BBG: Chapter 40

Immediately, I lashed out with my Adamantine Rapier for the closest Hobgoblin's back. My Rapier punged into and through the back of his neck, a foot of razor-sharp adamantine metal sticking out of his throat as my blade sunk in and through his neck. I withdrew my blade as the Hobgoblin dropped to the ground, dead. Next to me, Jaheira smashed her Darkwood Club into the back of another Hobgoblin's knee, dropping him to the ground where he was finished off by Khalid. Our sudden charge had taken the Hobgoblins by surprise, which allowed the pressure to slacken on Mei and Imoen. That was something they gladly took advantage of, with Mei nocking an arrow to her shortbow whose head suddenly lit aflame as she fired it at another Hobgoblin, searing into his throat with amazing precision. Meanwhile, Imoen began chanting in mystical syllables, casting a Spell of Magic Missile that struck another Hobgoblin with a pair of darts of mystic force, sending him crashing to the ground.

With more than half their number downed now, and flanked on two sides, the remaining Hobgoblins began to waver. Each Goblinoid tried to flee in a moment of every Hobgoblin for themselves. It was something that the leader of the small warrant should have acted to prevent, but nobody tried to rally the panicking Hobgoblins. Had we already slain the Leader? I wasn't sure, but I didn't really have time to find out. I cut out with my Rapier, downing another Hobgoblin, as Jaheira and Khalid took out another pair. Mei kept firing her shortbow, downing another, while Imoen pulled a dagger from her belt and lunged for a Hobgoblin's fleeing back, planting her dagger into the gaps between his leather chestpiece and pauldron. The remaining four managed to clear the melee, and I switched to my Hand Crossbow, firing at a fleeing Hobgoblin, bolt hitting his leg. He was finished off by Mei with her Bow. Jahiera and Khalid got two more with Bow and Sling. The last managed to escape, the Sole Survivor.

The battle finished, we turned to Mei and Imoen. I nodded at the pair of Bhaalspawn, even if neither of them knew that was what they were just yet, and in Imoen's case, wouldn't know for some time yet. They nodded back, Imoen in a more guarded manner than Mei, who smiled at me gratefully.

"Well met. You looked like you could use a hand." I offered.

"Thank you, we needed it." Beamed Mei.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" Questioned Imoen.

"I am Robar the Red, Chosen of Tymora." I introduced.

"I'm K-Khalid." Stammered Khalid.

"And I'm Jaheira. Is Gorion not with you? We were supposed to wait for him to bring you here." Questioned Jaheira.

"No. Gorion didn't make it." Responded Mei, sadly.

"Maybe we should talk inside." Insisted Imoen.

"That's a decent thought. However, first, we should loot these Hobgoblins." I pointed out.

"True. They were organized enough to form a warrant. They might have a few interesting items." Agreed Jaheira.

"The one you downed first was the one giving orders. You might want to check him first." Offered Mei.

"Yeah. That guy was clearly the Leader." Confirmed Imoen.

"T-that's a g-good point." Agreed Khalid.

"Very well, but once we're finished with this, we ought to talk inside." Acquiesced Jaheira.

I made my way over to the Leader I had downed. He wore a chain shirt of silvery mithril links, likely stolen from the corpse of some would-be bandit hunter. He also had a flamedance ring on him that I was pretty sure was a quest item, along with a star diopside gem worth one hundred Danter and another one hundred Danter in coin. Finally, the Hobgoblin Bandit Leader had a composite longbow with twenty fire arrows and an interesting silvered shortsword plus one of an odd make, tapering to a sharp point to better stab with. It was slightly heavier than you would expect for a shortsword of this size as well, though not enough to make it a non-viable weapon. Just enough to require a slight adjustment in handling. The words Thy-Dunag were written on the hilt so that they were visible even when the blade was sheathed.

It was once I had seen the writing on the hilt that I knew exactly what this blade was. The Thy-Dunag Blade was a magic shortsword from Icewind Dale Two. In universe, it had started life as a snub from the Shogun of Wa to a Daimyo centuries ago, the phrase Thy-Dunag meaning 'More Respect Than Is Due' in an obscure Wanese Dialect. It had fallen into Malarite Hands since, before being claimed by the Heroes of Targos around a century ago from a Malarite Cult that had occupied the Shaengarne Ford. I had no clue what happened to it in the intervening century, but clearly it hadn't stayed in heroic hands if a Hobgoblin Bandit Chief had it on him. Likely, the Heroes of Targos had sold it or given it away at some point and it had wound up being looted or stolen since then. Still, it was a very good weapon for a low-level adventuring band, which was what we currently were.

Aside from that, much of the equipment was boring and mundane. A few chain shirts, some studded leather, several ordinary longswords and longbows, normal arrows, and Horned Helmets. There were a few pieces of jewelry, largely Ziose-Studded Necklaces, Bloodstone Gems, and Moonstone Gems worth six hundred Danter in total, along with roughly twenty arrows of biting, five Potions of Cure Light Wounds, six scrolls for level one spells, and six-hundred-fifty Danter. On further inspection, the Scrolls were Sleep, Protection From Fire, Protection From Cold, Color Spray, Grease, and Burning Hands. All told, this little skirmish would wind up getting the group some three-thousand-seven-hundred-ten Danter in Loot. Split five ways, that netted everyone present some seven-hundred-forty-two Danter in loot, assuming we could sell it all for full price. It was far more likely we'd get maybe sixty percent of that from Bentley, which was roughly four-hundred-forty-five Danter per person.

