Tales Of The Sword Coast - Two

Chapter Two, Insomnia Of The Mind

A fresh breeze brushed lightly across my face, causing me to stir under my bed sheets, half awakening me, the sounds of shouting and tradesmen selling their goods finally caused me to open my eyes, I shifted and sat on the edge of the bed. A low hustle could be heard downstairs, I stood and got dressed, my mind was blank, and I felt like a complete zombie. Heading downstairs I glanced across a large tavern bar, it was rife with customers, shady looking characters sitting in dark corners, rowdy drunkards and halfling waiters padding around quickly. I caught the sight of Minsc on the other side of the room, it wasn’t surprising that he was flailing around holding a chicken leg, shouting and screaming about his exploits in battle, whilst the quite clearly bored Jahiera and Yoshimo looked onwards.

I moved for the table they were sat, the tavern was warm and smelled of hot food, a welcome atmosphere from the one I regained consciousness in, my head had fallen into place, we were in the city of Athkatla, somewhere south of the sword coast, and a long, long way from the grand city of Baldurs Gate. The quite insane ramblings of Minsc were sharply interrupted by Jahiera calling my name.

Jahiera – “Kano, thank nature you are awake!”

Yoshimo – “Good to see you in a healthy state still my good friend”

I simply nodded; I didn’t feel like communicating much this early in the morning.

Jahiera – “You must be starving, let me get you something to eat”

Kano – “Im not hungry”

Jahiera – “Always business with you Kano, I presume the main agenda for today is to find Imoen?”

Kano – “It is, lets get going”

Minsc – “We shall put foot to ass for the plight of Imoen! Boo shall exact vengeance on mr.wizard man!”

The oaf wasn’t making this morning any better, I decided to hit the streets, Jahiera was right, we needed to find Imoen, but I couldn’t help but think others problems would be solved long before mine, I was used to it, solving everyone else’s situations just to get to mine. I opened the front door and with determination I stepped outside, a huge promenade awaited me, stalls, shops, merchants everywhere, shouting, screaming, my head was spinning, large animals in cages waiting to be sold to the highest bidder littered the huge open space before us. Wandering around the many stalls all manner of weapons; armour and magical potions were for sale, some crude and cheap, others quite rare. We moved closer towards the center of the stalls, a large striped tent came to view, several guards were posted outside while several civilians tried pushing past to gain access to the tent itself, there was something odd going on, I moved to investigate. We pushed past the mountains of disturbed citizens, some simply wanting to know what’s going on, others in complete hysterics, crying, sheer panic was gripping the crowd, as we pushed past the last few the voiced of the guard came to ear.

Guard – “HOLD citizens, there is a quarantine in place around this place”

I decided to get a word in edgeways before it became impossible.

Kano – “What’s the problem?”

Guard – “Some circus mage has turned nearly every person inside this tent to monsters, it’s a complete quarantine zone until we can muster the guard, we have to cleanse the tent and take the mage into custody, we are waiting for the cowled wizards to attend and support us”

Kano – “Cowled wizards? Are they the people I saw yesterday in the grey robes?”

Guard – “Most likely”

Kano – “They wielded basic staves, they were also many in number, quite militaristic”

Guard – “Aye, that sounds like them, they have become the authority of this city and the surrounding area, ye certainly can’t disagree with that many mages, tis why they are the law in these parts now”

If the guard was speaking the truth, these cowled wizards may be a public organization, and could possibly tell me where they have Imoen detained, I decided to try and find the cowled wizard establishment after speaking to the guard. But before I finished what I was saying, I felt the need to help the poor man, he seemed stretched to keep the citizens in check, and judging by the cowled wizards behavior yesterday, I don’t think they would consider a nutty mage in a circus tent a high priority.

Kano – “How about I go in there, and take care of him for you”

Guard – “Your welcome to try, none that have tried thus far have succeeded, ill not try and stop you if your going to throw your lives away”

I gave him a look of sarcasm, and walked through the tent entrance. Inside was a stone bridge with a smaller tent just over the other side, we proceeded across the bridge, but before we could reach the other side I hit some sort of magical barrier, it stopped me in my tracks, and a voice proclaimed

Voice – “Who wishes to amuse Kalah this time?”

