Adrian: Baldur's Gate

The trip back to Beregost was without incident.

"Edwin," Kagain said.

Edwin sighed. "Yes, Dwarf?"

"While yer in there....."

"What?"

Kagain gave him some gold. "Would ye buy me the enchanted axe they have? My old one broke when we were fighting Nimrod, or whatever his name was."

"I am not your scullery boy, Dwarf! (Damnable bristle-faced monkey.)"

"I know that, but none of us can go in there now, saving you."

"Oh, very well." Edwin stuffed the gold into a pocket of his robes, and went inside.

Edwin slipped up the stairs; neither the innkeep nor the patrons challenged him. For all they knew he was the one that was supposed to meet Tranzig.

Tranzig jerked, recognizing a fellow mage, as he stepped into the room. His shoulder length black hair swayed, his bulging blue eyes stared at Edwin.

"Tranzig's not afraid of rabble such as you!"

"Rabble? Rabble?? I am a Red Wizard of Thay! You are the rabble! Now tell me where the bandits have their pitiful little encampment, and you may yet live!"

Tranzig's only response was to start casting. Edwin twitched his fingers and interrupted him with a magic missile, then followed that up with a lightning bolt.

Fortunately, Tranzig hadn't had the information on his person, or it would have been burnt to ashes. It was in the desk drawer; a few scrolls.

Edwin went back downstairs, bought the axe for the presumptuous Dwarf, and went back outside.

"HEAR YE, HEAR YE!"

"We hear ye," snarled Montaron.

"Aye," said Adrian, wincing. What do you have that is so worth hearing?"

"A bounty of 5000 gold pieces has been placed on the head of the mad cleric Bassilus!"

"Oh really..." said Adrian, cocking his head to one side. Kagain's eyes lit up.

Xzar and Montaron looked at one another. Xzar groaned; Montaron rolled his eyes.

"Patience, fools," Viconia snapped at them. "If Adrian says we'll get there, we'll get there."

Neither of them had an answer for that.

"So is there anyplace else to stay in town besides the Burning Wizard, before we go hunting this Bassilus?" Adrian asked.

"Aye, there be the Jovial Juggler." Kagain answered.

"Good. Let's go there, th--"

"Ho there, Wanderer..." the Wizard that Adrian had met on the way to the Friendly Arm was walking towards them.

"I sincerely hope," Adrian said to him, "That you aren't another assassin, finally come after me now that I'm more powerful."

"Nay, not at all, Adrian," the wizard assured him. "Indeed I have, instead, watched your progress with interest. But I cannot say," he added, looking at the others in the party, "That I find your choice of allies particularly wise."

Xzar was trembling; Edwin sneered.

Adrian shrugged. "I choose those allies most effective to me."

"As you say...at any rate, I have some information that thou might find useful. The Bandits you seek encamp to the North and East. With that, I take my leave." and he hobbled off.

Adrian turned to Xzar. "All right, now tell me who that was, and no evading this time."

"Elminster," Xzar whispered.

Adrian went white. "Elminster?!?"

"Elminster this, Elminster that!" Edwin snapped. "Give me two thousand years and a pointy hat and I'll kick his arse!"

"Well," said Adrian, recovering, "Since you had neither of those things, perhaps ye shouldn't be so confident."

Edwin frowned but said nothing.

"Can I assist you?" said a strangely accented female voice as they entered the Jovial Juggler, which was larger than the other three Beregost Inns combined.

Adrian tensed for a moment, but saw that the woman--a cute redhead--was a Flaming Fist, not an assassin. That didn't mean she was friendly, though.

"I don't know," he returned. "Can you?"

"I am Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist."

"I care not for your Flaming Fist," Adrian said coldly. "Your law stops at the end of my blade, Officer Vai."

"Then call me Jessa," she sighed. "I need help and I don't care who I get it from. My company and I need to get back to Baldur's Gate. We're stuck here."

"Jessa, is it..." Adrian said musingly. "Very well, tell me how you need to find this precious way home, then."

"The bandits are plaguing the roads, and even my company can't take them all. I'll pay you fifty gold for each Bandit scalp ye give me. I need to know what the Nine Hells is going on, here."

"Co mission gratefully accepted," Adrian said. "We are already hunting them. They were affiliated with those who were poisoning the Nashkel mines."

Jessa's eyebrows shot up. "Aye? That is tidings indeed."

Adrian nodded. "We shall deal with them."

"Excellent."

They sat around a table, Jessa still nearby. For a moment Adrian thought...but no, he had already made his disdain for her profession plain. Even if she was that sort, she dare not lower her guard to him now. He shook himself.

"The scrolls confirm what Elminster said," Adrian noted. "Tranzig meets with outriders in the Wood of Sharp Teeth, who then guide him to wherever the Bandit Camp currently is."

"Strange," said Viconia. "I was wandering through that region before the Flaming Fist pursued me, and saw no sign of anyone."

"You were not looking for them," Adrian pointed out.

"And like as not," said Xzar. "When your darkness showed itself, had they seen you, they would have fled!"

Viconia chuckled.

"Witty tonight, are we Xzar?" Adrian asked.

"I have my moments."

"Not many of em, but e does have em," Montaron agreed.

"All right. Bassilus first, and maybe a little exploration to toughen us up, then the Bandits," said Adrian decisively.

Everyone nodded, even Montaron and Xzar.

Adrian was in his room preparing for bed, when he heard the armor whispering again.

Slowly and carefully, he took it off, breastplate uppermost on a chair. Then he wielded the dark sword he got from Greywolf, and placed the blade against the edge of the chest emerald.

"I wonder," he said quietly, "What would happen to your voices if I cut this out."

The voices stopped abruptly.

"You will help me. I will not serve you. Your God is dead. The Doomsayer is dead. Yet you yourself may have a future, with me, if you let me tap into your power."

He sensed a reluctant acceptance.

Adrian gave a fierce grin. "Good."

He went to bed.