In The Cards

Trust is a very strange thing. Intangible, yet firm. Beautiful and deadly, bringing you strength or weakness alternately. It can be freely given or dearly bought, and depending on whom you give it to, it may be your downfall or your savior.

Excerpt from ‘Interview With An Assassin’

“Wards?” Imoen asked. “But…but how do you know? I can’t see a thing?”

It was a few seconds before Adahn answered, and when he did, he spoke in a very carefully neutral voice and didn’t look her in the eyes. “It does not matter how,” he said, his black eyes still focused on what Imoen thought of as empty air. “But I assure you, they are there. I can…see such things. Not all the time, but when the traces of residual magic are strong enough. Here they are fresh, they glow like embers. And they are all over the place, like a spider web throughout the air of the room.”

“But…but I thought only wizards could…”

Imoen hastily bit back the rest of her sentence as her companion glared at her. “Enough,” he said. “I will not discuss this further. All you need know is that the wards are there, and if we touch them something very unpleasant will happen.”

“Like…like what?”

“At the best, an alarm goes off and we are swamped with guards, demons or something like that, then face a grisly death.”

“And at the worst?”

“We are cut to pieces by the wards themselves and die a grisly death. All in all, I recommend you try not to touch them. Now, look at the case over there and tell me what you see.”

Imoen squinted and tried to make the case out through the gloom. It was made from glass, fairly big, and there was some sort of ugly clay idol sitting inside it. “I can see locks on either side of it,” she said. “Big ones.”

“Correct. Unless I am entirely mistaken they will both need to be unlocked simultaneously for the case to open. And that means that we must both make it over there if we want to get our hands on that idol.” He paused. “The alternative is to walk away of course. Stealing two of the artifacts may be enough to satisfy Ravenscar.”

Imoen craned her head backwards to be able to look him in the eyes. “Do you really think so?”

The older rogue shook his head, looking seriously concerned. “No, I am afraid not. I’ve met him, you see. You agreed to the task of stealing all three artifacts. Unless you do so you will be in grave danger for as long as you remain in Baldur’s Gate or its surroundings. I could protect you perhaps…but there are things I must do, and I couldn’t be with you continuously.”

Imoen bit her lip and stared at the case again. “Is there no way to do it then?”

“There is a way,” Adahn said. “But it will be dangerous.”

“Huh,” Imoen said, tossing her head in what she hoped was a sophisticated and roguish gesture. “So what else is new? I…I love living dangerously.” She tried to sound cool and businesslike as she said it, but she couldn’t quite keep her voice from trembling.

“Of course you do,” Adahn told her in a very kind voice as he placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder. “And I have every confidence that you can do this. I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise.”

“Um…do what exactly?”

“You’ll see. You’ll see…”

A few minutes later Imoen stood quietly biting her nails as she watched her companion navigate his way across the floor, avoiding things that he could see but she could not. Sometimes he would raise his feet high to step over something, sometimes crawl on his stomach or take a contorting sideways step. It looked a bit like some sort of odd dance. Finally he stood by the glass case, and nothing bad had happened. “Now your turn,” Adahn told her. “Are you ready?”

Imoen nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Good. Close your eyes, that will help you concentrate. And remember, do nothing unless I tell you to.”

Nodding again, the pink-haired thief closed her eyes, making an effort to keep her legs from trembling. I can do this. He won’t let me get hurt. All I have to do is concentrate. But I suck at concentrating! No you don’t. You can pick locks, can’t you? You can do this. Just relax…

“Imoen,” Adahn said. “Listen to my voice, and do exactly as I tell you. As long as you remember that, you will be safe. Now. Take your left foot and place it in front of your right. That’s right. Whenever I tell you to take a step, that is the exact length of the step I want you to take. Now take another one.” Imoen hesitantly took a step forward, her eyes squeezed shut. “And another. That’s right. Now stop. Lift your right foot to the level of your thigh…just a little further…that’s it. Now extend it forwards and twist your upper body to the right very slowly…like so. Now put your foot down. Excellent. You’re doing very well. Now the left foot…”

So it went on for a time, without any mishaps. Imoen, however, was finding it increasingly difficult to keep her eyes shut. At any moment she expected to trigger one of the wards. Finally she froze in the middle of the floor, just before a particularly difficult passage. “I can’t do this!” she said, almost sobbing.