Kano – “Death wishes to amuse him”

Voice – “HAHAHAHA, you are indeed foolish”

Kano – “We shall see about that”

Voice – “if you answer my question, I shall allow you to pass”

I was becoming sick of riddles and questions, I felt like smiting the whole area simply to try and flush out the idiot, but in times of magic, brute force is not always the intelligent way out, and besides, I could tell the nest few years would just be one big question or puzzle, I decided to face the realization early rather than late that I will always be answering questions, always solving riddles and puzzles.

Kano – “Ask your question”

Voice – “How come, that common sense, is not in the slightest bit common?”

I looked at Minsc, who, was scratching his head and muttering to his hamster, I wasn’t exactly sure if he could answer the question for me, but I decided to try and see the answer from somebody that has no common sense.

Kano – “Because those who wish they had it, name it what they wish it was”

I watched Minsc’s face light up with joy, as if he had only just figured out how to breathe properly, I couldn’t help but think that I had a great deal to learn from his below average intelligence.

Voice – “A legendary quote if ever I heard one! you are certainly sharper with the brain than those other fools, you may pass, with my blessing”

I didn’t need his stupid blessing, I scowled and continued across the bridge towards the smaller tent, both tents had been a simple white and yellow stripe pattern, the sort of pattern that drove people insane when they stare at it for long enough. We entered the central tent and came faced with a large ornate fountain, the place was made of stone, with pillars and paintings, quite an establishment for a circus, the fountain was gushing clean fresh water, it was a calming sight, but what stood behind it, wasn’t.

As I leant to one side, I saw a huge ogre stood looking very worried, I nodded to the others, we split into two groups and slowly made our way round each side of the fountain, readying ourselves for a fight, I was astonished to see the ogre back away the closer we came towards it.

Ogre – “Please stop! It’s all an illusion!”

That voice sounded like an angels, I thought about hitting my head for a minute, maybe I was hallucinating or something, until it spoke again

Ogre – “Please, it isn’t real! Kalah has created this illusion!”

Kano – “What manner of beast are you that can talk so sweetly?”

Ogre – “My name is Aerie, Kalah our illusionist went mad during one of the shows, and he has created a grand illusion where all humans look like monsters! But they are just harmless!”

Kano – “I see, I shall trust you, but if this is a trick, we shall strike you down where you stand”

Ogre – “If you free me from my chains, we can search for Kalah and kill him together! I must find my uncle!”

Kano – “How are we supposed to free you then?”

Ogre – “Over there, on the other side of the room, there are two people, one of them holds a sword, the sword can cut through my chains”

Kano – “But you said all the humans look like monsters, why should these people look any different?”

Ogre – “Don’t you see? If the humans look like monsters, then the monsters will look like humans!”

My head hurts…

Kano – “So, those two over there are actually monsters, and all the other monsters in this place are in fact humans?”

Ogre – “Exactly!”

I decided to help, it seemed a bit of a far-fetched story, but hell, I have no doubts that I will see even more weird things in my lifetime.

Kano – “Remain here”

We walked across another stone bridge towards the western part of the tent, this place looked surprisingly well made considering it was in a circus, it’s probably part of the whole illusion too, we walked past two large spiders, they just stood and looked at us as we passed, perhaps the ogre was right. We made our way towards the two humans, they were quite erratic, snarling and growling every so often, I nodded to Minsc and with a large dumb scream he charged straight at them, swinging his sword wildly.

To my surprise, the two humans turned and growled back, they rushed straight at him and began clawing his armour

Yoshimo – “KANO”

I turned, Yoshimo was running to Minsc’s aid, as he did so, throwing a sling with a bag if small round stones at me, I caught them in mid flight and decided that I would try not to use my spells unless it was absolutely nessecary, and being a total dunce with a sword, this sling was the perfect weapon for me. I loaded a few shots into the sling, and swang it round at speed…

Kano – “Minsc, Yoshimo, DUCK”

Both of them dropped to the floor and I let fly the bullets, they streaked towards their targets, two bullets missing totally but one hitting a monster in the eye, it screeched, and flailed around wildly, Minsc then finished it off with an uppercut to the blind monsters body, blood flew everywhere, but being splattered only made Minsc go more wild. With the combined might of Minsc and the skill of Yoshimo, they made short work of the other creature, and after it fell, Yoshimo rummaged through its illusion clothes and picked up an ornate sword. We headed back past the spiders to where the ogre was, it’s eyes lit up as we approached.

Ogre – “Yes, the sword, you have it, please let me hold it so I may cut free my bonds!”

