"Perhaps,” Reyniss thought to himself, “Demogorgon merely wanted Reyniss to show him he was actually getting all he’d asked for.
"So Reyniss agreed. He gathered together a crew of tanar'ri and they left immediately. Reyniss set sail for Limbo, steering the craft along the River Styx and through the howling caverns of Pandemonium. He made his way across the Sea of Madness and through the Straits of Insanity, plunging headlong in the miasma of churning matter and energy in the plane of Limbo. Gathering some of the chaos-stuff that fills that plane as proof, he turned the craft around and sailed back toward the Abyss.
"Nothing attacked Demonwing. Demogorgon played no tricks and cast no betrayals. Reyniss arrived back in his own shipyards sooner than even he thought possible. His toothy tanar'ri smile was almost as broad as his pride-filled chest.
"When Reyniss disembarked, Prince Demogorgon waited for him, stony-faced. Reyniss expected his reward would come to him at any moment, and he leered at the Abyssal Lord in anticipation and greed.*You took me up on my wager,' Demogorgon said. 'Did you not expect treachery?'
"Reyniss, his mind still filled with the thoughts of his riches, replied, 'Oh, I thought about it, but then I realized you would never endanger the ship you wanted so badly just to get out of your obligation. And I was right!'
"Demogorgon spoke, his voice like iron against tone, “You were wrong. Oh, I took no action against your journey-that is true enough-but the fact that you believed I might not shows your utter stupidity. I lad thought to make you my personal lieutenant and chief builder, but anyone who so completely fails to romprehend the ways of the Abyss shouldn't be suffered to live. Of course I would have endangered the ship if I thought it might keep me from paying. However, when you accepted the wager, I knew I didn't have to.' And with that, Demogorgon strangled the fiendish life out of Reyniss with his own tendrils of rotting death."
Orrag remained silent for a moment. Vheod watched him closely, waiting for a reaction.
A smile came to the half-orc's dark lips like a snake rearing up from its coils. "An excellent tale, my friend. Demogorgon! The Abyss! A magical ship!" Orrag exclaimed. "Excellent." He downed the rest of his drink in a single gulp.
"Well then," Vheod said slowly, "I believe you agreed to listen to what I had to say."
"Yes, my friend," Orrag said, yellow teeth showing. "What is this all about?"
"First, I must ask a little more about you, Orrag. What is it that you do? I must know if you are the right man to whom to pose my questions."
Orrag's face showed an evil pride. He leaned back away from the table and looked around the tavern. The patrons were still few in number, and no one paid them any attention. He swooped in close, leaning across the table.
"Well," he began, "here in Tilverton, we have a group called the Rogues. They operate out of the ancient sewer system and take what they want from locals or travelers."
"Thieves." Vheod stated. "A guild," said Orrag. Vheod knew a little something about guilds. His thoughts raced back to his days among the Bloody Daggers.
"I, on the other hand," Orrag continued, "run a small group of… businessmen who live by their wits and procure what they require-while keeping out of the reach of the Rogues."
Vheod was hardly surprised. Orrag ran a gang of thieves that even the other local thieves didn't care for. How could Orrag help him? Why had Gyrison and Arach sent him here?
"So, Vheod, what am I supposed to do for you?" "Tm looking for someone," Vheod said quietly. "Two people, actually."
"Why should I know anything about that?" "Call it a hunch," Vheod said, standing. "Wait here." Vheod walked to the bar and asked for another ale. While the serving woman poured his drink into a wooden flagon, he asked her quietly, "Tell me what you can about Orrag." He added a moment later an unfamiliar, "Please."
"A thief and a murderer," she said quietly, looking over Vheod's shoulder at the half-orc. "What else is there to know?"
"I see," Vheod said. Those things he'd already guessed. "What I mean is, is there anything else he's known for?" "Anything else?" she replied, shaking her head. "Not that I know of. Isn't that enough?"
"I'm not sure," Vheod said, laying down a few coins he received as change from his previous purchase. Something about Orrag bothered him. The half-orc was more than just a thief. He took the ale back to the table and set it down in front of Orrag.
"So who are you looking for?" Orrag asked with a furrowed brow narrowing his eyes.
"Like I said: two people, a man and woman-they look similar enough to be related, probably siblings." Orrag grunted and worked his jaw. "And do I know them or something?"
Vheod ran his fingers through his long, snarled lair. "I think, somehow, you might." "Why?"
"Would you be someone people might come to, looking for information?"
"What sort of information?" Orrag grasped the flagon, but didn't drink.
The location of something, perhaps outside of own."
Orrag's silence worried Vheod. The cambion considered a few spells that might be appropriate should as questions provoke an attack from Orrag. Vheod had seen better attempts at deception-he was, after all, from the Abyss. He didn't have time to play Orrag's little games. He just needed the information. Finally the half-orc spoke, obviously choosing his words carefully. "I have a contact or two in the wilderness… among those who dwell in caves rather than cities."
"I think I understand," Vheod said. "So has anyone come to you recently? A brother and sister, perhaps?" "As a matter of fact, yes, storyteller," Orrag stated with a strange smile.
Vheod grasped at Orrag's words like a falling man to a ledge. "And what did you tell them? Where did they go?"
"So, you're interested too?" Orrag's smile broadened. "This is starting to make sense."
"What? Do you need payment?" Vheod's words were quick and harsh.
"Oh, not from you. I like you. I think I understand you."
Before Vheod could speak, Orrag continued. "I sent them to find the Crypt of Chare'en. Do you know about the crypt?" "Crypt?"
Crypt? Chare'en was dead? Of course not. "Yes," Orrag said, with a serpentine smile widening his fat cheeks. "These two youngsters came to me looking for directions to the crypt of the ancient wizard Chare'en." Orrag seemed to watch Vheod very closely as he spoke the last words. "So what did you tell them?"
"I told you, I've got some contacts up in the mountains. I knew where they needed to go. I sent them on their way."
"That was very kind of you," Vheod said, still careful.
"They were sent to me by my friend, Ferd," Orrag told him with an exhalation that Vheod thought was supposed to be a laugh. Vheod said nothing.
"Ferd sent them to me so that I could, ah, procure some of their wealth," Orrag said with a smile and a wave of his hand. "But?"
"But as it turns out, they sought information I had and they were willing to pay very well for it." He tool a draught from the flagon