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Lady Jillian |
I have kept a level and cool head in the most dangerous and seemingly hopeless situations you could possibly imagine, but the slandering of fair Lady Jillian was more than I could bear. Needless to say, with Minym’s superior martial skills, he easily evaded my attack and quickly punished me for my childish out burst. Once I had a little sense knocked into me and was able to question Minym regarding his offending insinuation, it became clear to me, that other than his appalling bad taste in his language, what he was telling me was the truth. I apologised to my old friend for my out burst, and gravely pondered the unfolding state of affairs.
As an old eastern trader once told me, "It was the last straw that finally broke the Camels back"; the camel this time, being my self denial, that a lady of Lady Jillian’s virtue and exquisite countenance could lower herself to be seen in the company of an evil and twisted demented creature like Thannazzar, let alone become romantically involved with him. The last straw was Minym’s observations, and the conversation he disclose to me that he had had with Lady Jillian just before we left Sarbreenar.
The two week journey by wagon to Procampur was calm and uneventful, which only gave me more time to ponder this incredulous situation. I had received reports from my many contacts, of a reputed plot by the Thayvian Ambassador to usurp control of our fair city, whilst at the same time, feigning actions to help our besieged city in its time of need. Others had warned me of his desire to court Lady Jillian, to add a more legitimate claim to his vile plot to seize the ancient thrown of Sarbreenar. As our journey progresses it became more and more obvious to me, that the vile Wizard must have used his evil shadow weave magic to bewitch the fair Lady Jillian, and it was now my sacred duty to do everything in my power to save her and Sarbreenar from his vile clutches.
Normally, I would have conducted negotiations on such a diplomatic mission, but I knew that with my distracted thoughts, I might hinder such negotiations. Hamlin, a more than able diplomat in his own right, would this time assume the roll of chief negotiator on our and Sarbreenar's behalf.
Things at first went well for us upon reaching Procampur. By early morning, we quickly arranged an appointment with Lord Rendeth through his aide Thorion Vance, who we tracked down whilst breakfasting in a local Tavern. He informed us the City’s leader would be happy to open negotiations towards renewing trade with Sarbreenar, though he did add that Lord Rendeth had strict rules concerning those he did business with. But although we pried him for more information, including a substantial bribe, he would not be more forth coming. The appointment was not till early evening, so we had time to explore the city.
Our interest had been aroused greatly over three pieces of information we had been able to gather whilst refreshing our self’s after our journey end in the same local Tavern.
It seemed the City held a great magical treasure in the form of a black Rose. This Rose could be freely contested for by anyone willing to try and do so. The Rose had the power to prevent whom ever it was freely given too, from being enchanted by any magical force that might prevent the recipient from believing what is told to them, by the person presenting them with the Rose.
I knew at once that I must win this Rose, and break the Evil spell that Thannazzar had cast over Jillian. As my feeling towards Lady Jillian have and always will be both noble and true; I had no qualms in using the magical item in the hope that it would break Thannazzar’s bewitchment. I would never take advantage of such a situation, and once the Thayvian Ambassador had been removed as a threat, would some how find it in my power to remove the Roses enchantment, so that the Fair Lady Jillian might once more be free chose, and to see for herself those that truly love her.
Others in my party, who will remain nameless, but true to form, were at first more interested in the money we could acquire from selling the Rose. We had already been offer some 6,000GP from a rich but forlornly love sick Merchant, who had already failed in his attempt to win the Rose for himself, but was willing to pay handsomely should we win it for him. But I had no doubt that once I was able to clearly state my reasons for keeping the Rose should we win it, they would see the wisdom in my words.
My
plan however didn’t run as smoothly as I had hoped. The second
piece of information that had stirred our interest was a flyer
we had been handed by a passing urchin. It proclaimed the start
at twelve noon of an auction of slaves. This disgusting practice
long since outlawed in any truly civilised nation, was something
for the moment we were not capable of stopping. This depressing
realisation should have been the end of the matter, except for
the list of slaves that were on offer. Both Zuke and Hamlin recognised
who many of these Slaves were by there description.
