Part I
Of Arrivals and Spiders
It was early morning, but the North Gate was still closed. Soppi guessed no merchants, farmers or travelers must have yet arrived at the City of Splenders that morning, or the gates would have surely been left open for the day to welcome those who wished to spend all their gold in the city taverns and markets. She approached the gates, giving the many guards inside the gate a wide berth, still not fully trusting them after her experiences with the "law enforcement" of the guards and Magistars from the past tenday. She only had to duck slightly to get under the closed gate and a second later she was outside. She spared a few seconds just staring at the gate and thinking of all that had happened behind it before she sighed softly and turned around to head north for the long trip back home. On the trip, her mind wandered back to the events of her latest and strangest visit ever to Waterdeep.
So, there were the walls and gates of Waterdeep ahead. It was not far to go now. She didn't really know
why Waterdeep was so close. Well.. she did - it was because she had just traveled there from Triboar. She was just going for a quiet stroll and didn't realise she was actually going to go to Waterdeep until she was already walking through the main street of Rassalantar. Otherwise she would have brought her map. She must have a dozen maps of Waterdeep in her bookcase at home from all the times she just happened to unexpectedly end up in Waterdeep at the end of one of her walks. Anyone would think she was a Lightfoot rather than a Strongheart from all her impulsive traveling.
And then the walls were close enough that she could see the North Gate clearly, and also the strange couple who were standing outside in the shadow of the wall whispering between themselves. As she walked past, a wisp of wind blew a few words from the man's mouth to Soppi's ear. "...So it's agreed. Five hundred crowns for the maid's life..."
Soppi turned to give a shocked look, and the woman noticed her reaction. Her eyes narrowed, but Soppi was already rushing through the gate when she yelled at the man to stop Soppi. The man gave a brief chase, but Soppi had already reached the Magistar inside the gate by the time the man reached the gate, and so he turned and ran, dragging the woman with him. Soppi followed, the Magistar at her heels, but they had both disappeared, as if into thin air. The Magistar asked what had happened and Soppi told him what she had seen and heard. He only seemed slightly interested and waved them off with a "Well, they are gone now." Soppi shrugged and headed into the city, hoping the chambermaid that was worth five hundred coins dead would be alright.
After a quick enquiry to the coach driver, Soppi discovered The Haven was still closed and so she went to the Dagger instead. There, somewhat unexpectedly she saw Lereth sitting at a table with a elven man she had never met. She had last seen Lereth when they had encountered the drow to the north east of the Friendly Arm Inn. She ordered her cider at the bar and sat with Lereth, who introduced his elven friend, Shaihurdle. Lereth and Soppi were having a chat about the last time they had seen each other when a woman walked to the table from the bar and addressed Shaihurdle.
"Filiare says you know the elven woman, Lira, do you know where she is?"
Shaihurdle looked a little uncomfortable and replied that he only barely knew her and didn't know where she was.
The woman replied "If you see her, let her know that she is in danger" and then left the Dagger, leaving all three people at the table a bit confused.
Shortly afterwards, a beautiful elven woman, Lira, appeared from the rooms upstairs and into the bar as if summoned. Shaihurdle introduced her to the other two and was quick to tell her what had happened and she questioned him back, trying to determine who the strange woman was.
Meanwhile, Soppi noticed Lereth had moved to talk to a man sitting in a corner of the inn. He was a large man dressed in black armour and Soppi was a bit surprised she hadn't noticed him when she arrived or when he had entered, so naturally she walked up to the pair and sat down next to the man to say "Hello".
He looked at her strangely and asked "Can I help you with something?"
Soppi couldn't think of anything that she needed so replied with a smile "No, I don't think so"
It was then that Lereth stammered an introduction, somewhat uncomfortably "Uh, S-Sir Terloz, th-this is Muh-mother Widenbottle, Muh-mother Wuh-widenbottle, t-this is S-sir Terloz, uh..." and then backed off from the pair.