At the same time, though, various people upgraded their equipment. Khalid took the Leader's Composite Longbow, while the Thy-Dunag Blade, Mithril Chain Shirt Plus One, and Darkwood Composite Longbow from the Kara-Turan Prize went to Mei, along with the Scroll of Burning Hands. Imoen upgraded her mundane leather armor for mundane studded leather armor, alongside getting the Adamantine Dagger Plus One from the Kara-Turan Prize. She also took the remaining scrolls. As we headed back inside, I made my way over to Bentley to sell all the loot, netting four-hundred-fifty Danter per person, slightly more than I had thought we would from Bentley, Mei and Jaheira grabbed a table while Imoen grabbed food and drinks from the Bar and Khalid returned Joia's Flamedance Ring to her. As soon as we had all managed to regroup with drinks in hand and a cheese and bread plate on the table, Jaheira spoke up.

"All right, tell me about what happened to Gorion." Demanded Jaheira.

"We'd left Candlekeep in the middle of the night. Gorion figured no one would think to follow us if we left then. That wasn't the case though." Began Mei.

"Yeah, I followed you, but I'm great like that." Smirked Imoen.

"Focus." Chided Jaheira.

"W-What happened on the r-road?" Queried Khalid.

"Isn't it obvious? The same thing that happened to me, most likely. You got attacked, didn't you?" I asked.

"We did. By two men and a woman. One Wizard in Yellow and Red Robes, a Bald Man in Razored Armor, and a Kozakuran Woman in Leather Armor with an odd Mirror Plate attachment." Nodded Mei.

"That figures. They didn't have an Ogre with them, though?" I questioned.

"No. I didn't see any ogres." Refuted Mei.

"Why?" Queried Imoen.

"Because it means one of two things." I huffed.

"Which are?" Asked Jaheira.

"I am c-curious to know as w-well." Added Khalid.

"They travel with an Ogre Warrior named Tazok. I killed him when they waylaid me, but they claimed they would just ressurect him later. This means that either they didn't wind up doing that, or they did that and sent him south to link up with their Puppet Bandit Army." I answered.

"Then just say that, drawing it out doesn't make you seem cool or mysterious." Scoffed Imoen.

"Imoen, you don't that sometimes." Pointed out Mei.

"When I do it, it is cool and mysterious." Insisted Imoen.

"Let's back up a moment. You believe the Bandit problem and the Iron Crisis to be related?" Questioned Jaheira.

"I do. Think about it. If the roads were safe, Iron could just be imported from Amn." I pointed out.

"It m-makes some amount of s-sense." Affirmed Khalid.

"But what does that have to do with the ones who attacked me and killed Gorion?" Queried Mei.

"And do you think the Gnoll Raids are also part of this?" Asked Imoen.

"In order, everything and no. The man who attacked us both is named Sarevok Anchev. He attacked with his minions, Semaj and Tomoko. All three of them are high-ranking members of the Iron Throne, a fairly new organization out of Sembia and Cormyr. The Iron Throne deals in coin and power and recently opened a branch in Baldur's Gate. It is my theory that the Iron Crisis and Bandit Problems are part of a power play on the part of the Iron Throne. I believe the Gnolls are unrelated and just taking advantage of the Chaos, though." I explained.

"How do you know this?" Questioned Jaheira.

"I've been all over. I know things. Plus, Tymora helps me with information." I shrugged.

"You really think you're the Chosen of Tymora?" Queried Imoen.

"I don't think it, I know it." I nodded.

"I-it's true. I wouldn't h-have believed it either, b-but he has the m-most insane l-luck I've ever s-seen." Vouched Khalid.

"He also has knowledge of things he had no way of knowing without divine assistance." Added Jaheira.

"Well, that's good enough for me. After all, with the chosen of a Goddess on our side, things are bound to swing our way." Beamed Mei.

She was so positive about that it was adorable. For a moment, I contemplated bursting her bubble by telling her about her Bhaalspawn Nature, but I just didn't have the heart to do it. She would learn in her own time eventually, my goal was to keep her alive so that she could get to that point. Instead, I took a swig from my Flagon of Calimshite Golden Sands Brew before popping a piece of Waterdhavian Bowshot Cheese into my mouth as the others continued to speak about their goals and where they should head now. Imoen didn't want to combine forces, apparently, I had made a suspicious first impression, though she made an exception for Jaheira and Khalid, since Gorion said they were friends of his. The argument lasted into the night as Mei tried talking around Imoen. Apparently, she had taken something of a shine to me.

In the end, no decision on what would happen going forward would be made before everyone decided to turn in for the day, as Imoen remained stubborn. Fortunately for me, something would wind up happening that night that would change Imoen's Mind. The first time around, there had been an assassination attempt on the Bhaalspawn by the Mage Tarnesh. He had attempted it alone the first time around, but things had apparently changed for this go around. In the middle of the night, I would wake to an attack on our fractured party by Tarnesh, though this time he had brought friends. Accordingly, it would be a much harder fight than I had expected this time around.

And I would wind up saving Imoen's life during the ensuing attack, finally getting her over her suspicion of me. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. In it, we see Robar, Jaheira, and Khalid meet up with Mei the Bhaalspawn and Imoen, who is also a Bhaalspawn, but no one knows that yet, per BG Two. There was a short skirmish, a bit of equipment upgrades, and some character interaction and plot advancement to boot. Now, an alternate version of Tarnesh's Assassination Attempt is going to take place, one where he isn't a dumbass attacking alone out in the open, but where he brought minions and attacks in the dead of night, like someone who's actually trying to win would.

At any rate, the next chapter will include that skirmish with Tarnesh and his assassins in the middle of the night. I'll have more images out after that chapter as well.

Stay tuned. . .