"Whiling Away the Summer"
After retrieving the items from the gnomish tombs and safely making our way home, Refanij returned to his people in the Flinty Hills with their share of the loot, and T'Rojan retired to study magic and do whatever it is he does. The rest of the party got back from their trip, to the Tomb of Grak the Mighty, a couple of weeks later, not a penny richer for the experience however. It seems my choice in tombs to raid had been far more lucrative.
Cuhltron came around looking to head out in search of the Moon Gate, as we had promised to accompany him, not to mention, I had the key wrapped around my finger. I wasn't really ready to go off for an extended period of time yet. I was still cherishing my time with Millie, and still feared that she might revert back to her evil ways. We were both spending lots of time with the followers of Rudd, and I could feel Millie was on the verge of committing her life over to the Demi-goddess Rudd. It was just a matter of time, her ego was still in a fragile state however. I kept pushing Cuhltron off, and it eventually became apparent that we would probably not be able to get up north and back down before winter set in.
In the meantime, Mordagin moved his crap out of the Slattern and into a nice upscale home with built in magic lab. I wondered where he had gotten the money. The situation became a little more clear as some of the details came out. Apparently, that old transmuter, who's troll we toasted in the sewers a while back, was unable to resist the temptation of the handsome young Mordagin and had offered him a house and lab to stay in, free of charge. To keep up appearances, they did not live in the same building together, but it was pretty obvious what was going on. I really shouldn't have been surprised, Mordagin was always turning me down whenever I invited him on a trip to visit the ladies. Oh well, to each his own, it was just a bit troubling though, the two mages I traveled with suffered from some father figure complex, Bran was celibate, Turok was so ugly even harlots turned him down, and the dwarves seemed to go into heat only once every three months.
During the next two months, Millie invested her life with Rudd, taking me along with her. How could I resist such a lovely woman's requests? I was able to free up some time to do a little research of my own, however. I took the liberty of visiting the library of Mordagin's sugar daddy and learned what I needed to know. I spent many weeks locked away in the privacy of my lab creating a spell, the likes of which had been unknown before this time.
The spell I created placed a weave over a person, so as to render them completely inconspicuous to any observer. It was a work of brilliance. With this spell, I could walk into the Kings royal chamber and serve him a glass of wine if I liked. He'd never pay me the slightest concern, not that he paid any attention to his servants anyway, but the guards wouldn't show any concern either. It was much like invisibility, yet very different at the same time. I called it Walking Unseen.
I tested the spell, by walking around the streets of Rel Mord. No one paid attention to me at all. Then again, no one usually did anyway. I decided that a stronger test would have to be done. I stripped naked and tried again. In broad daylight, completely nude, I walked past several people, they didn't even glance my way, maybe they hadn't see me? I kept going, two streets over from the Slattern and I passed right through a group of people, not a single comment was made. Success!! Just then a little boy walked around the corner saw my naked body and started laughing hysterically and pointing at me. Several people turned, attracted by the laughing boy and looked in my direction. They also burst out in laughter. I guess the spell had some limitations. Blushing a bright pink, I raced back to the Slattern and locked the door. How embarrassing, I couldn't bring myself to leave the Retching Slattern for several days. Even my dearest Millie laughed quite hard at me when I relayed the story. I guess I'd just have to work on a better version of the spell in the future.
Summer was almost over when I finally decided that I had sat around Rel Mord long enough. Millie's mental state had stabilized, however, the sexual depravity that had been part of her life as a priestess of Orcus, hadn't changed much. The only real improvement was that she no longer desired to fornicate while covered in the blood and entrails of a virgin sacrifice. Had I grown up under different circumstances, I probably would not have been able to cope with her deviant behavior and promiscuity. I count myself blessed that she wasn't hypocritical and didn't hold my own perversions and unfaithfulness to a different standard. Although we weren't truly compatible, the love we now shared was real and precious, for both of our lives had been filled with so little up until now.
I sent word out to Cuhltron that I'd be ready to go anytime now. I also sent word out to T'Rojan that I'd be going, and invited him along as well. He stopped by the Slattern the next day with a package for me.
