Forgotten Realms Fan Fiction ❯ The Fateful Coin ❯ Chapter 3: A Bend in the Road ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 3:

A Bend in the Road

Thalen could not believe how Stupid he had been; trying to break into Arkios's

house. The house that no other thief in the city had dared to break into. How was he

supposed to know that the infernal bloody sorcerer kept Were-wolves as guards? Frell,

they looked human enough in the daytime when he had scoped out the place. Worse still,

he had been bitten. Thalen swore, loudly as he checked his bandages; they had bled

through. The four large puncture wounds made it difficult to walk; he had been bitten in

the process of escaping over the high guard wall. His best pair of thieving trousers was

ruined, and he could not sit down without wincing; he had already tried and nearly lost

his balance in the process. The whole night had gone into the chamber pot he thought as

he slowly limped his way back to the thieves' guild. One thing he did not have to worry

about however was being mistaken by his fellows as an easy mark. Due to the fact that

his clothing was specially made so as when a fellow thief used the ring given to him by

the guild quartermaster a spell was activated and his clothing would glow a soft blue that

only someone with the guild ring could see. He wondered to himself if all of the stuff he

had managed to escape with had been worth it. Some exquisite jewelry, a jeweled choker

in the shape of a dragon, that if his intuition was right was made out of Mithril and some

other metal he couldn't identify, some huge horribly gaudy ruby rings and a few other

tidbits he had managed to grab in his mad dash to escape. Then there was of course the

item that he gone to that thrice cursed sorcerers to get, the one that he hoped would catch

the guild master's attention; the figurine. At first glance, he had thought it to be made of

ivory, but upon closer inspection he discovered it was a giant carved claw of what

manner of beast he did not know; but whatever it had belonged to he was certain he didn't

want to meet it. it's weight heavy on his mind and in his pocket he took it out to look at it

again, and swore by the nine hells he'd heard of irony before but not like this, the figure

so delicately carved it looked alive was in the shape of an immense wolf. Bad enough

that he had been bitten by a were-wolf and his surname just happened to Nightshift, he

been bitten while stealing a wolf figure. He would never live this one down, his guild

mates would never let him forget it, and if word got out; even transferring to another city

would not help. He just prayed that his form of lycanthropy was curable, Sangeos the

guild's' healer and mage was an expert on rare ailments, poisons and the like. He finally

had reached his destination, the side entrance to the thieves' guild the one that only

injured members took. He knocked softly 3, 2, 1 and then the rapid 5 knock of an

emergency; the peep hole slid open and the gruff voice of Sangeos's guard asked,

“Whada want?” and Thalen replied, “I need the cure.” The guard asked the routine

question, “What ails you?” Thalen responded with the correct answer, “Many things ail

me this night, which only my mother's love can mend.” The guard unbarred and unlocked

the door, then let him in. As Thalen descended the steps to Sangeos's lab, he tried not to

think about what had happened to the novice thief who had said the wrong code phases,

failed and shuddered. Thalen really did not like coming to Sangeos when he was injured,

because the squat wizened old man had odd and often macabre fascination of horrific

injuries. Moreover, the old coot had away of prying out all the tiniest details of how one

was injured in all of their unpleasant glory. Which is usually why he kept several healing

potions on him and at least two antidotes encase he was exposed to any poisons. After

he'd been bitten he drank away three large potions and then both antidotes when he

discovered that the were-wolf must of had secondary venom filled fangs; none of which

had helped much as he was still weak and bleeding. He suffered through Sangeos's

administrations to his posterior, and recounted his story at the old man's prodding

inquires. Excitement spread all over Sangeos's face, “A were-wolf you say?” “Oh my I

can honestly say I am quite delighted, I've never had such a case before; read all about it

but never actually...” Twittered Sangeos, as he stood there face glowing and rubbing his

palms together in his excited manner. How lovely for me, Thalen thought to himself as

Sangeos's flitted about grabbing large dusty tomes and flipping though them, and then

dashing to grab spell components; all the while humming the latest tune that some

moronic bard had dubbed, “A Waltz Though The Roses.” He noted again with irony that

the term “a waltz though the roses” was a common thief's expression for an easy job.

Thalen just lay on the table on his side, gritted his teeth, and thought that this whole

fiasco would have been rather hilarious if it was not happening to him.

Several long and pain full hours later Sangeos announced he had reached a

diagnosis; just by looking at him Thalen knew it was bad. Sangeos was pale and sweaty,

gone was the fascinated delight the look had been replaced by one combined regret, pity,

and worry. Sangeos spoke in soft voice, “I'm terribly sorry son... there's no easy way to

say this; but your form of lycanthropy is rare and unfortunately irreversible.” "I can

neutralize the poison, and heal the bite; but you are permanently infected.” Thalen stared

off into the distance dazed, the rest of Sangeos's words were lost in a jumbled noisy blur

as he felt the rush of blood in his ears and passed out from the exertions of the night.

