Makings of a Monster

Tamoko rode like all the devils of the Nine Hells were after her. She only stopped if her steed was exhausted, or if she herself started to fall asleep in the saddle. She was heading Candlekeep, as their contact in Shadow Thieves had informed her that Peri had left there. Peri was after Reiltar and the other heads of the Throne, who were building peace between Amn and Baldur's Gate. Sarevok had led her to believe that Reiltar had incriminating evidence on him, and was planning to frame her for the murder of Reiltar if she wouldn't willingly do that.

As he explained the plan, Tamoko had reminded him how important he once found that he'd kill Reiltar himself. He had answered that it would indeed be enjoyable, but that he had faith in Peri - and the dopplegangers. The grey, hissing, longlimbed creatures, nasty soulless shells disgusted Tamoko. Sarevok had instructed them to imitate Jelena's death in the greatest possible detail.
- "And Peri... she shares my blood. I'm sure she can be quite inventive," he had smiled humorlessly.
Winski was for once a bit more animated than usually.
- "I won't leave you now, Sarevok... I would want to kill him myself, but I'll be by your side. But it is enough if he suffers. A lot."

Tamoko had briefly considered talking Winski into joining her desperate counterplan. But even though the man had his doubts, they seemed to be about Sarevok and his sanity. He still didn't see the folly in the plan itself. It probably was because it was the one fixation keeping him somewhat alive and animated. Otherwise he would probably already have died of lack of interest. That was another thing Reiltar would have to answer for. Tamoko was far better aware of the profound impact, in good and bad, Winski had had, and still had, on Sarevok. Tamoko was aware that Winski would be destroyed too. To him it would probably be a relief, though. The men, bitter and shattered, determined to destroy themselves and so many others in their delusions. The bitch, the manipulative whore crooning to Sarevok's ears, using him as a tool of personal gain... Tamoko felt angry and powerless. She thought of Reiltar, her mouth uncharacteristically thin and cruel. Who knew how strong Bhaal was, but it seemed that both Sarevok and even Winski, aided by Jelena, had had means to resist the phantom's influence. She supposed the dopplegangers would do a good job. She still wanted to personally have an intimate discussion with Reiltar.

The noble samurai woman arrived Candlekeep. The guard stepped in front of her.
- "Halt! We only permit entrance of those who voluntarily donate a tome of value no less than 5000 gold pieces to our library."
Damned. She had forgot about that. She found herself way beyond caring.
- "Little man. I am a desperate woman, who does not fear death. I do not have such a tome, and I really need to get inside those gates. Either you let me go or I'll behead you and go in anyway. Your choice." Her eyes were almost kind as she said that. It was as if she was talking to a child a little slow on uptake.
The guard swallowed and stepped aside. Tamoko entered, not wasting another look on him.

The peace of the courtyard was a little like it had been, and yet not. The people strolling around were like they had been, and still something was off. Tamoko recognized the feeling. Dopplegangers. They had probably infiltrated whole the place. Well, they knew she was Sarevok's lieutenant, and would obey her. She approached the nearest civilian, tugging his sleeve.
- "Time to drop the pretences. Take me to your leader."
- "Yesssss, lady Tamoko," hissed the beast, and her nostrils twitched in disgust.
She followed the doppleganger, who took her to the library, and to a closed side office there. Vren, a high-ranking doppleganger regarded her with beady, large eyes.
- "Misssstressss Tamoko? The whelp won't kill them. It wassssss to be our job."
Then Peri would be framed. Better let her - then she would be more likely to listen to her approaches. She would need help.
- "You will take the other two, but Reiltar is mine. And now it is time to act. Follow me."

Regal as ever, Tamoko ascended the stairs of Candlekeep library, dressed in full battle gear tinted in sky blue. Her old Crane colors. The dopplegangers followed her, and Reiltar's eyes widened in surprise as he saw her.
- "Tamoko? What are you doing here? We are negotiating peace with the Knights of the Shield, as you presumably know, and are rather busy," he said irritably.
- "Well. You won't soon be busy any more. Vren, you take the other two. Do whatever you want to do with them. Reiltar, you follow me. We will talk in privacy."
- "Have you gone mad? What is this about?" A hint of fear, Tamoko was pleased to note.
- "Possibly. It doesn't matter much, though. My katana is so sharp it can sever a head with single blow without remarkable use of force. So you follow."
Reiltar did, incomprehension and fear alternating on his face.

They occupied the same office Tamoko had found the dopplegangers in.
- "Sit."
Reiltar sat on a chair.
- "Look, Tamoko... you seem to be upset about something, but surely..."
- "QUIET! Tie your ankles to the chair legs!" She tossed him a rope. He did, his forehead starting to sweat.
- "And now you hold your hands behind your back." She tied them together and turned to face Sarevok's stepfather, who looked considerable more small and helpless tied to the chair and looking scared.

Tamoko took a contemptuous, long look at him, from head to toes. She took another look at the heavy belt at his waist. She unbuckled it and pulled it off, measuring it in her hand.
- "Hmmm. This is what you used to beat Sarevok all his childhood? Tsk. Must have hurt like hell."
- "It was for his own good!" exclaimed Reiltar, a rising panic in his voice.
- "Oh really. He learned a lot all right. To fear and to hate. To seek anything in his power to prevent being a target of irrational, merciless violence again. You are such a hero, you know. A woman, already scared half-witless by her father, a scum like you, and a child from streets, weighing perhaps a fifth of what you do... you managed to control and shape them, make them fear you and be hurt by you. I am afraid Sarevok is too far gone that even my love can't save him. And this is largely your fault. You murdered his mother who kept his mind in one piece."
- "Please..."
- "Shut up. You never gave anyone mercy. I won't listen to you." Tamoko gagged the man with the remaining rope.
- "Decisions, decisions. How should I kill you? I have this too," she brandished a garrote, similar than the one Reiltar had used to strangle Jelena. "Jelena looked like she had really suffered. On the other hand, there is a thing called Death of three hundred cuts in my homeland. Three hundred small cuts. Minutes between all of them. We have patience in Kara-Tur," she smiled. Reiltar's eyes bulged, tears flowing on his cheeks. He tried to mumble something, struggling in the ropes.

- "You chopped off Jelena's finger, if I recall correctly. That is another idea. Chop your body parts away one at the time. The vital ones lastly, naturally. Or use poison to corrode your skin and eyes first, then let you live for a while until you die of thirst..." there was a pensive and dreamy look in her eyes.
Reiltar thrashed wildly, and the chair fell down, he faced the ground and started to whimper. Tamoko watched a while. The man shivering like jelly, whimpering as he did, and then he lost control of his bladder.
- "Pathetic," Tamoko spat, and whipped the garrote around the thick neck. Determinedly, not exactly enjoying herself but feeling a sense of purpose and justice she pulled until she felt the miserable, rotten life leave the man, who was but a sack of soiled flesh any more.

- "Rot in hell," she said and kicked the corpse. Now was the time to find Peri.