"What's this?" I asked.
"A gift from the gnomes, here's the letter that came with it." he said, handing the letter to me with the package.
I read the letter, it was from Refanij's village Elders. They thanked us for assisting Refanij in recovering what we could from the Tombs, and expressed regret for those items lost in the chasm during our fight with the Tunnel Worms. Clearly Refanij had taken liberties in explaining what happened to our "share" of the goods. They claimed to be eternally grateful for the risks we took on behalf of their village, and for having the good hearts to return the goods to their proper owners, and for our courage, on behalf of all Gnomes, they named us "Gnome-friends". The letter then went on to explain that these items will announce the wearer as such to any Gnome worth his Nose, and that if treated properly should last a life-time. I sure hope they never find out the truth, or we'll be gnome enemies.
Inside the bag were a finely made cloak and boots of a most supple leather. I pulled the garments out and worried that I'd be struck dead or that there were poisonous spiders in them or something. I asked T'Rojan if he had gotten a set as well. He said he had, and that he had tried his on and found them to be a perfect fit. He also said that the articles of clothing were magical in nature. I tried them on, and found that the boots deadened the sounds of my movement and that the cloak changed with my surroundings much like rumors of a cloak of elvenkind is said to do. Nice gifts for most, but pretty unnecessary on one as skilled at remaining silent and unseen as myself. I was grateful for them though, you never know when something like this could come in handy.
I asked T'roj where the rest of the crew was, I hadn't seen anyone in a week or two. I occasionally would stop off at Mordagin's pillow biting palace, or run into Immilarn at one of the local bars, he's a freelance, like myself, who I had recommended to the party on their trip to the Tomb of Grak the Mighty. Grumle was usually spending time in Prosperity, I think he fell in love with a herd of goats down there, and Bran and Turok were also spending time going back and forth between Prosperity and Rel Mord. T'Roj wasn't sure where they were, but said he'd seen Turok a couple of days ago in Rel Mord.
I figured I'd try to track everyone down before making any plans. In the next couple of days, I got hold of Mordagin, Turok and Cuhltron. Cuhltron was eager to leave immediately, Mordagin wanted to go with us as well, but had promised Grumle that he'd go with him to try and clear out some old Dwarven ruins of a recent drow infestation. Turok was bored and ready to go anywhere. Bran had also promised to help Grumle, but the two of them were both still in Prosperity. Cuhltron kept whining about leaving right now. The dwarven, now drow, caverns were up in the southern extension of the Rakers Mountains. Cuhltron said he had someone he needed to meet in Ogburg, which was just over the border into the Theocracy of Pale. So I decided that I'd go with Cuhltron, and whomever else was ready for a little action, and head on up to Ogburg. There we'd wait for two weeks in case Mordagin or any of the others decided they wanted to join us. After that we'd continue on north.
Adventure Eighteen "Picture Perfect Framing"
A couple of days later, T'roj, myself, Millie, Turok, and Cuhltron rode out of Rel Mord, hopefully for a good long time. We planned on stopping in at Refanij's home in the Flinty Hills, I wanted to ask him to come along with us, or at least get him to check in on the Slattern every once in a while. I'd wizard locked the doors and there were three guard dogs running around in the stable, but I needed more protection than that. Hopefully that half-giant Fessick would take up residence, but he didn't like dogs, so that presented a problem as well. In the meantime, Mordagin said he'd drop in every now and then until he left.
We took the familiar road up along the Duntide River, stopping off at Dana Mord and Pell for a nights rest. We arrived in Womtham at the end of our third days of travel. I hadn't been in Womtham since last fall, but it looked to be the same boring town as usual. We got a room at my favorite inn, Lady Bella's.
After settling in, I decided to show Millie the town, and T'Roj came along for kicks. I left Turok behind to keep an eye on Cuhltron and make sure he didn't fall asleep in his soup. Just as we entered the Twilight Tavern I ran into a local freelance I'd met last year, while I was hanging around these parts.
