Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.5.

Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.5.

“To The Adventurer’s Mart, then,” Nalia sighs and pushes daydreaming Aerie in the right direction, “but you’ll do the talking Yoshimo.”

“Very well,” Yoshimo happily accepts the task.

Nalia turns away with pain in her eyes, as she sees Yoshimo and Rybald haggling over the items obtained in her keep. My keep… my home… she thinks as a quick tear escapes from her eye. Her melancholy is interrupted though, as suddenly a sharp shriek startles her. “Eeeeeek! A monster!” and she sees Aerie tumbling down the stairs leading to the upper floor. The blonde elf quickly gets up and rushes towards Nalia. All Nalia can do is to hold the trembling Avariel who is still wailing, “I’m so scared! There is a… there is a dragon upstairs!”

Rybald’s booming laughter surprises them both, as he explains through laughing “No worries, lass! That’s me pet wyvern there, Lucy be her name! She be totally harmless, I tell ye!”

Aerie turns quite red in the face as Nalia turns to Yoshimo “Are you done yet?”

“Yes, I believe we are done here,” Yoshimo nods and shows the heavy pouch of gold to her. “I’ll take care of that,” with these words Nalia grabs the pouch from Yoshimo, “according to our leader’s orders, I am to take care of it. You cannot be trusted with large sums of money, Theodur says.” Yoshimo can only grin at that, as they all head out of the Adventurer’s Mart and return to Mithrest Inn.

 

“Why didn’t you order ale for me too?” Aerie edgily queries Nalia as they all sit at the table in the Mithrest Inn.

“Well, we all know what happened last time,” Nalia winks at Yoshimo.

“Was not my fault really,” Aerie whines.

“That grape juice you have is strong enough for you, really,” Yoshimo adds a little insult to injury and Aerie pouts and starts conversing with her tankard…

“It’s taking them quite a long time,” Nalia frowns after the second round of drinks, “while we wait, can I ask you a question, Yoshi?”

“Yoshi?” Yoshimo snickers “I am not sure whether I approve such a pet name, but I suppose I have little choice in this matter… so, what do you want to know?”

“Do you know Theodur and Jaheira for a longer time?” Nalia asks slightly perplexed.

“No, not much longer than you,” Yoshimo replies “why do you ask?”

“No, it’s nothing,” she stumbles “I was just thinking… eh, nothing… I mean… it looks like they know each other quite well…”

“What makes you think so?” Yoshimo grins.

“Well, I… noticed how well they understand each other in the thick of a battle… and he always consults with her on almost everything… is that what a leader is supposed to do? I just do not understand…”

Yoshimo doesn’t reply to her musings, only a small giggle escapes from his lips before he lifts his mug of ale. Nalia looks at him bemused, not understanding his reaction at first… “No. No, no, no, that can’t be true,” a thought finally crosses her mind, “surely, you were not suggesting that… I refuse to believe that! Tell me that you were just kidding!”

“All though that would explain a lot of things,” she notes as she sees the grin on Yoshimo’s face growing wider and wider.

“Are you talking about me?” Aerie finally decides to join in the discussion, but her remark only causes Nalia and Yoshimo to burst into laughter… “Oh, my wings have been clipped…” she turns to yammer to her tankard…

 

The Sea’s Bounty is not the most pleasant establishment that I have ever visited, but it is exactly what you would expect to find at the docks. The main hall is filled with entertainment seeking sailors and the appearance of a woman such as Jaheira causes a lot of excitement among the crowd. As we battle our way through to the lone empty table, she receives a lot of lustful stares and some quite dirty propositions – she dispenses of them with a fiery glare and in some cases with a well placed strike of her fist… As we finally reach the table and sit down, I realize that this is probably not the right place for a quiet relaxation or serious discussion… I motion for the waitress, so that we can order our drinks.

As we are waiting, I finally decide to ask her something that has been on my mind for quite a time. I must ask her - for Imoen’s sake, I tell to myself.

“Jaheira?” she lifts her head and looks at me, “do you think that the Harpers might help us in search for Immy? Any information would be useful right now…”

She carefully considers her answer “They probably have at least some information, of that much I am sure. However…” she shifts with unease, “the Athkatlan Harpers have always been… somewhat of a renegades – as much as it is possible within the bounds of the organization. You have to understand that… none of the important decisions have ever been approved unanimously… For example Gorion,” she pauses to take a sip of the ale that has just been brought to us, “Gorion was facing heavy antagonizing from Athkatlan’s… reasons for that are unknown to me. For example his decision to raise you, a Bhaalspawn, was not taken with a delight amongst many Harpers. I… I simply fear that they might react… improperly towards you… with this in mind, I would say that addressing Harpers directly here may be… risky for you.”

