All That Glitters...8

Chapter Eight

A man in pale green robes turned towards the group as they walked in the front entrance of the building. "Ah, yes, I see Madeen has proven to be his faithful self, as usual. How do you do, my Lord, considering the city is so harsh on strangers, eh?"

"I'm here about a job," Kal said bluntly.

"I will be with you in a moment. Your patience, if you please," Tolgerias said with exaggerated politeness.

Kal looked about, and a man in bright blue robes caught his attention. Not because the man was trying, but because of the smug smile that seemed permanently affixed to his face. Kal had seen much of it in the days after Sarevok's defeat when he had lingered around the Ducal Palace in Baldur's Gate. That smile was of a bureaucrat extremely satisfied with his own importance, secure in the knowledge that no one could defy him. A quick at the man's desk nameplate showed him why. "Corneil. Licenses." it read.

Quayle's words came back to him. Since Kal didn't have the necessary bribe, he decided to leave the man alone. It would probably lead to all sorts of unpleasantness that Kal frankly didn't have time for.

A man brushed by him, heading up the stairs, and his hand slipped. A pile of books and pages cascaded on to and down the steps, spilling pages all about the floor.

"Damn it!" he said in an odd accent. "Och, I don't be needin' this right now...." He continued grumbling as he leaned down to pick up the papers. Out of courtesy, Kal leaned down to help him. For a few seconds he was the only one, then Aerie decided to assist him.

Noticing the mess, Minsc also leaned over, but a squeak interrupted him. "Oh...right. Minsc would only get in the way."

The man turned to see Kal and Aerie gathering up the piles of paper that had been dropped. He raised an eyebrow. "I don't often see adventurers helpin' people with little things."

Kal shrugged. "Common courtesy."

"Aye, aye. But I won't say I've been seein' it from too many people, not even those at the Order. Thank ye."

"You're welcome...." Kal let his voice trail off.

"Chief Inspector Brega, at your service. I work under the Magistrate investigating crimes in the city, and there are plenty that require attention, believe you me. And I've not enough men to investigate them all, which is a pity and a pain."

"Perhaps I could help you with some of them. However little they might be. I'm not averse to doing little things, as you can see."

"That would be...very helpful. The guard is strained on manpower, especially with people directed south to keep up the siege on Murann. I've a problem regarding murders at the Bridge district - stop by and talk with Lieutenant Aegisfield there for details."

"I'll do that." Kal handed over the last of the papers.

"Much appreciated...." Now it was Brega's turn for his voice to trail off.

"Kalvorin Sunblaze. Now, at your service," Kal added with a smile.

Brega smiled back. "I suppose so. Now I should get back to digging myself out from under all this paper. Good business." And he headed up the stairs.

Kal turned back to see Tolgerias had finished whatever work he had needed to do, and had approached.

"Yes, the job," Tolgerias said, trying for a friendly tone. "Perhaps Madeen has let slip a little of what this is about? No? Good. Well, yes, I do have something I would like you very much to do, if you'd care to hear it. I offer a substantial reward. An item of substantial magical power as well as a good deal of gold coin."

"Instead of the reward, I'd like to know where Imoen is," Kal told him.

"Imoen? Ah... the girl arrested along with the wizard. I do not have such inconsequential information on me, so put aside such demands. I am sure that you will have uses for a....significant amount of gold, will you not?"

"Even if he will not give us the information, the gold may be of use regarding Gaelan Bayle's demands," Yoshimo muttered. "We should at least consider this."

As much as I don't like working with the people who took Imoen, Yoshimo's right. "All right, let's hear about it, then," Kal said.

"This is a sensitive matter, and I cannot tell all to every curious soul. I must have your commitment that you agree to the task, first."

"Who knows what he has in mind, Kal?" Jaheira asked in a harsh whisper. "Agreeing to perform it first could tie you into performing any kind of unsavoury act, and to renege on such an agreement later would earn the wrath of the Cowled Wizards. I say reject this wizard's offer; we can find better ways to raise the money for Bayle's group."

"I must think on this for a short while," Kal said. Tolgerias shrugged.

"As you wish. I will still be here." Tolgerias turned back to his desk. Seeing that as the end of a conversation, a pale, thin apprentice approached him from the back of the room.

"Master Tolgerias, I need your signature on a number of things," he said, laying a thick sheaf of papers on Tolgerias' desk. Tolgerias, grumbling, picked up a pen and began signing his way through the papers.

