In The Cards

Obviously my sire's gifts will not go away because I try to ignore them. Far better to use them, but for my own purposes, not for his. A sword may, after all, be turned on the one who forged it.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

"So this is Daveorn's place," Imoen said in a low voice. "Very nice."

"Except for it being situated at the bottom of a mine," Edwin said. "Personally I would have preferred a nice beach property. Much easier to get a good price for if you should decide to sell it someday."

The adventurers had reached what Zaerini assumed was the deepest level of the mine. They were standing in a small ante chamber, from which a dark corridor led into Daveorn's abode. What had surprised them was the luxurious way the room was decorated. Beautiful carpets on the floor, soft and thick, with what seemed to be gold thread woven into them. Tables of wood that practically glowed with an inner light, so polished were they. Lovely ornaments of the thinnest china imaginable. Magic lanterns hanging in the air, spreading a soft and welcoming yellow light. Somehow Zaerini didn't imagine that welcome was meant for her.

"Let's be very careful and take some time to prepare," she said. "We have no way of knowing if he's alone in there. We should try to get every advantage possible." She smiled slowly. "Besides, I have an idea. Let's try to get Daveorn a little off-balance, shall we?"

Once all Jaheira's and Yeslick's spells were cast the adventurers were glowing almost as brightly as the lanterns with magic light. Rini could feel the spells tingling in her skin, pulsing through her blood, giving strength and courage. A haste spell from Edwin made her as swift as the wind. Finally, the Red Wizard cast a spell of invisibility on her, and then one on himself. "You shouldn't go alone," he said stubbornly. "If you get in trouble the others may not be able to assist you in time, so I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. (Her at least I am able to aid, despite her having that same regrettable tendency of wanting to handle things on her own.)"

The bard might have argued, but it's very difficult to argue with an invisible person. And besides, he'd probably just follow me anyway, like he'd glued himself to my rear end or something.

You'd like that, wouldn't you, kitten?

"All right," Rini whispered, trying to ignore the voice of her familiar. "You can come. Just keep quiet and let me do the talking. The rest of you, be prepared to move in." She moved off down the corridor, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The light grow stronger as she neared the end of the corridor, and then Zaerini found herself in a beautiful living-room, as richly furnished as the chamber she had seen before. The same rich carpets, these ones in the deepest red, beautiful paintings on the walls, heavy armchairs… Daveorn was sitting in one of them, reading a book. At first she thought him an old man, and then she realized her mistake. His hair was white, but he was by no means ancient. He had a square jaw that gave him a hard and determined look, a jutting nose and icy blue eyes with no hint of emotion in them as he raised them from the page he was reading.

"Visitors?" he said, his voice a slow drawl. "How very charming." He set the book down on a table, marking the page. "You may as well show yourselves. I know you are there."

Zaerini kept quite, slowly inching closer to the mage. He might be able to sense she was there, but judging from the way his eyes scanned the room he wasn't able to actually see her.

"Why have you come?" Daveorn asked, his tone conversational. "Is it to steal my riches or perhaps you seek to righteously punish me for my affront to your morality? It matters little, for you will do neither. Before I dispose of you in some horribly gruesome manner perhaps I should introduce myself. I am known as Davaeorn; I would ask you for your names but I care little to become acquainted with the dead."

It was time. "I know well who you are," Zaerini said, projecting her voice close by the wizard's ear. "And you ought to know well who I am - brother." It wasn't in her own voice that she spoke. Rather it was the voice of a man she had met some time ago, a man with a score to settle against the brother who had betrayed him and murdered their father, a man who had sworn revenge. The man who had called himself 'the Surgeon'.

Just as she had hoped, this reminder of his past caused Davaeorn some distress. He flinched visibly, striking out with the staff he carried in the direction of the voice, hitting nothing but empty air. "You!" he hissed. "How did you find me? Why are you here?"

"You should have known you wouldn't be able to hide from me forever, my brother," Rini said, making her voice as cold as she could. "And you know why I am here. You murdered my father." As she spoke those words they seemed to echo strangely in her mind. Sarevok. Gorion. How long until I finally confront my own brother? How long? She made herself go on. "This is your final chance. I want nothing more than to see you dead, but there are things more important than even that. Hand me the key to the river plug, and I may yet spare your life." This was the first part of her plan, trying to scare the wizard enough that he'd surrender the key without a fight. She knew he was highly dangerous, she'd prefer to trick him if possible. Davaeorn would have none of it however.

"Never!" he snarled. "You will never meddle in my affairs again, brother. I will see you dead first."

So be it then. Time for plan B. The wizard was backing towards her, and she projected the taunting voice in front of him, then to the sides, alternating it rapidly. "Give it up, brother!" she cried. "You cannot match me." Closer. Just a little bit closer… She was edging her sword out of its scabbard by now, and as soon as the wizard's back was close enough she struck. It wasn't a bad blow by any means, and had she been more trained in the art of death-dealing Davaeorn would have been dead in an instant. As it was, it veered just a little bit to the right, and instead of being planted firmly inside his body it glanced his side, drawing blood but not wounding him fatally. Davaeorn shrieked, and before she had the time to strike again he cast a spell, one that seemed to fold the very air in front of him, allowing him to step through. Then he was gone, one of Edwin's magic missile spells fizzling uselessly in the air behind him.

