A Heist: CXX
Vaelle rubbed her eyes tenderly, jeez how long had she been asleep? She sat up looking around the room. Where Riu was normally she found no one. She moved from the bedroom to the bathroom and eventually the downstairs tavern. The sunlight outside was quite blinding, had she slept that long? Her head instantly surged with memories of the previous night. Her conversation with Herod and Adleth.. Their beliefs, and stories. It made her trust them more.
She struggled to get her eyes accustomed to the light. The clock read.. Huh.. nearly noon. The only person in the tavern at that moment was Andraste the elf. Who greeted her with a raised mug. She didn't know the woman very well, Andraste wasn't one of the ones who had rescued her.
"I'm guessing Herod woke you?" Andraste quizzed. Herod.. Her head flickered to the kind handsome warlock. She was thankful for last night, it was like in an instant her body no longer ached for Jeski, or even.. Holiver.
Vaelle frowned, what did the elf mean by that?
"WOOOO!" Soon realized she could hear the whoops of someone outside the manor. Ah, that was probably the noise that woke her up. Peering out the window of the front door she saw Riu, Herod, and Markos moving towards the tavern in the smallest of paces. They were gathered in a circle discussing something, only ever moving a few inches at a time. Markos.. She heard him screaming.. No.. crying, last night.
"I guess so.." She replied. Pursing her lip she looked down was she ready? "It's today right?" Her voice trailed off feeling the anxiety rise in her voice. No. no. Adleth told her, now wasn't the time to be anxious!
"Yes, it is."
"Well then.." Vaelle tried her best to not reveal her fear. She leaned against the wall of the tavern reaching out to her shield and spear- er- Markos's shield and spear. The shield was a bright silver metal with black faded cloth wrapped around every part of its surface. Obviously elven with odd archaic runes scribed into its interior as well as its exterior. The spear on the other hand seemed simple, identical to the ones issued to the guard, other than its cloth-wrapped handle. She decided against questioning why he had a guard's spear.
"The fuck are you- oh for fucks sake-" Adleth kicked in the door of the manor. She was turned around staring at Herod and the bunch behind her. Vaelle spotted Vestus carrying a large wooden keg marked with a circular black insignia. Tiny letters surrounded that; BLACK MANE BREWERY. Adleth walked in with Vestus and Alekzandr in tow. She grinned seeing the elf again.
"Nice watching," Vestus said sternly at Andraste. He did not sound sarcastic, actually pretty appreciative. Vaelle started to work it out in her head, so they had gone to fetch the final keys all at once to not draw suspicion.. That worked, especially after the scrying attempt. "Here we are.. One Keg of the finest.. Toil.. brewing.. Of.. Someone, remind me what it is again?" The large goliath started snapping his fingers like he wanted to recall the riddle but couldn't.
"Brewmasters toil at work or something it- it's the key." Andraste snapped quickly. Eventually, Herod and his bunch finally stepped into the building. He gave her a grin. Vaelle stuffed a loaf of toast down her throat nearly choking on it.
"Hey Chipmunk gather round." Herod joked. She tried to avoid spitting the food out. That was mean! "Everyone.. We've got it." He held up a large wrapped rectangular object. Hard to believe it was a thousand gold pieces..
"How did you afford it?" Vaelle gasped, she'd remembered the party pushing away the mercenary work which apparently got pawned off on Elnaril. All eyes turned to Riu who was smiling softly.
"She's literally Ms.Moneybags." Adleth scoffed, ah.. So they bullied Riu into paying for it from her family.. Wait- that's right! She's nobility, that was an option this whole time!
"Shut up!" Riu chirped, but even she laughed a little bit. "Are we all ready? Like seriously can we just go or?" She took a mental note; they had the brew, they had the bar, but the keys were a set of three.. Which meant the hand..
"Yup." Markos exclaimed excitedly. He reached behind the counter moving some stuff around until he produced a jar of salt. Inside it was a cloth wrapped.. Thing. Her heart sunk, she wanted to avoid puking and continued to advert her eyes. The.. prostitute she had escorted in.. had he..? She felt slightly sick. Her head started to bounce, how was this different from the cult?
