I do not own Dungeons and Dragons or any of the characters.
Return
Jasper groaned miserably as his feathers slowly sank back into his body, his body shrinking and compressing as he shrank back into his true form, flopping exhaustedly to the ground. Doric collapsed onto her back beside him with a matching groan, only to grin tiredly.
"We made it," Doric grinned.
"That's the last time I fly that many people that far in one go," Jasper groaned.
"Hey, making it from the edge of the Marsh of Chelimber to Baldur's Gate in a single flight is impressive," Edgin said. "You should be proud."
"Exhausted now, proud later," Jasper said. "I don't think I even have the strength to shapeshift."
"Well, you better find it," Mia said, once again in her newly chosen Drow form, her hair swept over her left shoulder. "Someone's coming."
Jasper groaned, but shifted into his normal elf form a few seconds before a female Drow wearing leather armor and with her snow white hair falling behind her stepped around a boulder and stopped, raising an eyebrow at them all.
"Judging by the weapons, I'd guess you're adventurers," she said. "Where do you hail from?"
"We're a bit of a mixed bag," Jasper said, using his Ironwood sword to stand before sheathing it. "I'm Jasper. This is Mia, Aranea, Doric, Simon, Holga, Edgin, Kira, and Xenk Yendar."
"Nice to meet you all," the Drow nodded. "Well, not all. The two Changelings are exceptions, of course." Her hand twitched toward a silver dagger on her hip, only to stop as everyone around Jasper gripped their own weapons. "You would defend these monsters?"
"They're our friends," Holga growled.
"They're heroes," Doric stated.
"We're not letting you hurt them," Edgin said firmly.
"What is going on here?" A tall, powerfully-built Moon Elf asked.
He wore loose black pants with a thick leather belt with metal studs in two rows around it, a cloth hanging down almost to the ground behind his waist, and a matching, studded leather gorget. He wore only a dagger with a pretty gold handle, though it was sheathed, and was holding a book in his hand, which currently was open, as though he'd been reading it before finding them all.
"These people are protecting a pair of Changelings!" the Drow spat.
"Are they?" the Moon Elf asked. "Which?"
"The Drow and the the Wood Elf!" the Drow spat.
"Really?" the Moon Elf asked. "I've never met Changelings before. Impressive disguises."
"Thank you," Jasper said. "I'm Jasper."
"According to this book, my name is Ysuron Auondril," the Moon Elf introduced himself. "Forgive me, I'm afraid I don't remember much about my life."
"My sympathies," Mia said. "I'm Mia."
"A pleasure," Ysuron bowed slightly. "Are you heading to Baldur's Gate?"
"Yeah," Jasper nodded. "We're meeting up with three of our friends there."
"Perhaps you should travel with us," Ysuron offered. "We were just escorting a merchant caravan."
He gestured off to the side, and as Jasper and the others stepped onto the road from the small field where they'd landed, they found that a caravan was just reaching them. At its head was an attractive woman in a red shirt and tight brown pants with the shirt cut dangerously low on her generous cleavage and her wavy, silky blavk hair falling behind her. A extravagantly decorated dagger adorned her side, and a small red jewel adorned her forehead. At her side was a wounded woman with leather armor, a gilded shortsowrd, and her black hair in a pair of braids over her shoulders. Most of the caravan was battered and bruised, but none looked as heartbroken or exhausted as if someone had died.
"Trouble on the road?" Edgin asked.
"Goblins," the woman with the jewel on her forehead said dismissively. "Our new escorts dealt with them rather handily."
Walking alonside the caravan were a human barbarian with a pair of longswords and a fur cape trailing behind his imposing figure, a tall, female human with short blonde hair and a build as powerful as the Barbarians, but wearing the plate armor and bearing a mace like any self-respecting Cleric stereotype, and a dwarven rogue holding a crossbow and with his left eye replaced by an eyepatch with a crystal set into the front and shimmering slightly.
"They look like a capable bunch," Jasper nodded. "I don't suppose we could ride with you? We're a bit tired from...something we dealt with yesterday."
"For the Heroes of Neverwinter, it would be my honor," the woman in charge of the caravan smiled knowingly.
"Them?" the Drow adventurer scoffed. "Changelings?"
"Apparently, the Changelings were the bravest of the group, as they were the ones to hold the Thayan Red Wizard's attention most during the fight," the woman said, stretching the truth of the stories and rumors for Jasper and Mia's sake, as she, like Jasper and the others, had noticed the rest of the caravan's escorts tensing. "My name is Randalla Brasshorn. Please, join me."
Jasper and the others gratefully joined Randalla on the lead carriage, except for Xenk, who said his part in their adventure was at an end, again, and the caravan started forward again.
"I have a contact here in the city I think you all should meet with," Rabdalla said conversationally. "Jherek."
Edgin's face soured for a moment, but they all nodded at her meaning.
"He should be in the Elfsong Tavern," Randalla informed them. "I'll be taking up residence in the Purple Wyrm Inn."
