Having regained their breath from their dash through the streets, the two fugitives realised that if they were going to try and leave the city on the morrow, then they needed to pick up some of their belongings. They agreed to meet back in half an hour at the "safe-house" and then they both silently slipped back out onto the dark streets. Deethan to pay a visit to his uncle's house. As he runs stealthily down the street, Keld heads in the opposite direction, going to find his own lodgings to retrieve his own kit.
A few minutes later, Deethan found himself looking at his uncle's home, the place he himself had called home for the last few years. The street was clear, and he made his way quickly over to the door, letting himself in with his key. A short but steep staircase led to the small flat he shared with his uncle, and aware of the increasing risk of the guards turning up, he raced up the stairs. As he gained the top of the stairs, his uncle's somewhat sleepy voice called out from the back room.
"Is that you Deethan?"
'Yes uncle sorry to disturb you at this late hour' Deethan replied.
"I'm glad it's you Deethan," his uncle replied as he entered the room. The older man was sitting in his comfy chair, warming his feet by a fire that was now no more than glowing coals. A book was resting on his lap - he had obviously been reading and had fallen asleep. He peered at the young half-drow in the darkness, then fumbled to light a candle. "I was worried that it might be a thief at this time of night!"
Deethan swallowed, glad that his uncle's limited human night vision could not see the expression of guilt that flashed across his face. As the old man finally managed to get a taper lit from the coals of the fire, he looked up at Deethan again. "So what keeps you out so late tonight? I had been hoping to spend some time showing you more of Azuth's art." He patted his book as he spoke, and Deethan guesses that the book was his uncle's spellbook. "Though I guess it is a bit late now though." He stifles a yawn.
Deethan fidgeted for a moment, worried about an impending visit from the guard, and yet torn between escaping and confiding in his uncle. After only a few seconds, he came to a decision.
"Uncle."
Uncle Erik sat back down, placing the candle slowly on the side table. "Hmmmm" he said, not looking up at Deethan, concentrating on placing the candle just right.
"Uncle!" repeated Deethan more urgently. His uncle looked up at him, finally hearing the stress in his voice. "What is it Deethan. What is wrong?" he replied, leaning forward concerned.
"I cannot talk for long, the guard may come knocking for me..." Deethan started to say.
"Oh what trouble have you gotten into now!" his uncle started to say, sitting back somewhat, his concern replaced with frustration. "I do hope..."
"Uncle, just listen to me for a moment. Please!" Deethan implored.
Realising that perhaps things may be more serious than he had imagined, his uncle steepled his fingers in front of him, placing them against his lips and regarded Deethan down his nose, looking over his spectacles, silently awaiting Deethan's words..
"Keld and myself are in trouble" Deethan blurted out. "We went to play a practical joke on a pig of a merchant who had almost run us over earlier today. I sneaked into his house, and found a mute woman, chained to a bed."
Deethan's uncle's eyebrows raised, but he kept quiet and let Deethan continue his story.
Deethan moved to the book shelf as he spoke, and grabbed down his spellbook, his quill and his own bottle of ink, trying to gather together the things he needed. "I hid as the merchant arrived and used her to summon some form of demon, which possessed her body!" he continued. Uncle Erik's eyes opened wide at this, and he dropped his hands, staring at his nephew.
"Whilst I was watching from concealment, an assassin arrived through the window and killed the merchant turned mage. I tried to stop the assassin, even managed to hit him with a dagger, but by the time the dead man's bodyguards arrived, the assassin had escaped. I tried to rescue the girl, but couldn't get away in time. The guards spotted me, and leaped to the conclusion that I was the assassin! They called me a murderer!" Deethan exclaimed.
As Deethan continued, he started to stuff his book and spare clothes he had picked up into a shoulder bag that he usually used to run errands for his uncle.
"The town guard chased me and Keld, and I'm pretty sure they recognised us, but we lost them." As he fastened the buckle on the now bulging shoulder bag, he paused to look up at his somewhat dumbstruck uncle.
"The mage was asking the demon about a magical sceptre. This sceptre" he said, pulling it out from his belt. "I grabbed it to bluff my way out" he added by way of explanation, shoving it back into his belt.
