Hello, Everyone!
Thank you, @hhayweaver, for the answer on my last post! It made me smile! Thank you for your encouragement!
Last time, our heroes finally found out who had stolen Mary’s book and presented it as theirs. It was an old acquaintance of theirs, from all the way back in their first adventures – the fighter Jared Flay. He used to be quite the unpleasant guy but why would he do that to Mary?!
Well, let’s see…
The last Mary and her friends had seen of Jared, was when he'd left them in front of Myth Adofhaer, claiming that, from now on, he was going to work for the elves. How had he managed to get all the way to Belfast? And, more importantly, how had he been able to get his hands on Mary's journals and even copy them? The only times she hadn't had them on her was when they were safely tucked away in Bruno's home.
"Sooo," Aurum said when he came back from the next table where he’d spoken with the orc. "Turns out this Nymphadora is our ‘friend’ Jared's sister." The word 'friend' sounded like a cuss from the bard's lips and Mary remembered how tense his rivalry with Jared had been. "They're coming here again tonight, to drink and play cards. They've been doing that quite often in the last month. Gambled away a lot of money."
"Our money!" Bruno huffed out. He looked pointedly at Aurum, who, too, had just recently spent a lot of their collective money, but the bard didn't seem to get the hint.
"I managed to persuade Gruumsh--that's the big fellow's name--not to tell the Thieving Siblings that we've been looking for them," he said. "So we have a chance to surprise them."
The trio had a whole day until Jared and Nymphadora Flay would come to the tavern. They took their time finishing their breakfast and headed out to 'The Gallery' to get Flamingo's portrait and make sure it looked like Jared.
It did.
He'd grown out his hair a bit but 'his smug face', as Aurum called it, was the same.
They spent the rest of the afternoon sightseeing. Since the bard had spent a lot of time in Pamagos in his youth, he made sure to show them around and give them a proper tour of all the spots he'd had 'fun times' in. If they disregarded the context, the places were pretty nice in and out of themselves.
When they came back to 'The Salty Bitch', the windows were lit from the inside and through the half open door sounded the muffled voices of many people.
"Perhaps we shouldn't enter straight away," Mary said. "Jared might recognize us and that would make it harder to catch him. It would be better to get him without too much of a fuss."
Her friends agreed. They spread out around the tavern and Mary kept an open Message connection for them to be able to coordinate. She looked through a window and searched for their ex-companion. He wasn't there.
However, on Gruumsh' table there was a short-haired young woman who looked a lot like him. That must have been his sister.
"I’ll try and get her outside," Mary Messaged.
She cast her Minor Illusion and sent Jared's voice towards the woman, calling for her. She jumped and looked around, searching for the source of the sound.
While she was distracted, Mary sent another phantasm her way, this time stronger. If the spell was sucessful, Nymphadora--and only Nymphadora--would see her brother wave at her from the other end of the room and exit through the tavern's door.
The woman's eyes followed the intended motion. She excused herself and went after the phantasm. Mary lost sight of her after she went out, but if their plan worked properly, Aurum would meet her outside.
She moved to help him if he needed.
When she went around to the front door, there was Aurum standing threateningly over Nymphadora, with Bruno a little bit to the side.
"Did you find anything about Jared?" Mary said, coming closer.
The woman turned to her, pale-faced and wide-eyed, and behind her, Mary saw Aurum do a facepalm. Then, Nymphadora Flay ran.
"Way to mess things up, Mary!" Aurum said. "We told her that we have her brother!"
He reached out his hand and Mary saw the glint of something sharp. Suddenly, Nymphadora's limbs locked up and she fell on the ground, paralyzed.
They carried the stiff body of the woman towards a small yard between two buildings, and leaned her on a bench. Her face was strained in a shocked grimace, tears silently streaking down her sides.
The horrified surprise of the paralyzed duergar back in Meraket flashed before Mary's eyes.
"Release her, please," she told Aurum. "I'm sure she won't run again."
"Well, if she does, I'll hold her again," the bard said and snapped his fingers, letting go of the spell.
Nymphadora slumped on the bench and curled into a cowering ball.
"Please don't hurt me!" she whined.
Her eyes moved wildly between Mary, Bruno and Aurum.
"Look, we won't hurt you if you tell us where that piece of shit Jared is," Aurum said and leaned towards her.
She flinched at his movement and looked even more terrified.
"No, please, no!" she yelped. She was openly sobing now. "Don't hurt him either! He's the only family I have!"
Aurum stood up, suddenly taken aback. He looked at Mary and Bruno with confusion and spread his arms as if to show he didn’t mean any harm.
"I'm sorry," Mary said as she kneeled in front of Nymphadora. "Please don't take it the wrong way but we really need to find him. We won't do anything bad to him if it depends on us!"
"Yeah, if he gives us our money we'll just rough him up a bit and let him go," Bruno said.
"We won't rough him up a bit!" Mary glared at him. "We'll talk!"
"He… he isn't here," Nymphadora stuttered. "They came for him a couple of days ago. He owed them money and they had found out we'd happened upon some cash. He had to go pay them up or… I don't know what they threatened but it wasn't good. He left early this morning."
"Where to?" Aurum said.
"Ekoba."
So! Jared has escaped our justice (for now) but there might still be a chance to get back at him. Do you think we should go to Ekoba? It’s a dark and lawless place, as far as we know…
Until we find out more, I hope to see you in the next episode.
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)