Soppi gave the man a warm smile and said "Nice to meet you Terloz".
Terloz's face darkened "Lady Widenbottle, I have worked hard for my title as a knight, and I would appreciate it if you were to address me by the title that I have earned." he replied tersely.
Soppi laughed "I am no lady, you can call me Mother", thinking one of the big folk that big must eat too much meat, which would explain why he was so aggravated, so she decided to forgive his rudeness.
Terloz gave her another look and seemed about to say more when a scream sounded from the other side of the inn where Shaihurdle was talking with Lira and Lereth had returned, probably to get away from the moody Terloz. Lira was the one the scream had come from and she kept crying out in pain and Soppi saw the cause of her pain - a hole had appeared in her robes and the flesh of her stomach was bubbling as if being eaten by acid. In a few seconds, Soppi was at her side and kept Lira from touching the wound as she stared at it in horror and shock. Soppi could see that Lira would pass out from the pain in a matter of seconds and quickly healed the poor elven woman, a small amount of acid remained and continued to eat at her before expiring. Soppi healed the girl again and made sure she was alright before asking what had happened. One of the others, she couldn't remember if it was Shaihurdle or Lereth, told of a woman who had just walked a step into Dagger from outside, cast a spell that shot a magical bolt of acid which hit Lira and then quickly ran away before anyone realised what was happening.
Soppi looked to the door and said "I'm just going to have a quick look outside" as the others in the bar started to gather around Lira to make sure she was alright. Lereth warned her to be careful, and Soppi nodded with a smile as she strung her bow and adjusted Horn, which was slung over her shoulder.
Outside, Soppi walked around the Dagger, but didn't see anyone that appeared suspicious, however, when she completed her circuit there was a woman near the door. Soppi was sure it was the same woman she had seen outside the gate when she had first arrived.
"Don't meddle in things beyond you, hin" the woman said with venom in her voice.
Soppi gave the woman her sweetest smile and said "You're going to come with me to the guard post for questioning."
The woman gave a snarl and began casting a spell, arcane in nature. Before she could react, a ball of flame washed over her. A little stunned, Soppi gave a grunt of pain and slapped at the small flames that had started on her dress, the woman mage had already started casting a second spell and this time, Soppi was stuck to the ground by a gloop of sticky fluid. Soppi then started to cast a spell of her own in self defense as the mage started casting her third spell. The mage completed her spell first and just disappeared. Soppi stopped casting her spell, with the target no longer in sight and called on the woman to show herself and to stop being a coward, but she didn't seem to take Soppi's suggestion to heart and did not reappear. Soppi shrugged, healed her burns and was just about to go back into the Dagger when she spotted something on the ground near where the mage was standing. She walked over and picked it up, an amulet with three amber tears on a background of a purple triangle. Talonites. Soppi had dealt with them before, in the poisoned forest south of Goldenfields. Her friend Amy had almost died fighting a giant slime lord in the Talonite temple in the underground forest there as Soppi was desperately trying to cleanse the shrine of Talona's influence.
She pocketed the evil holy symbol and casually wandered back into the Dagger where the others were still fawning over Lira. She didn't look much like a chambermaid to Soppi, but she guessed even elves have to work in Waterdeep.
Lereth looked up as she entered and asked her what had happened with concern. Soppi smiled and replied that the woman had escaped her, but showed them the symbol she had found. Lira knew what it was straight away. It appeared she had had trouble with the Talonites before. She spilled her story, that her master had been abducted by them and she was getting aid from one of the noble houses in Waterdeep. She decided that she should seek out this noble house to tell them of the attack and to find out if they had discovered the location of her abducted master. Soppi, Lereth and Shaihurdle all immediately volunteered to escort her there. Terloz also stood forward and volunteered to protect the woman.
And so the group headed north towards the noble house, Terloz stating that he knew the way there.