"I really didn't want to bring trouble down on you uncle, but I don't think my safest course of action is to give myself up and let the town justice system figure out my innocence. Keld and myself are going to leave town for a while."
A series of emotions crossed over the older man's face. "I understand Deethan" he says gently. "Where will you go?"
"I won't say - partially because I don't yet know - and partially because I don't want anyone to use you." replied his nephew.
Deethan's uncle rose from his chair, and moved to the book shelf, drawing down a scroll tube. "Take this," he said, hugging Deethan as he handed him the scroll tube. "You might find it useful."
Deethan hugged his mother's brother hard before stuffing the scroll tube into his belt, alongside the sceptre. "Thanks," he mumbled, his voice thick with emotion."I'll come back and see you sometime, I promise!" he said, before turning to the door, opening it and quickly leaving the building.
A single tear dried on his cheek as he ran silently through the streets, heading back to the abandoned building where Keld would hopefully be waiting.
****
Deethan arrived at the "safe house" a few minutes before Keld, and whilst he was waiting, opened up the scroll tube to check what was inside. Inside was a faded map of the North, showing the major villages, towns and trails. He could almost picture the route he and Keld had taken when they first made their way to Neverwinter, those short three years ago.
Turning it over, he saw a bigger map - or at least one covering a much bigger area but at a larger scale. Somewhere at the bottom, a wide peninsula seemed to stick out into the sea. The word "Chult" was written on it. That was his mother's - and his uncle's - original homeland. A long long way away. There was no scale on the map, but he could imagine it was thousands of miles from the small dot on the coast at the top of the map, marked Neverwinter.
For a moment, he wondered if he had any other relations living down in that area of the world, but then remembered is mother's words about why she and her brother had migrated northwards. A Talona plague had wiped out their entire family tree, and the two siblings had been so distraught they felt they had needed to start again in a new place.
Deethan glanced up. There was a sound - the hooting noise that Keld could do so well. A few moments later the large figure of Keld appeared, made bigger by his large back-pack silhouetted against the broken door way for a moment. As his large friend approached the doorway, Deethan rose to greet him.
"You OK?" Keld asked. "Have you thought about where we can go?" he continued, not waiting for a reply to the first question.
Deethan could tell his friend was nervous from the evening's events. "I was thinking we could try to smuggle ourselves away on a ship" Keld blurted.
"Hmmmmm" Deethan replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I'm interested in spending much time on a ship right now."
"I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to it!" retorted Keld. "I've never stepped foot on a boat in my life!"
Deethan nodded agreement... "Me either... Perhaps we should get out of town first. Then maybe we could take a ship from another port" continued Deethan.
Keld looked worried. "Yeah, but where to!" The warrior lowered his pack to the ground and glanced nervously back towards the entrance way at the distant sound of a dustbin being knocked over and a dog barking. "Anywhere away from here I suppose..." he muttered. Seeing Deethan peering at a scroll, Keld sat down beside him. "Ah, a map!" he said, a hint of optimism in his voice for the first time since they fled.
"Ummmmmm hmmmmmmm" Deethan replied, confirming Keld's assessment. "My uncle gave it too me.." Deethan offered no other suggestions for a destination though.
For a few minutes the two fugitives studied the map in silence.
"Bloody Fathesque!" muttered Keld after a while. "I wonder who his assassin was. He seemed to know the rooftops quite well. I saw his silhouette jumping across the roof ridges as you were getting down out of that tree..."
Deethan looked up from the map, his eyes focusing on Keld. "I don't know. He didn't seem to be any stranger to his craft inside the house either.." Thinking about it for a moment, he continued.. "From what we know about the asshole, there could have been many who would prefer to see him dead."
Deethan looked back down at the map for a second before continuing. Looking back up at Keld, Deethan asked the question that had just occurred to him.
"Supposed we'd accomplish anything if we tried to figure out more about what happened before we left?"