"Good to know," Jasper nodded. "Thank you for the ride."
"As I said, it's my honor," Randalla said. "I was in Neverwinter."
They rode in silence for another few minutes before reaching the gate, Randalla getting them all in with her official merchant documents. A few minutes later, they'd parted ways and were heading through the streets to the Elfsong Tavern. Finally, they reached the familia building and walked inside, Jasper humming to himself as he found that the tavern no longer echoed with the haunting melody it had before.
"You're back!" Alyth, the attractive blonde barmaid, smiled. "Welcome back! Anything you want is free! It's the least we can do after you saved Baldur's Gate!" She frowned. "You're a few short, though."
"We were hoping they were here," Jasper frowned. "You haven't seen Adrianna, Kromlech, or Vahn?"
"If you mean your three companions who had been attacked by the Thieves Guild before, I'm afraid they haven't returned," Jherek said, walking over to them. "Were you separated?"
"They couldn't escape a collapsing tower with us, so they went through a gate that we all though lead back here," Mia explained. That map showed the Marsh being connected here, so we thought..."
"Then they'd have returned to the gate through which you left," Jherek reasoned. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to return to it."
"Sinspawn?" Jasper guessed, wincing at the thought.
"Nothing so terrible, though equally deadly a reason," Jherek said. "After you destroyed the Thieves Guild, a society of assassins, the Hands of Glory, reclaimed the Thieves' Guild's hideout as their own, and the sewers are currently overrun with carrion beasts, picking at the corpses you all left in your wake. I'm not blaming you, of course, merely telling you the situation. If your friends returned through the gate, the Hands of Glory would know, and may have them."
"Then we'll go and ask the Hands of Glory," Jasper said. "And we know just where to find them, this time."
"Very well," Jherek nodded. "Before you go, here." He held out a pair of very large sacks of gold. "Word has already spread of what you faced in the Sunset Mountains and the Marsh of Chelimber. I've paid you extra for your troubles, and I'll pay you again if you can solve the issue of the Hands of Glory."
Jasper nodded, Doric and Simon accepting the gold. "Randalla arrived with some potentially capable adventurers. Send them to the sewers to test them. Assassin societies never let themselves be revealed carelessly. It's part of being assassins. We may need the extra help."
Jherek nodded, and Jasper and the others left the tavern. As they walked through the city together, they all surveyed the people around them. And then, they all stopped, Mia and Jasper staring at a pair of men walking toward an alleyway. One wore a black robe with a quarterstaff slung behind him, and the other black leather armor with a pair of daggers behind his back. Jasper's hands curled into fists, only for a wicked grin to spread across his face.
"Bingo," Jasper grinned.
"Should we make good on our promise?" Mia asked.
"Not yet," Jasper smirked. "I've got some questions for our old friends first."
They followed the pair all the way to the Thieves' Guild hideout's entrance, then stopped. Jasper chuckled, extending a hand and forming himself a throne of roots, thorns sticking off of them, but leaving plenty of room for him to sit, which he immediately did. As he lounged on the throne, he rested the tip of his Ironwood sword on the ground, his hand on the pommel. Mia leaned against one side of the throne, extending her gauntlets' blades, and Aranea leaned on the opposite side, her spear resting against the front of her outside shoulder. The rest of the group all found a place to wait comfortably behind the throne where they could see.
"So, what's the plan?" Edgin asked.
"Let me do the talking," Jasper said. "They won't try to fight us, and they'll know everything we need to know. They never work for anyone they don't know everything about."
"What if they do fight?" Holga asked. "Last time you said they'd kill us."
"Last time they were ready for us, had us surrounded, and you all weren't ready for them," Jasper said. "Most of you had only ever been thieves, and one of you had never had any real fights. Myself, Mia, and Aranea were the only ones who had a chance. But this time, you're all ready. We've fought worse now. Bullettes, Automatons, Eldrith, Sinspawn. You've all grown stronger."
"We don't have Xenk," Doric said.
"Even if they wanted to fight, we won't need him," Mia said. "We can handle them."
They all fell silent, waiting nearly an hour until the concealed door opened and the first of the mercenaries emerged. He immediately swore harshly, backing up, but the rest had heard him, and rushed forward, expecting the city's guard. Instead, as soon as they saw Jasper, they all froze. The entirety of the gang, the original members of the Hands of Glory, had emerged, and as the door sealed behind them, Jasper raised his head, shifting into his true form as he surveyed the group.
"So, let's talk," Jasper spoke evenly, his voice leaving no room for alternatives.
"Fucking freak!" A barbarian, Brutus, snarled, hefting his axe.
"No!" a sorcerer tried to warn him too late.
As soon as the barbarian took a step, Jasper's finger extended, almost casually flicking a Flame Arrow from his fingertip and sending it flashing into the barbarian's pelvis. The barbarian screamed as he collapsed, flames consuming his body. For a few seconds, the screams echoed horribly, but then the flames had cauterized his throat, and a few seconds later he'd burned to death, the crackling flames spreading the horrid, putrid smell of burning flesh through the alleyway.