"Hey Skrett, how the hell you doing?" he said coming up to me soon after we entered the Twilight Tavern.
Damn he was familiar, but his name eluded me, "Hey there, doing fine, yourself?" I almost forgot that I used the name Skrett up here. I had been pretty paranoid about being chased down by some pissed off shadow mage at the time, but had since realized that they probably didn't give a damn any more.
"Not bad, I'm not a freelance anymore, just so you know, but I know a guy who's looking for one, if you're looking for work that is." He asked, leaving the question hanging in the air like an over-ripened tomato.
Normally I don't associate with The Guild and doing un-sanctioned work can be hazardous to one's health, so I didn't know if this was a test or if he really had some work for me. "I don't know" I said, "I'm just passing through town, I'm not really here for work."
"That's perfect, actually. The client doesn't want the guild to know about this, and it would be best if you didn't show your face around here for a long time afterwards."
"Hmm, sounds like a high profile job, I assume the compensation is in-line with the risk?" I replied.
"I don't really know, if you're interested, I'll set up a meeting for you. This guy was a good client of mine, so I kind of owe it to him, and it would be best done by an out of towner. Be here tomorrow night at eight, I'll see if he will meet you. His name is Coleman, if he asks, tell him Hagen sent you."
Hagen, that was his damn name, now I remembered. "Alright Hagen, you better not be pulling some shit on me or you're dead." I added without a smile.
"I'm on the level man, trust me" he said as he headed out the door.
Trust him? I couldn't even remember his name, not to mention he was a common thief. Trust was not in my nature, I'd have to treat this carefully. Meanwhile, T'Rojan and Millie had done there best to not look like they had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.
"Skrett? Who the hell is Skrett?" Millie asked in that tone that all men hate.
"You got a job?" asked T'Rojan.
Ignoring Millie, I said, "You heard the whole thing, I gotta meet some dude tomorrow. You two can lend assistance if you like."
"I've never worked with you before." said Millie, "You think it will be dangerous?"
"Don't worry your pretty little head sweetheart. You're about to see a real professional work." I replied in exaggerated bravado, which earned me a punch in the shoulder from Millie and a muttered "asshole" from T'Rojan.
I decided that if I was going to do some work here, I better lay a little low, so we went back to Lady Bella's, got a girl, and kept occupied in our room for the rest of the evening.
Seeing as Womtham was our last stop in civilization, we spent the next day getting supplies and preparing for our departure for Ogburg. Both T'Roj and I were a little worried about stopping in at Refanij's village, seeing as they thought we were heroes and all, so I just sent a message to him, hopefully he'd get it in a couple of days. We planned to leave the next morning, but that really depended upon the work I was about to line up.
Half an hour before the planned meeting time, I sent T'Rojan and Millie over to the Twilight Tavern, with instructions to get a table and have dinner. They were to put up the appearance of a man and wife at dinner, hopefully that wouldn't be too hard a feat for them, and keep an eye out for trouble.
I walked up to the tavern a few minutes past eight, looking in the window I could see Millie and T'roj in a heated discussion, well it looks like they were keeping up the man and wife appearance pretty well. I walked in the door, and immediately spotted the idiot in the hooded cloak sitting in the corner trying for all the world to look inconspicuous. Shit, I thought this guy was a professional, probably wanted me to steal his neighbor's donkey or some stupid shit like that. I walked in, noting two drunks seated at the bar and no one else. I threw down a gold and told the bartender that the two drunks drinks were on me, and to pour me an ale. T'Rojan and Millie were bickering about something, to the point they hadn't even noticed me yet, some lookouts.
I received my drink from the tender, then turning and looking at "Mr. Dark and Mysterious" yelled out, "WHO THE FUCK IS COLEMAN?" That got everyone's attention.
The hooded man just sat there, so I walked over to him, "Hey Coleman, you wanted to meet me?"
He stood up, "Keep it down, I didn't want anyone to know I who I was."
"Well then, next time don't meet me in a damn bar, and don't look so damn obvious. If I were a constable, I'd arrest you on principle." I said, a bit of impatience slipping out. "Lets go outside."