A quick tour of the holding pens soon confirmed their suspicions. The vast majority of these unfortunate souls were simple farming folk from Thyme that they knew well. Upon questioning, they explained how they were sold into slavery by a woman named Delilah Desarde, someone Zuke knew well and had trusted. This sudden realisation that he had been betrayed whilst believing she was an ally; the enslavement of the whole village of innocent farmers and their families enraged my Brother, too the point were he was prepared to release the slaves by force immediately. But thankfully, cooler heads were able to dissuade him from this direct and hazardous course of action. I had no doubt that we could succeed in freeing the slaves from their incarceration; but the chances of us successfully fleeing with them from the very heart of city with out many being killed in the attempt, would be fool hardy in the least. This not withstanding, there was also the matter of the Trade negotiations we had been sent to secure which were vital to Sarbreenar. A direct attack upon the commerce of one of its respected Merchants, would surly destroy any hope of success. Another means of freeing the Slaves would have to be found.
The simplest option open to us would be to by the Slaves ourselves at the auction, and all parties would be satisfied. The only problem to this solution was our lack of funds.
We managed to strike a deal with the proprietor of the Slave auctions, a most uncouth and disreputable Merchant by the name of Vulanti. He agreed to sell us all of the slaves if we would participate in a little auction scam. If we would bid in the auction of a batch of Bugbears he had up for sale, and manage to raise the price of them to over 10,000GP, he would sell us all of the slaves for what he reassured us was the rock bottom price of 6,000GP.
When I heard this, I was also sure I could here the rattle of Tymora’s dice in my head. This was the exact same amount we could sell the Black Rose for should we try and succeed in the task of winning it.
My heart was heavy with the thought that I had come so close to finding something that might break the bewitchment Thannazzar had cast over Jillian, only to have it snatch away from me.
At
this point, Minym came up with another proposal. The third piece
of information that had grabbed our attention was the gladiatorial
games that were to be held this day later in the afternoon. There
was a large cash prise for the winning team, reputedly to be over
7,000GP. If we entered and won, we would have enough gold to buy
the slaves, and keep the Rose.
Although this held the hope of me retaining the Rose and freeing the Slaves, I was reluctant to agree to this. Should we fail in the Gladiatorial combat, it was most likely we would all be dead, and once more the Trade negotiations would come to an end, another bloody end.
For the moment this was a moot point, as we as yet didn’t have the Black Rose to keep or Sell. We had just under Two hours till the slave auction, so we headed towards the cities main market place, were the Rose was reputed to reside.
It was easy to gain access for our attempt to win the Rose. It seemed that once the Rose is won and then given freely as a gift to its intended recipient, the Rose would return to its magical holding in Procampur once more; others might then attempt to contest for it once more. After giving our assurance that the Rose would be used within 10 days, and a bit of judicious haggling on Geroff’s part with the Merchant who made his livelihood from those wishing to try for the Rose, we entered the Black Roses magical holding chamber.
We had been informed that the test for those vying for the Rose was never the same from one person to the next; we had also been informed that some never lived through the attempt, yet this was supposedly a rare event. Undeterred we stepped through the entrance to face our fate.
We had entered a Small Pavilion in the main market, but now found ourselves in a large vaulted marble hall, its floor pattered in black and white tiles. We quickly guessed at its purpose. We hazard that this was some sought of game board, most likely chess, and that we would some how have to manoeuvre our way across the board to the other side, were we could see the Black Rose, held by a Marble statue
We also noted an inscription on the walls stating, "All is fair in Love and War, but here you must play by the rules."