The party sets out
They had headed a short way when a mysterious cloud appeared in the street, there were a couple of people of Waterdeep inside and near the cloud, walking around in a daze. Terloz told them to stay back and seemed to start talking to things that weren't there. And then for some strange reason he himself walked into the cloud and was dazed by its fumes immediately. It was not long before the cloud dispersed, and Soppi checked the people who had been dazed, including Terloz and they didn't seem to be suffering any further side effects, and so the group continued, getting lost a couple of times in the winding streets of the large city before finally getting directions from a member of the city watch, only to discover they were standing outside the noble's house.
A mysterious cloud
At the gate they introduced themselves to a guard who then entered the mansion and came out shortly afterwards to say that they would be permitted an audience. Inside, they meet with the noble, Kael, who Lira seemed to know well. Terloz came into the mansion but left soon after, claiming to have seen something outside. Lira told Kael of the attack and to Soppi he did not seem very surprised... or concerned, which she thought was quite strange, but Lira didn't seem to notice it. Kael was warning her to be careful when Terloz came back into the mansion with a hin woman in tow. Soppi recognised the woman as a member of the watch who was around when Arim disappeared with the evil tomes. Kael looked at the woman with suspicion and asked who she was. Terloz replied curtly that she was a friend, and that it should be "enough" that he vouched for her. An arguement ensued that came close to blows, during which Soppi and Lereth occupied themselves with the contents of the nearby bookshelf. It ended when Terloz conceded and the woman introduced herself as a member of the watch, and this seemed to appease Kael and they continued with their discussion. A hin woman stepped out of the shadows near Kael and Terloz drew his sword ready to attack her, and again it almost came to blows as the woman was introduced as a friend of Kael. The hin looked on in amusement during the exchange and when it was over, and Terloz sheated his blade she began to tell the group that she had discovered the location of Lira's captured master and the location of the woman who had abducted him. During her debriefing, Soppi stepped close to the hin watch member and told her that she had seen Agrim to the north, she had detected an evil aura about him, but had given him time to cleanse himself of the evil from the books, but he was now assumed dead. Because of their whispered conversation in the hin language, Soppi didn't really catch what was being said by the others. Something about a wizardess in some wizard organisation, and they were told to go to some inn somewhere in the docks ward where they would be given further instructions.
Inside the Mansion
Soppi just followed the others as they left the mansion and all piled into a coach to Virgin's Square then walked south from there. Soppi joined the others as far as the inn so she would know where it was then breaked company with them so she could go pay her respects to Yondalla in the Plinth, which was nearby. In the Plinth, she walked all the way to the top of the building to the shrine of Yondalla there, frowning as she passed the shrines of Yondalla's enemies.
All of them. There, she prayed to Yondalla and asked for her help in the coming troubles before walking back down, against past the shrines of all of Yondalla's enemies and made her way back to the inn to join the others.
At the inn, they were discussing what had happened and at one point Lira mentioned that Kael had been aiding her to help find her master, but none of the leads had lead anywhere. Soppi asked who knew that she and her master were in town and that they were working on a cure for an ancient poison used by Talonites. Lira said that nobody should know, that they had just come to Waterdeep to collect some ingredients for the cure and the attend the funeral of Kael's brother. Soppi then expressed her observation that Kael didn't seem overly concerned about the attack on her life.
Terloz picked up on this and ran with it "That is a good point, " he said addressing Lira "did any of these false leads lead you into danger?" To which Lira replied in the affirmative. "And was Kael put in danger during these false leads?" He continued.
"No, he was not. I see where you are going with this, and I don't like it. Kael has been nothing but a friend to me. He has rescued me from danger in the past and I am offended that you would think such a thing!" Lira replied, getting angry at the idea of Kael being accused of being a traitor.
"Then you are a fool not to consider the possibility!" Countered Terloz, starting to get into a hissy fit. "If you don't want my aid in this, then I will leave and let you deal with this problem yourself!" he said as he stood from the table, preparing to leave. Soppi sighed in annoyance of the knight threatening to leave the group because the woman didn't agree with his theory.
