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3. In or Out


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#1 Guest_Oryx_*

Posted 12 November 2002 - 04:53 PM

3. In or Out

7 FLAMERULE 2100
ATHKATLA - THE COPPER CORONET

"Hey," Onyx nodded to his companions as he walked back into one of their rooms at the Copper Coronet, "Jaheira, Imoen, and...Minsc? Where's Nalia?"

"Um," Imoen grinned, "She and Minsc switched rooms."

"I see," Onyx smiled as he sat down at the table where the three had been playing cards. Imoen seemed to be winning handily, and Onyx wondered whether that was due to her sharp mind or her long sleeves.

"A little earlier she came by to tell ya that Valygar had talked to her more about the mission, he's going obviously, but she's not. All that stuff she has to do around here. It's not going to be a pretty legal battle to keep the Keep out of Roenal hands. Yuck," Imoen stuck out her tongue with disgust but the effect was adorable.

"Did Valygar speak to you?" Onyx asked.

"Nope. Just her,” his sister replied.

"Here's the situation. We're going to intercept the circus in Beregost, and try to figure out who's supplying the slaves. Sir Anomen Delryn and a Harper agent will be joining us. That's the stated mission; information gathering. As for actually disrupting the operations themselves, that's at our discretion as we feel able to. And I mean to."

"Minsc and Boo will stomp on evil slavers and circuses everywhere!"

Onyx smiled. "I had no doubts. Imoen?"

"Well, bro, it really is a noble cause and all, but I really need a break. I mean, we almost died so many times, and I'm so tired. I think I need to become a more powerful mage before I go into the field again, and so I'm going to Candlekeep. Aerie feels the same way about all that, and so we can look after each other. Plus I want to see Candlekeep again, and Aerie's eager to see where we grew up."

"Okay, sis. You betcha Candlekeep is the first place I'm coming when this is over!" Onyx nodded, drawing a smile from his sister. "Jaheira?"

The druid sighed. "It is an important cause, and it looks like your party of knights and rangers is going to need a little balance. I'm in."

"Plus," she added with a long face, "I've got nothing else to do, really."

"Aw, Jah," Imoen tried to put a hand on her wrist but the druid withdrew it, "Come to Candlekeep with us! Um, sorry bro, not to try to steal her from the mission."

"It’s a kind offer, sis," Onyx smiled, "Jaheira, consider it, only come with me if your heart is fully in it."

"Bah, a stuffy library is no place for me! I need to be free, among nature!" she scoffed. "But thank you anyway, Imoen," she thawed. "I will join the mission. I do believe in it. But Onyx, let's try to avoid causing another bloodbath if possible."

"They're slavers, Jaheira, they have to be stopped, and I can't promise anything."

"Perhaps you're right," she sighed, "But all the more reason that I should go, another point of view may be needed."

Onyx rolled his eyes, dreading another journey full of Jaheira's scolding and preaching. And they call us paladins proselytizing, he thought. Well, I guess most of us earn the reputation. "Yes, perhaps so," Onyx conceded to Jaheira, causing her jaw to drop in shock. "You can be a wise and calming influence. Anomen can be puritanically, and Valygar and I can be vengeful," he added with a touch of humor but in seriousness.

"Onyx...." Jaheira gasped. Imoen, tactfully, playfully filched Boo out of Minsc's pocket and ran to the next room giggling, causing the hulking ranger to follow her.

"Jaheira," Onyx began, placing his hand over hers on the table.

"GIVE BACK BOO!" echoed from the next room.

"Catch me if ya can, Minscy!" did too.

"Squeak!!!!" definitely.

"You really mean that? I mean, of course you do, I do not doubt your honesty, I'm just surprised." Jaheira stammered.

"Yes," Onyx nodded. "We'll never see eye to eye, but I think we can be a good influence on each other. You're not a typical druid, I'm not a typical paladin, and having someone to challenge your beliefs is the best way to crystallize or refine them. It's not always best for everyone to agree."

"Onyx!" she was shocked. "You sound like you're preaching balance!"

"It has its uses in some places, but not all. Along the way, I want you voicing any thoughts or concerns freely, and for the Jaheira I know, that won't be a problem," he added with a friendly jab, causing her to try to scowl but end up smiling.

"Be careful what you wish for," she joked back in a soft voice and placed her other hand over his. "You may not appreciate it."

"Jaheira, look," Onyx sighed, "I know things got rough between us on our last adventure. I was terse and curt with you, but I wasn't trying to ignore you. I'm sorry."

"So am I," Jaheira's eyes glistened. "I was mean to you - and her - but it was because I cared about us and the group and was trying to keep us strong and balanced."

"Let's just agree to check our hot tempers and cold shoulders. The things we've said did need to be said."

