The blast of color to her eyes, even in the rather drab auditorium of the Veil, shocked her as she stepped through the portal and back into reality. The two of them hurried to the front, feeling that it was quite urgent to tell Magda what it was they had found. Adahni secretly hoped that it might evoke another overdramatic reaction from the dwarf. The first one had been highly amusing , to her mind.
She was concerned to find the auditorium empty, the dwarf woman nowhere to be found. Someone had cleaned up the gnoll and red wizard bodies, stacking them near the doorway for removal.
"Maybe the troop's gone off to hire someone to clean this mess up," Safiya said.
The two of them went through the theater door and out into the light and heat of the Mulsantir bazaar. Instead of Magda, they found a trio of women standing on the steps leading to the Veil, evidently waiting for something. It became abundantly clear after a moment or two, that it was Addie and Safiya that they were waiting for.
"I don't like masks," Adahni said. It was true, they reminded her of the Shadow Priests she had fought, back when she was defending Neverwinter. She had a sudden and very clear memory of being in the snow outside of Crossroad Keep. She'd taken the mask off of a shadow priest and found that it was a young girl, no older than fourteen, that she'd slain.
That's Delinia Harkins! A voice in her memory exclaimed. Whose was it? Casavir's mother. What was her name?
The first of the masked women cleared her throat, clearly waiting for Adahni's attention. She looked down at her. Her mask covered most of her face, leaving her hair as her only outstanding feature. It was outstanding indeed, a pure, snowy white that stood out against her tanned skin.
"She must be of high status indeed," Safiya whispered in her ear, "Look at how intricate her mask is!"
"So it's you that has caused so much trouble in my city," the leader of the masked women intoned. She walked up the to draw closer. She looked at the women, taking in Adahni's skirts and blouse – and the dagger in her hand that was dripping blood in a crimson puddle on the steps. She then turned her attention to Safiya. To Adahni's relief, the paint covering her tattoos had held up, and she looked only like a peasant woman with a scarf covering her head. In the light of day, she actually looked quite pretty. Adahni felt some satisfaction with her work at this, she always liked making things prettier. "Such a little thing to have stirred up so much!"
Adahni looked up at the masked woman, trying to discern features.
"My name is Sheva Whitefeather of the Wychlaren, the hathrans of Rashemen. Nothing occurs in our land without our hands in it, so you shouldn't bother to tell me to mind my own business. Now, you have managed to cause quite a stir here, child."
"Please explain," Adahni said, carefully polite.
"Whether you are aware of it or not," Sheva said, "There is a host of spirits outside the gates of this city, lead by Okku, the Bear God. He is currently calling for the blood of one Adahni Farishta. As there have been no reports of strangers in this city for weeks, until today when the proprietor of the Sloop talked about a black-haired woman with a Neverese accent drinking herself into a stupor last night, I imagine that it must be you, and your… associate. He demands that we turn you over. Now, Adahni Farishta, can you give us a reason you shouldn't?"
Adahni thought for a long moment, trying to discern what it was these witches respected. Power? Knowledge? Ruthlessness? Everything she had learned about Rashemen from books was that it was a cold land, full of cold people, people whose respect it was difficult to earn. I am the Knight Captain of Crossroad Keep, she thought, For a time I was the most feared woman between Waterdeep and Kuldahar. She drew herself to her full height – which she was fully aware was not terribly high at all – and put on a mask of her own, making her features stony and imperious, pitching her voice high and piercying. "Because if you do, and if I survive, which I very well might," Adahni replied, "I could easily burn this city to the ground."
To her surprise, the witch threw back her head and laughed, loud peals of laughter. "Well, my dear," she said, "You do have quite a fire in you. It sounds like you intend to fight Okku."
"It sounds like I don't have much of a choice," Adahni said, "I defeated him once, in his barrow below the ground, and I intend to defeat him again. After that and the half dozen red wizards I just slew, I doubt a spirit army is going to faze me much."
"Half dozen red wizards?" one of the other two witches asked. She was younger than Sheva and wore a simpler mask, "Did she just claim have slain red wizards? Here? Surely she's bluffing."