Adahn’s voice somewhere in front of her was very calm. “Yes you can. It’s not much further now.”

“I know but…I’m scared!”

“I know you are. I also know that you can do this. You are much stronger than you think you are, Imoen. Now listen to my voice, and forget about everything else. There is only my voice in front of you, and I will not lead you wrong. Do you believe that? Do you trust me?”

Imoen breathed heavily. The fear was still there, but she pushed it aside, bunched it up in a tiny corner of her soul and refused to look at it. He has such a wonderful voice…like black silk. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I trust you.”

She thought she could hear a faint sigh in front of her, but when her companion spoke next he sounded as unruffled as always. “Then come to me, Imoen. One step at a time. Now, sit down on your heels…very slowly. Yes. Onto your belly…make yourself as flat as possible. You are smaller than I am; there is plenty of room. Very good. Now forward…” Slowly but certainly Imoen went on, step by step, banishing all stray thoughts from her mind, listening only to the voice in front of her. “You can open your eyes now,” the voice finally said.

Imoen’s eyes flew open and she found herself standing right in front of Adahn who was giving her a pleased smile. “You see?” he told her. “I told you that you could do it.”

“Yeah,” Imoen said, breaking out in a big and happy smile of her own. “You did. I’m sorry for stalling back there. Now let’s crack this case open, right?” He was right. And maybe…maybe I am stronger than I think I am. Right now I sure feel that way.

The locks to the glass case were difficult, but not impossible. The tricky part was opening them both simultaneously, or as close to it as possible. Fortunately there were no traps on them and eventually there were two welcome ‘snicks’ as they yielded to the two rogues. “He’s all yours,” Adahn said, bowing slightly in the direction of the case.

Scanning to make certain there were no traps Imoen reached into the case and picked up the small clay idol. It was incredibly ugly. Basically it looked like a fat and naked little man with a monkey head. It was very obvious which body part the unknown artist had thought it important to emphasize. “Yuck,” Imoen said.

Adahn snorted quietly. “Indeed,” he said. “Though I am a bit surprised at your reluctance, given your own artistic aspirations.”

”But mine was classy, you have to admit that!” Imoen’s blue eyes glittered brightly as an idea struck her brain. “Say…if I take up sculpture, would you do some nude modeling for me?” Then she giggled at the frozen look on her companion’s face. “Sorry. I just couldn’t resist. It’d be fun though…sure you don’t want to?”

“The day I agree to do that,” Adahn said, “will be the day that Elminster finally shuts up. In other words, not in your lifetime.” He pointed at the warded room again, looking malicious. “In the meantime, I suggest you try to curb your hilarity. I’m sure I don’t need to remind such a witty person that we still need to go back…”

Imoen gulped.

Some nerve-wracking acrobatics and silent sneaking later, the two rogues had exited the house with all the three artifacts, and made their way directly to the Thieves’ Guild where Alatos ‘Ravenscar’ was very pleased to see Imoen, and not so pleased to see her companion. “I had thought you would be working alone,” he remarked.

“You didn’t say I had to,” the girl objected. “Anyways, here’s the stuff you wanted.” She handed the leader of the Guild the spellbook, the gem and the statue, noticing the pleased look on his face.

“Perfect,” he said. “And you were discreet? No unnecessary attention brought to us?”

“Sure we were! Right, Adahn?”

“Most certainly,” the older rogue said, gifting Ravenscar with a cold smile. “I know the value of discretion, as I’m sure you do, sir. And your client, perhaps?”

Ravenscar’s face remained motionless, but his eyes flickered just a little bit to the side. “Yes…our client. He so wished to meet you. This is Resar, my Halruaan contact. He is well pleased, and will now see to your reward.”