Alongside, the trident normally strapped to Markos's back was a cloth enwrapped pole of some kind it look cylindrical but very large and wide. "Oh, Vaelle!" He rushed over, she noticed in the corner of her eye Riu seemed distant moving in a wide arc out of the way for Markos. She looked uncomfortable. "Here." He reached over his back pulling free the cloth-covered package. "While I was at steam and steel.. I picked up something I had commissioned for you." Commissioned for her? She felt at a loss for words what.. Was he even talking about?
"I... Thank you, what is it?" She breathed hesitantly. Was trusting gifts from cultists a good idea? Her hand drifted to Tròcair for a second. Markos unwrapped the long object revealing dark black Damascus metal. She spotted a tall sharp silver blade embedded on the top leading down to a mix of wood and steel to make up a handle. Standing before her was a seven-foot-tall silver-tipped spear. Her arms trembled she reached out speechless gripping the handle, she admired its craftsmanship it had outer wooden sections for the handle with dark steel at its center the top of the spear cascaded outward with a large blade embedded with runes. She flipped it around on one side she spotted the symbol of Asmodeus except it was completely inverted a sign of disrespect.. On the other, was the odd branch-like symbol Markos held on a necklace she'd seen. The metal looked awfully familiar however beaten into it she saw odd angles and weird rifts in the pattern. "Its.. beautiful.." She whispered running her hands up and down its shaft.
"It's made from the daggers of the cult.." He mentioned as if reading her mind. She looked up at him speechless. The daggers of the very cult she'd left were now constituted into a spear? Flipping the weapon over and over in her hands, it felt perfectly balanced for her size with a beautiful design. "The tip is silvered meaning you can actually fight the demons.. I learned in my own travels.. Poetic irony is great." He spoke while staring at his own trident not as well made, but beautiful in its own way. Markos's effeminate face twisted like he was in pain his eyes turned murky for a moment before snapping back to their violet hue.
"I.. don't know what to say.. Thank you." Vaelle settled on a response. She reached out to give Markos a hug but he simply flinched away giving her a wary look. This weapon was her's.. It was time to end the cult with their own blades, reforged and beaten by heat and trial.. Steel once used for evil would now be wielded to extinguish that very evil. She grinned a little. 'I am not the same helpless girl Donna.' She cursed at her old friend despite the fact some part of her still missed the woman. It was like Adleth said, she was going to cut all of them out. Finally bringing her attention away she noticed a series of silhouettes moving outside the windows. "And who.. Are they exactly?" Markos spun around as did some others.
"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Yeah, that's cannon fodder." He chuckled. 'Huh?' Vaelle gave him a horrified expression.
"Whore cannon fodder?" Herod requested clarification. Vaelle felt even more mortified. "I like the sound of cannon fodder."
"Shall I be calling the Exitium house? Are we expecting the need for an army?" Vestus inquired. Vaelle peered through the window noticing five of the figures were dressed in studded leather armor held shields and various weapons. The last figure was dressed in heavy plate with a modified guards uniform. In their back pockets were distinct pam- oh fucking damnit. They were his cultists from around town.
"No." Andraste groaned "We don't need an army.. We already have Mert, and Renaer is meeting us there.."
"Knowing our luck we're gonna have like three groups of enemies show up to kill us," Herod remarked.
"... Fair." Adleth shrugged. Vaelle pulled up her shield onto her back tucking the spear behind her as well. "So do we get going?" Herod stepped forward flipping the large bar of adamantium in his grasp. His smirk was infections.
"Ladies and gentlemen.." Herod began, dusting off his shoulder. "Let's go pull off a Dragon Heist."
The stretch to the location took a shorter time than Vaelle expected. The grassy fields of the southern ward were bleached by the sun, she looked up at the ruined windmill they'd fought in just a little while ago. Where she had conquered her enemies, with her real friends' help. She racked her brain, so with the opera on the twentieth that meant today was conclusively the twenty-second. They had eightish days left until Founder's day.