Keld shrugged. "Dunno. Ideally, we'd find out who was the real assassin and prove their guilt, but we can't really do that without making you, err us" he corrected quickly, "guilty of breaking and entering". He shivered. "Not sure I want to spend time behind bars for attempted theft!"
Suddenly, he slapped one hand into the other his face lighting up with an idea. "I know! What about that woman you mentioned - SHE knows you weren't the assassin. Perhaps she could say we were there to rescue her!"
Deethan looked glum. "Unfortunately, I don't think she's going to be saying anything... She's mute... no tongue! Although she probably would like to be rescued.. I found her shackled to the bed!"
Keld's face fell. "Damn, I'd forgotten that" he muttered. "But still! I'm sure she can communicate somehow" he added, looking up again.
"Judging by the way the remaining men in the house had a hold of her hair, I'd say they were in on keeping her locked up. Getting past them again could be challenging..." Deethan said, grimacing.
Deethan looked around the room for a second as if looking for inspiration. "Not to mention the city watch... If we did go back there for the woman, we'd have to lay low for at least a day and let things settle down"
Keld frowned. "Aren't there any fancy magics you could cast to help conceal us on the way there?" He gestured at the sceptre still stuffed in Keld's belt. "Once we got there, I'm sure you could use that thing again to freeze the heavies again whilst we got out with the woman..."
Deethan glanced down at the sceptre in his belt, looking surprised. "Damn.. I forgot that was even there. I wonder if I could use it again... I wish I knew exactly what to do with it, or what powers it has. As to concealing us... hmmmmm"
A disappointed look crossed Deethan's face as he realized after a moment that not only did he not have any fancy magics for the concealment of them both, he couldn't use them until he got some sleep even if he did...
"Sorry Keld.. no fancy magics for that one... if we sneak back over there, we have to do it the old fashioned way. With a proper night's rest, I could change the way I look for a while, but that wouldn't do you any good..."
Keld's face dropped as well, and there was a moment of silence as the pair considered their options. After a moment, Keld sighed heavily, then stifled a yawn. "Well, we do have another option... though potentially more of a wet one..." he said slowly. "We could make our way to the east of town, sneak our way down to the river, and see if we can cross the river further up, away from the bridges and where we might get spotted..." He looked up at his friend, searching Deethan's eyes for his opinion. "We might be able to steal a boat - if not, then we could swim... we wouldn't get cold at least!"
Deethan nodded and yawned as well as Keld's yawn triggered a similar reaction. "I guess I like that suggestion as well as any we discussed so far." Deethan looked wistfully off in the distance for a moment before continuing..."Of course, it would be a shame to leave that poor woman to her torture. But I just don't know how we'd get back in there"
Deethan fell silent. It was obvious to his close friend that he was somewhat indecisive about their course.
Keld fell silent too, and for a few moments, the pair of them simply sat still, as they listened to the quiet of the sleeping city around them. In the far distance, a dog started barking, only to be answered by a different dog from nearer by. After a few minutes, they stopped and the city fell relatively quiet again.
"Well, we both need to find somewhere to sleep?" said Keld after a moment. He glanced around at the ruined building around them, wrinkling his nose a bit. "I can't say I really want to sleep here, though in reality it is probably fairly safe till morning..." He looked back at his dark skinned friend. "But that still leaves us with the dilemma of what to do in the morning..."
Keld pursed his lips, his brow furrowed in worry. "You think maybe we should hand ourselves in?"
Deethan had little chance to respond however as something grabbed both of their attention. There was a faint creak from somewhere above, followed by a sudden cracking noise. Glancing up, the pair caught a glimpse of a black soled soft leather boot disappearing as it was pulled up out of a hole in the ceiling. Fragments of rotten wood rain down on the pair, and there was a flurry of sudden light footsteps above their heads.
"What the!" exclaimed Keld.
"Aw shit!" Deethan cursed as the foot appeared through the weak spot in the floor above. "I wonder if..."
Deethan didn't even finish the thought as he thundered up the stairs with Keld right behind him. Reaching the landing, he yanked out the bejewelled sceptre, and levelled it down the corridor towards the doorway of the room which he believed the intruder had been standing. Moving with his back against the wall on his right hand side, he stepped closer, ready to try out the sceptre's magical powers again as he scans for the owner of the foot.
