All That Glitters...33

Chapter Thirty-Three


"Rejiek Hidesman?" Kal asked as he opened the door into the dark tannery.

"Go away. We're closed!" a voice snapped from inside.

"Peace, good tanner. We wish only to consult with you," Kal said in a conciliatory tone.

"Consultation? Hmph. Very well, I suppose I could spare the time for that. Come in." The party stepped inside the foul-smelling building, as all tanneries tended to be. Rejiek walked into view, an emaciated-looking, middle-aged man. His face looked slightly pale, but his arms were dyed dark with the chemicals of his trade.

"Could you inform us as to who might have ordered this into the city?" Kal asked, holding forth the elephant hide. "We have been told it is elephant hide. Do you know of any tanner who had such a shipment? Or did a customer purchase an item of elephant hide from you?"

Rejiek scrutinized the item closely. Then he straightened abruptly. "I know nothing about anyone getting a shipment of elephant hide. Nor have I worked with it. I am sorry, I cannot be of assistance." He waved them away with a jerky motion of his arm.

"Could you repeat that? Just for the record, you understand," Kal said, still in a deceptively pleasant tone.

"Certainly. I know nothing about anyone getting a shipment of elephant hide, nor have I worked with it."

"I don't think so, citizen," Kal said, the flickering golden flames around his eyes almost imperceptible. "I think you know a little more than you're letting on. In fact, I know you do."

Rejiek gasped. "How? I sensed no magic!"

Kal smiled faintly. "It's a talent."

The tanner whirled about and ran for the stairs. Reaching them, he ran past the steps, grabbed the bannister on the other side and slung himself over the side and down the stairs to the next floor.

"Stop!" Jaheira yelled. She turned to Kal. "He must be the murderer to flee so. Or he knows something critical."

"Right. We are going after him," Kal said, drawing his swords and moving towards the stairs.

Viconia blinked and raised a hand quickly. "Wait!"

"What?"

"The tanner. He took a most unusual route down the stairs, one not significantly quicker than descending conventionally. What is wrong with the top of the stairs?"

Minsc looked at the stairs in outrage. "Evil stairs?"

"I believe she was thinking more along the lines of a trap," Jaheira said.

"Let us find out," Yoshimo said. He took a heavy pouch filled with lead balls from his belt and hurled it at the top of the stairs, creating an impact similar to that of a footstep. There was a faint click, and a flood of acid poured down from the ceiling, blasting the pouch and most of the floor in that area to ashes.

"There may be others," Yoshimo said, "but for now I am sure that imitating Hidesman will be fairly safe."

Downstairs, the expected foul smell of tanning leather was further fouled by the odor of rotting flesh. This area was a macabre workshop. Beakers of acid boiled alongside heated pokers, and various saw-toothed and spike-edged implements lay haphazardly about the room. It became immediately evident as to just what had made the bodies so unidentifiable.

"Oh! Oh... the st-stench! Baervan preserve us, this is wh-where he brings all his victims?! Th-they're all dead, here!" Aerie cried. Haer'Dalis put a comforting arm around her.

"Dead and worse, little one," Yoshimo said, pointing. A suit of leather armour hung on the wall.

"Leather armour...?" she said in confusion.

"Look closer, wingless one," Viconia prompted grimly. Aerie leaned forward, too perplexed to even complain about Viconia's epithet. Yoshimo began to search for traps, waving the party forward to clear areas. While he searched, the rest of the party examined the room. And Aerie studied the armour.

She suddenly flinched. "That's...that's...skin!" she shrieked in genuine horror.

Aerie being genuine - why, there's a surprise, Kal thought, then mentally kicked himself for thinking it.

"This...this man is a...a monster!" she said.

"More accurately," Kal said, "a monster is the man."

Viconia nodded. "I agree. This is not Rejiek Hidesman - at least, not any more."

Jaheira blinked. "Pardon? Could you two explain how you made such a jump in logic?"