Crap. Well, at least Jaheira and the others will be along any minute to back us up. And then she head a sound. A booming metallic sound, and in the corridor through which she and Edwin had entered she could see two large warriors rear up out of the very floor, dressed in heavy armor and wielding swords that burned with hot blue flames. They were neatly cutting off her friends' access to the rest of Daveorn's apartment. Oh no. Double crap. Guess we're on our own…

Visible once more after having made an attack, Edwin didn't waste any time. A small group of mirror images sprang into existence around him, offering him some protection from hostile magic. Rini followed his example, and just barely had the time to get the spell up before Davaeorn appeared again in one of the adjoining rooms, sporting several mirror images of his own. A small temple, she thought, with an altar bearing the Dark Sun of Cyric. Then she didn't have the time to think any more as she found herself in the middle of a pitched mage battle.

Magic missiles screamed through the air, instantly taking out two of her mirror images, and then Davaeorn was gone again. A large horde of small blue xvarts burst forth from Edwin's wand, screaming for blood in shrill voices. Helpful as they were, it was with more than a little unease that Rini noticed that one of them, an ancient-looking one with a white beard, was wearing a red cap that looked like it had been dyed with blood. "Very good, my little xvarts!" this one yelled. "Get him!"

"Is it time to kill now, Daddy Xvarts?" one of the others asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

"So it is," the bearded one said. "And lets all have a jolly good xvartsing time about it too! Then we'll have a nice xvarts party!"

"YAAAAYYYY!" all of the xvarts screamed, making Rini wince and press her hands against her sensitive ears. Then they charged after Davaeorn, singing a disgustingly cheerful tune. It was with a certain sense of relief that the bard saw half of them burnt to a crisp by a fireball dispatched by the Iron Throne wizard.

Perhaps if I could get him to stay in one place this would be easier. And there was one spell that might do just that, a holding spell she'd learnt only recently. At first it seemed to work as it should, a bright net of magical energy settling around Davaeorn. But then it simply shattered, dissolved into nothing as the wizard teleported away once more, blasting Edwin with yet another fireball that made the Red Wizard curse loudly as he tried to stomp the flames out of his robes. How did he do that? That spell should have nailed him to the floor! And I really wish he'd stop that teleporting thing, it's getting extremely annoying. Now where did he go?

She couldn't see Davaeorn anywhere, and there were open doors all around. She didn't dare chase after him blindly either. And then she saw the markings on the floor, red drops scattered about like fallen rubies, and there was that smell in the air again. The smell of blood. Not stale old rotting blood like in the torture chamber upstairs. No, this was fresh blood, and the smell was singing to her, calling out, sharpening her senses. She could almost hear the beating of the enemy wizard's frightened heart, could almost see blood red arrows pointing directly at him, could taste his hatred and apprehension as he prepared to launch another attack.

The half-elf was smiling by now, her golden eyes glittering with the excitement of the hunt. The prey had been clever, but she had him now and she'd finish what she'd started. The sounds of the battle up in the corridor were vague buzzing noises in her ears, swords meeting swords, the heavy clank of armor. She couldn't afford to pay attention to it now. She had to focus on one thing and one thing only. Davaeorn. She inhaled deeply, allowing the blood scent to fill her nostrils, unaware of the fact that when she smiled her canines seemed to be lengthening for a moment, growing sharper, her pupils narrowing to slits. The prey...is…there.

She twisted around with inhuman agility and speed, as supple as any hunting cat, letting the instinct guide her even as she kept a tight hold of it in order not to lose control. Davaeorn was standing in the open doorway right behind her, raising his hands to cast another spell, his eyes wide with fear as he knew he had been spotted. The wound in his side was still bleeding, starting to dye his robes a deep, rich red. All of his mirror images were gone by now.

Hello, rat. Watch me pounce. The flame arrow left her palm at the exact same time as the now recovered Edwin fired one of his own, striking true. As Davaeorn gasped with the searing pain he left himself wide open, and the half-elf wasn't about to waste that opportunity. This time her sword hit home exactly as she meant it to, sinking deep into the Iron Throne wizard's chest, where she twisted it around for good measure. And Davaeorn died at last, not with a scream, not with a curse, but with a simple quiet whimper.

"See?" Edwin said, trying to catch his breath. "Aren't you glad I came along? Without my assistance you'd be toast by now."

"I hardly think so," the bard snorted. "I'm not some helpless damsel in distress, you know." Her voice softened. "But you were very helpful. Thank you."

"Children?" Jaheira said as she came up behind them. "Are you all right?"