Silently, Adahni pointed to the pile of bodies in the corner, just beyond the open door. Sheva went up to it, and rolled one over. She took in the red robes, the bald head, the tattoos.
"You weren't joking," she said, "How did red wizards infiltrate my city?"
"I haven't the slightest," Adahni said, "But they're gone now, and by mine and my associate's hands. I suggest that I would make a better friend than enemy, Sheva Whitefeather. I certainly hope that you and I can be friends."
"That does change things," the witch said, stroking her chin in thought, "If you defeat Okku, it is likely he will bother us no more. He is an honorable creature, if hotheaded, and will take it gracefully. Very well. I suggest this, Adahni Farishta, you will have to fight him no matter what, but I can offer you some assistance."
"What sort of assistance are we talking about?" Adahni asked.
"The jail is up the hill a bit. I give you the right to rescue any prisoner bound for the gallows to join you in your cause."
"A prisoner, you offer me?" Adahni asked, "And what sort of prisoners does Mulsantir have? Brawlers too lumbering to outrun the guards? Forgive my skepticism, Sheva Whitefeather, but how much help could they possibly be?"
Sheva's mouth cracked a half smile under her mask, "You'll have to see that for yourself. Find what allies you can, and I suggest you hurry. This city does not fare well cut off from the rest of the world."
"It seems I have no choice," she sighed, "Very well."
The three witches exited the theater, leaving Adahni and Safiya to look at each other.
"I knew that wasn't the last we'd see of the bear god," Safiya said.
"Let's just hope that he's as easy to defeat as last time," Adahni sighed, "Come on, let's go comb the jail for acceptable convicts. Good gods, just when I think things might be smooth sailing, something like this occurs…" They walked down the steps of the theatre and out into the street.
"Wait!"
Adahni turned to see who had called her. She sighed in exasperation when she saw it was two odd-looking creatures – human enough to look at them, but with large, feathery wings sprouting out of their backs where their shoulderblades should have ended. "What do you want?" she asked.
"I overheard your… conversation with the wychlaren," the first said. He sounded male, and looked like a man. He wore fine bronze armor that glinted in the sunlight, and on his head was a helmet with the horns of a large stag seeming to grow out of it.
"What about it?" she asked.
"You… you're an aasimar!" he exclaimed upon drawing closer and looking her in the face, "Yes! I'd recognize that smell anywhere!" Then he did a very unexpected thing, and gave her a bear hug that lifted her clean off her feet. She would have normally begun beating him about the face to get him to put her down, but she didn't feel threatened, and figured that it was probably best not to make any new enemies in this land, "I, too, have the blood of the celestial! It is so rare to meet an earthbound cousin!"
"I ain't your cousin," Adahni said, "Please put me down."
The stag man put her down, as she had requested. He was joined of a sudden by a woman, with similar wings, but black of hair and red of eye. Having grown used to strange things happening, Adahni just stood there and accepted her existence without question.
"She must be the daughter of one of the lesser angels," the black-haired woman said, skeptically, "Are you sure she can help us?"
"Well shit, I'm sorry I didn't sprout wings like you," Adahni retorted, "Just tell me what you want."
"Our sister," the stag man said, "Kaelyn the Dove. She has disappeared into Shadow Mulsantir, and we have not the wherewithal to find her."
"And what makes you think I have?" Adahni countered.
"We know there's a shadow portal behind that theater. Why else would a stranger like you go in there?" the blackhaired woman said.
"Because I have a healthy appreciation for the dramatic arts," Adahni said. She reached into her pocket and fingered the shadow stone that Magda had given her, "Go on."
"We are known as the menagerie," the stag man said, "I am Efrem the Stag, this is Susah the Raven. Kaelyn is the eldest of five, all of us serving Kelemvor."
"The God of Death?" Adahni asked, "Well that's a bit creepy…"
"Kaelyn has abandoned our faith, and serves Ilmater!"
