Chapter 6: New Old Friends: Day 4
Jeral woke to the sunlight streaming into his room. He stretched and yawned and noticed that Imoen was nowhere to be found. Her nightshirt was on the floor so Jeral deduced that she had gotten dressed. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up. He shaved, as much for the practice as for the need, took a long hot bath in a basin and then put on his remaining set of clothes, a pair of green breeches and a dark blue tunic, and headed downstairs. Leery from the night before, Jeral slipped knives into each boot before he headed downstairs carrying his spellbook case. He left his armor, traveling gear, sword belt and bandolier of knives over the chair in the room.
Jeral heard the sounds of muted conversations and eating going on below. As he entered the common room he saw Imoen having an animated conversation with two half elves, one male and one female. The three rose from the table as Jeral arrived.
"Khalid and Jaheira I presume?"
Clearly taken aback that they did not get the first word in the two half elves paused before they responded.
"Yes we are, Jeral. I am Khalid, and this is my wife Jaheira, we have heard of Gorion's passing and mourn for your loss. He was a dear f-f-f-friend." Khalid was large for a half elf at almost 6 feet in height and broad enough to pass for a thin human. He was in a soft brown tunic and green breeches and wore a long sword at his hip. They shook hands and Jeral realized he liked Khalid and instinctively trusted the man. Jaheira stepped in front of her husband put her hands on her hips and slowly eyed Jeral top to bottom. She was shorter than her husband and had the thinner elvish build. Jeral returned the favor and scanned Jaheira with what he hoped looked like a critical eye. She was extremely attractive, but her face had a hardness to it that detracted from her beauty. She carried a worn wooden staff and wore green breeches and and a tunic that showed signs of much wear. Her long brown hair reached the middle of her back. She was clearly an experienced warrior, and looked far more dangerous than her husband.
"Stop gawking child, it does not become you. If you are to travel with us you need to look less helpless than a lonely lost babe in the wilderness. And get a haircut for only women should have hair that touches their shoulders." Jeral had started to flinch backwards from the verbal barrage. The last comment crossed the line and angered him. He found himself leaning forward until his face was almost touching Jaheira's. In a low voice he growled, "Listen to me woman, I am my own man, not just Gorion's son. I loved him deeply, and love him still, but he could not dictate my attire and neither shall you. Imoen and I have not discussed our travel plans with one another yet but if we do decide to travel with you, and your unfortunate husband, then we shall do so on our own terms."
When he finished speaking he watched Jaheira's face and ears redden and he feared that he had gone too far. Khalid just chuckled quietly at Jeral's cheek. In an effort to lighten the mood, and avoid getting himself thrashed by an enraged warrior, Jeral took a step back, smiled and said that a haircut might not be a bad idea. Smiling he held his hand out to Jaheira. Grumbling she shook his hand. The handshake was like the woman, firm, callused and very strong. So strong it took all Jeral's strength and will not to flinch before she broke the handshake.
"There is some food remaining child, I suggest you eat before we head to Nashkel."
"A fine suggestion, woman." Jeral sat down and enjoyed his breakfast.
Imoen suggested that they stay at the Inn an extra day to rest and also because she had found a woman that wanted some family jewelry returned. Evidently a band of marauding hobgoblins had captured it and they had set up camp just out of sight of the northern wall of the inn. After a good meal the 4 went to their respective rooms to equip themselves for the limited foray into the woods.
They met outside the stables next to the portcullis that served as the exit from the fortress. Khalid wore a set of well made chain mail armor and carried a shield. He wore an open-faced helmet atop his head. Jaheira was in a set of worn leather armor and wore a thin metal band around her head. Her hands rested on a worn wooden staff. Imoen had on her usual gear. Jeral carried a shoulder bag with 10 additional throwing knives that he had purchased on his way out the door. He badly wanted to purchase a long bow but still lacked the funds.