There was nothing for it but for one of us to step onto the Board. Saying a silent prayer to Tymora, I took a hesitant step onto the White square where the White Queen would normally stand, if our guess as to this test was correct. Instantly appearing opposite me on the other side of the checker floor a Black Chess piece Queen appeared. It seems are assumption had been correct. The rest of the party quickly followed, stepping on a square in front of them, with a subsequent opposite chess piece appearing on the other side of the board. And so the game began.
After discerning this board’s rules with a little trial and error, and suffering some physical damage in the process the game progressed. Geroff, never one to play by the rules attempted to usurp the rules of the board and was severally punished by magical forces for his transgression. No one attempted such a move again. When one of us was taken by a black chess piece during our manoeuvring, we too suffered damage, but in the end three made it across safely. A wall of force that had been holding those of us back from the board once we had been eliminated, and a further wall of force the had been a barrier to the Rose its self, vanished.
The others all looked at me, and I stepped forward to claim the prise. The Statue surrendered the prize to my hand. My heart was elated but would I be able to keep the Rose to break Lady Jillian’s bewitchment, or would I still have to sell it should we succeed in the Gladiatorial games, but still not have enough funds with the prize winnings to buy the slaves.
After successfully winning the Rose, we returned to the Slave auctions, to put in motion the next phase of our plan.
The auction itself was a near disaster. At first we were able to inject our own bids on the sale of the Bugbears to keep the price rising towards the agreed upon figure of 10,000GP. But as the bids increased and more and more individual bidders dropped out before we had reached 10,00GP, I began to have my suspicions concerning the deal we had made with the Slave Merchant Vulanti.
Was Vulanti hoping we would always place in a higher bid to try and reach the magical 10,00GP mark, so that in the end we would be the ones left with the highest bid. It would not matter to him who won the bid, as long as it was paid. Should we end up being the highest bidder we would have to raise the funds, or by Procampur law, all we owned would be confiscated, and we ourselves could be sold into slavery. To put it mildly, this turn of events would put a serious kink in our trade negotiations for Sarbreenar and all hope of freeing the remaining slaves. We still had to raise the funds for these slaves, and as yet, we still had no idea how much this would be.
As it finally came down to one last bidder and ourselves, we reach the tantalising sum of 9,500GP; we had only to make one more bid (by this time according to the set laws of the auction, any raise had to be in increments of at least 500GP) the last bidder only had to out bid us one more time, and we could drop out.
But many of us in the party were astute judges of character, and after carefully studding our opponent we all came to the agonising conclusion, that he would go no higher than the 9,500GP he had already bid. We were forced to pull out, and with the sale of the Bugbears not reaching the agreed upon figure, we would have to now bid for all the remaining slaves in open auction.
We bid for all remaining slaves in one lot and at first thing appeared to be going well. It seems our swindling auction host had been lying about the bulk lot prise these slaves would normally cost, and soon it was once more whittled down to one bidder and ourselves, and we had only reached 3000GP!
But our Lady was having a little fun with me on this day, for it couldn’t have been a worst opponent. It was a Thayvian! Not only that, but the Thayvian Ambassador to Procampur.
Zuke wanted to turn him into a pile of ash on the spot, and I quickly had to half wrestling half plead with him not to wreck our plan; he relented to some verbal baiting. His timing couldn’t have been worse; just as we had placed our bid at 5000GP, and we judged the Thayvian Ambassador was unwilling to continue, our incensed Druid starts his name-calling. This only succeeded in angering the Ambassador, and who once took up the bidding.
No half measures towards wrestling this time, it was a full frontal assault upon my brother Ranger to keep his mouth shut. The Thayvian finally dropped out of the bidding at 7,500GP. A few heated words had cost us some 2,500GP!
When things had calmed down, Vulanti informed us we had till Eight o’clock that evening to settle the account. Even if we sold the Rose, we still didn’t have enough money. I myself couldn’t help saying a silent prayer to Tymora for he twists and turns in the fates of this day. For had the price of the slaves been 6,00GP or under, I would have been left with the heart wrenching choice of selling the Rose, or placing my comrades in mortal danger to raise additional funds we did not need. As it was, the Gladiatorial games awaited. I might still have to sell the Rose if the prize fund was not large enough, but there was still hope.
