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Bhaal's Youngest: Chapter 57


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#1 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 07:48 AM

Finally, I have gotten back to Lanthanos! Critiques/comments welcome!

Lanthanos sat at his desk. He looked over his various stacks of parchments guiltily. He knew he would have to get up eventually, and even get back to work. The assignment felt overwhelming. When he'd been fired up and ready to go, he'd bought everything he thought he'd need, gathered his scrolls and wands and packed everything up, but now, with the waiting period before he had to report to be teleported, which to be fair, was only an hour away...he sat at his cedar desk, drumming his fingers. It was too big a mission...why did they choose him?

With such a danger as the outside world getting their hands on Halruuan's sky ship magic- magic that hadn't been seen outside of Halruaa and its wayward citizens from Nimbral since the Netherese... Sure, every one in the whole populous of Halruua, from school children to farmers to the thousands of wizards researching magic and producing the common products on store shelves- every citizen in Halruua would be outraged if they were aware of this...and any of them would be more than willing to support an attack on a nation that dared torture one of their citizens for their magical secrets. Anyone would be willing to take this mission...he was quite sure that the only thing stopping the Halruaan elders from teleporting to Baldur's Gate themselves and starting to rain down meteor showers and summoning Celestial Armageddon was that they didn't want trouble with Waterdeep.

Given those facts, it was odd that they were allowing him to participate in the mission at all, since there were more experienced Mage Hounds. They had Archmages, High Priestesses of Mystra and High Priests of Azouth that they could send. Judge Behru could send nearly anyone she wanted. Why did she choose him? Resar, he could understand. Resar had a pretty good reputation, he was everything a respectable mage hound was supposed to be- he was a straight, haughty wizard with apprentices, connections and a large, impressive tower in the capital city. Half the time, he could counter a wizard's bid for power by calling on one of his contacts and telling them a simple secret. In fact, Resar rarely had to show up and confront a wizard directly.

Perhaps the thing that irritated Lanthanos most was that Resar was just as much a power hungry scheming wizard as those he hunted. His pursuit of power had him seek out the office of mage hound so he could lord it over other wizards. In fact, Resar, upon learning that Lanthanos did not have a tower, instead preferring to have a simple, well warded room above the plaza, had not stopped making snide comments about it until Lanthanos had finally broken down and commissioned one.

In keeping with expectations, his tower was a flowing, elegant structure, built with golden window and door frames, surrounded by delicate scroll work and bold gemstones. The window panes were solid crystal. The roof tiles were jade rimmed in gold and inlayed with mother of pearl designs. So, now that he had a tower, he was regarded as a proper wizard, but only barely. And since it had been expensive to build it, he had been forced to find a use for it...so he used it to hold his parchments down on his desk. It had to be the most expensive paperweight he'd ever owned. He picked it up and looked at it. He sighed. Suddenly, a scroll case popped into existence next to the door of his tower and fell in his lap. He put his tower back on his desk, then picked up the scroll case.

There weren't many wizards that could bypass the wards he had contracted to be placed on his little office here. He looked at the scroll case, framed in gold filigree and a aquamarine silk tube magically hardened. He pulled out the end cap and slide the scroll and parchment out onto his lap. He put down the scroll case. The spell scroll was a scroll of feeble mind. This was a very powerful spell. Feeble mind was the spell to use on spell casters- any kind of spellcaster. It would reduce even the most studious mage to the intelligence of a lizard and only marginally more awareness of the outside world than that of the common chair. No matter how persuasive a personality the target of this spell was prior to the spell being cast, afterwards, they had half the personal magnetism of a rat. And it stayed that way until a powerful enough remove curse was cast on them to counter the original magic. This scroll had been scribed by the familiar hand of one of the best wizards in Halruaa, the Netyach himself, Zalathorm.

Zalathorm was the most powerful diviner Halruaa could even remember. Under his rule almost every major threat had been turned back before it had ever developed. Lanthanos was actually quite puzzled as to how this major threat to the nation had managed to even get this far. He knew that when Zalathorm divined the Time of Troubles, the wizard king went briefly mad for two weeks or so, and that had been a very dangerous time, when everything had to be dealt with on the spot with very little prior knowledge. But how had this situation managed to even occur? All that would have been needed to stop it was to keep one man in the country for just a little longer or send the force to rescue him the moment he'd been captured.

The parchment was a brief note, also written in that distinctive handwriting.

"Lanthanos,

It was allowed to happen because there is a greater threat to Halruaa: a much greater threat. This is the only window of opportunity. Above all, you must not kill the child. You will know her when you see her. She will look like her mother in the face. Use the scroll on her, and only her. Then bring her to house Jordain. Bring this letter as proof of my orders in this matter.