He followed me out across the street and picked a dark alley to stand in.
"I really didn't want anyone to know who I was." he said, angrily this time.
"Don't worry, there wasn't anyone in there anyway. Tell me about your job so we aren't standing out here all night."
He gave me all the details of the job, I was to plant a couple of items in the house and clothing of a merchant by the name of Riven. His manor house was here in Womtham. The authorities were to find these objects in his possession, the following morning of them being placed. The pay that Coleman offered was actually quite good, nothing like the peanuts I used to work for in Sanctuary. I surmised that this was a political assassination and the stakes were high. It would be best if I avoided Womtham in the future after this job. Unfortunately he didn't have the items he wanted me to plant or the payment with him. We arranged a rendezvous tomorrow, for me to get the items and 500 gold in upfront payment. I told him that an associate of mine, Ralafor, would be the person picking up the items. With that we departed company.
I pulled back into the alley, cast Walking Unseen on myself, and then followed Coleman. He walked around a couple of blocks in an obvious attempt to cover his trail. It did him little good, I'm an expert at tailing people anyway, my spell was just insurance in case he spotted me. I followed him back to a manor house on the edge of town, it was not the same place as the Riven Manor, but it was obviously another member of the ruling class in Womtham. I staked it out for a few minutes, until I saw Coleman, through a window, talking to another man upstairs. So this was the guy who Coleman was working for, probably a rival of Riven. It really wasn't any of my business, but I liked to know who owed me my money in case they decided not to pay me. Satisfied that I knew who's house to rob in case they tried to screw me in the deal, I headed back to the Twilight Tavern and collected Millie and T'roj.
We went back to Lady Bella's and told Cuhltron and Turok that I had a party to go to tomorrow night and that we would have to put off our departure one more day. They bitched and moaned a bit, but I just ignored them.
The next morning I woke up, much to the chagrin of many I am sure. We had nothing to do all day till around noon, so I figured now would be the perfect time for my summer bath. I'd been holding off on taking it for two months now, but what the hell, what else was I going to do?
After cleaning up, I prepared myself and headed on over to La Taverna, the fine restaurant where I was to pick up the goods. I ducked into a nearby alleyway, and quickly transformed into "Ralafor" the large human in black leather. With me I carried a rolled up message that simply said "Your mother loves you." I walked into, or rather Ralafor walked into La Taverna and spotted Coleman sitting at a table with another man. I walked over to him, introduced myself as Ralafor and told him that I carried a message for him. I handed the note over to him, and he stood to give me a gold piece tip. As we had arranged, I slipped my hand into his coat pocket to remove the items I would need. It was a rather bulky bag and it got caught up in the pocket as I removed it. It was embarrassing, had anyone been looking they would have seen my weak attempt to lift the items. I thanked him for the tip and quickly left.
Back at Bella's I examined the items, a necklace of non-magical nature, a rolled and sealed note, and the 50 platinum pieces worth of the advance payment. I usually worked on a 50% upfront basis, but he refused to pay that much until the job was done. Given the opportunity for me to blackmail him, I didn't worry about getting my money too much. As we had discussed the night before, I was to plant the message on an article of clothing of Riven's and place the necklace in an appropriate location where he would keep his valuables. It seemed like a pretty straight forward procedure. I decided to do it at night, but I could just as easily done it during the day time. The only advantage of night, was if I got caught, I could run off into the darkness and hopefully get out of town safely.
I took a walk past the Riven manor, it was on the outskirts of town, and had a road going right past it. There was a 6 foot high wall going around the perimeter, with thorny bushes covering it. The only easy way in was the front gate. The manor house itself was a three story structure with towers on each corner, main entrance doors and a side door on the east side. It didn't look to difficult to break into. I headed back to the Bella and discussed my plans with T'rojan and Millie.
We waited until about midnight, then set out. T'Rojan cast a spell of invisibility that radiated about 10 feet from him, when we got near the manor house. From there, we held hands and walked up to the front gate. I dropped Millie and T'rojan off at that spot, they took a seat and promised not to do anything until I got back. I cast Walking Unseen on myself and climbed over the gate, my first step slipped and I banged my shin on the damn bar. That was going to leave a bruise.