The games started at two in the afternoon, so after the auction we had plenty of time to sign up for the main team event. The rules of the arena were simple, anything goes; two teams enter, ether end of a large arena, and the last one standing, wins.
However, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. To be honest, I had little doubt that we could defeat any team of combatants sent against us; all day I had felt Tymora’s will surround every event or decision, and today lady luck was firmly on my side. This did not mean the contest might not be without fatalities, but we all knew the risks, and new the cause we would be fighting for was worth it.
I felt our only real problem was the need for a large prize fund to secure the release of the slaves; one large enough so we could buy the slaves, and I could keep the Black Rose to dispel Lady Jillian’s bewitchment. We learnt that the more the crowed were entertained by the contest, the larger the fund. Here I couldn’t help smiling to myself once again. With myself and Hamlin plying our Bardic skills to wow the crowd, and with the martial and magical prowess that the members of our party could wield, I had no doubt that we could but on a show of awesome proportions. The one nagging doubt I had in the back of my mind was about our unknown opponents. Contesting teams were supposed to be pretty evenly match, and I knew how good we were. Was I being a little bit blasé in my certainty that we could win? But this was not a time to start second-guessing ourselves, and when the time arrived to make our entrance, ‘Team Ranger’ entered the arena to loud applause. We had entered first and awaited the first sight of our opponents and by Tymora’s loaded dice, how quickly certain confidence can turn to uncertainty.
The commentator introduced the team and the crowd went wild, "And here they are Lady’s and Gentlemen, boys and girls, Champions of Champions, five times winner of the Gladiatorial champions league; Masters of destruction, subjugator of hero’s and destroyers of all hope; I give you the reining champions, the one and only, ‘The Beholder Boys!’"
We all looked at each other a little wild eyed, as we waited the Beholder Boys entrance, not quite believing our ears, as the crowed continued there wild celebrations and began chanting our opponents name. The Arena began to reverberated with the chant of "Beholder Boys, Beholder Boys"
And here they came. The great eastern entrance gate swung open, and seven of the largest and meanest ogres, armed to the teeth, made their entrance and lined up before us. We all gave a sigh of relief that lasted no more than a few seconds, as the second part of their team made an entrance.
Seven, yes you read correctly, 7 Beholders floated into the Arena and took up positions one behind each Ogre. Now I have faced worst opponents in my life and survived by Tymora’s grace, but seven Ogre and seven Beholders; a little change in plans was in order if we weren’t to lose at least half our number in the contest.
Looking around at my comrades I gave them all a reassuring smile, keeping my tone light hearted, "Well Gentlemen, there not quite up to our standards don’t you know, but what say we give them a chance, and put on a show."
I got a few appreciative smiles for my troubles, before all hell let lose. As the battle commenced, we let lose the dogs of war (well in Zuke’s case, some summoned huge tigers), and proceeded to decimate our opponents ranks, all the while executing each strike and magical discharge with a display of such dazzling splendour and skill, that we soon had the crowd chanting our name, and the cries of "Team Ranger" were soon being screamed in adulation around the Arena.
At first I refrained from combat, showing my disdain for our opponents, while exalting the skills and virtues of my teammate. Hamlin and Rysok cast dazzling displays of spell craft that enthralled the crowed. Seth and Minym engaged the Ogres frontal assault, whilst Geroff shattered the Beholder ranks in the first few seconds; six of the Beholders exploded into fiery ash when struck by arrows from his powerful magical bow. Thankfully it transpired that only one of the Beholders were real, the other six being mere illusions. But then the fight began in earnest, as we engaged the Ogres, and the remaining Beholder.