"Easily," Kal said, as Yoshimo removed part of the floor and lifted out the spring-loaded spike trap inside. "People with a successful career for nearly thirty years don't go insane and suddenly begin murdering people and creating suits of armour. And they don't also simultaneously stop sleeping - unless you think he slept in that," Kal said, pointing at the gore-covered bed. "I don't think Cromwell lied, and no one creates a cover for thirty years just to go on a sudden killing rampage."

"From my experience and yours, I would presume," Viconia picked up, "sudden changes in behavior - with no reasonable motivating factor - generally indicate only one situation. I would surmise that the real Rejiek Hidesman is among the splattered lumps residing at Aegisfield's."

"Your experience?" Cel asked curiously. "I don't remember you being with us at the time Candlekeep was infested with doppelgangers."

"Doppelganger assassins were popular in Menzoberranzan," she answered shortly. "Among others. Assuming others' forms is not limited to doppelgangers."

"Furthermore, there's some greater plan to this," Kal said. "All of this doesn't look like something done just for the fun of it. That suit of armour, prepared in this way, looks like it's intended to carry a fairly strong enchantment. Either this is a doppelganger hired by a wizard, or the wizard himself. And since wizards don't use leather armour, there has to be at least one more person or entity behind the creation of this."

"The floor is clear," Yoshimo reported. "Let us hurry after the tanner, or whatever manner of creature may be impersonating him at the moment. Discussion can be delayed to another time."

They arrived on the next floor just in time to see a small boat with "Rejiek" on it slide off down the depths of the tunnel, headed out to the river and freedom. Yoshimo snapped his bow down rapidly and got a pair of shots off, but they missed by a fair margin.

A man in blue and green robes stood at the end of the dock, and turned around in surprise when he saw the arrows. "Destroy them!" he shouted, pointing at the party.

"Who's he talking to?" Aerie asked. The party could see no one else.

"Shhh!" Viconia told Aerie sharply. There was silence for a few seconds, then the faint yet undeniable sound of a single footstep. The party members whirled back-to-back into a ring, snatching their backs away from the invisible assassins that stalked the floor, ignoring the mage for the moment.

Kal studied his surroundings intently, searching for some sign of their presence. Invisibility didn't blur the air, as many people assumed it did, but there were other weaknesses in being invisible. Kal had learned that most people, even experienced thieves, tended to get a little overconfident when enhanced with an invisibility spell - and forgot that it didn't make them inaudible, and so he was concentrating at the moment on hearing something and not seeing.

Then he felt his senses sharpen...far beyond what they usually were. Just for a moment, his eyes saw through the veil of invisibility, and his ears heard the soft sound of a padded shoe-sole brushing across the wooden dock. In that moment he lunged forward, Daystar sinking into the invisible man's side. Then he spun easily, Cel coming across in a flashing backhand, and her blade bit deep and sent a crackle of lightning through the air. The assassin suddenly popped into sight and crumpled to the floor.

There was a bit of gleeful celebration by the piece of Bhaal residing within him. As always, it didn't speak in words, but through emotions. Kal had no trouble understanding what it was communicating at the moment, however. Hah! So you can learn after all...

At that point, three more assassins announced themselves with knives in the back. Minsc took two and collapsed with a loud groan. Jaheira took the worst of the last one, and fell to the floor clutching at an ugly wound in her lower back. The robed man, a mage, disappeared with a pop of inrushing air - teleport, Kal thought - but not before summoning a pair of rotting undead ghouls to deal with.

"Haer'Dalis, take the undead!" Kal said, then shook his head, forcibly removing Bhaal's sensory enhancement. No matter his need, he wouldn't let Bhaal ‘help' him...every step there was a step closer to Gehenna.

Haer'Dalis nodded and moved to guard that side of the party as everyone else turned around to face the assassins. Each of them raised a bottle from his belt to his lips.

One of them didn't get any further than that. Cel spat forth a brilliant sun-white burst of lightning that tore through him and reduced a crate behind to cinders. Shaking hands dropped the bottle, and though he parried Kal's initial swing of Daystar, could not stop the ensuing body thrust. The other two drank, however, and disappeared.

The party assembled back-to-back, but the formation was loose and everyone knew the next attack was only a matter of time.