Suddenly, there was a creak from up ahead, and then a rattling noise, as a number of small metallic objects were scattered on the floor. From his position on the landing, Deethan saw a number of caltrops scattered on the floor just inside the second doorway. Glancing to his left, Deethan looked through the first doorway where he could see most of the nearest room. The floor in that room was in pretty poor condition, rain through a hole in the roof above had rotted the wood significantly, and there were a number of holes. There were also large gaps in the dividing wall as well, and he could see a part of the second room. But he couldn't see the man yet.
Deethan frowned at the metallic noise that indicated the landing of the caltrops. No good could possibly come from this, he thought. As soon as he had seen the foot, Deethan had wondered if it were just some vagrant, or if it had in fact been related to the goings on so far this evening. Now he was pretty sure that it was related. Certainly, whoever the owner of that foot was, he was not interested in being caught.
Deethan proceeded forward down the hall more slowly now, and carefully assessed where the caltrops had landed. He had no desire to place his foot on one. As he approached the second door, Deethan moved even slower still, trying to be quiet, but more importantly, trying to watch where he put his feet.
Looking down the hall, an idea occurred to Deethan. He was pretty certain that the intruder was in the second room, but given the condition of some of the walls up here, Deethan wondered if perhaps he could gain a vantage point by looking into the room at the end of the hall. Thinking that a good idea, Deethan continued to move down the hall, now as quietly as possible, but instead of pausing at the second door, he proceeds to the end of the hall, and looks cautiously into the end room.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of movement from above. "Look out!" called Keld from behind him, as a black clad man, perched in the beams in the roof space above the end room, swung down, his legs hooked onto a beam. A dark metal curved blade sliced towards Deethan, catching the young thief in his chest. For a moment, all Deethan felt was the thump of the blow, and he staggered back a step, as the man started to swing himself back upwards instead. Part of his mind registered the blood dripping from the man's sword as it withdrew, but he remained focused on his original plan, raising the sceptre. "Hold!" he gasped. The man suddenly froze, his muscles going rigid. The law of gravity took over, and unable to maintain his hold, the man suddenly fell, landing with a ominous sounding cracking noise, head first onto the floor. Keld, his own axe held ready pushed past Deethan and stood over the man, axe raised.
The man made no sign of movement however. In fact, he showed no sign of life at all. Deethan felt pain start to blossom in his chest and his legs suddenly felt rather weak.
Deethan cringed at the sickly cracking noise associated with the man's head hitting the floor. In fact he realized, he was actually quite queasy. Deethan marveled at this for a second. After all, he had seen death before, and had been in his share of conflicts. Perhaps it was the uncontrolled way by which it happened. In a fight, you could defend yourself. This man had no defense against the power of the sceptre.
Deethan looked down. At that point, his mind registered the expanse of blood spreading over the front of his shirt and suddenly, he felt weak _and_ nauseated. That made more sense to Deethan. It was his injury.
Suddenly able to do little else, Deethan slumped down on the floor, and turned to lean against the wall. Looking up at Keld, he spoke...
"This is not good at all.." he said simply.
Keld nodded, still looking at the dead man. "Definitely not good!" he said. "I think he broke his neck falling!" Keld glanced around, and his eyes widened as he suddenly took in Deethan, slumped in the doorway, blood oozing from the vicious wound in his chest. "Deeth!" he exclaimed, crouching by the injured half-drow. He looked around, frantic to find something, before darting towards the corpse. As Keld pulled the body upright, Deethan could see that it did appear to be the same man he had seen earlier - Fathesque's assassin! The man was wearing a black outfit, a loose fitting tunic made of black cloth with matching dark breeches fastened with a wide belt. The belt itself seemed to have a number of things fastened to it. As Keld quickly pulled the tunic off the man, exposing a dark vest and bare arms, Deethan noted that there was a hole in the fabric on the man's left shoulder, where Deethan's dagger had struck only hours earlier. With the shoulder exposed, Deethan was expecting to see the still fairly fresh injury, but was surprised instead to see nothing but a faint pink line, like recently healed flesh.