"I don't like you accusing Kael of such things, he has been nothing but a friend to me." said Lira.
"Then if you don't want my help, I will leave." replied the knight, getting ready to leave.
"No, sir knight, I appreciate your help and I need your help." Lira conceded, not wanting the knight to leave.
Terloz looked at her for a moment then said "Very well", then walked to a dark corner of the inn to sulk and sharpen his blade.
A short time later, the hin woman of the watch was called away on duty and as she was walking out, she passed a woman entering the inn who sought out the group, sitting at their table. She had come from Kael and outlined the plan of attack they had decided upon. Lira and Shaihurdle could gain access to the wizard organisation and should confront the woman themselves, while Terloz, Lereth and Soppi would seek out a house with the marking of Talona on the door in the Docks Ward, in an alleyway behind the Red Sails which is where Lira's master was being held.
The group split in two, Soppi following Terloz and Lereth. As they were walking to the place they were told to search, Terloz told Lereth to stand back from any battle and attend to his wounds if needed and Soppi spoke up that she was just a simple wandering priestess and no warrior, so the bulk of the fighting would have to fall to the knight. After some searching of the area they were told to look, Soppi found the house with a holy symbol of Talona boldly carved into the door and informed the other two of where it was. The door was locked, but Terloz forced it open and they entered after Soppi had cast her protection magics on herself and Lereth, Terloz having refused them.
Inside, the house seemed abandoned from the first room, but entering the second room were three zombies, exuding a poisonous gas. Soppi rushed forward with her holy symbol in hand to meet them, Terloz on her heels. She called upon the power of Yondalla to release the zombies from their undeath and all three immediately were freed, their rotting corpses collapsing to the ground. Behind her, Terloz screamed in pain, and Soppi turned to look, but there was nothing wrong with him as far as she could tell. Further into the house they found and killed giant spiders, taller than Soppi was herself. Some more giant spiders appeared from the webbing covering the walls and again they were killed, but not without biting Terloz, and Soppi could see that he was affected by their fast acting poisons. She moved to him and healed him with the blessings of Yondalla and again he screamed out in agony, collapsing against the wall. Thinking it was the poison, Soppi tended to his wounds with her healing kit and drew out as much of the poison as she could, but it had largely already taken its effect on him.
Terloz recovered enough to hiss at her through his clenched teeth "Never. Heal me. Again.".
Soppi looked at him strangely, but let it go with an "Alright" as Terloz slowly recovered himself enough to stand up straight again and press on into the house, taking a set of stairs that lead to the basement.
Downstairs, they found more giant spiders in the first room they came across and two dire spiders and a flesh golem in the next. Terloz engaged the flesh golem, but it was very strong and very fast and almost killed him in short order. Soppi knew that unless she acted fast all three of them would be killed and so she called down a holy blast of energy to smite all three enemies. The power of the blast was enough to stun all three monsters and after that they were quickly dispatched by Terloz's sword. Soppi saw that Terloz was badly injured, but held back from healing him, as he didn't seem to want Yondalla's help. Terloz drank several healing potions before they continued into the house and found a trap door in the floor, but no other spiders.
Terloz lead the three down into the trap down and they were quickly set up by spiders in what looked like the ruins of an old structure. Terloz cried out "IN THE NAME OF THE DARK LORD, BANE!" and lept forward to dispatch them quickly.
Stunned, Soppi asked Lereth if she knew Terloz was a Banite, and he replied with a stutter, not actually saying anything.
"Yes, he knows, as does anyone who asks." Terloz answered for Lereth, and continued into Talona's lair.
Soppi frowned, but said nothing and followed, deciding that she could not leave Lira's master down here with only a Banite and Lereth to save him.
They continued into the strange sub basement. In it they found many more giant spiders and posionous mist zombies in a series of rooms they explored, looking for the captured man.