My love, you are a born politician, I chuckle at this thought.

“Still, there is a way to receive information, without the need of getting involved ourselves,” she continues, “I have a contact that I believe is trustworthy. He will be able to use the network to extract some pieces of information, I am sure. He is at the Copper Coronet.”

“Copper Coronet?” I am surprised, “when I was there, I did not see anyone that could fit the description of a common Harper ag-”

An elderly looking man, heading towards us, rudely interrupts my speech. Judging by his looks and the clothing he is one of the many hundreds of beggars we have encountered in the streets. That is why I am even more surprised when he addresses Jaheira as an old acquaintance.

“Jaheira, dear, it does my heart good to see you once again. Can I join you to sit and chat for a while?” this scrawny lout has quite a nerve, I’ll give him that.

Jaheira looks over at the speaker and says in a poorly masked obscurity “Excuse me? Should I know you?”

“Don’t you remember? Well, I can understand that - it has been years since we last met. Too long was I forced to wait.”

Jaheira still does not give away any indication that she knows the man as she only shrugs her shoulders and says “Sorry. I have no idea who you are…”

“My name…is Ployer. Of the Calimshan Ployers?”

“Nope, that tells me nothing. Perhaps if you told me what you do…” Jaheira continues with her acting.

“Here’s a coin for you beggar, now run along and let me and the lady resume the conversation, that you so rudely interrupted,” I join in the spectacle and throw him a gold coin, that lands at Ployers feet.

“My name tells you nothing? I am THE Baron Ployer! PLOYER! You destroyed me and not remembering that is an even greater insult! You are the reason why I am destitute! You and your Harper kin accused me of breeding slaves in Calimshan! I was made a pauper and you do not even remember?!” the man is furious, I am afraid that his eyeballs may pop out of the cavities.

“Oh, I remember well, but I wanted to hear you say it… I assume you are still at odds with your new life?” Jaheira fully enjoys herself.

“You…you…This is the type of insolence I was talking about! It is not enough that you ruin a man, you must also humiliate him publicly!”

“Ployer, I wanted you *dead* instead of merely humiliated! That you live as a beggar is gratifying, if you must live at all! And I would suggest that you change your tone for I am not in a mood for charity to old slavers!” with these words Jaheira rises from the chair and places her hand on the hilt of the scimitar.

“Ah, haven’t lost your fire yet, I see. Are you still a Harper? And what about this addled companion of yours?”

I remain visually calm, but my hand now rests on the shaft of a bow, while the other hand loads an arrow.

“I wonder where is that Khalid fellow you were once with… I see that your tastes have changed dramatically. But then I always knew you were a filthy whore…”

I see that Jaheira is about to loose the control and I can’t blame her as my hand is playing with the bowstring.

“Nevermind that,” Ployer rambles on, “on to the important part. Oh, Jaheira, I have not found you by accident. Yes, I have prepared a surprise for you! For it is time for me to gain my revenge on you, Harper bit-”

Ployer is having trouble of completing his sentence, mostly because of the arrow sticking in his throat, piercing the artery and causing large amounts of blood to spill from his mouth. Still, his determination driven by hatred is so powerful, that even when dying he refuses to collapse. Slowly, he sinks to his knees, remaining in this position until the last drop of life leaves his body. Even when dead he remains in sitting position and only after a minute or so falls to the floor with a heavy thud. The very same moment he hits the ground, a bright light fills the hall as I see three Dimension Doors opening and three green-robed fellows teleporting in. One of them immediately starts to chant a spell, while Jaheira and I exchange puzzled glances. Suddenly one of the mages spots Ployer’s dead body and turns to the man chanting “Err… Terrece?” he says, but the chanting man ignores him.

“TERRECE?” the man is now shouting.

“What IS it?” the one called Terrece turns to him, “I lost the spell, you moron!”

“Err… look!” he points to Ployer’s body.

“Crap!” Terrece exclaims, “How are we supposed to get the second part of the payment now?”

“So what do we do now, curse her or no?” and the trio exchange questioning glances. Somehow I do not like the connection of words “curse” and “her”, so I address them, “Err, fellows? You don’t really want to curse anyone, do you? Why don’t you join me and the lady for a couple of drinks, instead?” I propose and after a short discussion the mages agree that this cursing business has made them quite thirsty…

When I look in Jaheira’s eyes later, I see an expression that would mean something along the lines I am happy with the way you handled this and when we get back to the inn, I am going to show you exactly how grateful I am…