(Is 113 unlucky?)
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Chapter 113: Stab in the Back
Edwin Odesseiron, Red Wizard of Thay and current, as he liked to put it, hired henchman to the Bhaalspawn Harrian Corias, was in something of an utterly foul mood. This was not an unusual state of affairs for him, as he’d been fairly unhappy ever since leaving Thay, but developments over the last month and a half had left him… yet more so.
He’d had a good deal working for the Shadow Thieves. Yes, they were scary and… thief-like at times, a thoroughly insidious bunch, but they knew how to pay, and they knew how to value a skilled mage in the city of Athkatla. He had lived in vague luxury in a few good weeks, left mostly to his own devices except for when the thieves needed something, and had been nearly happy.
Unfortunately, greed had torn this apart. A message from his friend, the informant named Tellis, had sent him into waves of excitement at the possibility that someone, somewhere, had found the Nether Scroll and needed someone to make sense of it. Enter Edwin Odesseiron, evidently.
Again, there had been a few hitches. The Nether Scroll had been in the possession of Corias' party, and Edwin had overreached a little by deciding to… experiment once he had translated enough of the scroll. The result had been an attractive woman called Edwina.
The following weeks were a blur – fleeing Athkatla, searching high and low for a way to get the hells out of the curse, and running straight into a mage-assassin of the Red Wizards, who had mercifully turned Edwin back into his proper form before attempting to kill him.
This fool had underestimated the power of Edwin Odesseiron, however, and though the battle had been long and hard, he had emerged victorious, alive, and male, with an intense desire to return to Athkatla and return to his former state.
Yet again, the knocking on the door once he’d arrived had been Tellis, telling Edwin of a wonderful, amazing opportunity, which involved a real challenge of the arcane which would test him to the limits of his abilities…
And he had ended up here. Here, in Ust Natha, a drow city in the Underdark, in another alien body, with nothing but the promise of riches to keep him here – and no escape route. He wouldn’t deny that he had loved the challenge of building the portal; it was the sort of thing every mage wished they had a reason to do so, for it had tested him and he had done it, succeeded. But he was at the end of his tether with this wishy-washy party of the Bhaalspawn’s, which got nowhere and served only to infuriate him.
The party had been summoned by Phaere to meet Matron Mother Ardulace and had been sent on a quest to find one of several interesting monster artefacts. So the party had set off, got itself promptly captured by the illithids, and had had to fight its way out, fortunately collecting some blood of the Elder Brain on their way out, not to mention the blade and hilt of a sword which had left Harrian staring at the indentation in the hilt where there had clearly once been a pommel gem and cursing Ribald Barterman, oddly enough.
Ardulace had been delighted by their success, and had hurried off to doubtless put it to some nefarious use, which had prompted Phaere to drag the whole party back to her quarters, just to tell them that she planned to double-cross Ardulace. At last they had a hint of the trail of the elusive dragon’s eggs, for it seemed as if the drow had them, and House Despana planned to sacrifice them to a demon lord in exchange for whatever power they wanted or needed – a most admirable endeavour, Edwin had to agree.
The party had stopped at the tavern briefly to wait as Harrian, Imoen and Haer’Dalis left to steal and switch the eggs, and Edwin was resting outside, preferring the comparatively ‘fresh’ air to the stifling inside of the tavern, which was like all taverns – a constant stench of drink and bodies, though pipe-smoke was, thankfully, that much less prevalent.
His hand rose instinctively to his neck as he felt something light strike him there, and the Thayvian looked around quickly, suspiciously. All there was down the passageway to his left was darkness… a darkness which was moving.
A voice, light and very quiet – so quiet he had to strain to hear it – wafted from out of the passageway with the utmost secrecy. “Surfacer! This way, I bid you!”
Edwin blinked, his hands going down towards his spell components, but slowly proceeded to head for the dark passageway from where the voice had emanated. “Surfacer? Who’s a surfacer… Solaufein!”
The drow warrior, looking much the worse for wear even in the handful of days he had been ‘dead’ and free, emerged a little from the darkness and nodded curtly. “It is me. I felt I needed to return, to help you. Veldrin told me of why you were here, what you were doing, and you spared my life – though, as I recall, you in particular had not wanted to.” Solaufein grimaced and shrugged. “Not that I blame you, your reasons were clear enough. But your group did spare my life, and so I am grateful, and am here to extend help.”