All three were bitten more than once, and all three were feeling weak from the poisons in their systems, despite Soppi's and Lereth's best ministrations. Soppi could see that the Banite was suffering the most, having taken the brunt of the bites he was stumbling from all the poison he had absorbed. She was tempted to not say anything, letting the poison and spiders finish him off down here, but despite his temper and sulks he seemed an honourable man, and she knew that they would need him further, and so she approached him.
"I have a potion," she said "that should cleanse you of the poison. It is my only one."
He looked at her. "I will not ask for it, but I will gladly accept it if offered."
Soppi nodded and handed him her potion. "I have had a lot of trouble with Banites in the past."
Terloz accepted the potion from her with thanks and drank it, seeming to regain his strength immediately. "Those Zhent bastards have no honour, and I have nothing to do with them."
Soppi didn't say that it wasn't the Zhents she had had problems with. It was every single Banite she had met, from those in the forests south of Westbridge to the Banite priests in the temple in Silverymoon that had since been destroyed, just prior to her previous visit there. She then turned her attention to Lereth, casting a spell of restoration on him, which also cleared his system of the poison, and she drank her only potion of restoration herself, which also cleared the poison from her system.
Further they continued, cleaving their way through more giant spiders until they reached a large room, filled with spiders and an ettercap. It was a difficult battle and in the end the Banite was covered in bites and scratches from the spider and was bleeding quite badly, but the trio succeeded in defeating them all in the end. They then had time to look at the room and saw that it was empty apart from a man chained to the wall and a mirror. As they approached the man – obviously the man they were here to rescue - and the mirror a woman jumped out of the mirror, chased by both Shaihurdle and Lira.
The Banite commanded the woman to stop, but instead she cast a spell that turned her skin to stone and then attacked, throwing a fireball at Soppi, who was protected from the blast this time. The Banite leapt forward and struck her with his sword, but it was turned by her stone skin. The woman saw that she was outnumbered and tried to make a run for it past the group and to what remained of the spiders. In an attempted to slow her down, Soppi cast a beam of searing light at the wizardess as she ran past. As the beam hit her, her skin of stone provided no protection from the divine light and she screamed out once then crumbled to a heap on the ground, dead.
The Banite gave Soppi a frustrated look “I wanted her alive so we could question her!”
Soppi looked a little sheepish “I didn’t think she’d fall so easily.”
“No matter” replied the Banite and went to the aid of the man chained to the wall while Lereth sadly covered the body of the woman and prayed for her soul
“Well, she
did throw a ball of fire at me!” Soppi voiced, ignored by the rest of the party.
In the mean time, the Banite had managed to pull the chains out of the wall, so Lira’s master was free, even though his hands were still shackled. He then asked Lira for a seed, which she gave to him. He planted it in the lock and the seed quickly grew to the plant before their eyes and shattered the restraints open and it fell to the ground where the plant continued to grow. Soppi thought he must be some kind of druid to be able to do that.
The rescue
They decided then that it would be best to leave the Talonite base.
“Uh, there are still spiders out there and rooms we haven’t explored, perhaps it would be safer if we went back through the mirror they came out of.” Soppi said.
“Unfortunately the mirror is only one way, but do not worry I will protect us on our way out.” The druid replied.
The group went back the way the Banite, Lereth and Soppi had come from, the Banite and the druid leading the way. “She tried to
kill me” Soppi muttered mostly to herself as they passed the body of the wizardess.
As they walked along, grass grew around where the druid walked.
“Do you have to do that?” ask the Banite “Your divine magics make me uncomfortable.”
“Yes, I do,” replied the druid “it is keeping the remainder of the spiders at bay.”
The exit
And then they were outside again. The druid started telling them about the cure, but Soppi was tired and sensed that he job there was done, so bade them farewell and safe travels and headed to the Unicorn where she took a room and some well deserved rest.