The summer breeze was kind especially since she was dressed in a new black cloak and leather armor. Riu had been so kind to supply her with new clothes and now she felt like a new woman. Her black hair was still free around her shoulders with a black cloak and white cloth around her armor. She swallowed a nervous breath back, her eyes met the windmill cautiously. Vaelle spotted three distinct figures, two of which she vaguely recognized. Vestus had rightfully recommended to her to keep socializing to a minimum at the opera; she was a former cultist so she had no way of knowing how the Harpers would react to her. On the left was the large portly man of Mert. His hefty grin was on full display despite the blinding sun she could still fucking see it. Next to Mert was Renaer Neverember. Every eligible girl in Waterdeep knew his name, a loaded man with a heart of gold and a rush for adventure? Finally next to Renaer was a red-haired woman dressed as a traditional rogue.
"Hello!" Mert called when they reached him. Vaelle peered around the windmill it was beaten and covered in graffiti. "I see you could make it.. Don't worry about the guards I've already alerted the ones I trust."
"Good," Vestus replied. He was rubbing his hands on his back, Vaelle spotted a large great axe. Its blade shimmered with soft red energy, not a blood-red but more similar to the orangish-red glow from the forge. "We're going somewhere we don't fully know we should probably be careful. No one does anything stupid."
"Markos." Andraste added.
"I have one character trait and I've been allowed to do it twice. You can expect nothing." Markos decried. Vaelle wasn't sure what the heck that even meant.
"Character trait? The fuck do you mean?" Herod questioned.
"Markos.. You were friends with my son I don't think he would want you to get yourself killed.." Vestus put a hand on the cultist's shoulder though the half-elf had no reply. They moved into the windmill Alekzandr leading the way.
"The stone showed me a door.. I believe somewhere just around- ah here." Alekzandr wiped dust free from a corner of the downstairs pulling up a rather large wooden trap door. She shivered, the inside was suddenly cold. Dusty webs and crumbling pillars surrounded her.
"Well that wasn't so hard." Adleth chuckled. Underneath the trap door were a set of stairs that went down a few feet. At its bottom was an enormous double-sided adamantine door. Scrawled with runes, symbols, and letters. "Ah there's the ass fucker."
They descended the steps as a group, she kept glancing back noticing the six cultists were leading the tail looking at each other with terrified expressions. Ah.. To be a cultist she recalled; it was miserable.
"Can any of you read dwarvish?" Mert demanded the letters all around the twenty-foot doors were clearly dwarvish in nature. In fact, it looked rather similar to Alekzandr's language. Quite literally five hands flew up in the party heck even one of the cultists raised their hand.
"I can read literally all languages," Herod shared. With him, Markos, Alekzandr, Vestus, and Adleth all held the ability to read the door.
"The three keys bring them to me." Alekzandr translated the top line. Markos approached, setting the jar down he pulled out a leathery-looking hand and presented it to the entrance. God's.. He actually did cut the hand off someone.. The oddest bit of engineering emerged. The door's forward-facing handles reached out and snatched the key away pulling it into its depths.
Next was Vestus. He carried out a similar process with the keg of alcohol however this time the door simply siphoned away the booze before making a sound similar to a burp. She looked to Herod. He pushed his cloak aside, his windswept hair made him look like an action hero. He raised the red bar and the door reshaped itself; a hole was made roughly the size of the adamantine piece only a foot long and three or four inches tall.
*RRRECGERRRR* She cringed hearing an ear-piercing noise fill her head, metal ground against metal. Dust shook away and fell from its tops, rumbling the surroundings. Vaelle feared for a split second the vault would collapse the staircase. Gradually, however, the door opened revealing.. Her jaw dropped.
"Wow." Riu gasped. Vaelle was hit by a cold breeze blowing in from the chambers. The inside was made of ornate grey stone bricks. She caught little glittering bits of light in a long hall, which reminded her of the Gralhund temple. The room they entered had to be roughly seventy feet long. Its sides were roughly forty feet at their widest and thirty feet at their smallest.
The walls were covered in dwarvish runes and designs. It all felt so surreal. The floor was dark and dry, and the walls vast. At every corner, she saw a line of doors. On her left, she counted four sets of ten-foot-wide double doors. The room looked like a tavern hall! No.. a.. Temple! Maybe a mine? Her heart fluttered with its odd beauty. Tall cathedral ceilings with Dwarvish symbols and letters dotting the room. In its center, Vaelle's breath hitched. Staring up at three large ten by five foot stone pillars which were supporting crumbling stone bridges above them.. Every step inside echoed off the vault's walls like an ant in a mausoleum.
