Hi there!
Well, she's been on extended holidays, but a new Vierna is finally ready. This party took me so very long, it's dark and I'm still not very happy about it. I hope you like it, more than I do.
Part 1 : Vierna and her party have a year of rest following the events of Twilight. Denoi, from the maztican jungles is chosen to fulfill a local prophecy. At the same time, a female Yuan-ti assassinates a conquistador.
Part 2 : While the wedding preparations are well underway, Vierna recalls how she met Lenny in Beregost
Part 3 : Vierna recalls how she met Gerty and Glyill in Amn. Glyill, the assassin, was betrayed by her superior and fell to her death.
Alone in the Night 4: A new beginning
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit," Vierna snarled as she regarded her still-shackled hands. When the eager gnome Gerty had wanted to demonstrate her abilities to pick locks in hope of joining Vierna's party, but was unfortunately not able to deliver.
"Problems?" Lenny asked while he came down the stairs of the Jansen abode. It was morning and he had just shaved.
"You bet I have problems," Vierna sighed as she rattled her shackles. "Have ever tried eating with handcuffs on? Most of the food on my fork ended on my tunic! And I had to sleep on my back last night in a most uncomfortable position! I'm all stiff! And, worst of all, these aren't just ordinary handcuffs, oh no... These are the Jansen Crime-be-damned Supercuffs! Made from magically enhanced steel so they can't be sawed off, and a lock so damn complicated it can't be picked!"
"Yikes," Lenny replied.
"Yikes is the right thing to say here," Vierna grimaced, "because the worst thing is that Jan can't find the keys anymore! He has half his family tearing this place apart... while the other half is looking for the keys."
"And, I gather, you don't want to spend the rest of your life with bracelets on?" Lenny asked.
"If I see that Gerty never again, it will be too soon!" Vierna snarled.
---
Lungs filling with air, heart pumping blood once more, senses once again sending information, a brain suddenly again filled with the presence of a soul.
The terrible, terrible agony of being life exploded within the half-elf's chest. Intense, gripping fear dominated her tormented mind. Instinctively, she drew herself into a fetal position, weeping quietly.
"Ssssh, my child, ssshhh," Rgoren, the kindly priest of Ilmater whispered as he sat by her bed. Ever since he had raised her after finding her body bleeding in the gutter, he has been by her side. It had been a near thing, and, for a moment, he worried if she would survive. The damage to her body had severe, but her mental health was very much in question. The woman had not awakened, but simply lay with her eyes open, starting at the ceiling in a seemingly catatonic state. She had been that way for almost two days now... and, for the first time, she was finally giving a reaction.
He noticed the woman shied away from his voice, her tear-filled eyes darting across the room with fear. Still, he was grateful for any reaction at this point, and just hoped this meant she was on her way to recovery.
"My child, do you know where you are?" he asked. The woman looked at his questioningly, as if she was looking right through him. She gave no sign that she even understood her words.
"I found you, my child," Rgoren smiled bitterly. "You had taken... a bad fall," he told her, and cringed at the memory. Fractured skull, fractured ribs, shards of bone emerging from her skin as her broken body lay in a pool of her own blood. He had fought for her life, then, even though she was already quite dead.
Realizing he was not making any progress, and that his presence was greatly agitating the half-elf, Rgoren decided to leave her to rest for now. Smiling, he stood up. "I'll go now, my child. You must rest. If you need anything, I will be just around the corner..."
"H...how long?" a croak of a voice emerged from the woman's raw throat. Turning around, Rgoren smiled happily. Finally, she was coherent enough to speak and understand him.
"You've been here for two days, and..."
"No!" she said with surprising force, a mixture of defiance and fear lining her voice. "How long... dead?"
"I'm... not sure," Rgoren said, not having expected this question. "It couldn't have been longer than an hour, I think."
"Not an hour," the woman shivered and rolled on her side. "It was... forever."
---
"I don't like this city," Vierna said as she strolled through the streets of the slums. She had covered her shackled arms with a cloth, since she figured the image of a shackled Drow walking down the street could do more harm than it was worth. Still, she wanted to get out of the house for a while.
"I like cities," Lenny smiled. "There's always someone to help out there."
"I like small towns, hamlets, villages," Vierna nodded. "But cities? Look around you, there's not a single tree in sight. And the smells... And the scope of what one human can do to another."
"Why do you say that?"
"Take a look here," Vierna said, pointing at a dark corner, and getting annoyed at the unyielding cuffs. "Someone was mugged there. Judging by the footprints there were two young human men who blackjacked a halfling man from behind. And the blood-pattern shows that he didn't survive it."
"You can tell that just by looking at some tracks and a few drops of blood on the floor?" Lenny asked.