“Help? How?” Edwin asked suspiciously, folding his arms across his chest. “You show your face in this city actively, you’ll have the whole of the House Despana chasing after you, baying for blood (not that that wouldn’t be an amusing sight, but still…).”
Solaufein considered this, nodding. “True. It is true. But I can aid in other ways. I know what Phaere bid you to do, to steal the eggs so she could stab the Matron Mother in the back. I presume that Veldrin is preparing for such an endeavour at this moment. If you wish to foil Phaere and Ardulace’s plans, however, I suggest you listen to what I have to say and do as I suggest.”
Edwin raised an eyebrow imperiously. “I may consider it. Speak first,” he replied, a little curtly.
Solaufein pulled two items from out of his cloak and pressed them into Edwin’s hands. “Take these eggs – they are exact duplicates of the real ones. Phaere has marked her own, so she can tell the difference, but these have no markings – they will fool her. Leave the marked ones for Ardulace to find, give these duplicates to Phaere, and keep the real eggs yourselves, where they are safe.”
Edwin looked down at the two eggs, before quickly slipping them inside his robe. “Veldrin is taking the eggs as we speak. I shall approach him when he returns. I suppose… I should thank you,” the Thayvian murmured grudgingly.
Solaufein shook his head. “No, bringing down that Despana bitch will be its own thanks. I only wish I could be there when it happens to tell her that I helped doom her… but watching from afar will have to do. I am still in Veldrin’s debt, surfacer.” He paused, before reaching again into his cloak and pulling out a small roll of parchment. “Which is why I procured this – you spoke of the drow attack on the elven city… well, there are the battle plans, the tactics for the army. I managed to… collect them from friends. I hope these will help you.”
Edwin looked dubiously at the parchment, before accepting it anyway. “It shall help me, or it shall help some weakling elves… well, I suppose it may be of use (perhaps to be sold?),” the Thayvian admitted grudgingly.
Solaufein smiled at what he presumed was meant to be a joke when there was none, before nodding again. “Very well, surfacer. Now I shall leave – you will not see me again,” he told Edwin, before stepping back and melting into the shadows once again.
Edwin looked down at himself, glancing at the eggs for a moment before hiding them again. He turned, and headed back towards the inn, his desire for clean air over. He would head for the party’s hired room to think.
These eggs… these eggs would make sure that neither Phaere nor Ardulace held the real ones at a pivotal moment, and that the party could keep them secure throughout the ritual. Harrian didn’t know about these new, false eggs yet – which was a good thing, ignorance could be good. If someone was ignorant, then it could be a simple matter to educate them, inform them, whereas if somebody knew something, you couldn’t rip it out of them without an illithid.
They needed the eggs to give to Adalon so that she would send them back to the surface. This much was unfortunate, as Edwin was quite interested in the potential such eggs could have for experiments. If he were to keep the eggs, he would need to find a different way to escape, a new route to the surface.
On the other hand, if a demon lord were given those eggs, would it be too hard to ask to be transported to the surface as well as given infinite wealth and power? This sounded like quite an excellent deal… and surely, he’d have to leave the party behind, as they could be slightly irked by his actions, but it would certainly be a good deal with this?
Edwin looked up as the door to the party’s hired room swung open. Lost in a trance, he had barely noticed that he himself had reached his destination and had clearly been seated there for a good while, judging from the fact that he had only been fully alert for five minutes of the time Harrian and the others had been gone.
He stood up as the Bhaalspawn stepped in with Imoen and Haer’Dalis behind him, and with a flourish removed his cloak and displayed the eggs to the party as the other five adventurers hurried over. “Piece of cake. Nice and easy,” Harrian declared cheerfully.
“You have them? There were no troubles? Did you monkeys actually manage to succeed at doing the switch without bringing the entire city down upon you?” Edwin asked, hurrying up anxiously.
Harrian smirked. “No trouble. No trouble at all. Here, Eddie, hold them a second,” he continued, passing the eggs to Edwin as he moved to walk to the other side of the room, loosening his armour with his now free hands. “This is going to have to be handled delicately, people. Phaere has the real eggs, so when the ceremony starts, we’ll need to stop her…”
Edwin looked down at the two eggs in his hands as the rest of the party focused on Harrian, who was pacing a little melodramatically and giving what the monkey probably presumed as an inspiring speech. Nobody was looking at the Thayvian, with two real eggs in his hands and a pair of false ones in his robes. It was really far, far too easy.