"Well, this is it.." Alekzandr trailed off, stepping into the vault.
"I cast Eldritch blast?" Herod chuckled. Markos and he had a bit of fun pointing at doors. They spread out in the room staring at doors only fit for giants. Vaelle reached up a hand knocking on the nearest door to the entrance. It replied with dull thuds. Never.. Did she think she would be here. Certainly not after taking Donna's hand into that.. Twisted hell pit.
"It's a wall." Adleth attested. The rogue elf repeated the action with another door fifteen feet away. Her red hair bristled against the entrance. 'She's pretty..' Vaelle found herself thinking, staring at Adleths black scarf. "So.. it's a puzzle? Of false walls and doors?"
"Seems that way," Alekzandr muttered he was running his hands across much of the architecture he seemed reminiscent over the dwarven structure. Like he knew something the others did not. Vaelle followed Adleth around the pair of them knocking on doors to detect sound on the other end she spotted Vestus, Alekzandr, and the others doing the same.
"This one." Markos piped up. He was at the end of the room pointing at an identical set of iron doors however when he banged on them the verbal echoing sound was obvious.
"Markos do I do it?" Herod was standing beside the cultist swirling his dusky Damascus blade. Teal runes ran along it, its fuller with green veins of magic like vines curled up the sword.
"Hold," Markos replied but he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
"While I admit your aptitude with magic is.. Tremendous." Alekzandr conceded. "I will recommend restraint when dealing with something like this.." Vestus stepped up and simply pushed the iron doors inward. It creaked open with little to no resistance. Inside was another hallway that went left but straight forward was an obvious set of stairs.
"Well then let-" Markos started but he was cut off by Alekzandr.
"Stop you fool!" Alekzandr grabbed Markos's cloak halting him from entering the room. "We have no idea if there are traps or anything. I caution restraint.." Markos stood up straight and waved his hand. Above him, a small orangish portal opened revealing a pink squid flying on white wings. Its turquoise eyes looked vacant and creepy. Vaelle felt a shiver go up her spine. Cerdest as Markos had called it before flew into the room an obvious reply to the idea of danger.
"See there's no-" The cultist stopped himself frowning. His eyes turned the same shade of turquoise. "Cerdest, says.. There's a depiction inside.." Markos was yanked forward but he grabbed the edges of the door. "Something inside.. It wants you to stare at it.. A mural of.. Something." He reubbed his temples, clearly in pain. From what she knew Markos was known only for the far realms.. A world of psychic torment. If he was uncomfortable then she didn't want to see this thing. "Herod do you remember that eldritch blast?" Herod looked suddenly very happy.
"Everyone.. Close your eyes.. Markos, you're saying that.. Things are to our right, right? Then let's just gun it for the stairs." Herod suggested. What was on their right? What was there that was trying to compel them to look?
"Right.. Everyone close your eyes. Just hold onto my shoulder.. Cerdest will guide us." The cultist yelped. Vaelle looked over her shoulder. Various individuals looked pretty unhappy with that suggestion of being led by the insane cultist.
"Fine." She was the first to step forth. Setting a hand on Markos's shoulder he flinched again but steadily nodded, his eyes turned that shade of turquoise again. "I trust you." Another hand set on hers.. And then another. They took a step forward, she felt something.. Pulling her to the right. Something wanting her to open her eyes. Her vision was filled with a blue filtered light. She saw the stairs, the room, and even the mural on the wall but the compulsion was soft.
She followed the squid creature up the stairs until it was obvious she couldnt be in the halls anymore. Vaelle pulled her hand back, there wasn't a reason to clutch onto Markos anymore. He had found another way to show them. "Wow.. I.. that's amazing." She exclaimed. Excitement was filling her. They were at the stairs, and vaelle grinned running up the steps. But it wasn't until she got to the top where the problem seemed to grow larger. Her vision was filled with a new issue. She arrived on a landing, overlooking the floor below, it was a small and short balcony. Met by a cavernous vacuum where there should have been a floor. Gaping over the massive abyss eighty feet in the air they were greeted by three crumbling bridges between them, and the other side.
"Ah.." Andraste sighed.
"We should've known it wouldn't be that fucking easy." Adleth chuckled.