Thalen awoke somewhere very dark, damp and extremely uncomfortable. It smelled

of mold, rats and unwashed people. He instantly realized that he was in the guild's

dungeon where they must of put him until the could decide what should be done with

him, or at least until the moon waned. He stretched, groaned, and wished he had stayed

still. He was chained up with room to move, but found he was securely bolted to the floor

unlike the city prison where the morons chained you to the walls with your hands chained

behind you; which made the locks all that much easier to pick in Thalen's opinion. Not

that he had ever been in the city jail much, just once when had been dumb enough to get

drunk enough to pick a fight with a mean Half-Orc... He laughed as he remembered the

brawl it had started. A particularly surly dwarf had been griping all evening about the ale

when the Half-Orc's double axe split the table straight down the middle dousing the

dwarf with ale and knocking over the candle, which set his great beard, alight. Thalen

winced as it hurt to laugh, pinched himself, and reminded himself that this was not the

time for such things. He sat up excessively quickly, and his head swam in pain; his vision

was a red blur. Carefully he found the wall, and slid up to it so that his head and back

would have something to lean on. He slowly took stock of his situation, he was sore

everywhere, his wrists, and ankles were bruised, cut, and caked with dried blood. Then he

remembered, pain, fear, anger, a desire to escape, to run and kill... A dim memory of fur,

of fangs and of claws, of howling and of biting, and clawing himself trying to get free...

That explained his injuries as he thought about what to do next, he could try picking the

lock; the guards had stripped of nearly everything but a single hidden pick which Thalen

found in the tattered remains of his tunic. He examined the lock then attempted to pick it

and then cursed as the lock glowed brightly, blinding him, and magically cutting off the

tip of the lock pick. Seeing spots and realizing the lock was magically forged with not

just a key but enchanted so that it would keep him bound until the secret word was

spoken.

His lips were parched and he felt around for water and found none. He swore and

his lip cracked and began to bleed. He heard a noise, a voice, and footsteps as his cell

door creaked open he was once again blinded, this time by torch light. A voice said, “Can

you stand?” he recognized the voice as Krinost's; the head jailer he managed to croak

“Yes.” Krinost replied “Good, the night master wishes to speak with you.” And with that

Krinost produced an odd key put it in the lock and said “Sui-con-ki” or at least that's what

it sounded like to Thalen who was too groggy, sore, and just very glad that he was getting

out of this dank hole; to care very much.

Krinost led him up the dungeon steps to a room that contained a bath and clean

clothes. He was instructed to bathe, change, and then reminded not to tarry. Krinost

spoke, “I will return to escort you to the Night master.” He then turned, left the room and

closed the door. Thalen removed the shredded remains of his clothing and stepped into

the steaming hot bath. As there was no time to properly soak and relax, he just scrubbed

as much of the blood and dungeon filth off as possible. He got out, dried off, and

inspected the clothing on the room's only chair. He found a black soft silk shirt, pants, a

pair of quality leather boots, and various other items meant to wear under the pants and

shirt. He dressed with care, as he was still sore, as he was doing so a black silk purse fell

to the ground and clinked slightly. He picked it up opened it and found that it contained

the exact amount of coinage he had on him two nights ago when he went to see Sangeos.

He tied it to his belt, pulled on the boots, which were a nice fit, and stood up. There was a

knock at the door. Thalen went over to the door and opened it; it was Krinost.

Again, he followed Krinost, this time to a flight of steps he had never seen before.

Krinost spoke "You have to wear a blind fold until we reach the Night master.” Thalen

nodded, and put on the proffered blindfold. This whole thing made him nervous and he

cursed his stupidity and Arkios for the fifth time this evening. After what seemed like

forever and a day, they reached a stopping point. Krinost removed his blindfold. A door

loomed ominously ahead, and Krinost bade him to enter. He went to it and turned the

knob. As he stepped into a rather nice if Spartan room he noted that there were five men

standing around who were trying their best to look bored. A man approached and said,

“Yo de boss man, ain't here; he be in de next room so beat it.” Thalen realized that this

must be bodyguards for the Night master, said his thanks to the man, went to the other

door, and opened it. What a jerk he thought, that insignificant punk needs some manners.

He surveyed his new surroundings with some interest, while simply decorated it was

beautiful in its form and function. He saw a man sitting in a large armchair at a desk and

began to walk over to him. He paused, for he had spotted the two men hiding in the

shadows and he reached for his missing weapons. The man at the desk stood, laughing

and began to clap; “Bravo, Thalen Nightshift; you are the only one to have EVER spotted

them. Come,” he bade the men and they stepped out of their hiding spots. “Thalen, I want

to meet Dax, and Vashendar; my real bodyguards.” Thalen looked at them and realized with shock that the men were twin Tieflings, with horns and long twitching tails. One of

the twins spoke, "Tell uss Thalenss, how did youss sees usss?" it came out in a purr.