"Rangers have trained eyes, Lenny," Vierna smiled. "We can tell a lot from the tiniest of clues. Look over there, for example. Something odd happened there," she said while they moved to the outskirts of the slums, a point where the district almost instantly turned into a gaudy row of villa's. "Look. The blood's been cleaned but still... it looks like someone dropped from the roof here," she said, looking up at the roof of the five-story building."
"I wonder why," Lenny said.
"Hey, we can tell a lot from clues, just not everything," Vierna said. "But the person who fell ended up being very dead."
---
They destroyed me... Those who I foolishly trusted destroyed me... I never figured Tirantis had the guts to actually betray me... But the worst thing was that IT WORKED!
Glyill told herself as she lay staring at the ceiling. She could hardly move her body. Her muscles were stiff and she could really feel that just about every bone in her body had been broken. Still, she was alive... and infinitely grateful for that.
Rgoren... She thought. You have no idea what you have done for me. Her memory was, mercifully, failing her. Even during her short stay in the afterlife, she had seen horrors beyond belief, experienced tortures unspeakable and felt pains on one should bare. The first memory was opening her eyes and finding herself on a field of gray sand... then, the shadows came... and they killed her... over and over again... the shadows, the spirits of those she had killed during her life, came back to do unto her as she did unto them. And she felt every sting, every agony. The garotte around her throat, the dull ache that came with poison, the stab of the dagger, including a few of the more exotic methods she had used... acid burning away her skin, a chest-wound slowly filling her lungs with blood, a bore-worm slowly eating her brain from the inside out. Over and over again, she found herself dying and resurrected again... only to have everything start anew.
And that was only the beginning. She swore right then, that she would never tell what she had seen. Not ever...
Because in her heart, she knew she deserved it. She had no mitigating circumstances. No unhappy childhood, no poor beginning, no loveless life, no reason to avenge herself on humanity. No, she had a very happy childhood, and was loved by both parents.
She had killed because she enjoyed it.
It was intoxicating for her. A wonderful drunkenness that swept over her as she ended the life of another. She had enjoyed coming up with new and inventive ways to kill. She had purposely broken with her parents to start her new, intoxicating life as a Shadow Thief assassin... and she was the best... and the most heinous assassin they had ever had in their employ.
And now she knew what the price of her destructive ways would be.
And, for perhaps the first time in her life, she was afraid.
"Hello there," Rgoren smiled as he entered the room. Glyill nodded to the man she saw as her saviour, feeling her stiff muscles fighting every movement she made. Then, she noticed he was carrying a pile of clothes.
Glyill looked down, and noticed that she was naked... Looking up at Rgoren, she demanded an explanation with an icy stare.
"Sorry, couldn't be helped," Rgoren blushed slightly. "Your clothes were ruined. Blood soaked and torn. After healing you, I asked Sister Lisetta to remove your clothing and put you to bed. You have my word I never even peeked."
Glyill laid back again, satisfied with her answer.
"The rest of your equipment is in the other room, and you can pick up the tools of your trade when you're feeling a bit better."
Glyill's eyes grew wide for a moment, and Rgoren noticed her discomfort.
"Well, I figured you were a thief or even an assassin, judging from your equipment," Rgoren spoke. "A set of well-balanced daggers, a jet-black cloak, supple black leather, a garotte and a lock-pick set. That and the guards were running about the district, conspicuously looking for someone. Then there was the tattoo on the base of your neck..."
Glyill closed her eyes in frustration. Tirantis insisted on strict allegiance in his guild... and the tattoo provided just that. It was a practise she would have continued when she would have taken control of the guild and turned it into an assassin's dream.
"Do not worry," Rgoren smiled gently. "I do not intend to turn you in. I haven't saved your life to see you lose it again at the chopping block. You'll have sanctuary in this temple of Ilmater for as long as you desire."
"So you saved me?" Glyill snorted. "An assassin bleeding in the gutter. Aren't you priests supposed to leave my body to rot in the sun? A nice little display to warn what happens to evildoers."
"My child," Rgoren laughed. "There is a lot you have to learn about clerics. I saved you, because I felt it was Ilmater itself who guided me to you."
"Hah," Glyill snorted. "Are you sure it wasn't something else that made you save me? Maybe the thought of a pretty half-elf who'd be... very grateful?"
"You're not an overly religious person, are you?"
"Bloody gods never did anything for me, why should I care about them? I leave them alone, they leave me alone. Simple arrangement..."
"Do you want to go on living like that?" Rgoren spoke. "Go back? To those who betrayed you? Go back to kill? If that is what you want, I will not stop you. But there is more to life than you could ever know."