By the way, your tower is one of the more exquisite I have ever seen. It is a sight to behold, and all the more special because you do not show it to everyone, only a select few worthy individuals. I rather wish more wizards would follow your example and keep their towers from impeding air ship traffic.

Zalathorm"

Lanthanos frowned. Why would he want to kill a child? Of course divination magic always sounded backwards and crazy until things lined up properly, it was like you were walking through a dream and then after so far into it, you were allowed to know you were dreaming and things fell into place. On the other hand, he was amused that Zalathorm seemed to be sharing his inside joke on Resar. Zalathorm had been discouraging the taller and taller tower war among the wizards in the capital for years now. But why in the world did he need to use a feeble mind scroll on a little girl?

#2 Guest_Tyriel_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 08:10 AM

Humorous insert about his tower paperweight.

Hm, so even the Halruuans are pursuing Phoenix now? Was Phoenix's mother a Halruuan, or did she visit the country for an extended period of time? No rest for the weary children or their late father. Such is the lot of Bhaal and his scions. Still, the fact that Lanthanos was ordered not to kill Phoenix leaves the possibility that it won't end in disaster for them all.

#3 Guest_Ananke_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 02:21 PM

Halruaa seems a more and more interesting place with every chapter. :twisted: But it's great to be finally starting to see how things slowly begin to come together in your story!

And divination magic is crazy. I mean, I'm not sure if I wanted to live in such... hmm, ruled by precognition, "Minority Report" type of place... but it certainly makes for an interesting story device. :shock:

The description of the feeble mind spell seems a bit... wonky, though, maybe? You wrote, half as intelligent as a rat, and then, in the next sentence, half the personal magnetism of a rat. :twisted:

That said... I'm really wondering what the man's face will be when he sees Phoenix! :shock:

#4 Guest_Scavenger_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 04:09 PM

Damn, I wish some of the CRPGs would take place in Halruaa. Instead of rather boring Neverwinter. Sounds like a rather unique setting.

Funny part about having to purchase mage tower just to keep an image. Zalathorm seems to be an interesting guy, especially if he often uses his divination skills to emulate mind-reading like he did. However, I agree with Mage Hound: using feeblemind on Phoenix right now is a waste, especially since her personal magnetism isn't impressive anyway. I mean, she is still very weak. On the other hand, what level typical Mage Hound is?

#5 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 04:31 PM

Humorous insert about his tower paperweight.



Thank you.

Hm, so even the Halruuans are pursuing Phoenix now?



Yes, but they have more right to than the Zhents or Thay.

Was Phoenix's mother a Halruuan, or did she visit the country for an extended period of time?



Her mother was Halruaan.

No rest for the weary children or their late father. Such is the lot of Bhaal and his scions.


That's correct.

Still, the fact that Lanthanos was ordered not to kill Phoenix leaves the possibility that it won't end in disaster for them all.


Exactly.

#6 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 04:47 PM

Halruaa seems a more and more interesting place with every chapter. But it's great to be finally starting to see how things slowly begin to come together in your story!


I think that Halruaa is one of the more interesting of Faerun's countries. In the game, you only get hints at it and the overall impression that they are superjerks.

And divination magic is crazy. I mean, I'm not sure if I wanted to live in such... hmm, ruled by precognition, "Minority Report" type of place... but it certainly makes for an interesting story device.


lol. Yeah, well, divination is used for major occurrences before they happen. Invading armies never make it, but little groups of bandits do. And one of the more difficult threats right now is something even a very powerful diviner can't look very far into.

The description of the feeble mind spell seems a bit... wonky, though, maybe? You wrote, half as intelligent as a rat, and then, in the next sentence, half the personal magnetism of a rat.


It's pretty hard to have them say Int:1, Wis:1 and Cha 1 without saying that. But you're right, I'll fix it.

That said... I'm really wondering what the man's face will be when he sees Phoenix!


:twisted: is perhaps close. :twisted:

#7 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 11 March 2007 - 05:38 PM

Damn, I wish some of the CRPGs would take place in Halruaa. Instead of rather boring Neverwinter. Sounds like a rather unique setting.


Lol. Yeah, it would be nice, huh? Yeah, it's a rather unique setting and deserves a little more detail than "it's a country of mages who don't want to share their magic. They are descended from Netheril and the indigenous people of the walled off fertile area in the south they chose to settle in."

Funny part about having to purchase mage tower just to keep an image.


Thank you. Yeah, keeping up with the Joneses is an interesting facet of a country so infused with magic and magic items. (But not as infused as some of the material makes it out to be- those that don't have magic still pretend like they do because of the image- it's like people will pretend to have more money than they do to impress people).