They followed the road that worked around the west side of the inn before it turned north. The conversations between them were brief and limited. Jeral and Imoen were both nervous. Never before had they gone out for a walk expecting to find trouble, let alone looking for trouble. They had rarely been allowed outside the high walls of Candlekeep and now they were living on the road. In addition neither of them had ever seen, let along fought against a hobgoblin. The tales they had heard as children about the flesh eating monsters were terrible to hear. They had walked around the north side of the inn when Jaheira led them off the path and into the woods.
"Make ready, for I sense that there are unnatural creatures nearby." Jeral nodded at Jaheira and drew his sword while Imoen knocked an arrow in her short bow. Up ahead through the trees Jeral could see movement, LOTS of movement. A grunt followed by the sound of running figures told everyone that they had been noticed.
Jaheira and Khalid stepped in front of Jeral and Imoen. Khalid drew his sword and tightened his grip on his shield. It looked like almost a dozen hobgoblins were charging the party. They were all in fragments of various types of armor and wearing helms and wielding swords of various sizes and shapes. Jaheira uttered arcane words of power and the very grasses and shrubs on the forest floor seemed to come alive and worked to hinder the advance of the creatures. With a start Jeral and Imoen realized that Jaheira was a druid as well as a fighter. Most of the creatures were entangled in the foliage, but the three in the lead made it through before they could be entangled. Two started battling with Khalid while the other leapt at Jaheira; she just managed to ready her staff and was now fiercely battling her attacker. Jeral directed Imoen to shoot at the trapped hobgoblins while he slid to the side to support Khalid.
Khalid had killed one hobgoblin and then was knocked to his knee by a sword blow to the side from the second one. Jaheira saw her husband in danger but could not disengage with her opponent. Jeral stepped in and stabbed at the creature. Much to his chagrin Jeral's blow missed to the creature's side. The hobgoblin raised his sword high preparing to deal Khalid a killing blow. Jeral took a backhanded swing and sliced the creature's sword hand off neatly. Howling in pain it turned on Jeral. Seizing the advantage Khalid rose to his feet and ran his sword into the hobgoblin's side, killing it. As it fell to the ground Jaheira finally killed her opponent with a staff strike to the neck, with a crack the hobgoblin fell down dead. Jaheira walked over to her husband, checked his wounds, and announced them "too minor to heal." She then kissed him on the cheek and turned to face the remaining creatures after throwing a brief nod of thanks in Jeral's direction.
Imoen had killed three of the hobgoblins with her arrows. Imoen and Jeral each killed one more before the spell wore off. The final four hobgoblins, finally free of the vines and grasses attacked with a roar. Two headed for Jaheira, one for Khalid and one directly for Jeral. Jeral dropped his sword and began throwing knives. The first few whizzed by the hobgoblin, one to each side. The next three stuck in his armor but if they penetrated they clearly did little damage. Jeral threw the next knife and watched with a thrill as it buried itself into the creature's left eye socket. It stopped in its tracks and fell over dead. Jeral was elated and moved forward to retain what would now be his lucky knife when he saw a glint of steel to his side and felt a blinding pain in his side. Overwhelmed with pain Jeral fell to the ground. His hands instinctively grabbed at his right side and came away bloody. He knew he was hurt badly and was amazed at the pain. "This really hurts!" he thought. His vision started getting fuzzy as he was roughly rolled onto his back.
Strong hands stripped off his armor and ripped his shirt open. Jeral wondered if the remaining hobgoblins were planning to eat him when a cool rush entered his body. He could feel the pain leave his body and felt his skin and muscles knitting back together. He opened his eyes and saw Jaheira slowly standing up. She looked tired and leaned on her husband for support. As Jeral slowly got to his feet he looked at the remains of his shirt. Smiling he said, "My thanks for saving my life, but I did like the shirt even if you did not." Snorting something about "ignorant child" under her breath Jaheira moved off to search the corpses. He did catch the faintest trace of a smile on her face before she turned away. After about 10 minutes the party had a nice pile of salvaged gear. In addition to the missing family heirloom ring they had recovered additional gems, a few hundred in gold and seven sets of studded armor suitable for sale as well as a few swords. The piled the armor and weapons and armor behind a tree close to the road. The four then continued exploring to the north.