"What do you want to hear?!" Glyill snarled. "To hear the fear in my voice?! Well, it's there! I know where I'm headed now and it ain't pretty! I'm in too deep already, I can't escape fate!" she spoke in an uncertain quiver. "I might as well enjoy what little time I have left doing what I do best!"
"There is no escaping fate, no, but you can always create a fate of your own, young one," Rgoren smiled. "There is always hope if you allow mercy and kindness to have a place in your soul..."
"HAH!" Glyill started to laugh, but the sudden movement pressed in her aching ribs. "So, you expect me to go goody-goody? It ain't that simple, priest."
"Of course not!" Rgoren chuckled briefly. "I'd be a fool to expect otherwise. You can't simply turn around a knob in you mind. Kindness and compassion are things you must learn."
"It's easier to kill," Glyill simply said.
"But then you would never see the simply joys like the smile on a starving child's face when you give him a loaf of bread. Or when you heal a poxied leg with a spell. Simple matters for you, but a big deal for those you help. There is great reward in helping others, my child. As long as you are willing to learn to be kind."
"What do you expect me to do, to travel the world writing wrongs?" Glyill snorted. "Riding on a white horse, walking out in the open. Annoyingly announcing yourself as 'Glyill the Brave' before facing off a vastly superior force with only a potato-knife for a weapon."
"You... have peculiar ideas of doing good deeds," Rgoren chuckled. "Doing good does not equate with being an idiot."
"Aren't all good adventurers idiots?" Glyill snarled.
"Because there's nothing in it for them?" Rgoren smiled. "Perhaps you should seek out a band of adventurers to join, if you want to learn. 'Glyill'? Is that your name?"
"Yes," Glyill smiled proudly. "Glyill Nightstalker. First assassin of the Stalker Guild. First Ranked of the Shadow guild."
"What is your real name?" Rgoren smiled friendly.
Glyill sighed briefly. This man seemed to catch on to just about anything. "Azuria Wellspring, daughter of Llendis Wellspring and Katherine Shieldbearer," she said, thinking back to the parents she had left in Baldur's Gate.
"Well, then, Azuria," Rgoren smiled. "Time for you to sleep..."
"I'm not ti..." Glyill replied, before the soothing lights of a spell caused her to doze off immediately.
---
Do you want this? a disembodied voice told the half-elf as she was floating about an endless field of fire and brimstone. Below, just out of reach, the shades of those she had murdered were reaching out for her. And Glyill forced herself to look up, the memories being to fresh in her mind.
"No," Glyill whispered.
Before her, she could see nothing, but she could feel a presence of divine benevolence.
You fear retribution for your deeds?
"What do you think?" Glyill spat.
Regret will come... in time, perhaps.
"Don't bet on it," Glyill snorted.
I'd bet on it.
"Don't," Glyill smiled. "I'd be a waste of your good money."
Fear will guide you. Though fear, you will learn true compassion... and the fear will be gone. Do not fear fate, because fate is what you create for yourself.
Glyill felt a sharp pain at the base of her neck, hearing the sizzle of boiling flesh. Then, as quick as it came, the pain was gone. And so was her tattoo.
A new beginning.
A burst of light in front of her produced a floating mace. Light and ornate, it bore the symbol of Ilmater. Flabbergasted, the floating half-elf took hold of the mace... and woke up only to find she was still holding the Holy mace.
"Bloody hell," Glyill whispered to herself.
---
"It is a great gift," Rgoren smiled. "This mace grows with power as you do."
"You know," Glyill said, having donned her black leather armor as they stood in the fresh air just outside the temple, "for people who believe in creating one's own fate, you are certainly poised on steering people in a direction you want them to take."
"You want it too," Rgoren smiled as he fed the pigeons on the square on top of the Copper Coronet. "You just don't realize it yet."
"Spare me your esoteric platitudes," Glyill shook her head. "And this... this mace. It's so unwieldy and clunky..." she said, waving it around for a bit. "I'm used to daggers... and I won't be letting go of my lockpicks."
"I never said you had to, Azuria," Rgoren smiled.
"It's Glyill," the half-elf replied. "And, oh..." she saw two people approaching them and immediately receded towards the shadows a little. The two people were a rather short Drow elven female and a tall and friendly looking human man.
"Greetings," Rgoren smiled. "Can I help you today?"
"Yes," the Drow spoke and removed a cloth, revealing a set of shackles. "A gnomish friend of mine wanted to demonstrate her lockpicking ability on these magically enhanced cuffs with an elaborate gnomish lock. As you can see, she has failed. I was hoping you could employ a knock-spell to open these?"