"There were these two huge nasty things with flaming swords!" Imoen exclaimed excitedly. "Really mean and dangerous, they almost took Jaheira's head off." The druid gave her an annoyed glance. Imoen obliviously went on. "Only then Yeslick cast this spell to make their swords disappear, so I guess they were made from magic and not really real. Wasn't that clever of him?"

"Yes," Rini said, sounding as serious as she could as she pretended not to notice Jaheira's glare. "Very clever. I'm kind of surprised you didn't think of that, Jaheira. But I suppose we can't all be tacticians." The druid looked about ready to chew rocks.

"Would you look at this!" Edwin crowed excitedly as he bent over Davaeorn's dead body. "It's a Robe of the Archmagi! A genuine, actual Robe of the Archmagi!"

"That's good, is it?" Imoen asked.

"Good? Good! It's extraordinarily marvelous! Have you any idea how rare these are? It's worth a fortune. I always wanted one of these, but I never came across one so far."

"Well, Eddie," Zaerini said with a crooked grin as she too knelt by the corpse, meeting the wizard's eyes. "Consider this an early birthday present then. Or a late one. Whichever." He really looks like an excited little kid. It's…kind of cute actually.

The Red Wizard was smiling widely by now, too pleased to speak as he started stripping off the bloody robes.

"Y-you're going to w-wear those?" Khalid asked. "Don't you w-want to at least w-wash them first?"

"That can wait. These are Robes of the Archmagi! Who cares about a little blood? (I can't wait to show these to…anybody who might be interested.)"

"And here's a pretty trinket for me as well," Zaerini said, pulling a twisted silver ring off the dead wizard's finger. "I know what this little toy is. A ring that makes the wearer immune to holding spells. Very handy." She slipped it on her own finger, and the ring adapted in size, fitting her perfectly. "And what's this?"

Three letters had fallen onto the floor as Edwin shook out the Archmagi robes. The half-elf read them all out loud in turn.

Davaeorn,

I have received your request for extra slaves. They will be sent as soon as possible. Events go well in Baldur's Gate. We have purchased one of the western noble estates to use as our base of operations. It is an ancient building, most likely constructed before the erection of the second wall. Its construction makes it very defensible against those who would thieve it. Remember to ask Yeslick if he enjoys his new accommodations.

Reiltar.
Alturiak, 1367

Davaeorn,

Our plans go smoothly. Sarevok has arrived from our headquarters in Ordulin. He brings news from our superiors; they are pleased with our progress so far. I plan to place Sarevok as the commander of our mercenary forces in the region. He has already sent his subordinate, Tazok, to the Wood of Sharp Teeth to take command of the forces located there. Things go apace here in Baldur's Gate. We have placed our first agent among the ranks of the Seven Suns trading coster.

Reiltar.
Flamerule, 1368

Davaeorn,

As you have probably heard, the iron poison has begun to take affect around the coast. With the majority of iron imports being disrupted by Tazok, almost all of it comes from the tainted source in Nashkel. The Sythillisian uprising in Amn has ensured that no forces from that nation will be able to take action against our mercenary forces. However, the Flaming Fist has caught several of the Black Talon mercenaries. All of those captured have claimed allegiance with the Zhentarim and have thus shifted any suspicion away from the Iron Throne. I have sent Tranzig to work with the mercenaries in transporting the iron to your base in Cloakwood. He has brought several bags of holding so that he, alone, will make trips into Cloakwood, thereby lessening the chance that Flaming Fist trackers might find your stronghold.

Reiltar.
Elient, 1370

"So," Jaheira said. "It is as we suspected. The Iron Throne disrupted the iron trade, trying to gain control of the market, putting the blame on the Zhentarim."

"No wonder Xzar and Montaron were interested," Rini said. "And what an utter bastard that Reiltar seems to be!"

"So he is," Yeslick nodded. "And a clever one, at that."

"Well, we'll soon find out just how clever he is. Once we've freed the slaves we'll flood the mine. Then we'll head to Baldur's Gate as soon as possible." The bard tossed the small key she'd found on Davaeorn's body into the air. "I'm really going to enjoy spoiling Reiltar's plans, I think."

"Excuse me, lady". It was the xvarts leader, tugging on her leg, his surviving companions close behind him. The little blue men were crowding close around the ankles of the adventurers, making Softpaws hiss and leap onto her mistress' shoulder. "That was a xvarts of a fight, wasn't it? Very xvartsing."

"Um…yes. I suppose so."

"So I was just thinking… Could we perhaps have the bad nasty old xvartsing wizard's head as reward for helping out? We'd like to bring it home to the village for the victory party, it will be such a xvarts of a good time!"

Rini thought about it for a moment. "Well," she said, "it would keep him from being resurrected, I suppose. And you were very helpful. Be my guest."

"YAAAAAYYYY!" all the xvarts screamed again, and then they swarmed all over Davaeorn, singing that same sickly sweet tune.

"I think we're better off not looking too closely," Zaerini told her friends. "Let's see if we find any other useful things down here. And then we have a mine to flood."