Deethan mused over the appearance of the recently healed injury he had only hours earlire inflicted... 'Ah, if only I could do the same for myself...' he found himself thinking.
Keld turned back to Deethan, his muscled body blocking the view of the corpse for a moment as he bundled the black cloth into a large wad and pressed it against Deethan's wound. Grasping Deethan's wrist he placed Deethan's left hand onto the wad. "Keep the pressure on to help stop the blood..." he said. "We need to get you to a temple..." the worried half-orc continued, his expression showing concern over the unsaid question of how such clerical healing would be paid for..
The half-Drow smiled up gratefully at Keld as he pressed the cloth against the injury on Deethan's chest, and held it in place as instructed.
The half-orc looked up at Deethan, catching his friends eyes. Biting his lip slightly, Keld looked worried. "Do you think you can stand?"
Before Deethan had a chance to respond, there is a sudden acrid smell together with a slight fizzing noise. Twisting around Keld moves, and the pair can see that the ring on the middle finger of the left hand was glowing bright red, making the flesh around it bubble and melt. Within moments, the finger, and then the whole hand has dissolved into a dark black goo. The process seemed to be spreading to the body.
A surprised look crossed Deethan's face as the body seemed to start to dissolve...
"Quick Keld.." Deethan cried "get his belt off, and check and see if there's anything in his pockets before the entire body dissolves!"
Deethan moved as quickly as he can in his injured state to help Keld do as he had commanded... The pain in his chest makes him gasp...
Keld quickly turned to the body, and pulled off the belt with it's various objects still attached. Dumping it towards Deethan, Keld stepped over the dissolving body to get to the other side. Already the process had moved as far as the shoulder, and the man's vest charred and blackened as the flesh underneath bubbled and melted into the foul gunk. Spotting a plain ring of dark metal on a finger on the man's right hand, the warrior quickly wrestled it off, finding himself suddenly lifting the arm as it's connection with the rest of the body dissolved. Retching, Keld dropped the remains of the arm back into the horrific pool, stepping back slightly to keep himself clear. As Deethan watched, the head slowly caved in on itself, the features literally melting and bubbling in front of his eyes, and then, at a somewhat slower speed, the process moved towards the hips. Keld stepped closer again, feeling inside the breeches pockets, his eyes watching the encroaching reaction with increasing alarm. At the last moment, he managed to pull out a piece of parchment from a breeches pocket, the edges of it stained dark.
Chucking that towards Deethan as well as the ring, Keld moved to the feet, pulling a stiletto dagger from one soft soled boot, before trying to unlace the boots themselves. The process took too long however, and before he managed to undo the laces on the second boot, the horrifying disintegration of the body had moved down the legs, and he had to give up.
Still gagging somewhat, the pair retreated from the room onto the landing, gasping for fresh air. Several paces away, they paused, and started to examine the things they had salvaged.
The belt had two medium sized stiff leather pouches attached to it, as well as a couple of small sheaths for daggers and a loose scabbard for the black bladed sabre that had struck Deethan. The blade itself still lay on the floor close to the body, luckily twisted out of the assassin's hand as he had fallen, and laying clear of the body when it dissolved. Keld rose and retrieved it, keeping clear of the dark pool, which appeared to be eating into the floorboards. As he returned, he shrugged, hefting the blade in his hand. "Not my favoured weapon!" he muttered, examining the blade closely before crouching in front of Deethan and putting it back into it's sheath. The half-orc warrior then pulled out the throwing daggers from their two sheathes. The blades were small solid metal daggers, designed to be thrown rather than held in combat - a matching pair, though devoid of any type of embellishment or artistry beyond their simple form. Keld shrugged again. "Not sure I could throw those two well - they're too small for my hands!" He managed a weak grin at Deethan, but Deethan could see that he was still clearly worried about Deethan's condition.
Deethan returned Keld's grin. "Don't worry my friend.. I'll heal" Deethan's face conveyed a confidence that Deethan himself didn't really feel. He began to wonder what he was going to do about his injury.