"I'm sorry, my child," Rgoren smiled, but looked at Glyill. "I don't know that spell, but maybe Az... Glyill can help you out here."
Irritated at being invoked, Glyill moved into plain sight. The Drow smiled friendly at her, while the man... looked at her with wide eyes. "Let's see," Glyill said and meticulously picked a vial and a lockpick from her belt. Immediately, she got to work, and almost instantly, the cuffs fell to the floor.
"WOW," the Drow smiled gratefully. "What did you do?"
"Well," Glyill smiled with pride, "the cuffs were magically enhanced, but not the bolts which kept the two halves together. It was an easy matter to solve your problem."
"Thank you," the Drow smiled. "My name is Vierna, and this is my friend Lenny. If there's anything I can do to repay you, just let me know."
"Well," Rgoren broke in. "Glyill his is looking for a party of adventurers and..." he said, but was silence by a glare from Glyill.
"Oh," Vierna smiled. "Do you have a job for us? I'm afraid my new party isn't formed yet, so I'm not sure what we can do..."
"Hey!" sounded a new voice as an outraged red headed gnomish girl stepped from her perch behind a couple of trash cans. Glyill had quickly decided that the gnome was good at sneaking. She had not seen or hear her coming. "You gonna pick her instead of me?!" she directed at Vierna. "But, I'm a good thief! I can do it!"
"You locked my hands in cuffs," Vierna replied with a nod.
"Yeah, but I meant well!" Gerty retorted. "Is this half-elf to be my replacement?"
"Who... are you?" Glyill asked.
"I am the terror that comes in the night!" Gerty tried to smile ferally, but ended up looking merely goofy. "I am the itch on your back you can never quite reach! I am the piece of apple-skin that has been stuck between your teeth for days!"
"In other words," Glyill smiled, "you're an annoyance."
"YEAH!" Gerty smiled. "Errr," she suddenly realized, "that's not what I meant."
Glyill suddenly caught a glint in the corner of her eye, and turned around swiftly, only to see an glinting dagger hurled toward Rgoren. In a split second, she took one of her own daggers from her belt and threw it. The two daggers collided in mid-air, and landed just in front of the feet of the stricken priest. The other three adventurers were on their toes as well, and all of them were grabbing for their weapons. "Get out in the open Tirantis," she snarled.
"Here I am," the grinning guild master and five thieves stepped out in the open. "I've come to collect you! I'm happy to find you alive, dear Glyill. I have another job for you, by the way."
"You betrayed me..."
"What did you expect? There is no honor among thieves," he said. "You, other flakes! You get the hell out of here. I'm here for Glyill and Glyill alone."
"I don't think so!" Vierna snarled and raised her weapons. Lenny nodded and clutched his spear.
"Don't look at me," Gerty snorted, but a glare from Vierna prodded her into action. "Okay, okay, I'm in too..."
"Don't be foolish," Tirantis snarled. "Glyill, you will come back with me now, or I'll..."
"... send me to the Nine Hells," Glyill giggled. "I've been there... do your worst. Maybe we'll go back there together."
"You will live to regret this Glyill," Tirantis shook his head. "What a waste. Let's go, lads."
"Well," Vierna said as she watched the thieves leave with their tails between their legs. "I guess they were all bluster."
"You stood up for me," Glyill said. "Why? You didn't even know me?"
"You think I'd just hand you over to some of those idiots?" Vierna smiled. "Besides, you saved that priest."
"Yes," Rgoren smiled. "Why did you do that?"
Glyill nodded and turned to Vierna. "Vierna... would you allow me to join your party? I offer you my services."
"What are you credentials?" Vierna asked.
"I'm an ex-assassin and newly ordained cleric of Ilmater," Glyill said. "I believe in honestly, so I'll tell you I don't know the difference between right and wrong yet. I need to find my path in life... and I need to learn to be compassionate, according to Rgoren here."
"Fair enough," Vierna said.
"And, I still don't know how to fight with maces yet."
"I see."
"And, I have yet to learn any spells."
"Okay."
"And my people-skills leave a lot to be desired."
"You know, you're not really making a case for yourself," Vierna smiled. "But... sure, why not?"
"HEY!" Gerty pouted. "What about me?!"
"You can come too," Vierna smiled. "I just know I'm going to regret it, though."
Rgoren smiled as Glyill had taken the first step to a new path in life, as they watched Gerty performing a happy-dance in the streets of Athkatla.
***
Six years of travelling and adventuring across Faerun, Vierna smiled. It all started with chance encounters.
But, she decided not to dwell on it. Instead, she decided to go to bed early. Her brother's wedding was tomorrow, after all!
Thanks for reading! Comments and crits are most welcomed.
Have a nice day,
---WEyoun