Deciding that the obvious approach was the best approach, I walked right up the driveway towards the house. About halfway there, I saw a guard come out from the side of the house, circle around to the front and go in through the front doors. He never even noticed me. I kept walking, and passed in front of a garden just before heading for the main doors. Looking at the plants, I noticed that the bed of flowers and shrubs spelled out the letters B N. BN? Who the hell is BN? I thought this was the Riven estate? I hope I didn't have the wrong place.
I walked up the front steps, opened the front doors and strolled right in. They weren't even locked. Inside was a large foyer with a staircase right in front of me and a hallway and doors to the left and right. I wasn't here to look around, so I headed right up the stairs. I came to the second floor, there were a couple of doors and stairs leading up to the third floor. I didn't hesitate, just continued on up the steps. Halfway up the second flight, I heard someone walking around up above, probably a guard. Confident in the ability of my spell, I kept on going. Just as I got to the top steps, the guard came right around the corner, excused himself and headed past me down the steps. Whew! That was a little scary, it had my heart pounding for a second, I thought he was going to nail me.
I rounded the top step, I was on the third floor, ahead of me was a hallway, and to the right was a hallway. I turned to the right, there were two doors. One on the left and one on the right. I went to the door on the right, it was locked. Picking it, I looked inside, an empty guest room. I shut the door and went across the hall to the other door. This one was unlocked, and inside, was a two room suite. The room on the left had a bureau, desk and wardrobe, on the right was a bedroom with another wardrobe and cloak rack. In the bed was the sleeping form of a man. He was alone. You figured a rich guy like this would have all the women he wanted.
I walked quietly over to the desk, shutting the door behind me, and looked through some of the papers. Sure enough, this was Riven's place, or else this guy had stolen all of Riven's ledgers. I looked through some of the desk drawers. One was locked, so I had to pick it. Inside was a metal box, also locked. Picking that, I opened it and found some gems and jewels inside. Paydirt! I selected a lovely ruby and emerald choker from the box, a nice gift for Millie, and planted the piece I had come here with. This would be a perfect place for it. I locked the box back up, closed the drawer and locked it back up. I then moved over to the cloak rack. On it hung a house robe and a cloak. I pulled out the sealed message and placed it in the pocket of the cloak. The poor sleeping bastard wasn't going to have a good day tomorrow. My work was done, and it was time to leave.
I walked over to the door and listened outside, I didn't hear a thing. Opening the door, I stepped quietly out into the hallway. Just then I heard a guard come through a door in the other hallway. I ducked back inside and listened as the guard went back downstairs. I headed back out the door, closing it behind me and went to the top of the stairs. That guard was down there somewhere. Looking down the other hall, I saw two doors that probably led to the towers, and an internal door to another upstairs room. I decided to pick a shadowy corner to hide in until the guard came back upstairs. I didn't feel like testing my spell again.
I stood quietly, waiting, finally, after what seemed like hours but what was probably only a couple of minutes, the guard came up the stairs, turned down the hall towards me and passed through the door. I took my opportunity and walked over to the stairs and headed down. The trip out of the house was uneventful. In fact as I walked back down the path to the gate, I realized that the job had been quite simple in fact. That was the easiest money I'd ever made. Then again, a job like this should be easy for the truly skilled, such as myself.
I got to the gate and climbed over it. I could hear Millie and T'Rojan whispering to each other, but they were invisible so I couldn't see them, and apparently they didn't realize that I was standing just 5 feet in front of them. Hmm, how could I attract their attention. I turned my back to them dropped my pants and bent over, grabbing my ass cheeks. Still no response. You gotta be kidding me, they didn't notice that? Okay, I'd have to try something else. I moved over to where I thought Millie was, judging from her voice, and stuck two clutching hands out until I hit the soft flesh of a woman. I was immediately slapped in the face, and Millie appeared.
"Oh hi dear", I said. "I'm done, lets get out of here."