As he looked over the items that Keld had retrieved, he began to wonder if perhaps there was something of enough value there that they could used to buy some healing potions or something.
Momentarily, Deethan wondered where he should start. He didn't have to think about it long though as he fingered the ring that Keld tossed him, and looked over the scrap of parchement.
Resisting for the moment, the urge to slip the ring on, Deethan carefully unfolded the parchment, wondering what he was going to find. Holding it carefully so he didn't touch the dark stain around it's edges, which looked as though it might have come from the dissolving flesh of the dead assassin, he peered at the words on it. The script was bold and had been written carefully, although with all different sized letters - perhaps as though to disguise the authors hand writing - in what looked like the Northern tongue rather than what Deethan knew best - the more common runes of the trade tongue. The language of traders, travellers and trouble makers as his uncle used to say. Of course his uncle also joked that it was his own native tongue, having come up from Chult, where another language completely was spoken, it was all he had managed to learn in the many years he had spent in Neverwinter. Deethan on the other hand had learnt a strange mis-match of languages as he was growing up. His mother had taught him a few words of her original mother tongue from Chult, but had otherwise taught him only Common. He had picked up the drow tongue and script from the other children he played with as a child, and, since he had come to Neverwinter, he had also picked up some Northern. Enough to catch the drift of what most people were saying - after all, it wasn't that far from common, but unfortunately not enough to make sense of this parchment.
Keld, coming over, peered over his shoulder.
"Shit! He really was an assassin!" exclaimed his friend as he started to read aloud, translating for Deethan.
"Job Target: Harold Fathesque - member of the Iron Throne" he read aloud. "16 Westside Parade Street, Neverwinter. Hey! That's where we were earlier!" Keld shook his head, his face worried as he glanced again at the dark pool of still bubbling remains. Deethan's eyes followed the words, recognising some as Keld read aloud through the note.
"Agreed Price for the Black Hand Guild: 500gp (250 in advance)" he read. He looks up again at Deethan, his eyes wide. "That man must have been a professional assassin! The Black Hand! I'd heard rumours about them, but I thought it had been made up!" He swore. "That's a hell of a lot of money! That would set me for life!" He grinned at Deethan for a moment. "Well for a while anyway!"
He looked back to the paper and read on. "The assassin will find Fathesque in the front upstairs room at midnight tonight. Instruct him to enter via the window and kill him immediately - the enclosed crossbow bolt has been enchanted, and will slay him with one shot aimed in his general direction. It is important that he does not hesitate. Fathesque will have a sceptre with him that could kill your man!" He paused to glance significantly at Deethan, his eyes wide, then continued. "The sceptre must be wrapped in cloth - make sure you man does not touch it with his bare flesh!! Get him to bring the sceptre to the Fallen Tower at midday tomorrow and enter the Cellars. I will meet him there and pay the other half of the guild payment. Tell him not to let anyone see him with the sceptre. Memorise and destroy this message. - X" <link to copy of note>
Keld let out his breath in a long whistle, looking at Deethan his eyes wide. "By the gods!" he exclaimed. "The Black Hand aren't going to be too pleased at loosing one of their assassins! And it sounds like whoever wrote this isn't going to be too pleased at not getting his stolen sceptre back!"
Deethan looked back at Keld, smiling strangely. He remained silent for some moments with that same strange smile fixed on his face. As Keld looked on, the expression became more and more distant, and eventually, Keld recognized the expression for what it was; the one Deethan usually wore while scheming something up!
Keld also broke into a smile. "You've had an idea haven't you!" he said slowly.
After a while, Deethan focused on Keld for a moment again, smiling wider now. He glanced down at the scepter, testing its weight in his hands. Finally he spoke:
“Could kill your man eh?” Deethan mused out loud. “Interesting!”
Keld looked puzzled, glancing down at the parchment again to re-read the words. "Yes," he echoed. "Fathesque will have a sceptre with him that could kill your man!" he read aloud again.
Deethan fell silent again before continuing… “Your man…”
Keld looked up again at Deethan as he repeated the words, his face showing his lack of understanding. "So?"