"Ilmater the pain-bearer. Now that's just annoying," she said, remembering the self-flagellating priests and priestesses, seemingly in a continual state of martyrdom. She had always wanted to inform them that pain doesn't count when it's you yourself that inflicts it. She had no patience for the lot of them, "But what concern of this is mine?"
"We need you to find her for us," the raven said, "If you do, we will help you in your fight against the bear god."
"Now you've told me something I wanted to hear," Adahni said, "I'm surprised you didn't say so in the first place, I might have been more polite. I will try to do as you ask, but can I ask what on earth she was doing in Shadow Mulsantir in the first place? It's not a place one goes for a pleasant stroll."
"She is trying to open the Death God's Vault," Efrem said, his voice hollow and somber.
"Kelemvor?"
"No," he replied, "Myrkul." He paused after the name, presumably to let some meaning sink in, but Adahni was unclear what he was talking about. "Myrkul was the old god of death, before Mystra slew him, and he was replaced by Kelemvor. He kept a vault in Shadow Mulsantir, where his temple still stands. Kaelyn has gone to try and open it, a fool's errand if I ever heard of one!"
"A creepy errand," Adahni sighed, "Very well, if it will secure me a few allies that aren't degenerate convicts in this fight, then I'll give it a go. Can you tell me where the portal is?"
"She disappeared behind the stables by the eastern wall," Susah said, "We can only imagine it's back there."
"And you can only get there at night!" Efrem added.
"Very well," Adahni said, "I'll see what I can do."
"Oh thank you, cousin!" Efrem exclaimed, hugging her again.
"No, seriously," Adahni said, "I ain't your cousin. My father was Farishta. I don't know what kind of angel he was, but he sure didn't worship Kelemvor. At least I hope he didn't."
"Farishta," Efrem mused, "Yes, I've heard that name. I think he might be only a half-celestial, like us."
"He doesn't have wings," Adahni said. She had met her father a grand total of once. She lay dying at the foot of a cliff, a cliff that she had walked off of while disoriented by an assassin's poison, and her father had rescued her, walking through the planes to his home on the Celestial plane. There, he had healed her, fed her, and sent her back on her way. She related this story briefly to the siblings, curious in spite of herself about what knowledge they might have of the man who sired her.
"Not all of us do," Efrem said, "From you story, he probably is half celestial, but to travel so easily among the planes, he must be powerful indeed. You come from an honorable lineage."
"It's not my lineage I'm concerned with," Adahni said, "It's my own actions. I am defined by those, not whose blood runs through my veins."
"Tell me, why do you hope he is not a follower of Kelemvor?" Efrem asked.
"Because it's fucking creepy, that's why," Adahni said in irritation, "Just tell me where to find you after I've gone in after your sister, and I'll let you know when I know what happened to her."
"We're a little hard to miss," Susah said, gesturing to the wings on her back, "We'll be around. Just… be careful. She gets herself into some ridiculous situations and I've no doubt this is one of them."
"I like you, Susah," Adahni said, "Do me a favor. From now on, I'm going to deal with you, and not the flying stag."
"Very well," Susah said, a faint smile playing about her mouth, "Remember, you can't reach it until nightfall."
"This nightfall," Adahni said, "I am going to go to sleep, because I'm unnaturally exhausted. I will try to get to Shadow Musantir at dusk tomorrow, and that's the best you will be getting out of me."
Efrem opened his mouth to speak, but Adahni shut up him with a glance. She and Safiya turned, and walked away from the siblings. The jail was up the hill, and was unremarkable but unmistakable. Safiya offered no opinion on the stag and the raven, but expressed her discomfort at being asked to travel to Shadow Mulsantir again.
"I don't like them either," Adahni said. In truth, she was uncomfortable with her heritage. Despite her unusual coloring – brown skin and black hair in a part of the world dominated by pale and blue-eyed blonds had always made her something of a stranger, and not to mention the pale brown eyes that looked almost yellow – she had never really felt herself anything but human. In fact, here in Rashemen and previously in Thay, she felt as though she fit in with the olive-skinned and dark-haired natives. The encounter with the half-celestials made her a little uncomfortable as she felt again the depths of her difference from the rest of the world, "But they may be powerful."