"He has got to be a paladin, cannot be anything else. Freshly scrubbed face, polished armor, symbol of Helm. He looks like something out of the history books the monks required that we studied back in Candlekeep," Jeral mused.
The man saw the four emerge from the woods. Drawing his sword he called out, "Halt! Be you friend or foe?"
"That depends, who are you?" Jeral shot back.
"I am Ajantis, Squire Paladin Sir Keldorn Firecam of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart and servant of Helm. I have come down from the city of Waterdeep to fight against the Bandit menace."
"Well we are no bandits so we are not a foe."
"Well are you a friend then?" Ajantis was clearly a bit flustered from the exchange. Jaheira stepped forward.
"We are heading to Nashkel to resolve some disturbances there. Will you join us?"
Smiling broadly, the paladin quickly accepted and joined with the others. Imoen just whistled in appreciation and muttered "so pretty" as Ajantis introduced himself to her.
The group picked up the pile of armor and weapons and returned to the Inn. When they arrived back at the Inn Imoen and Jaheira went to return the lost item while Khalid and Jeral went to sell the equipment to Bentley. After some fierce haggling they received 180 gold for the lot. As the money changed hands Bentley muttered about his generous nature and how it would be the death of him. Khalid smiled and said "we c-c-c-c-could have gotten more money if that armor all did not smell of hobgoblin." Jeral divided the gold into 4 equal amounts and distributed it to the group. Jeral purchased some leather armor for Imoen, as well as studded leathers and two sets of traveling clothes for himself. The clothes were black breeches and dark grey tunics of a soft yet durable fabric. When Imoen returned to the inn Jeral presented her with her gift. She was delighted with her new armor. After a hearty and leisurely dinner the five headed to their respective rooms since they wanted to be on the road at first light on the morning. They purchased a third room for Ajantis. Jeral asked for two wash tubs to be rolled into his room as well as a screen.
Imoen watched in silence as the wash tubs and the screen were rolled into the room and after the maids left she raised an eyebrow at Jeral. Feeling the heat rise in his cheeks, Jeral stammered, "it may be a while before either of us can take a proper bath again so I asked them to set this up. If the screen is not adequate I can wait downstairs until it is my turn." "This will be fine silly. It will be good to be clean since we have been out in the woods for a few days. Besides, we used to take baths together as kids."
"That was a long time ago; we have both grown up a lot since then."
"I know that, but you have always been like a big brother to me and you have always looked out for me. I never want that to change."
Jeral felt guilty at some of his thoughts from the night before and he quickly disrobed and slid into his bath. Quickly working to distract himself Jeral asked Imoen what she thought of the Paladin. "Like something out of the history books. Handsome warrior with a strong jaw and shining armor, I almost feel like a damsel in need or rescue." Jeral could only snort at the tought or Imoen needing rescue from anyone. Imoen loved the tub and soon the two of them were singing some rather bawdy drinking songs that they had learned from their days working in Winthrop's tavern. Once they were clean and very well pruned by the water they got out on their respective sides of the screen, dried off, put on their night clothes and slid into bed.
Much to his chagrin and delight Imoen snuggled up against Jeral and rested her head on his chest.
"We have been through so much recently; I need to feel safe tonight so please hold me."
Jeral nodded and gently stroked her hair as they both fell asleep.
Jeral awoke to the first rays of sunlight coming into the window. He realized that Imoen was still curled up against his side with her head on his chest. A slew of conflicting thoughts and emotions ran through his head. He realized that he needed to get out of bed. He started to slide away from her on the bed. This caused her to moan in her sleep and slide her body back next to his. Jeral slid away from her so energetically that he slid right off the bed, taking all the bedclothes with him. Imoen awoke with a start and began laughing when she saw Jeral in a mass of bedding on the floor.
"Bad dream?"
"Something like that sis." Without another word he hopped up, grabbed his clothes and left the room.