Deethan rubbed his chin pensively before repeating: “Your man…” Deethan looked up at Keld and smiled widely.
“Apparently the one expecting the scepter to be delivered doesn’t know who the actual assassin was! Very interesting!”
Keld's eyes widened as he began to realise what Deethan might be thinking about.
Deethan smiled as he watched his friend's eyes widen, but fell silent again, pondering, as a plan began to form in his mind.
Eventually, he continued. "We need to think through this carefully... but, since the contact doesn't know who he is looking for, one of us could pass for the assassin simply by showing up with the scepter."
Keld looked at Deethan, a slow grin spreading over his face.
Deethan winced from his injury as he changed positions.
"It would be nice to get even some of that money" Deethan continued.
"I'd say!" interjected Keld.
Deethan looked down at the scepter again. "Of course, it would also be nice to hang on to this!" he mused.
Keld frowned. "I'm a bit worried about the warning not to touch it with your bare flesh..." he says quietly.
"And... it would be nice to clear our names!" Deethan continued.
"I'd agree with you on that" echoed Keld.
Deethan's eyes twinkled as he spoke, and Keld could easily tell his friend hadn't played all his cards yet!
"Come on then Deeth! What's your plan!" said Keld impatiently.
Deethan grinned, and raised one hand to cover his face so his eyes could peek
out between his fingers, his hand acting like a mask. He quickly lowered his
arm however, as the movement caused pain to shoot through his chest, and again
he was reminded of how weak he felt, the grin vanishing from his face. "In
a minute" he gasped, looking instead to the other salvaged possessions
from the assassin. "He healed himself from the injury I gave him only hours
ago... he must have had something, a healing potion perhaps..." Trying
to keep the desperation from his voice, Deethan pulled the belt pouches closer,
and quickly emptied their contents. Three glass vials, two filled with a swirling
dark yellow liquid, the other empty, but with a few drops of a similar looking
fluid still in it, rolled out onto the ground. Two small bags also clinked out
from the second pouch, a few more caltrops spilling from the open neck of one.
Keld picked up the other, opened it and peered inside. His eyes widened and he tipped out some of the coins onto his hand. Platinum pieces for the most part - and lots of them. "Woohoo!" exclaimed Keld. "His down payment on the job I guess!"
Grasping a glass vial and holding it up to the light Deethan offered a sly grin to Keld then casually removed the stopper.
"No!" exclaimed Keld. "You can't know it's a healing potion! If could be poison for all you know!"
"If this isn't what I think it is then try and get me to a temple as soon as possible." With that Deethan swigged the contents and waited.
For a moment, nothing happened, then a warm tingling sensation started to grow, spreading from his stomach outwards, and within moments, the pain in his chest eased. Keld watched on, his lips moving in a silent prayer to Tymora as it became more apparent that Deethan's guess had been correct.
Smiling with relief Deethan stood and carefully stretched, "That was a lucky find my friend, good job you reacted so quickly. It would have taken me half the morning to stagger to a Temple. As for the plan, I think we should make the assassins appointment with his benefactor to satisfy my curiosity as to who is behind this charade and see if we can increase our fortune in the process."
Keld nodded in agreement. "I had a feeling that was what you were going to suggest!" he said with a grin on his broad face.
"We should rest till the morning I feel as though I've been playing rock ball against a team of Dwarven Berserkers, besides I've a feeling we will need some magical aid and I'm out of spells" Deethan continued.
Keld nodded in agreement again, suddenly stifling a yawn. "I really thought you were going to be a goner back then!" he said through the yawn. He looked around the dark building, taking in the holes in the roof and the black mess on the floor. "I think maybe in the back room downstairs" he suggested.
Pausing to collect up the caltrops that the assassin had cast on the floor in the other doorway, Deethan and Keld gathered all the assassin's belongings and moved back down the stairs, before holing up one of the back rooms, and trying to rest.
<Maps of Ruined Building - Ground Floor and Upstairs>
On to Chapter Three - where Deethan and Keld visit the Fallen Tower Inn - and enter the cellars