"That didn't take very long, I wasn't expecting you back so soon, and how did you sneak up on us without us seeing you?" T'rojan added.
"Its called skill" I said, and grabbed Millie around the arm and started walking back down the street. T'rojan kept his invisibility up and followed us back to the inn.
We woke up the next morning to some commotion outside. I quickly memorized Walking Unseen and cast it on myself, I wanted to see what was going on. I followed a knot of people out on the street up to Riven's place. It was soon apparent that he was being arrested for something. From what I gathered from the crowd, it was indeed Riven, but they had no idea what he was being arrested for. I made my way back to the Inn and found Millie holding a bag full of gems and gold. Apparently someone had dropped it off for me while I was out. I went back to bed.
I was soon awakened by Turok, who claimed that he was impatient to leave. The town was full of commotion, and he was worried that the locals might be forming a lynch mob to hang the half-orc. We got ready, grabbed a quick breakfast, and picked up on the local gossip. Apparently Riven had been caught trying to hire an assassin to kill a political enemy of his. An attempt had even been made on the politician's life a couple of days ago and they believed that Riven was responsible for it. Shit, looks like Riven was going to be hanged for the crime. I felt responsible for his situation, and thoughts of springing him from jail crossed my mind, then I remembered that I really didn't have any honor, and I hated merchants anyway, so screw him. One less rich bastard in the world. At least I got my money. We quickly packed up our horses and the four of us headed out of town.
I was glad when Womtham was a couple days behind us. We headed off into the Flinty Hills and traveled towards Ogburg, passing between the Rakers and Gamboge forest. While doing so, we were attacked by two trolls, who came screaming out from some trees and ran right towards us.
Millie spun her horse around, lowered her lance, and charged at one troll, while Turok dismounted and jumped to meet the other. T'Rojan fired a blast of lightning at the troll near Millie, while I webbed the other troll and Turok up between some trees. Looking back towards Millie, I saw that her horse lay dead and she was fighting the troll off with her morning star. T'rojan blasted it again, and I went running up to her and threw a flame circle around us, immersing the troll in fire. The troll quickly fell in the flames and began to burn. Looking over Millie, I could see that she was bleeding from many wounds. I pulled out my only potion of healing and gave it to her. It was an extra strong potion, and she drank the entire thing. Most of her wounds closed up, but her studded armor was ruined and her horse was dead.
I stepped back through the flame circle and went to see how the webbed up group was doing. T'Rojan stood there looking at them, a troll and a half orc entangled in the web. The troll was very close to Turok, so cutting Turok out would probably free the troll as well. We sat around figuring out how to do it, meanwhile the flame circle had died and Millie walked over to join us. We decided that I would cut out Turok, and as soon as he was clear of the webs, T'Rojan would ignite them and hopefully injure the troll, then Millie, myself and Turok would attack it.
We told Turok what we planned to do, and I think he said, "Just get me out of these damn webs."
We put the plan in action, and soon enough were facing one pissed off troll. He decided to attack me, but I was ready for him, with my two short swords drawn and ready. Luckily I was protected from his claws and fangs by my skins of stone, and his attacks were futile. The troll quickly fell to the combined blows of our weapons and T'Rojan's magic. Cuhltron just spent the entire time watching in fascination.
"My that was exhilarating wasn't it?" he said as we burned the remains of the two trolls.
"Yeah, more fuggin fun than a barrel of monkeys." I added. "You don't suppose you could have helped us out any?"
"Oh no, physical combat makes me ill."
"Yeah sure, whatever you say." piped in T'Rojan in a most sarcastic voice.
"Useless old man." muttered Turok.
Only Millie held her tongue, she was too busy pulling her stuff off her dead horse. We burned the trolls and put what we could on our two pack horses, then Millie climbed up on my horse behind me. We'd have to move a bit slower the rest of the way.
We eventually made Ogburg, without further incident I'm happy to report. We found an Inn and parked our animals. Now we would just have to sit and wait and see who showed up. In the meantime Millie and I went out shopping for a new war-horse.