I stopped and thought that this may have all been a trap, but the spiders and humans made too much sense, and even if the ogre did attack us, we should be able to hold our own. I threw it the sword, and with a mighty swing cutting the air, and a blinding flash of light, the sword disappeared and a large shattering sound could be heard, when I opened my eyes again, a frail young woman stood before me.

Aerie – “My thanks for your trust, Kalah should be upstairs, we must go and kill him, I must find my uncle!”

Kano – “You have been true in your words, join us, and lets end this once and for all, I have more important matters to attend to anyway”

We ran up a set of stone stairs to the next level, I couldn’t help being annoyed that the stairs were an illusion, and we weren’t really running up them at all, but the illusion was very powerful, I played along. As we ran, Aerie explained her situation.

Aerie – “Me and my uncle came to the circus to escape the harsh world around us, we are performers, my uncle is an intelligent man, and can create shows using props that illusionists have trouble making themselves, last nights show started without problem, and then everyone just started morphing into monsters, panic started, and the tent was magically sealed from the inside, people could enter, but not escape. Kalah killed all those that came to investigate”

I had heard enough, Kalah was about to die a horrible death, and judging by his abilities, ill need my spellcraft to take him down. We entered the second level, where there were several beasts wandering around a large room full of couches, with large expensive rugs on the floor, and vases on pedestals everywhere.

Kano – “He lives in quite a dwelling”

Aerie – “All an illusion, however, these creatures, are not, he is fond of monster summoning”

Kano – “Your telling me those things are real?”

They were humanoid in stature, hairy creatures, I had heard of them before, werewolves they called them, quite nasty creatures, extremely powerful and agile. I nodded to Minsc, but before he could scream the place down I told him to be careful, and that the creatures are much tougher than the fools we met downstairs. Minsc dispensed with the screaming, and decided simply to walk up behind the creature instead, lifting his sword he grinned, but before he could swing the wolf turned around in a split second, emitting a bellowing roar and knocking Minsc clean of his feet, the thing leapt for Minsc with claws at the ready, but was blasted out of mid air by a fury of magic missiles. I looked to my left, Aerie was angry, im talking the domestic violence type of angry, the disgruntled mother who’s child is two hours late home sort of angry, it worried me quite a bit actually, she wouldn’t stop firing missiles at the beasts, and in her rage actually started blasting other creatures in the room, they all turned and growled, running straight at us.

It was simple, we were outnumbered, Yoshimo and Jahiera engaged in combat with a shadow type creature, it was almost invisible and he was having a hard time dodging the creature as it clawed at him furiously, there was the werewolf Aerie had blasted out of mid air regaining consciousness, plus another two werewolves heading straight for me, time to stop standing about and do something. I nodded at Aerie, and we both started pummeling the wolves with missiles, they both flailed as the missiles hit, almost brushing them aside as they ran, they were now jumping over the couches in the center of the room and were almost in jumping distance of us too, I had to do something more.

I tried remembering some spells I had read earlier, and decided that summoning some aid may be useful, I chanted the monster summoning text and with a blinding flash two large Gnolls appeared, rather than looking like wolves, these Gnolls looked like tall hyenas, both wilding halbers and snarling, they ran straight at the werewolves.

The were wolves dived straight at the Gnolls, one gnoll swung it’s halberd knocking a wolf out of the air, the other was cleaved down instantly before getting a chance to swing, both wolves then began biting and clawing at the remaining gnoll, it was obvious that it wouldn’t hold them off for long, I turned to Aerie…

Kano – “Aerie, blast those wolves with the gnoll, im going to help Yoshimo”

She unleashed yet more missiles, hitting the wolves in several places, they snarled and continued cleaving at the gnoll, Minsc, who had been in combat with another werewolf for the duration of the battle, finished off the wolf but had quite a gash across his chest from the beast, he slumped against a nearby wall and moaned at his hamster. I ran across the room, chanting as I went, in a fury of red light I threw another hail of magic missiles at the shadow creature Yoshimo was engaged with, the creature wailed and screamed as the missiles shot it straight off its feet, Yoshimo spun around and impaled the creature through the mid section, and with a sigh of relief sheathed his samurai sword. I turned and glanced at Minsc, I wanted to help, but the second gnoll was dead and the two remaining werewolves were half way to Aerie, Yoshimo  and Jahiera ran to aid Minsc, I took out my spellbook and desperately flicked through the pages, trying to find an appropriate spell to use from long range, I found Agozanars scorcher, I remembered Agozanar’s exploits in creating flame spells, they were quite nasty indeed. I began chanting the words, I almost couldn’t read the text because of the bright red flashes of Aerie’s magic missiles, finishing the chant a streak of searing heat left my hand with blistering speed, it hit a werewolf square in the back, melting straight through it and taking it down instantly. I took out my sling and threw several bullets at the remaining wolf, Aerie’s magic missile hail hit it in the chest, and my bullets cleanly struck the back of it’s skull, it slumped to the ground less then two meters in front of Aerie, she was visibly shaking. I ran to see to Minsc, he was in a bad way…