A thin and balding man wearing a blue robe stepped out of the shadows, his keen eyes focused on the two rogues. “Alatos was most assuring in his description of your abilities. Right he was, and it is unfortunate I must close all loose ends. This includes potential loose tongues, and though talented, you are also expendab…AAAAARRRRGHHH!”

“Oh, my apologies,” Adahn said as he swiveled around his crossbow so that it pointed at ‘Ravenscar’. “It seems I interrupted the obligatory ‘Evil Villain Speech’ before he got the chance to finish.” On the floor Resar drew his final breath, something not very easy to do with a poisoned crossbow bolt in your throat.

To his credit, it must be said that Alatos ‘Ravenscar’ mostly kept his cool. Only the thin sheen of sweat on his face betrayed him. “It is I who should apologize,” he said. “I did not know until just now what he intended, and there was little I could do. He was too powerful. Don't worry, you have full run of the guild - if you're able to kill a Halruuan mage, I'm sure there's little that my guild members can do to you. Again, accept my apologies for the entire incident.”

“We will accept them,” Adahn coldly said, “for the moment. However, we will not tolerate a repeat of this performance. And may I add that it is a sad leader who allows some strange wizard to run his operations for him.”

“Yeah!” Imoen said, crossing her arms across her face, and scrunching her face up in what she hoped was a good likeness of her companion’s threatening demeanor. “If you try to mess with us again we will be very cross!”

The Thieves’ Guild leader frowned at her in surprise. “Do you have some sort of stomach problem?” he asked. “My aunt gave me this recipe…”

Imoen sighed. I guess I still need to practice some more on that one…

Once the two rogues had left the guild they walked in silence for a few minutes. “Do you think it’ll be safe to go back there?” Imoen eventually asked.

Adahn thought about this for a moment. “Probably,” he said. “I think ‘Ravenscar’ felt properly regretful. Still, I would advice you against doing so unless you really have to. There may be honor among thieves, but you can’t always know which thieves.”

“I guess so.” They were almost at the tavern by now. “Adahn?”

“Yes?”

“Will I see you again?”

The black-clad rogue didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know,” he said. “This has been very entertaining, but I have my own affairs to manage as well, and now is the right time to do so. I think I am going to be very busy from now on.”

“I could help…”

“It is kind of you to offer, but no. This thing is still beyond your skills, despite your recent development.” He smiled a crooked smile. “You never know. I may run across you some other time. Hopefully not as my cellmate, or working with ‘Passionate Pirates’.”

Imoen tried to laugh, but even she thought it sounded pretty feeble. “So…this is goodbye then?”

“Yes. At least for now.”

“All right. Um…Adahn?”

“Yes?”

“Well…since you’re going and all, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again…could I…do you think that I might…”

“What?”

“Can I at least give you a goodbye hug?”

Even through the tears that were rapidly starting to form, Imoen was able to see her companion’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly, and he suddenly went very still. “I…I suppose so,” he said. “Yes. If that is what you really want…” He didn’t get any further before he suddenly found himself holding an armful of pink-haired girl who was hugging him tightly and sobbing into his chest.

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” Imoen wept. “You’ve helped so much and taught me so much and been so nice about it and you inspired me to get my new and exciting hair, and even forgave me for that picture thing and…and…I don’t know what I’ll do now if I don’t get to see you again.”

Then she felt him hug her briefly in return, and a hand gently mussing her bright pink hair. “You will do fine,” Adahn said before he slowly disentangled himself. “Remember what I told you, Imoen. You are both stronger and braver than you think you are, and you have great potential. That’s not something I had to teach you, it was always there. Never forget it, and you will be well. Take good care of yourself.” Stepping aside, he melted into the shadows and disappeared from sight. “Just remember,” she heard his voice call out. “You are more than you think you are. Oh, and try not to get into too much trouble…”

Imoen waved, and stood silent for a few moments until she felt reasonably certain that he was gone. Then she slowly turned and headed towards the door of the Elfsong Tavern. I promise. And I will be what you think I can be. I will. I will…