"Okay; I agree. I'm actually looking forward to this journey."

"Me too. Get a good night's sleep, Jaheira. I have one more person to talk to."

Jaheira bit her lip and looked down at the table as their hands separated. "Okay."

As Onyx left the room, a CRASH was heard follow by a "woohoo!" and Imoen dashed back into the room, giggling hysterically and followed by a babbling Minsc. "It's okay, Boo! Imoen is a naughty girl but means no harm! She promises never again to trap you alone in an Otiluke's Resilient Sphere!"

"Aerie?" Onyx asked as he carefully slipped into their room and reclosed the door. She was clutching a pillow and had her face buried in it. She lifted it out to look at him with red eyes, a sniffing nose, and tear-stained cheeks.

"You promised!" she yelled and tossed the pillow at him, which he caught midstride but stopped moving forward. "It was supposed to be just us after we killed Irenicus and got your soul back. Then we agreed it'd be just us after we killed your stupid siblings. The world isn't in danger this time, Onyx, and neither are we! We can't we just be together for once without death at every turn! I've been to hell and back - literally - several times, and now I'm tired, and I need a break, we need a break, and we need to spend some time together if we're going to be in love and start a family!"

Onyx slowly approached and held out his arms. She spun her back to him on the bed, but when he sat down and hugged her, she leaned back into him and her anger melted into more tears. "My love, you know I want that too," he began. "This is more than just another quest, though. Aerie, that circus isn't just another slaving one. It's the one that bought you."

Aerie gasped. "The Chaos Circus? Oh no. They regrew it after Quayle bought it out? That's horrible."

"Yes, I know Aerie. That's why I have to do this. I swore we'd be together, but I also swore to avenge you, and this is my chance. You'd be a great ally on this quest, my love, and we'd be together too, and I'd be protecting you the entire way."

"Oh, Onyx, you're doing this to avenge me? That's...do you know how much that means to me? I love you, Onyx, and I want you to come back soon, come to me at Candlekeep. I just can't go, my love, but I believe in this cause as much as you. Imoen and I wish to study at the great library that we might become true archmages before we adventure again."

"Such are the ways of magery; you will in the long run likely do more good. And if you feel a rest is needed; I'd not want to keep you from it."

Aerie smiled and her face became more casual. "I'm also looking forward to having Imoen show me where and how you grew up!"

"And soon I should be able to show you myself. Beregost is practically on the way and others of the party can report back here for me after the quest. In fact if you stay here very long I may yet beat you there!"

Aerie's smile widened and she turned to wrap her tiny arms around Onyx's shoulders. "That would be wonderful! Your sister and I were planning to stay here a few days with Nalia, and of course I want to see uncle Quayle again."

"Actually, Aerie, I wanted to talk to you about that. Quayle told Keldorn about the three ringleaders, but I wanted to ask if you remembered anything." Onyx wrapped an arm over her protectively, even though speaking of her traumatic past was actually not very saddening to her. If anything, he'd learned during their adventuring how much she blabbed about it, asked or not.

"The three bards? I only saw them up close a few times. They looked like elves, but weird elves. Devilish grins and bluish hair. Wore masks. The circus crew, humans mostly, seemed as awed and frightened by them as I did.

"Thank you. That is actually quite helpful. Now, what about the group that first enslaved and sold you to the circus?"

"I never got their name. We were just flying through the sky, and suddenly a bunch of wyvern-mounted men flew out from behind a cloud and ensnared us with bolas and nets, right out of the air. They carried us down to the ground, and kept us caged in a cave hideaway for a few days. They took us out a few days later, and this big caravan was there, the circus's, and the slavers handed us over. They were really skillful and mean at what they did, but they looked like pretty ordinary rogues otherwise, except their leather had been dyed a purplish hue. Remember when Cyric spoke to you in your pocket plane and we had to fight his assassins? Sort of like that."

"Thank you. Whether or not they were the same group as this one, I promise I'll hunt them down."

"My love, as chivalrous as you're being, you don't have to. I'm not saying I don't appreciate it, but just that, well, I know how sad I was about it when we met; but I don't feel so bad anymore. Everything you've given me has more than replaced by wings, and everything you've shown me has replaced the trauma with joy."

"You have grown strong over the course of our travels."

"Aww, anyone would be strong with Crom Faeyr!"

Onyx chuckled. "Remind me not to arm wrestle you when you have it in the other hand again! You have grown strong, my love, not just in your fighting and your magic, but in your character too. I hope you can understand how proud I am of you, and of us."

"Thank you, my love. I feel so much strong and happier since we first met. And I will continue to quest with you, I want to very much. Thank you so much for doing this for me, and please return soon and safe. Now, you must depart early tomorrow, so enough talk." She pursed her lips, but as Onyx leaned in to kiss her, she playfully feigned further and further back and he did not reach her lips until she had the back of her head against the pillows.