“Well, it was not easy, I didn't notice you until you moved your tails.” The twin one the

left gave the one on the right a dark look, “Sssee I's tell youss about that and doess youss

listens?” The other just rolled his eyes and grumbled. The Night master laughed, and then

dismissed them to their corners. The Night master spoke, “I trust you are well,

considering your condition.” “I am as well as anyonecould be when they

turned into a slavering beast once a month.” The Night master laughed, and said, “Let's

get down to business, as much as I like you and how good of a thief you are; I cannot

allow you to stay in my city.” Thalen frowned, and the Night master sighed and went on,

“No offense meant, but you must understand you have become a liability. Iwould rather

not have to kill you, so I have found something else to do with you.I once met a druid

named Lei'taiThrade, who was an incredible shifter. Hehad purposely infected himself

with lycanthropy and managed to control the changes; he could change whenever he

chose and was unaffected by a full moon. It is my suggestion that you go to him, he might

be able to help you. Thalen, I can't have you in the city so remember should you chose to

stay, I WILL have to remove you from its limits. Oh, and you may have the loot from

Arkios's house; you more than earned it. Also you will be most pleased to know that we

plan to deal with Arkios soon, he has become a pest, and if it's one thing I don't like it is

pests.You are dismissed.”

The Night master waved his hand, and just like that, his life as he knew it was over.

After leaving the Night master, he was met once again by Krinost who handed him

his weapons and his knapsack. He went and said his farewells to the few friends he had

and exited the thieves guild. Thalen headed to the fence's shop he needed cash if he was

going to have to skip town and selling the items from the botched job was the only way

for him to make any real amount of coin. The Night master was being generous, and

Thalen knew better than to test how far his generosity went. Therefore, he could not steal

so much as a copper from anyone lest he risk becoming an annoyance. Annoyances never

lived long in this city, so one had to watch their step. He reached the fence's shop and

went in, saw Benny and smiled. It was going to be a good haul, and Benny was still here.

He was not quite sure why the fence had the thieves call him "Uncle Benny" but it

worked and fooled the guards since the Benny's real name was something completely

different. He approached the counter and spoke the proper phrase, “All that glitters turns

into gold.” Benny nodded, and they walked into the back room together. Thalen thought

the pass phrase was lame but he could not change it, and he did not care much anymore,

since he would most likely never use it again anyway. Thalen began to take out the items

and put them on the room's large and only table. Benny began to look them over, and

after a while named their uses and how much he would give for the item. “The ruby rings

are very gaudy, but have powerful magic enchantments on them. Thisone will cast

fireballs at an enemy, while this one will bring down a column of heavenly fire.The

dragon necklace is most intriguing, I cannot tell you much about it except that it has

extremely powerful magic's upon it and that it is made of Mithril and sliver dragon

scales.” Thalen raised his eyebrows at this, for he was surprised... “The wolf figure is also

from a silver dragon, or rather a large silver dragon talon. It will summon a quite large

astral night wolf.” Thalen had known it would summon a wolf, but he had not known

what kind it would call. Night wolves were immense creatures, larger than both dire

wolves and worgs, he would never come across one before; and was quite thankful he

had not. Benny continued, “I'll give you one thousand for the rings and I am sorry but the

rest I don't really have a market for; and word is Arkios is hunting for the figurine and

necklace.” Thalen frowned, nodded, and sold the rings. It was not as bad as he had

expected, at least he had gotten something for the rings he thought as he put the items

back into his pack. He now had a little less than fifteen hundred gold pieces, and it was

high time to pick up supplies. He left Benny's and headed on down to the market square.

Even though it was late, the market was open, if one knew where to go. He made haste

and purchased the supplies he needed and then went to go get his weapons sharpened by

Sedir, the local blacksmith. He handed over "Silence" and "Whisper" his long daggers,

and drew out "Nightshade" his short sword. He then removed both of his boot knives, the

small daggers he had up each sleeve; and several throwing knives had hidden on him. He

waited while Sedir worked on his blades, and began to look around the shop. Thalen

spotted a brace of daggers that caught his eye and picked them up to examine them better.

Long and gracefully curved, like a scimitar; their handles arched downward and were

inlaid with jade. Thalen spun them in his hands to test their feel; he found them to be

perfectly balanced. He smiled he could use these. After carefully searching around the

shop he a new set of sheaths, ones that would fit his existing long daggers and the ones he

wanted to purchase. Sedir indicated to Thalen that he was finished. Thalen went over and

paid him for the sharpening. Thalen asked Sedir how much he wanted for the sheaths and

daggers. Sedir replied, “Them? They are a nice pair those, I won't take less than five

hundred gold for them and fifty for the sheaves.” Thalen sighed, it was more than he

wanted to spend but he handed over the gold anyway; he really would need those

daggers. Thalen left Sedir's shop and headed for the gates, it was time to get the hell out

of this city. He arrived at the city gates, exited them and set out to find the druid Lei'tai.