"I don't want the details," Grozier said impatiently. "Just come up with something suitably nasty that's certain to deal with everyone." The merchant was nodding then, a pleased look on his face. "Yes. If our nosy little mercenary lieutenant slips through Junce's ambush and still wants to track down his favorite dagger, we'll just let him. That should solve our problems just fine."
As usual, the Temple of Waukeen in Arrabar was bustling with activity when Vambran arrived. The building itself soared from the middle of a vast open lawn, a great rounded structure capped by a massive dome and surrounded by various towers that were all topped with sweeping, majestic spires, each one taller than the next and reaching skyward. All of their various surfaces were etched in gold inlay and precious gems, some of the stones large enough to glitter brightly even when viewed from several blocks away. No expense had ever been spared in the construction of the temple, and its expansion continued even then, as more and more space was needed to house the new priests who pledged their lives to the Merchant's Friend each day.
Vambran bypassed all of it with barely a glance, for he had seen it many times before, and truly, such a display of wealth did not impart the same impression upon him that it would most others. Still, he was surprised by the amount of new construction going up on the grounds. He gazed at the scaffolding where another wing was being built, the walls already halfway up and the skeletal ribs of the interior floors being put into place. Soon enough, the outer shell would be complete, and workers would plaster and paint those walls, embedding more gold and gems into the surface as they finished.
The lieutenant stepped inside the main entrance. In addition to the scores of worshippers who had come to pray for a boon before their day's business dealings, numerous priests moved through the spacious sanctuary, their robes, miters, and scarlet cloaks glittering with precious gems, gold, and even divine light, the result of magical orisons placed upon them. The effect was designed to bedazzle all who looked upon the holy men's and women's dress. More of the precious jewels and metals covered nearly every surface of the interior of the temple, the only exceptions being the broad arched openings that served as windows and doors, the tapestries that hung on the walls-though those were more often than not woven with thread-of-gold and had tiny gems stitched into their images like elaborate stained-glass windows-and any surfaces where adherents would need to walk. As a faith designed to pay homage to wealth, the temple presented the right message to its people.
Rather than moving into the main sanctuary, Vambran turned to move down a hall, heading deeper into the interior of the temple, up into some of the spires of the structure where many of the various offices were housed. Even as he walked, though, Vambran nodded in satisfaction that even on the day after a festival that ran long into the night-or even into the small hours of the morning, in some quarters-the devotion to the goddess of trade, coin, and wealth was strong.
Vambran passed beyond all of that and wound his way into the halls where the business of the church was handled, where the priests responsible for all the various financial activities worked. He sought the offices of his superior, Kovrim Lazelle, who was in charge of many of the business-related activities of the Sapphire Crescent. Vambran and Kovrim would spend the morning together going over the business details and financial documentation of the lieutenant's company's most recent excursion, to Aglarond and Sembia. Vambran was certain Kovrim already knew that Lady's Favor was in port. In fact, the older priest had most likely already ordered its cargo unloaded. Once he and Vambran went over the manifests together, the goods would be put up for sale in temple-owned shops and stalls throughout the city and in the bazaar. Vambran's visit promised to be filled with tedious but necessary paperwork, but he was looking forward to the day nonetheless. Uncle Kovrim was also family, the lieutenant's mother's brother.
The lieutenant climbed a circling staircase that spiraled just inside the main outer wall of one of the towers, rising a couple of levels and passing narrow, arched windows on occasion. When he reached a landing that let out into a large, open rotunda, he stepped off the stairs. There, the temple was airy and bright, exposed to the outside through numerous additional arched openings set high in the dome overhead. The indirect light of the morning sun shining through those windows was further enhanced as it reflected off the gold leaf of the ceiling. As was common in the architecture of Arrabar, a fountain bubbled in the middle of the rotunda, and all around the perimeter of the chamber, doorways led into offices.
Vambran turned to one side and passed through an arched opening, moving not into an office but out onto a bridge that spanned the distance between the tower he had ascended and a second one next to it. The walkway was not long, and the protective walls along either side of it not so high that Vambran couldn't see some of the city from the vantage point if he wished to, but it would require squeezing between the various clay pots that were set at regular intervals along the span and filled to overflowing with blossoming greenery. Instead, the lieutenant simply enjoyed the warming sun that shone down and moved on into the next tower.
Inside that second tower, Vambran made his way up another rounded flight of stairs and into a similar rotunda. From there, he was before the doorway that led into his uncle's office chambers. Sticking his head inside, Vambran could see that Kovrim Lazelle was not in, though the mess of parchments scattered across the desktop told the lieutenant that his uncle was around somewhere. He went inside, stepping past the desk and the shelves filled with scroll cases and wood-bound books and through another arched opening to a balcony beyond. A brightly colored bird, mostly greens and blues, was sitting atop a wooden stand. It cocked its head sideways and squawked once as the lieutenant appeared.
Vambran smiled and lifted a bit of hard bread out of a bowl.
"Hello, Mackey," he said, holding the nibble out for the creature, which was perhaps a foot tall.
"Hello," the bird mimicked.
Mackey eyed the bit of food and darted its head forward and snatched the bite out of the man's hand, eating it in a single swallow.
Vambran smiled and ruffled the gorgeous bird's head feathers gently, then turned toward the balcony. Trellises formed a see-through wall, set where the railing kept occupants from falling to the ground four stories below. Tendrils of climbing vines covered the wooden frames, dappling and diffusing the majority of the light. Still, there was a narrow opening between the trellises, and Vambran moved there and leaned forward on his forearms to have a gaze outward.
Kovrim's office faced west, toward the harbor, so at the moment the sun was on the opposite side of the tower, keeping the near side in shade. In the afternoon, when the day was at its hottest, the sun would normally shine directly onto the balcony and into the priest's office, making it stifling. The trellises were a necessary relief from the afternoon heat. Still, on that morning, like every morning, the view from such a vantage was wonderful. Vambran could see the open expanse of the lawns below, green and lush, with a number of priests and visitors strolling in small groups or alone. Others had found a shady spot, either on stone benches or on the grass itself, beneath any of a number of large shadowtops that grew throughout the property.
Out beyond the temple grounds was the city, sloping gently down toward the harbor, where Vambran could clearly see the piers jutting out from the quay and the various ships currently in port. He spotted Lady's Favor in the same spot where he'd left her the previous night and noted that she rode high in the water. Her cargo had indeed been unloaded and she was waiting for a new one. In fact, as Vambran squinted, he could see swarms of men just beginning to shift crates around so that cranes could hoist them off the pier and down into her holds. The lieutenant estimated that she would be departing before nightfall. He felt a small pang of regret that he would not be going with her.