BBG: Chapter 41

I was awoken by the sound of my mystical alarm going off, followed by shuffling from outside my door. I had cast the Alarm Spell before going to bed, as well as slept in my armor, uncomfortable though it was, largely because I recalled the Wizard Tarnesh trying to assassinate the Canon Bhaalspawn at some point during their stay at the Friendly Arm Inn. As that hadn't happened before we turned in, I was fairly certain that Tarnesh was being more clever than he had been in Canon and decided to attack during the middle of the night. As the shuffling from outside of my door stopped, I grabbed my Adamantine Rapier from where it sat on the bedside table, pulling it under the covers and waiting for my chance to turn this would-be ambush back around on my attackers. As I did so, a soft click sounded out from the lock to my door, and I frowned from under the covers. Wizards couldn't pick locks like that. Tarnesh wasn't alone, it seemed.

As the door opened, that suspicion was borne out as the door opened and I caught a brief glimpse of the hallway outside the room. It was more than just Tarnesh out there. I spied around seven constructs as well. Two were made of Silver, cast in a single mold to resemble soldiers, headed for Mei and Imoen's room. Four were two-dimensional things of stained glass and razor edges, headed for Jaheira and Khalid's Room. The last was made of Electrum, and it was this one that was headed for me. Worse still, it was actually equipped like an adventurer, with a Thundering Adamantine Rapier of Mighty Criticals Plus Two, along with an Adamantine Dagger of Corrosive Burst Plus Two, a Cloak of Resistance Plus One, as well as a pair of Magical Cuffed Leather Boots, a pair of Magical Suede Gloves, a Magical Silk Sash, and a Magical Morion Helmet that I couldn't identify at a glance whilst pretending to be asleep. Effectively, the last construct was dressed and kitted out in a similar way to me.

I could tell that these constructs were a pair of Silver Golems, a Quartet of Stained Glass Golems, and a Nimblewright, respectively. That was a lot of money being put into this assassination. I would have to figure out a way to capture Tarnesh so we could interrogate him and figure out what exactly had changed. Speaking of Tarnesh, he was also far better equipped than what I had anticipated. He wore a set of Magical Navy Blue Robes that I couldn't Identify at a glance, along with an Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Two, a Ring of Protection Plus Two, a Cloak of Resistance Plus Two, a pair of Bracers of Armor Plus Six, and an Ironwood Quarterstaff of Spell-Storing Plus Two. He'd either hit the big time or found a patron. I suspected the latter, along with having a sneaking suspicion I knew who said patron was.

Beyond that, however, I didn't have time to do much else as Tarnesh finished giving his constructs commands, and the Nimblewright entered my room. I waited for the most opportune moment to strike as it crept inside, before throwing the covers off of me and at the Nimblewright and leaping out of the bed, drawing my Rapier and grabbing my shield as I did so. The Nimblewright shredded the thick, padded wool quilt with a flurry of strikes from its Rapier and dagger, but that gave me enough time to strike, taking the initiative as I did so. I struck out for the Nimblewright, thrusting for the torso. The thing's Construct Nature meant that though my thrust struck home, gouging a large chunk of Electrum out of the thing's shoulder, it failed to do more than any other hit. On a normal Opponent, a hit like that to such an area would disable the sword arm of said Opponent or, at the very least, severely wound them. Not so here.

As the Nimblewright struck back, its Rapier thundering back in reply, it was all I could do to parry the incoming attack. I wasn't fast enough to dodge it, unfortunately. Also, unfortunately, the off-hand strike from the Nimblewright's dagger cut a hissing line of caustic damage across my right thigh. I bit back a cry of pain as the Nimblewright glowed brightly with an inner light and sped up even further, lashing out again with its Rapier in a blow that punched into the meat of my left bicep. This time, I did cry out in pain, though I channeled that into an attack back at the thing, carving another chunk of Electrum off the thing's left ribs. That exposed some of the magical workings underneath, though I knew it would take more than that to unravel the binding keeping the Nimblewright together.

Unfortunately, I was forced to cast a spell of Duelist's Parry to avoid a riposte that would have struck through my eye with the Nimblewright's Rapier. It's dagger struck for the same spot, but missed my eye, instead cutting a hissing, bubbling line across the bridge of my nose. Thankfully, I managed to get my shield in the way of its next attack with its Rapier. My riposte was a combination of attacks. With spellsinging, I bellowed forth an ear-piercing scream in a metal screech that would have made any of the bands from back on Earth proud. The sonic damage worked more than the daze effect, the Nimblewright being a construct and all. I combed that with a low cut that carved a chunk of Electrum out of the Nimblewright's leg. That, combined with the scream, managed to weaken the structure of the Nimblewright enough to topple it to the floor with a crash.

As it fell, it struck me with its other leg, hitting me in the ribs in a blow that felt like I'd been hit with a weaponized gauntlet strike. I fell to one knee, on my last legs. Fortunately, the Nimblewright was now immobilized and also on its last legs. With a grin, I pulled my hand crossbow, backed away, and fired. The first bolt rebounded off its chest to no effect. In response, it threw its dagger at me, but from its position on the floor, the Nimblewright couldn't really get a good angle, nor was the dagger balanced for throwing. It thudded into the wall inches to the right of my head. My next bolt, however, didn't miss, striking into the face of the Nimblewright and killing it. There was a glow of light as the binding keeping the Water Elemental bound into the Electrum Shell failed, and suddenly, I found myself face to face with a sentient wave, the Large Water Elemental, which had previously been bound into the Nimblewright.