Kal turned toward his group members. "Any other opinions?"

"I agree with the half-breed," Viconia said. "It is foolish to agree to do something we know nothing about. It invites manipulation. We should choose our path, not let some old, dried-up weakling dictate it to us."

"The goodwill of the Cowled Wizards is not easily earned," Yoshimo argued. "This task cannot be of extraordinary importance. If it was, they would have scores of wizards working on the task themselves. Nor should it be overly objectionable, since they are trying to recruit any adventurers they can."

"Important or not, I don't think we can risk it," Cel said. "Besides, I don't trust that man. I'd value his good will about as much as I'd value a cobblestone."

"I agree, Cel. I'm not so interested in earning their goodwill at this point. Jaheira and Viconia are right, there's no telling what we might be made to do. I'll tell him no." He turned back to Tolgerias, nearly bumping into the thin apprentice.

"Oh...hello," the apprentice said. "You must be the adventurers Master Tolgerias has recruited to hunt down that ranger, Valygar Corthala." Tolgerias' head snapped up, and his expression grew stormy at hearing the words.

"Hmmm," Kal said. "I am to ‘hunt down' a ranger? No thank you, Master Tolgerias, I must respectfully refuse. Good day, sir."

"Good business," Tolgerias said stiffly. Then he turned toward the apprentice, who had by that time realized the magnitude of the mistake he'd made. "You...you FOOL!"

"M-master...I...I...."

Tolgerias' eyes turned towards Kal. "You may leave now, citizen," he said dismissively.

Kal was about to object, since he knew precisely what was going to happen to that apprentice, but a quick look around showed many other wizards about - not to mention too many uninvolved civilians. Not worth it, he decided. He nodded curtly and turned around, walking quickly. He knew how that was going to end, and he didn't want to have to see it. Unfortunately, he didn't walk fast enough - he and his party were barely out the door before the whoosh of flame was heard and the stink of charred flesh reached his nostrils.

"Get someone here to clean it up," he heard Tolgerias say. Kal's hands clenched into fists, but he made himself keep walking until he was halfway across the square.

"Yes, I know, Yoshimo," Kal said, holding up a hand to interrupt the thief as he was about to talk. "Quasi-legality. I can't do anything about it." Yoshimo nodded and stepped back.

"Boo is angry," Minsc said. "Minsc wants to go back and stomp the evil wizard under his boot! He wants us to hunt down a fellow brother of the woods! Kal was very wise to refuse."

"Indeed. But that appears to have been less than helpful," Jaheira said.

Less than helpful, Kal thought. There's an understatement. "All right. Where to, now? We need to satisfy Bayle's price, now. It seems the only way. Any ideas as to how?"

"I would recommend checking the inns again," Yoshimo said. "I shall do that tonight. But it is late in the day, and I would recommend that all of us get a good rest. The nearest inn is the Five Flagons, if that is where you wish to go."

Kal considered that for a moment. "No, with my luck there'll be someone with a quest that absolutely must be undertaken now waiting just inside the door of the Five Flagons. We'll go back to the Den of the Seven Vales - nothing should be waiting around there."

Aerie blinked. "But if there's someone at the Five Flagons who needs our help, doesn't that mean we should go there?" she asked. "We're supposed to help people in need, right?"

Yoshimo chuckled at the innocent question. "You see, little one, the way it works is that if we do not go there now, there will be no person with an urgent quest. Only if we go there now will there be such a person. They will simply...appear out of the aether as soon as we walk in the door. It will not be urgent until we arrive." He grinned.

Aerie wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Huh?"

"Adventuring humour, Aerie. A corruption of the gallows variety. Do not let these two jaded souls pollute your mind," Jaheira said, shaking her head.

"Oh, um...okay...," Aerie said, still seeming a bit confused.

"What you call jaded, I call experienced," Yoshimo said, still smiling. "To the Seven Vales it is."

Kal smiled. He was beginning to like Yoshimo. Despite the constant veneer of cheerfulness, Yoshimo was serious when the situation demanded, and had an easy way with words and with other people. His familiarity with the city and its darker side had proved invaluable; Kal was not one of the silly noble idealist "paladins" who thought that real adventuring could be done without information - and who tended to be the first ones to fall into traps, get eaten, die uselessly and so on. Furthermore, Yoshimo seemed genuinely determined to accomplish the same goals as Kal - find Imoen, find Irenicus. Kal was somewhat concerned about the fact that he didn't actually know anything about the man, but he was sure that would come, in time.