Kano – “Hows he doing?”

Yoshimo – “Nothing that a healer cannot mend Kano, we shall remain here with him, go, and finish this grand illusion once and for all”

I nodded and stood, Aerie was still shaking, I made my way over and spoke to her.

Kano – “Don’t worry, it’s dead, it is very scary having such a dangerous creature so close, you handled yourself greatly indeed, shall we go find your uncle?”

Aerie wiped a tear from her eye and headed towards the next set of steps, with a sigh I followed. We climbed several flights of stairs until we came to a single chamber, nothing but dirt on the floor; a slime creature was on the floor next to quite a muscular warlord sat on a grand chair. The warlord looked up and stood from his chair, speaking in quite an angry tone.

Warlord – “So Aerie, you have escaped your bonds and have brought this whelp to slay me? How foolish of you”

Kano – “Enough of this, you shall die for those who have fallen in your mad illusion”

Warlord – “You see this pile of pathetic slime Aerie, it’s your uncle”

Aerie – “UNCLE!”

Great, the slime was her uncle, in just the position the warlord needed to kill him without a moments notice. I decided I wasn’t going to give him the breathing room, I quickly chanted monster summoning, two hobgoblins appeared between the slime and the warlord, Aerie unleashed her magic missiles at the warlord, they slammed straight into his chest, he was visibly cut up, in fact, he seemed altogether pathetically weak for a warlord, but I didn’t care, time to end his miserable existence once and for all. I chanted again, throwing magic missiles at him, the hobgoblins let fly with a few arrows, embedding them straight into the warlord’s side, the warlord fell without throwing a shot at us.

Kano – “Never in my life have I seen such a pathetic creature”

The walls began to shimmer and warp around us, the illusion was ending, the tent seemed to melt away, showing a new tent, only around 100 meters in width, with gambling tables, several stools and seats for viewers, and in the center lay a small gnome, coughing up blood.

Gnome – “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

He threw up more blood, clenching his fist in rage

Gnome – “This is not what was promised to me!”

Kano – “You are responsible for all this mayhem Gnome?”

Gnome – “I wanted to be the star attraction, I showed them, and all who opposed me should have died!”

Kano – “You are a madman, hurry up and die”

The gnome slowly lost breath and died, even afterwards his corpse still stared at me with an icy glare, I looked around, the people who had been caught in his sick illusion were back to normal, and quite thankful for it too, I saw Aerie with her uncle near the tent entrance, I slowly walked up to them, her uncle shook my hand.

Quayle – “I thank thee Kano, I was almost sure that nobody would end that madmans illusion, but you have done what I thought impossible”

Aerie – “As a reward I shall offer you my services Kano, I shall be happy to adventure with you and repay the debt I owe to you”

I didn’t need another in the party just yet, I thought I would play the caring type and let Aerie stay with her uncle at the circus.

Kano – “No need, you do not owe me anything, stay here with your uncle and keep the circus fun to see”

Aerie hugged me, I froze, I hate hugging

Aerie – “Thank you Kano, we shall see you again someday”

They walked outside; I turned and took one last look at the tent, before leaving. Outside I met the guard once more, he was clearly extatic…

Guard – “Citizen! You have resolved the situation! I thank thee on behalf of the Amnish guard and the citizens of Athkatla”

The crows that had gathered outside the circus tent gave a cheer; I hated all this attention, time to get out of here. With a nod I edged my way around the crowd and back towards my tavern, once inside I ran straight upstairs to Minsc’s room, Jahiera and Yoshimo were stood by his bed.