"Indeed," Safiya agreed, "Still, we will be putting ourselves in danger."
"More danger than fighting the bear god, just us two?"
"Perhaps not quite."
The jail was housed in a building of wood, not stone, with black iron gates on all of the cells but one. Two of the prisoners were sleeping, a Halfling, and an odd-looking bluish man who had the look of a half-orc.
"What is that?" Adahni asked, pointing to the simian-looking man-thing snoring away in a patch of sunlight. His hair and skin had a bluish cast, and his jaw was too big for his face. His bottom teeth stuck out over his upper lip, giving him the look of a particularly ugly bulldog.
"Hagspawn," Safiya said, "The offspring of a hag and a human male."
"Must have been a very drunk human male," Adahni commented, thinking of the illustrations of hags in her storybooks. All aged and bent over. The fact that they had working reproductive systems baffled her. "What about that one?" she asked, pointing to the cell at the end.
"That looks like a hagspawn too," Safiya said, "Different kind of hag, though. Night hag. Can probably walk in dreams."
"I'd ask you what in the hells you mean by 'walk in dreams,' but I figure if it can, then it can tell me all about it itself."
The cell at the end had no physical door, but just an empty doorway. It was, however, covered in runes. The creature inside – it looked male by Adahni was not quite sure – was seated in a circle, not unlike the summoning circle that Ammon Jerro had kept his demons and devils in. She walked into the room – the wards did nothing against her – and cleared her throat.
The prisoner rose. He looked dreadfully familiar, Adahni observed. He had slightly different coloring than the hagspawn in the next cell, more blue-grey than blue-green, and his features resembled more a handsome man's than the bastard offspring of an orc and a bulldog. He grinned when he saw her, his teeth cutting an ivory slash across his bluish skin.
"I wondered when you'd get here," he said, "They all do come seek me out eventually."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Adahni said. She stared at him, searching her mind for where she knew him from. It came to her of a sudden. When I passed out after gorging myself on that wolf spirit… he was there. I dreamed of the Cuckoo's Nest and he was the only one there I didn't recognize. He must have seen the look of recognition cross her face. Safiya looked at her in alarm.
"Now, my pet," he said, "We both know what it is that's going on here. You saw me in your dreams, and here you are. So many seek Gannayev out, so few succeed in finding him in the waking world! But you, you have succeeded. You must be an extraordinary woman, on the inside, as well as the out. It will be a pleasure getting to know you."
"What… how do you know we'll even have a conversation beyond this one?" she asked, a little perturbed.
"Because I have seen inside your soul. You are going to ask me to come with you on an adventure," Gannayev said.
"What makes you think that?" Adahni asked, "What can you do? Why is it I want you along? After all, you do seem to be quite stuck here."
"And what makes you think I am not fond of my surroundings?" he asked, "But please, do not toy with me."
"Very well," Adahni said, "The Wychlaren have given their permission for me to take on any convict in here that agrees to help me defeat Okku."
"Ah, so Old King Bear has arisen from his hibernation once more. Well that settles it, I'm not going anywhere near him," he said.
"But you sounded so hopeful when you decided I was asking you along," Adahni said.
"That was before I knew about the bear king. Nope. Not interested," Gannayev said. He crossed his arms over his chest, sat himself back down within his circle, and turned his face to the wall.
"Very well," Adahni said, "Let's go Safiya, it seems this creature isn't enough of a man to face a real foe. Such a pity."
She turned on her heel, and made as if to leave. She had reached the door before the prisoner sighed, "All right, fine, I think something could be negotiated. My, but you are a charming haggler. Watch yourself, or soon they will throw you in here as well."
"And who's to say I still want you?" Adahni asked, raising her eyebrows at the hagspawn.
He smiled again, "Because you're desperate. It oozes from your pores. Now come, love, take me from this dreadful place. Spirit me away with you, preferably to somewhere with decent ale and a warm bed – and a warm body to share it with."
"I can promise you the first two," Adahni sighed, "The last one you'll have to pay for yourself."