**********

8 FLAMERULE 0600
ATHKATLA – JAN JANSEN RESIDENCE

Early the next morning, Onyx, flanked by Minsc, Valygar and Jaheira, knocked on the door of the turnip-shaped residence. A peep-slot slid open in the door and a pair of beady eyes stared through. "Why, if it isn't Sir Onyx! Thanks for getting me out of that whole evading-taxes-while-selling-contraband mess. I sure tend to avoid the government district now! Well, in broad daylight anyway. You know, I've gotten into the monkey business - er, literally - and it's proved quite profitable so far. Gibbons and orangutans too."

"I should be getting in," Onyx interrupted.

"Oh yes, of course," Jan apologized and opened the door. The four came in and the gnome led them down the stairs to the basement. He walked over to a shelf of gadgets and yanked a lever disguised as a pipe on one of them. "Anomen, Arra, and Jarek are here already, as you'll see." As a secret door in the wall began to slide open, two voices could be heard wafting from the room on the other side.

"Aw, can't a girl have a little fun with a sword?"

"But...I'm not saying I don't approve of your doing it, I just don't think it'd befit a knight!"

"C'mon, tin man, it's just a little poison. I'll rub it on for you. This one's topical, it'll do wonders even if the mace won't get to the bloodstream."

"You're as bad as Onyx! He used to wield a poison flail, made from a very wyvern's tail! And now I hear he carries a vampiric sword!

"Hey Anomen," Onyx grinned as the door finished sliding open and he faced Arra, who laughed out loud, and Anomen, who looked sheepishly at the knight he had just attempted to insult behind
his back. "I guess backstabbing's okay for a knight!" he laughed. "Just kidding!" he added after letting Anomen redden with embarrassment for a moment. Onyx walked up and shook his hand jovially. "You forget to mention- I have a second poison flail now - added a few more heads to the Flail of Ages!"

"Wow," Arra grinned mischievously, "Quite an arsenal you've got sheathed there."

"Perhaps if he didn't spend so much time merely swinging steel about," Anomen puffed, "he'd have devoted more time to prayer and have more divine powers to show for it, eh?"

"Well, my friend," Onyx took the insult in stride, "To each his own. That's what makes a versatile party."

"I was just explaining that to my knight here," Arra grinned and looked back at Anomen, "And showing him a few of my talents. Blades and bows of all kinds, locks, traps, pockets, shadows, evocations, divinations, enchantments, illusions, you name it!"

"Such boasting!" Anomen attempted to scold, but couldn't help breaking into a laugh at her theatrical gestures.

"She's more than earned it," came a voice from the next room, and Keldorn walked in. "Glad to see you're all getting to know each other. But first things first. You all know your course, Beregost, and I've given Jarek, and Arra all the information we have on certain Chaos Circus personalities - their ringleaders, as it were - and they should know exactly what to do when you get there. If you must communicate in writing, they will go only by their agent numbers 006 and 007."

"What about me?" Jan piped up.

"Oh," Keldorn added, "You are 'Q' ."

"Well, Q," Jarek said, "let's see what you've got for us, shall we?”

The group looked over the room full of inventions and contraptions. Jan grabbed a case and opened it on a table in front of them. It contained an assortment of colored ammunition.

"Arrows, bolts, bullets, and even throwing axes," Jan beamed. "The red ones cause fireballs, the orange ones explode - good for busting down walls -, the blue ones cause sleep, the white ones dispel."

Jan opened another case, which had a dozen hand crossbows in it and some oddly-shaped bolts. "I call these grappling crossbows. The bolts have grappling hooks at the heads, and they trail ropes from the bolts back to the launcher. Like throwing a grappling hook, but with better range and accuracy."

Jan opened a case of potions. "These babies are lifesavers if you get into a trap. When you drink the potion, your body will create e dimension door and immediately get whisked through it. But it's not perfected, and so where you'll end us is kinda random. Usually will be in the range of a few hundred yards though. Hopefully, far enough away to get out of whatever mess you're in, but not far enough to get lost."

"And also," Jan gestured to a nearby wall lined with shelves of equipment, "as you can see, we've got all the usual times of stuff. Fire, acid, ice arrows, potions of healing, invisibility, strength, scrolls both divine and arcane, cases for your potions and scrolls, belts for your ammo, or bags for holding anything, you name it."

"There will be horses waiting at the city gates for you." Keldorn informed. "That's it - suit up.'

