoulders and throwing her arms on it.

"I have defeated those outside, but, I'm afraid, more of them can show up."

"Shandra, open up, please!" Adele drawled. "Quickly!"

Again no response. Adele glanced at Casavir, and the paladin, getting the hint without any words, hit the door with his shoulder, forcing it and getting access into the bedroom.

The first thing they saw was an empty scabbard hanging on the wall above the bed. Shandra herself was standing in the far corner, glaring at them and holding a short sword at ready.

"Don't come any closer!" she snapped, her voice quavering a bit. "I've no idea what you want, but-"

"Shandra, please, listen," Adele took a step towards her. "We are here to save you!"

"Are you? And…" she froze, opening and closing her mouth helplessly, eyes glued to something behind the woman. "No…"

Adele and Casavir turned around to see small tongues of flame breaking from under the back door.

"Not guilty," Qara declared immediately.

"Some of the githyanki must have stayed to make an ambush," Casavir stated grimly. "Now they want to smoke us out."

"That's…" Shandra took a huge gulp of air. "That's my house! First my barn, now my house?!"

"Tell me somebody, what is wrong with stone buildings?" Qara rolled her eyes.

"We should leave, now," Adele grabbed Shandra's shoulder, ignoring her mechanical attempt to break loose. "Come on, damn you! We're all going to burn here!"

Coughing from the smoke flowing into the room, Casavir opened the nearest window and got out first, on the way thrusting his sword into the body of the gith awaiting them. Qara was the second to move out of the house and immediately stepped aside, repelling the blade pf another creature with her staff. Adele joined them, and together they managed to finish all the attacker – luckily, the forces left were not that large.

With hollow eyes Shandra watched the fire licking the roof of the house and a column of smoke rising into the darkening sky.

"Yeah…" she sighed. "Well, my barn and home - both burned to the ground," she shot a glance at Adele and others. "Any more of your help and all of Highcliff will be the next to go to the Hells."

"We didn't want to-" Adele started, but Shandra waved her off in a chafe.

"Like that matters. Alright, bid you farewell and all that. You've made your point, I'm moving to Highcliff."

"You can't stay here, you should go with us."

"Why's that?! I barely know you! But what I do know is whenever you show up, trouble's not far behind. So, I think, you go there," she gestured absently at the horizon, "and I'm going my way. For better."

"Listen! We are trying to save you, dammit! Is it that hard to believe in?!!"

Shandra tilted her head, which made her tousled straw-colored hair sweep her shoulder, then shrugged vaguely: "Well, I guess you could have killed me if you wanted to."

"Those creatures can come back. We need to leave."

"And you know a safe place?"

"Yes, in Neverwinter there is-"

"In Neverwinter?" the woman snorted. "The only safe place you can think of is in Neverwinter?" she screwed up her eyes tightly, lapsing into silence, then shrugged again. "Well, why not. My barn's gone, my house is gone... Are we leaving right away?"