10 Nightal, Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)
Well, I don't know about you, but I'm bored," Osco said after having paced around the warm study a number of times. "If you'd spent last night fighting an archmage and corrupt Watchmen, then fleeing through the sewers before coming here, you'd be tired too, little man," Meloon mumbled as he lay before the fire.
Osco wandered past the large fighter and bent down to whisper in Vharem's ear. "Hey, V, want to explore this place with me? There's some interesting stuff here-and I'm not talking about the wine cellars, though those were a good find.".
"I don't steal from friends," Vharem said, opening only one eye. "They know where to find you."
"You used to be more fun, V," Osco said. "There were a few locks I wanted you to help me with."
Renaer sleepily rolled over on his couch and faced Osco. "If it's any of the doors in the tower, I've their only keys-and they're all magically locked besides. There's things up there you shouldn't disturb, Osco. Things I know to leave well enough alone."
Osco sulked as he walked to the table and burled his frustrations beneath a flurry of eating, consuming what remained of the large ham and the bread. In between bites, he mumbled, "Just because I wasn't up all night doesn't make lying around all day dull as dwarves."
Vajra, who had remained unconscious most of the day, rose slowly from the divan and said, "The hin speaks true. We must get to Blackstaff Tower. It has chosen a potential heir. I need to become Blackstaff before that path-and my mind-dissolves. I have need of Varad's books and counsel." With that, Vajra vanished.
The only sounds in the room were the crackles of fire and the snorting chuckles of a halfling with his mouth full. The others staggered up from dozing as Osco said, "Guess someone's disturbing things anyway, chief-and I doubt she's gone to the kitchens." With that, he dashed out of the room and cut left down the corridor.
Vharem asked, "Where'd she go?"
Renaer threw off his furs with a growl. "Varad's books are eithet here or in the tower!"
By the time the whole quartet roused themselves from beneath their furs, Osco's movement had lit up all the torches back down to the entry chamber. Renaer snapped "Stlaern!" as he pushed past a tapestry and through an open doorway mostly blocked by the wall-hanging. Vharem, Meloon, and Laraelra followed him into the stairwell that led up into a high tower. A blizzard howled outside the slim arrow-slit windows. Ice and snow pelted the tower.
They ignored the smaller landings and doors as they raced past two upper levels and found Osco at the third landing, waiting for them in front of a door.
"Well," Osco said. "Saer, 'I've got the only key to the tower rooms,' I can hear her rummaging around in there."
Renaer scowled at him and reached into his belt pouch to withdraw a silver key. Osco's eyes widened, as the key was a true work of art. Pure silver with some light runes around the bow end of it, the key's tines were table- and trap-cut emeralds of various sizes.
"Weird key," Osco muttered. "No wonder I couldn't pick the lock."
Renaer unlocked the door and opened it. The five of them entered a chamber that seemed larger than the tower in which it was housed. Renaer noted it was devoid of cobwebs and cold, unlike the lower rooms, and very orderly. Not a single book lay out on any of the three tables, nor were any stuffed haphazardly atop a shelf. The only things on the tables were rows of wooden rods, ivory wands, and other components laid out as if someone were planning to craft something.
In the center of the circular room lay a rune-inscribed circle painted in a variety of colors, twelve different runes in each of three successive circles. At the center of the circles, the floor was painted black. Stars glinted inside that void, and Vajra levitated cross-legged above it with a massive spellbook in her lap. She nodded at the group's entrance.
"How did you get up here, Vajra?" Renaer said. "Varad's tomes said none could enter this chamber without his key."
"I've been here before, youngling," she said, her voice and demeanor far older than she seemed. "The Shifter held few secrets the Blackstaff did not share. Now hush." Silence muffled the room. The only sounds heard now were Vajra's mutterings and the sound of her turning the vellum pages of the spellbook. After a short time, all but Laraelra withdrew from the room to sit on the steps outside the room.
"— really hate wizards, aye." Osco's voice returned as he stepped out of the room. "Was she this much fun to be around earlier too?"
"I liked her more when she needed to be carried," Vharem muttered.
"Could be worse," Meloon said. "If she's getting her head together, that means we might have a fighting chance against Ten-Rings and his fake Blackstaff. I say we keep helping her, and she'll be able to help us."
"I certainly hope so," Renaer said. "If she knows so much about Varadras, she probably knows how to use the portals. I just hope she doesn't use them alone and leave us stranded here another day."
"So where would we end up if we used them?" Osco asked.
Renaer sighed, thinking a moment. "The portal from my garden only leads here-to the receiving hall. There's three command words that take anyone standing on the mosaic back to Neverember Manor, Ordalth House, or a stone circle in the middle of the Pellamcopse north of the city. If the mosaic is used, it can't be used again for at least half a day until its magic restores itself."
"The Pellamcorpse?" Osco blurted. "Why would anyone visit that monster-infested place?"
"It wasn't always as it is now. In Varad's day and before, it was a pleasant little woods good for hunting game within a short walk from the Northgate. The Spellplague corrupted it. I've only read about that link, never used it. Varad's book talks about the arrival point being a place of worship older than the earliest settlements of Waterdeep. I think he tapped into older magic there to make this portal network of his stable."
"Um, are we supposed to know what and where Ordalth House is?" Meloon asked.
"It's a marble four-story grandhouse in Castle Ward, close to Diloontier's amp; Sons Apothecary."
"You forget," Vharem said, "not all of us study history, the names of buildings, or wander every street and alley in the city."
Renaer smiled and nodded. "Fair enough. We'll go to Ordalth House and Osco can get us into the Warrens from there. Then we'll get as close as we can to Blackstaff Tower without being detected and hope the gods are with us as we dash to the tower. I hope Vajra's presence will get us through its gates."
"Lots of hopes in that plan," Osco said. "Trust in us, not the gods, Ren. We can be counted on more often."
"Tymora'U help us," Meloon said.
"You rely on luck a lot, big guy?" Osco asked.
"I'm still striding," Meloon replied with a wink.
"Well," Vharem interrupted, "I hope that luck's with us, as milady wizard and our friendly sewer-sorceress are done with whatever they were doing in there."
The door thundered and all four heard both women cry out. Meloon shoved the door open and Renaer stepped to the side, his daggers at the ready. Inside the room, a column of green energy roared, Vajra hovering at its center. Lightning crackled off of her, and she spasmed with each pulse leaving her hands or feet. The magic circles above which she hovered absorbed some of the magic, but random bolts arced across the room.
Osco yelled, "Down!" and shoved at Vharem's knees, knocking him out of the path of a blast heading out the door. The halfling looked at Vajra, then yelled to Vharem, "I agree with you-I liked her better unconscious too!"