Zalathorm seems to be an interesting guy, especially if he often uses his divination skills to emulate mind-reading like he did

.

He's a really interesting guy. He also has access to artifacts that have mind reading on them for easy access.

However, I agree with Mage Hound: using feeblemind on Phoenix right now is a waste, especially since her personal magnetism isn't impressive anyway. I mean, she is still very weak. On the other hand, what level typical Mage Hound is?


Well, he won't be running into Phoenix right away. He has an actual mission first, and it will not be an easy one. (But as a highely intelligent, wise child, she gains power from her experience very quickly.) It will still be overkill...but Zalathorm has his reasons.

Typical Mage Hound is level 8: 7 levels of wizard and 1 level of mage hound. Lanthanos is 10. (And it's taken him 12 years to go from level 8-10).

#8 Laufey

Posted 12 March 2007 - 05:33 PM

With such a danger as the outside world getting their hands on Halruuan's sky ship magic- magic that hadn't been seen outside of Halruaa and its wayward citizens from Nimbral since the Netherese... Sure, every one in the whole populous of Halruua, from school children to farmers to the thousands of wizards researching magic and producing the common products on store shelves- every citizen in Halruua would be outraged if they were aware of this...and any of them would be more than willing to support an attack on a nation that dared torture one of their citizens for their magical secrets. Anyone would be willing to take this mission...he was quite sure that the only thing stopping the Halruaan elders from teleporting to Baldur's Gate themselves and starting to rain down meteor showers and summoning Celestial Armageddon was that they didn't want trouble with Waterdeep.


Oh, took me a while to remember who this is - it's the Halruuan mage in the Baldur's Gate Thieves Guild, right? This was a very interesting chapter, I don't know much about Halruua.


In keeping with expectations, his tower was a flowing, elegant structure, built with golden window and door frames, surrounded by delicate scroll work and bold gemstones. The window panes were solid crystal. The roof tiles were jade rimmed in gold and inlayed with mother of pearl designs. So, now that he had a tower, he was regarded as a proper wizard, but only barely. And since it had been expensive to build it, he had been forced to find a use for it...so he used it to hold his parchments down on his desk. It had to be the most expensive paperweight he'd ever owned. He picked it up and looked at it. He sighed. Suddenly, a scroll case popped into existence next to the door of his tower and fell in his lap. He put his tower back on his desk, then picked up the scroll case.


Awww, a cute little mini tower! ;) Love the irony of this.


"Lanthanos,


It was allowed to happen because there is a greater threat to Halruaa: a much greater threat. This is the only window of opportunity. Above all, you must not kill the child. You will know her when you see her. She will look like her mother in the face. Use the scroll on her, and only her. Then bring her to house Jordain. Bring this letter as proof of my orders in this matter.


Now this is bad news...wonder what they're up to?
Rogues do it from behind.

#9 Guest_Cel_*

Posted 12 March 2007 - 10:35 PM

I hope you realize that you are my primary source of knowledge about Halruaa.

And that tower... brilliant!

#10 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 12 March 2007 - 11:10 PM

Oh, took me a while to remember who this is - it's the Halruuan mage in the Baldur's Gate Thieves Guild, right? This was a very interesting chapter, I don't know much about Halruua.


Well, Resar is the one that tries to kill you in the Thieves guild. This guy here is someone I made up- he's not in the regular game, but I made him up to hunt down Phoenix's mother in one of the quizzes and I thought it appropriate that he have a role in the story too. I have a source book about Halruua, Dambrath and Luiren, the nations in the South and I found that it gave me a fascination with Halruaa. I decided to give it a little larger part in my story. :D

Awww, a cute little mini tower! Love the irony of this.


I'm glad you do. I wanted to give an idea about what kind of society Halruaa has with it's tower competitions (I found that quite funny when I read about it) and the type of guy Lanthanos is in it.

Now this is bad news...wonder what they're up to?


Well, they are definitely planning on making the story longer and more interesting! ;) But seriously, they are planning on kidnapping Phoenix and bringing her to her mother's old home, where they can decide what to do with her- by Halruaan law, she shouldn't exist. That's why Lanthanos got the warning not to kill her, because otherwise he will spend to much time arguing with himself what he's supposed to do.

Thank you for reading!

#11 Guest_Dadri_*

Posted 12 March 2007 - 11:13 PM

I hope you realize that you are my primary source of knowledge about Halruaa.


Well, then I'll try to be an accurate one! ;)

And that tower... brilliant!


Thank you! It's always nice to be able to throw in something fun like that instead of being grim and serious all the time. :D

Thanks for commenting. It's nice to know that some of the stuff that is the side material that's not straight from the game is interesting people too.




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