"And here I was just trying to have a civil conversation," Jasper said. "Anyway, now that that's dealt with, I'd advise against doing anything to annoy me."
"How?" the sorcerer demanded. "How can you cast spells so easily?"
"I'm asking, you're answering," Jasper said coldly. "First question, what is the Hands of Glory's goal?"
"Don't tell him!" a rogue said fearfully. "They'll kill us!"
"Corvac will kill us!" the sorcerer snapped.
"I won't ask again," Jasper warned, everyone but he, Aranea, and Mia standing and preparing themselves.
"It's not their goal," the sorcerer said. "They serve at the order of an organization."
"Which?" Jasper asked.
"The Zhentarim," the sorcerer said. "They've been plotting to take control of the Sword Coast for decades. As soon as Eldrith's forces were eliminated in Baldur's Gate, they had the Hands of Glory take over."
"Why?" Jasper asked. "What's their plan?"
"I don't know," the sorcerer shook his head. "I swear!"
"Alright," Jasper nodded. "Next question. The Moon Elf, the Human archer, and the Shield Dwarf who helped us fight Eldrith, they went through a gate at the top of the Onyx Tower. Where are they?"
"Not here," the sorcerer said.
"Then where?" Jasper asked.
"The Zhentarim believe the gates can only be linked from one to another, never to two," the sorcerer said. "Like a doorway. One doorway can't go to two rooms. If they went through a gate that you didn't go to from Baldur's Gate, they didn't come here."
Jasper nodded slowly. "Where did it link?"
"I don't know," the sorcerer said.
Jasper considered, then nodded to himself. "Who else in the city works for the Zhentarim?"
The sorcerer's eyes widened, but here he hesitated. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, only for the door behind the gang to grind open. Jasper's eyes narrowed as the gang began to turn.
"I knew you had expanded in order to take the city, but I wasn't expecting this," Jasper said, standing slowly.
And then, it was a bloodbath. Several dozen human assassins burst from the door, slaughtering the entirety of the original Hands of Glory in seconds by virtue of surprise. Then, as they turned to charge at Jasper and the others, Simon greeted them with a blast of Chain Lightning. As the first wave of assassins fell, more emerged, but these were followed by ghouls. Jasper extended his Ironwood sword, and a Sunbeam ripped through the assassins and ghouls, killing a huge swath of them. However, more continued to pour out. Jasper narrowed his eyes, firing off another Sunbeam. However, even as more of the ghouls were slaughtered, still more emerged. Jasper dropped his arm, charging forward to meet the assassins and ghouls, the others following him, and together, they tore into them. An assassin lunged at Jasper, only for Jasper to spin around him, evading his daggers before splitting his back as Mia spun in front of another, knocking his daggers aside with one gauntlet blade before slashing another. A ghoul lunged at her, but she circled it, shredding it. One leapt at Jasper, but Aranea's spear stabbed down into its back, pinning it to the ground before she caught up to it, ripping it out of the goul and slashing another with it a split-second before Jasper sent a dagger spinning over her shoulder into an assassjn who had been about to throw his own.
Holga passed Aranea sweeping a ghoul aside with her axe before yanking it back the other way and slamming the back end into another, knocking it to the ground for Edgin to stab in the head before he slashed another across the chest, then back across the throat. An assassin tackled Edgin, raising a dagger, only for Doric to tackle him in her favored Owlbear form, then whip him into the ground by the leg. She turned, swinging his broken body like a flail and smashed him into several ghouls, knocking them all away, and Simon cast Ice Storm, the massive chunks of hail crushing the fallen ghouls and several more.
Jasper and Mia shot forward, both carving through several more ghouls before stopping in a clear section just as a huge, deformed man emerged from the doorway. He wore an over-sized, patch-worked black shirt and pants, multiple leather straps around his torso and a leather belt, had a black cape, and worked a metal ring in his right hand with several large, blood-stained blades sticking out of the front of it.
"You dare interrupt us!?" the huge, ugly man spat. "I'll send your mangled corpses to Lady Luvia!"
"Thanks for the target," Jasper said. "Now die."
The behemoth, who stood nearly two feet taller than Jasper, blinked in surprise, then roared angeily, lunging and making savage, sweeping strikes with his blades. Jasper and Mia evaded several before both lunging. Jasper ducked low under the blades and slashed him deeply across the chest as Mia spun as she past behind him, her gauntlet blades tearing six gashes across his back. The man crashed to the ground, and Jasper and Mia both turned toward the remaining ghouls, only for Simon to finish the last handful with a blast of Chain Lightning. Jasper sighed, using a piece of the man's cape to clean his blade, Mia doing the same before retracting her blades as Jasper sheathed his own, taking a map and key from the deformed corpse.
"Who is Luvia?" Holga asked.
"No idea," Jasper said. "Let's go ask Jherek."
The others all nodded, and they headed back through the city toward the Elfsong Tavern.
Leave a review.