Yoshimo – “Kano, the healer says Minsc should be fine, he needs several days rest though”

I ushered Jahiera outside and spoke to her privately

Kano – “I need to find Imoen, we can’t wait days for Minsc to recover, we must leave now”

Jahiera – “Aye we must, I shall pay the healer to stay and take care of our friend, then we shall move on”

The city faded into view from the promenade center, high columns of smoke rose like a black fog from the many houses in the slum district, it was the district we had to travel through to reach anyone of authority, we pressed onwards, past statues and fountains in the promenade, there was a strong military presence here, mainly because the promenade was a large economical benefit to the city. We decided to pass though the slums quickly, wandering through the crowds of chattering and coughing poor people made us cringe in disgust, many of them stare as we walked past, wandering what such people were doing in the arse end of the city.

Through the hail of homeless a warm tavern appeared, quite a busy place, none of the usual skags were entering the place, as if they were for the most part thrown straight back out. We made our way towards the door, but before we could get five paces a small boy with a small brown cap dressed in rags jumped in our path, swinging his arms wildy…

Boy – “M’lord! Me master be wantin te speak te ye, he knows of the young lass that was taken by the wizards”

I glanced around; nobody was visibly interested in the boy’s actions, so I couldn’t tell who this person wishing to see me was.

Kano – “Take me to this person”

We darted around huts and small houses alike, through cobbled streets and dank alleyways, the conditions these people were living in simply amazed me, and with no guard presence, muggings and murders were commonplace around the appalling part of the grand city. We at last came to a small door in a large brick wall; the boy walked up to the door, looking down one way of the alley then the other, he gave it a firm kick in the bottom right, we heard a loud clunking noise, then several locks being removed until a yellowish hooded man moved the door aside slightly to look down at the boy. Seeing the boy fine, and accompanied by ourselves, spurred the man into an almost desperate task of getting us inside the house…

Man – “COO! Come inside! Tis not safe on the streets at the moment sure as a dwarf be short M’lord”

We entered the house, it was clear that these people were into some bad business, not mostly because of the way they acted, but because of the sheer luxury of their dwelling, the place was a palace considering the state of the other properties in the area, the man had rugs, vases, nice wooden furnature, the works.

Man – “Well, ill be telling ye, ye cant be too sure when there’s be muggers around that they wont jump ye and steal all yer belongings!”

Kano – “Enough of this, you lead us to a remote part of the slums with promise of news regarding Imoen, I want answers now, or things are about to get nasty”

Man – “Eye ill be doin that as quick as ye blink, yer lass Imoen was taken by the cowled wizards aye? We can be helping ye get the fair girl back from their clutches we can!”

Kano – “Who is we?”

Man – “I cant tell ye, but I be telling ye this, fer a price, not ONLY will they aid in the rescue of yer girl, but they can also capture the mage shes with too!”

Kano – “I have no interest in capturing Irenicus, I want to tear his body apart”

Man – “AYE! And what BETTER way te do that, when hes banged up where naebody can find him, an totally defenceless!”

Kano – “How much is it going to cost to gain the help of these people”

Man – “Now let me be telling ye, the cowled wizards are not a group te be crossed, me contacts need te know that it’s gone be worth their while, so, fer a modest 20,000 gold pieces, well do what ye ask of us!”

Kano – “That’s an outrageous price, but in these circumstances, and taking into account the obvious…type of group you will most likely be helping me with, I have no choice but to accept, I shall gather the funding, and when I do, be ready”

Man – “COO! I sure be sendin word te me superiors that ye accepted the offer! We will be ready sure as a rich man looses his fortune in the slums district!”

Kano – “Your name?”

Man – “Me name be Gaelan Bale M’lord!, if ye ever seek me, look out for little scampers here! He be wanderin the streets…um….workin fer me!”

Kano – “Very well”

The door slammed shut behind me, and a flurry of bangs ensued as the several hundred locks to secure the door were used. The deal was done and we have a goal, although it is a distant one, our new “friend” has assured us passage to Imoen can be bought, and although I am sure the final tally will be more than gold, any help is welcome, reaching Imoen will almost certainly enable us to find Irenicus also, and to answers LONG overdue. We turned back and headed for the tavern we saw a while back, I felt like a mushroom dealer lurking around in back alleys, time for a warmer atmosphere. We opened the door of the tavern and stepped inside, rubbing my arms to warm them up I glanced around, until my face was almost nose to nose with a rowdy man, I almost jumped backwards he startled me that much, the man roared with laughter in my face…

Man – “HAHAHAHAHAHA, look at deese friggin idiots Jack!”

Perhaps this place isn’t as warm as first perceived…