The agents went about gathering the crossbows, potion, and whatever ammunition or other equipment suited their professions. They then walked cohesively up the stairs, out of the Jansen residence, to and out the front gates of the city. There they mounted the horses that a pair of rangers had been holding for them, and rode north, toward a pass through the Cloudpeaks that would lead to Beregost.

**********

8 FLAMERULE 0700
NORTHERN AMN – FOOTHILLS OF THE CLOUDPEAK MOUNTAINS

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO!!!!!"

Sitting in the last and most opulent wagon of a very long caravan, reclining on silk pillows, surrounded by scantily clad Erinyes tiefling maidens sweating pheromones and holding plates of nuts, fruitcakes, lemons, and hookahs of black lotus, was a man. The man wore elven chainmail whose links were shaped like skulls, boots whose pointed toes were cartoonishly large, puffy black-and-purple striped pantaloons and sleeves over the mail, wondrously shimmering gloves, and various jewelry that seemed enchanted. He also had a number of piercings and tattoos, and the top half of his mace was covered with a purple mask and he had a very thin moustache and goatee, giving his entire face an almost masklike appearance. He held a skull and was babbling, possibly at the skull, himself, or his company.

"Saint!" he screamed. "Bring me a plaything, yes?"

"Sure, Jester!" a man just outside the door called. Within moments, he came back in through the doorway of hanging bead-strings. The Saint wore no armor but had katanas slung over his back, and was easily carrying a shackled slave, a small, quivering moon elf. He let the slave drop to his knees before the Jester, and then held a crossbow up. "Myself or you?" he asked.

"Us!" the Jester cackled and the Saint tossed him the crossbow. "Riddle me this, lovelies," he laughed, possible speaking to either his servants, The Saint, the slave, the skull, or himself.

"What does man love more than life
Fear more than death or mortal strife
What the poor have, the rich require,
and what contented men desire,
What the miser spends and the spendthrift saves
And all men carry to their graves?"

The moon elf's lip quivered and he shook. The Saint kicked him in the knee. "Answer the Jester!" The Saint commanded.

"Um...uh...I...I dunno..." the elf began to cry. The Saint kicked him again and the Jester aimed the crossbow at him. "I just don't know!" he cried. "I swear, I can think of nothing!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!" the Jester dropped the crossbow and clasped his hands over his masked face. "The slavey gets us, yes, he solves our riddle! Oh woe! 'Nothing' answers our riddle, yes!"

The Saint laughed and hoisted up the slave again, then threw him back through the bead-strings in the doorway. "Glad to see you're enjoying my moon elves!" he smiled at the Jester. "They're
some of my favorites!" Because they're so expensive, he added mentally. And you waste them like candy. Well, plus I have a thing for them myself. Speaking of which, "Iri!" he yelled and clapped his hands.

"Y-yes, lord?" a timid moon elf woman wearing loose leather bonds asked as she walked through the doorway.

The Saint grabbed her roughly and sat with her on pillows across from the Jester. "And how's little ‘rex?" he grinned fiendishly and rubbed her very pregnant belly.

"F-fine, lord," she managed a sad smile.

"Enough, it bores us!" the Jester screamed and tapped his fingers maniacally on his head. "We must discuss business!"

"What's to discuss?" the Saint sighed as he lifted his mouth from a pushy kiss on Iri's to speak. "We went over it, prices and everything. When we go through the Cloudpeaks, my men'll rendezvous
with this circus and deliver two score of the finest avariel we've captures from those mountains. Then, in Nashkel, two score sea elves fresh from the Sea of Swords."

"We wants more Erinyes!" the Jester screamed and dropped his skull to grab the two such creatures closest to him.

"I told you," the Saint sighed frustratedly, "I sent my Baatorians back to Sigil. They'll return with them as soon as they can. It's not easy to capture tieflings who can charm their captors
just by sweating."

"Not our problem!" the Jester screamed impatiently.

"No, it is your problem, because higher costs mean higher prices," the Saint groaned in exasperation. "So does higher demand. Erinyes are catching on, and with the regional Zhentil slaving out of commission at the moment, only we can deliver them. You'll get your other elves as arranged, but for any more Erinyes, my prices have just doubled."

"Curses, oh, curses!!" the Jester screamed and crushed the dropped skull beneath his boot. "Very well, we still wants whatever you can deliver."

"Are you sure you can back that up with gold? I can't imagine the rabble of this region shell out more than a few coins a piece for your flea-ridden circus."

"Ah, but it is within the tent that we makes the money! We bardses stroll through the audience and pickses the pocketses! The nobleses carry much, yes, and after the show, finding their
precious things gone, blamses their own commoners for the thievsing yes! Hee hee hee hee!"

"A toast then," the Saint smiled and held up a goblet of black wine. "To the Dark Sun!"

"Follow the Dark Sun!" the Jester laughed and the two drank.




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