Then Haer'Dalis stepped forward. "Wait! I see something!" he said with excitement, charging out of the tight ring eagerly.

"No! Get back!" Kal said, but he knew it was already too late. The two remaining assassins appeared to either side of Haer'Dalis' back, blades stabbing inward. But Haer'Dalis was already in motion, blades flickering defensively. The assassins' weapons bounced back harmlessly. Knowing they had been tricked into revealing themselves, they reached for bottles again. Both managed to uncork them and raise them to their lips - but longsword tips burst through their chests a moment later, and spilled potion mingled with blood on the floor of the docks.

Kal didn't stick around to watch, though. He was off to Jaheira right away, laying his hands on her wound and willing it closed by the power of Tyr. Aerie picked up the hint and moved over to Minsc quickly, casting rapidly, assisted a moment later by Viconia.

"A greater plan, indeed," Yoshimo reported grimly once the healing was done. He held up a symbol. "This was on the body of each assassin. Does it belong to any group that you recognize?" It was a cluster of numeral 3's, twisted together.

"Yes, I do," Cel spoke up. "It's the Twisted Rune."

Jaheira, who was sitting up weakly, raised her eyebrows. "I did not know such an organization existed. We've heard the rumours, but never found any evidence...we - the Harpers, I mean - concluded that the Rune does not exist...at least any more."

"That's because it's exactly what they want you to think," Cel said. "If you're thinking something - anything - about the Rune, it's likely that it's because it's what they want you to think. It's not a large organization, but it's good at the misdirection game."

"How do you know of it?" Viconia asked.

"I was arranged to be hidden underneath the floorboards at one of their meeting places about four hundred years ago. I got a lot out of those meetings. The paladin who wielded me correctly guessed that I'd make a better spy than he would, wrapped in plate mail as he was. We managed to stop the Rune a few times with that information. Anyway, if the Rune's wrapped up in this, we have to stop it - they're bad news."

"As soon as we know what to do. We really don't have anything to go on now." Kal pointed out.

"Just keep your eyes open. Searching won't do any good, they'll know about it and all you'll find will be false leads."

"My raven, my raven, I do believe the fantastic tales of the great gray murdering monster have indeed been solved," Haer'Dalis interrupted, dragging a heavy suit of elephant-hide leather armour behind him. Attached was a helmet, apparently meant to imitate an elephant's head.

"Indeed they have. I'm surprised at how long this deflected suspicion away, but I suppose it looks a lot more fearsome in the dark. Let's get this off to Aegisfield."

Aegisfield was understandably surprised, but could not refute the suit of armour before him. "Impersonating Rejiek, you say...? This is a tall tale, but...I don't see any other possibility. Thank you, thank you all. I'll send investigators to Rejiek's place right away. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare my report."

The party left the building. "A successful resolution," Yoshimo said with a smile.

"Only a piece of a larger whole," Kal said. "The Twisted Rune is up to something...and I wish I knew what it was."

"Don't bother speculating," Cel told him. "We'll need more information before we can do that. The Twisted Rune knows how to hide its workings."

Kal nodded. "Right, right. Anyway, let's go back to-"

In the middle of his sentence, a flash of light appeared in the middle of the street. A blue, man-sized crystal had appeared, hovering about two feet off the ground.

Haer'Dalis snapped upright in surprise. "Well. That is something one shouldn't expect to see on the Prime. ‘Tis a fish in a bird's nest." He slowly began inching away from it, heading back toward the door to Aegisfield's office.

"What is it, Haer'Dalis?" Aerie asked.

"A spell crystal...one of the hazards of the Planes." As he explained this, the crystal began to trace concentric circles around the market square, buzzing around and between startled citizens. Then it suddenly stopped, and dove directly toward Haer'Dalis. Haer'Dalis made a valiant attempt to sprint the last few feet to the door, but the crystal was faster, and before anyone could react, it collided with Haer'Dalis in another flash of light, and a puff of smoke.

"...Haer'Dalis?" Aerie asked, waving aside the smoke with her hands. "Are you all right?"

There was no sign of him.