Post 19

Hello duckies,

Congratulations on making it through another week! I am so proud of you, my darlings! Keep fighting the good fight.

I am filled with a terrifying kind of hope today…my lovely neighbors have offered to play a DnD game with me! Delightful. So far, we have Sunflower, the murderous rogue, Brassafras the Magnificent, and a Yuan-ti oil/milk salesman. I’ve written a couple intro stories and the backgrounds for my new victims. Let the game begin! Please find one of the intro stories below…

You’re bored. The traveling human male in front of you is terrible at pool and going to lose badly and blissfully ignorant of the fact. You lean back more comfortably on your stool, resting your back against the bar and draping your hand languidly toward one of the other patrons, gently separating him from his wallet without him noticing. Too easy. You slip the extra cash into your belt pouch and sigh, seeing the human boy lining up yet another stupid shot. He misses and you smile, with that extra little thrill you get from taking other people’s money.

“Good try,” you say, smiling at the boy and chuckling to yourself as he tries to talk you into another game and avoid paying up. You slip off the stool to drape yourself around him, flirtatiously. “No, no,” you say, patting him comfortingly. “I just can’t make another game, poppet. You understand, right?” He doesn’t even feel you slip his purse out his pick-proof pocket as he’s staring into your lavender eyes. You snort in contempt to yourself as you watch him get tongue-tied. Boy-children are all the same. You step away and flip your hair a little, just to make sure he’s paying attention to you and not to the fact that he’s now considerably poorer. And you have places to be.

The bar is crowded tonight and it’s easy to slip through the people, towards the back door you know should be there. Every self-respecting bar has one. And sure enough, you find it and ease yourself into the black alleyway behind the best bar in Waterdeep.

“Just killing time to make me wait?” asks a voice from behind you. You whirl, surprised, ready to take care of the potential threat, but then relax. It’s your client.

“Surely you didn’t wait too long,” you respond, sheathing your dagger and cocking your weight to one side, insolently. “Besides, I’m worth waiting for.”

A chuckle. “So I hear.”

You’ve worked with this client in the past, but you still don’t know much about him. He always shows up in the dark, finding you with eerie accuracy in your favorite haunts. But the jobs are good and he always pays on time. A good client, even if you can’t ever see his face…

“Come closer, Mister. I want to get a good look at you this time.” You try to make your voice inviting, but you are getting tired of this person getting the drop on you over and over again. It’s irritating for a woman who makes her living with your…particular…set of skills.

Another chuckle. “No. I’m fine as I am.”

You sigh. Whatever magic or disguise he’s using to thwart your keen eyes is still holding. All you can hear is his sand-paper rough voice, with just a hint of whine in it. “Keep your secrets then. As long as you pay, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“You’re too kind.”

You roll your eyes.

He moves toward you, reaching into his robes and pressing a piece of paper into your hands. You unroll what looks like a map scroll. It’s the Skyfire Wastes. You frown. “What’s the deal?”

One black-gloved finger taps somewhere in the middle of the desert, drawing your attention to what could be ruins delicately sketched in faded ink. “We are interested in something that may be here.”

You give him a droll look. “I don’t do deliveries. Especially relic hunting at the ass-end of the universe.” You make as if to roll it up again, but he stops you gently.

“No, Madam. We understand that an item of great interest to our organization has been discovered by the Harpers. We would like you to find out if that is true. And if it is…we would be delighted to offer you a finder’s fee appropriate to that discovery.”

You pause, intrigued. “What else?”

The black figure exhales, as if pleased and amused. “There are rumors that the Harpers have set up quite a, how shall I put this?, functional organization in that area. It would be in the interests of my organization if that functionality were to be decreased. And if the individuals with local knowledge, particularly of the artifact in question, were to be encouraged to bring their considerable talent to my organization instead, that would be extremely beneficial.”

“I don’t know your organization. How can I sell something I don’t know anything about?”

Another whisper of amusement. “Indeed. You have a reputation for being able to work around such obstacles.”

“Hmm.” You pause. A challenge, finally. Something interesting to do with your time.

“In fact,” he continues. “All you really need to do is identify individuals of interest with knowledge of the artifact or the artifact itself and notify me with this,” He hands you a slim necklace with a sigil stamped into the silver disk hanging from it, “and I will take care of the rest.”*Please see page 2 for a description of the trinket*

You pocket the necklace. “Payment? What are you offering for this?”

“One thousand platinum, a spell of your choosing cast by yours truly for your permanent use, two diamonds suitable for spell use, and an opportunity to contract with my…employers…permanently. If that’s something that interests you.”

What would you like to do?

a)      Accept the offer

b)      Refuse and stay in Waterdeep

c)       Other…tell me what you’re interested in