This is mostly a transition chapter between the wilderness and the Mines. Next chapter will have much more going on. Stay tuned!
Chapter 12: Partings Day 14
The next morning the party gathered to plan strategy for the upcoming day. Garrick clearly knew that his adventuring days were done. "Well I think it is safe to say that this handsome hero is done with his adventuring days. I plan to return to Beregost and start to sing tales of your exploits. The roads are not safe for one to travel alone, particularly a one handed bard. Will any of you accompany me to Beregost?"
Jaheira was the first to respond. "Garrick, Khalid and I need to investigate the mines. We cannot go to Beregost with you."
"The mines can wait Jaheira. Jeral and I will take you to Beregost. That is what friends do," Imoen snapped.
Jaheira was clearly unhappy with the turn of events. Dynaheir stated that she would prefer a few days to recover from her ordeal. She also needed some time to memorize some spells and reconstruct her spell book.
"So why don't we agree to meet back here at the Nashkel inn seven days from today? At that point we will go investigate the disturbance in the mines. Imoen and I will escort Garrick to Beregost, Minsc and Dynaheir can rest and prepare, and Jaheira, you and Khalid can do whatever you wish for seven days. Ajantis, you may do as you wish as well. Does that seem reasonable to everyone?"
Jaheira was clearly not pleased but she nodded her agreement. Everyone else readily agreed. Jeral and Imoen divided up the gold held by the party and evenly distributed it eight ways. It came to just over 160 pieces of gold per person.
They said their goodbyes and Garrick, Imoen and Jeral got on the road headed north. Once they were out of sight of Nashkel Imoen tossed Garrick a small sack. He tried to catch it with his left hand and failed. Sheepishly he bent over to pick it up. Holding the bag he asked what was in it.
"Gems. I took the liberty of giving you all the gems we picked up on the way. I am no gem merchant but they are worth quite a bit. You should be able to retire and live comfortably for a good long time on these."
"Imoen, they were group treasure, I cannot take them all."
"Sure you can. Jaheira got the gauntlets and armor, Khalid does not need money, Dynaheir just joined us, Minsc does not know any better, Ajantis has no need of material things, and Jeral and I want you to have them. So take them."
Smiling Garrick tucked them deep into his backpack and then closed it tightly to keep them safe from prying hands.
After a long day of walking that was blessedly free from any encounters, the three reached the outskirts of Beregost. They rented two rooms at the Burning Wizard and proceeded to have a wonderful dinner and far too many drinks. Garrick seemed happy to be out of the adventuring lifestyle and thrilled to have a heroic tale of rescue to tell. And he viewed his missing limb as merely a way to add credence to his tale. He was already getting more comfortable eating with his left hand and it was clear that the loss of his right hand at the wrist would be only a slight impediment to his future life. With many hugs and promises to keep in touch Imoen and Jeral said goodnight to Garrick and weaved their way upstairs. Pausing only to change into her night clothes Imoen collapsed on the bed and was gently snoring within seconds. Smiling to himself Jeral tucked Imoen into bed, changed, and climbed in with her.
Day 15
Jeral was awakened by someone tickling his nose. He kept trying to brush has face to stop the tickling but it continued unabated. He tried to ignore it and continue sleeping. The next think he knew his nose was being clamped shut and he could not breathe. Gasping for breath he sat up with a start and swatted Imoen's hand away from his nose. Giggling she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. "Wake up sleepy head. You need to learn to be a light sleeper to survive in this business." Jeral tried to grab Imoen but she nimbly rolled backwards out of bed and out of Jeral's reach. Smiling they both got dressed to face the day ahead.
Imoen led them to the Red Sheaf Inn. "Why are we going here? Last time we were here a dwarven assassin tried to kill me."
"Relax Jeral. This is the worst inn in Beregost. What better place to watch thief like behavior in action?" Recognizing that this was another part of her training Jeral followed her into the Inn. They ordered weak drinks and took up chairs at a table off to a side of the main room.
"See those guys' playing cards Jeral?"
"Yeah."
Well the gnome wins almost every hand."
"So is he cheating?"
"He has to be. To a gnome cheating with cards is part of the game. Let's watch and see if we can notice."
The two watched the card game in silence for nearly an hour.
"See anything?"
"Not a thing."
"If he is cheating he is pretty good at it."
"Well either that or we are just not quick enough to catch him."
They watched the card game for another few hours while milking their drinks. The game broke up after the gnome had taken a lot of money from the three others in the game. They all stepped away from the table grumbling about the lucky gnome but there was no violence.
Imoen quickly got up and walked over to the gnome. Smiling she started talking to him and then sat down next to him. After a minute she waved for Jeral to join her.
"Jeral this is Golander Jansen. He is a retired adventurer who now just travels from card game to card game."
"Pleased to meet you Golander, I am Jeral of Candlekeep."
"I know who you are laddie, I noticed you the moment you walked in here. You and your sister both. It is hard not to notice two humans who stare at you for hours while you are playing cards. I would be careful about freely giving your name though. Others would gladly run you through to get the bounty that is on your head."
Seeing Jeral's look of concern he quickly continued, "Do not worry; I am not after your head, not at all."
Blushing, Jeral quickly apologized.
"No problem, always happy to help the young get into the trades. I was just glad no one else saw you watching."
"So how did you do it?"
"Do what my dear?"
"You won almost every game, you had to be cheating."
"Actually they were bad card players, I had to work hard to lose every once in a while just to keep it looking honest. So I did not even have to cheat much."
"So how did you do it?"
"Well I did two things."
"And they were?'
"I counted cards. When you play with one deck of cards that helps give you an edge because you can narrow down the percentage of a card being played based on what you have already seen."
"And the other? Well if they are dumb enough to use my deck of cards then it is simple, they are all marked. So I know what card everyone has to play. In addition I keep a few other cards handy just in case. With a slight flick of the wrist a high face card appeared in his hand. With a second barely perceptible movement the card was gone.
"Wow!" Imoen gushed. "Can you teach me, I mean us to do that?"
Golander laughed out loud. "Tell you what, buy me a drink and I will show you a few things."
Hours later they left the bar after thanking the gnome profusely. They made sure to check their pockets to ensure he had not filched anything of theirs. Thankfully he had not and they proceeded back to their room.
"Imoen, you have a lot to learn."
"That is true. But for at least a few things I need to learn I can learn them together with you. You would never be a good thief but you do have a very light touch and quick hands. So you can likely pick a pocket as well as I can."
Day 16
They spent the next day sword fighting in the woods. Here Jeral's strength, reach and weapons training helped him quickly overcome Imoen. His long sword and buckler clearly outmatched her short sword and no shield. While Imoen was a very strong archer she was clearly was not comfortable fighting hand to hand and frequently said as much while they were dueling. At the end of the day they were both sore and tired. Another bath followed by a good dinner and a few too many drinks marked the end of another good day.
The rest of the week passed quickly. Imoen spent long days working on her thieving abilities. She was a natural at finding traps and opening locks while her skills at stealth left something to be desired. Imoen simply lacked the patience to move slowly, carefully and quietly. Jeral for his part could pick pockets as well as Imoen could, if not better, but that was the only area in which he had any skills at all. They both knew they had so much to learn in so many areas if they were to survive. At the end of the week they said farewell to Garrick again and headed back to Nashkel. As they were leaving, Garrick promised them he was working on a song of their exploits and would play it for them the next time they were in Beregost.