At first the fight seemed almost even, though our performance in showmanship far out classed that of the Beholder boys, with the crowed captivated by our dazzling displays of skill and showmanship; but slowly, we asserted our dominance. There were a few close calls for us all, Geroff’s being the worst as he became entangled with seemingly no chance of escape in one of the Ogres nets, and was subsequently severally wounded. But breaking free at last, I was able to teleport to his assistance flanking the creature and distracting it; from that point on, it was more a case of trying hard not to kill our remaining opponents, so we could entertain the crowd and increase our prize fund, than any serious fears that we might be beaten.
In the end, I assisted Hamlin as he gave one last rousing performance to end the contest. Now in the past I have much contested my brother Ranger as to who could out perform the other; but on this day, Hamlin Piper put on such an overwhelming magnificent display of unimaginable proportions, that not only were the crowd utterly spellbound by his miraculous skill, I too had to acknowledge that I still had much to learn from this maestro before I could judge myself his equal…. But one day…soon.
The match was over, with all agreeing they had never seen the like before. Our prize fund was a record for the games, and with the addition of the winnings from a little side bet we had made, we were only a few hundred short of the 7,500GP we needed. The selling of a few well-crafted but mundane items easily gave use the required sum. In triumph we marched though the streets of Procampur and secured the freedom of the Slaves.
Now once Hamlin, Rysok and I had made ourselves presentable we proceed to the city Hall and our meeting with Lord Rendeth, to try and secure the Trade agreement that had been the main purpose behind our mission. The rest of the party remained at the slave pens to reassure the freed salves and too prepare them for their long journey home.
The audience went well with the cities ruler, and after explaining the benefits he and his city would gain through a renewal of old ties he readily agreed to the terms, but with one small condition.
We had been briefed before leaving on our mission, that Rendeth would only do business with those he deemed intelligent enough to be worthy of his time. We fully understood the meaning of this little piece of information when the Lord would only agree to a final signing of the trade agreement, only if we could solve three out of four riddles he would set for us.
There was nothing for us to do but accept, though I did look at him suspiciously, wondering if he showed any signs of Gnomish mixed blood. We need not have been worried, the riddles proved easy for us to solve; and though he ruled we failed the second, I still to this day disagree. As it was we past the test easily, and trade was once more secured between Sarbreenar and Procampur.
We had the Trade charter; we had freed the Slaves; and I held in my possession a possible cure to Lady Jillian’s bewitchment at the hands of Thannazzar; not to mention ‘Team Ranger’ being acclaimed the greatest Gladiatorial team ever seen in Procampur. The mission was completed success!
I should have heard those dice rolling a mile away.
Elated with our success we returned to our comrades. We were close to the Slave pens, paying little heed to those around us, when, as if by magic, the crowds parted before us..
Some
hundred feet ahead of us stood the vile figure of Delilah Desarde.
But even more menacing were the two Giant Yuan-Ti by her side.
With insane laughter, she cried out our doom, "Prepare to meet
thy death."
Well, not prepared to give her the satisfaction, we prepared to foil her wishes. Or comrades who were only a stones throw away themselves, soon came to our assistance; and against the New Champion Gladiators of Procampur, they didn’t stand a chance. In less than a minute all three lay dead at our feet; the slaves had been avenged, and ‘Team Rangers’ reputation with the crowed increased even more.
Wasting no more time, we left the City before some new Thayvian plot arose to try and foil our success. Once outside the city gates, Rysok and I split from the rest of the Party. While the others would escort the freed Villages safely back to Thyme, Rysok and I would return immediately to Sarbreenar by teleport, to secure the safe delivery of the new Trade Agreement.
Vowing
to buy my friends and fellow Rangers the best meal and ale the
Elks can muster upon their safe return, I say my farewells. Patting
my vest pocket to check once again I still have the Rose and the
Trade agreement, I give Rysok nod, and we vanish from sight.
Sarbreenar calls; there are enemies still to be defeated and fair maidens to save.
Thar Nomis, Ranger of the Elvenblood River, Herald to the Temple of Tymora, and Dashing Young Bard about Town.
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