It regarded me curiously, and I found myself suddenly wishing I spoke Aquan. Of course, I could try Jannti, but there was no guarantee that the Elemental Spoke the Language of Geniekind, even though it was one spoken on the Elemental Plane of Water by the Marids. Fortunately, it seemed that I wasn't the target of the Elemental's Ire, as it turned from me and surged out into the Hallway, headed for Mei and Imoen's Room, where Tarnesh had gone in after the Silver Golems. The Sounds of Battle could be heard echoing through the floor, and if Bentley hadn't called the Flaming Fist by now, I'd eat my boots. Instead, I focused on healing my wounds, casting a pair of Cure Light Wounds spells to heal myself. Once that was done, I headed for Jaheira and Khalid's Room. My plan was simple, get reinforcements before taking on Tarnesh.

It turned out that Jaheira and Khalid had things well in hand here, thanks to the relative weakness of the Stained Glass Golems. They were cut up a decent amount, but as I entered and issued forth another metal screech via spellsinging the Spell of Ear-piercing Scream, my attack struck into the rear of one of the Stained Glass Golems, literally shattering it's arm off even as Jaheira smashed into it with her Darkwood Club and broke another part of it off. Khalid hit it with one more solid whack, and the whole thing shattered. The other three weren't in great shape to begin with, and as I cut out with my Rapier, I realized that it was Sonic Damage that was the key to destroying these things. They took damage from sonic attacks as if it were a grievous wound, Construct Anatomy or no. My Rapier thundered into another of the Stained Glass Golems and shattered its already weakened frame.

One of the remaining ones turned and charged me, Jaheira slamming her Club into its back as it did so, further weakening it. I took a rake from the thing's razored fingers as it closed, re-opening a fresh wound across the bridge of my nose with a knife-hand chop. Behind the thing, I heard Khalid cry out in pain as his opponent slashed open his thigh with a clawing strike of its edged hand. Thankfully, the second attack it threw his way faltered, scraping against his armor ineffectually. His riposte bashed into it, weakening it further. Speaking of Ripostes, my own cleaved the right arm off the Golem I was facing with a crackle of broken glass as Jaheira moved to capitalize, her Darkwood Club smashing down on the Thing's head. It shattered into pieces, and then there was one.

The last Stained Glass Golem didn't last long with all three of us attacking it. And, after another round of healing, we headed for Mei and Imoen's Room. What we found when we arrived was that Imoen had been downed, along with one of the Silver Golems. Mei, likewise, had been wounded, and the Water Elemental had been slain through sheer damage, the soaked through floorboards a testament to that. Mei was on her last legs, however, and Tarnesh looked only moderately wounded. As we entered, however, he turned with a sneer, raising his staff at the doorway and unleashing its stored spell. A lightning bolt arced out from his staff toward the doorway. I got out of the way of the spell entirely, throwing myself aside. Jaheira and Khalid were only partly successful in that, however. Both took damage from the bolt's passing, surges of incidental electricity scorching into them. Khalid went down, and Jaheira was wounded badly and on her last legs.

I picked myself up and hurled myself at Tarnesh, blade arcing at him, only for him to cast a spell of Dimension Door, escaping out of the way and into the Hallway. Mei struck the Silver Golem with the Thy-Dunag Blade, letting out a shouted battle cry as she did so and carving a chunk out of it. As Jaheira began to encant a spell in the druidic tongue that produced a flame in the palm of her hand, slapping Tarnesh with it and burning him, I charged the Silver Golem. With a shout, I thrust my blade through the back of the Golem, the razor-sharp Adamantine tip punching through its torso and out the front of it. It wavered for a moment before Mei struck it in the neck with the Thy-Dunag Blade, carving off its head with a flash of light and killing it.

As Jaheira tumbled behind the cover of the doorframe to avoid an acid arrow spell from Tarnesh, I nodded at Mei, who nodded back at me. Together, we advanced into the hall against Tarnesh. As we did so, Jaheira joined us, and there were shouts from downstairs, the Flaming Fist having finally arrived. Tarnesh let out a growl of frustration at that and reached into his belt pouch. As he did so, he eyed Mei with a gimlet glare.

"My masters will not be pleased that you weren't slain. Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped. Their plans cannot afford such a disruption at the moment. Until next time." Scowled Tarnesh.

Then, just as the first of the Flaming Fist Mercenary Guards arrived at the top of the stairs, Tarnesh spoke a command word in Chondathan, Rathrur, the Chondathan Word for Tavern. As he did so, there was a flash of light and Tarnesh disappeared, teleporting out of the area. In the meantime, the Flaming Fist took the opportunity to bear Imoen and Khalid downstairs to be seen to by their Lieutenant, a Paladin of Helm, while Jahiera, Mei, and I moved to stash the wealth of Silver, Stained Glass, Electrum, and Magic items in my room, which we locked behind us before heading downstairs to speak to the Flaming Fist's Lieutenant, a man named Lieutenant Jacobi and give our statement. We didn't want the Flaming Fist to confiscate the loot as evidence, now did we?

After all, we'd won it all fair and square. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. It turns out that Tarnesh has been rather more industrious this time around. He's actually hooked up with a bigger organization instead of acting like an independent and getting stomped. Now he has the training, resources, and backing to become a recurring villain for the Party. Unfortunately, without capturing him, Robar and Company have no clue about any of the details of Tarnesh's Masters. They suspect he's working for Sarevok and the Iron Throne, of course, but they don't know any of the details. Expect him to be a recurring villain going forward.

At any rate, the next chapter will include the talk with the Flaming Fist, along with a proper accounting of the loot. I'll also have a few more images and some character sheet updates out before then, as everyone leveled up from this.

Stay tuned. . .