by Jeff Wilcox
“I guarantee you that this is not the blade that wronged you, Lady Astra,” Kaiyr told the woman. “No blademaster would ever harm an innocent life.” He could have put a tone in his voice that questioned her innocence but decided against it.
Caineye stepped up. “He’s telling the truth, my lady. Had he fallen spiritually, his blade would be dark.”
Kaiyr raised an eyebrow at the man, surprised that he was so familiar with the esoteric lore of elven blademasters. Looking back at Astra, Kaiyr nodded. “As you can see, my soul yet remains pure. Please, I ask of you to lower your sword. Join me at my table and tell me of your troubles. Perhaps I might be of some assistance to you.”
Defeated, Astra blew a sigh and slid her rapier back into its scabbard. “All right, Kaiyr. I’ll believe you. For now.” She ran a hand through her long hair, pulling it back into a high ponytail and tying it off with a raspberry-red thong. “And thanks, but no thanks. I don’t want to involve you any more than I already have. Sorry. I’ll just be going now.”
Kaiyr released his grasp on his soulblade, and it disappeared into thin air, again with the same feeling that it had never been there at all, or that perhaps it was still there. “Lady Astra, please,” he entreated her. “If there is someone committing wrongs and making them seem the work of a blademaster, then it is a matter that concerns all blademasters, myself included.” He looked at the other two. “Master Caineye, Master Wild. I would be much obliged if you would allow me to pay for your meals. You came to my aid, though I am a stranger to you. Allow me to repay you in this small manner.”
Caineye nodded gravely. “Thank you, Master Kaiyr.” His use of the title was hesitant, but it earned him a respectful nod from the blademaster.
“Sure, I think I will,” Wild added, plopping straight down into the chair upon which he had been standing. Caineye, too, pulled out a chair, and Vinto sat down, tongue lolling, next to the human. Astra had not yet sat down, and Kaiyr moved around the table to seat her. She scowled at him but took the proffered seat.
As patrons returned to their seats and conversation began anew, though at a much quieter level than before, Kaiyr pulled out a gold coin and motioned to the innkeeper. “Please, order what you will. You, too, Lady Astra,” he said gently, mindful of the eyes, both Astra’s and Wild’s, that watched his every motion when he replaced the small bundle of coins in a pocket hidden in his robes’ voluminous sleeves.
“So tell us, Lady Astra,” Kaiyr said, lacing his fingers on the table before him and leaning forward. “Tell us of this Sayel.”
II.
Dingo cleared his throat and glanced down at his notes again. “Okay, so the four of you are seated at the table. Astra looks really uncomfortable talking about this, but she goes on anyway.” He paused and looked up at Xavier. “You have ranks in Knowledge (nature), right?”
“Pff,” Xavier scoffed. “What kind of druid would I be if I didn’t? Want me to roll?”
“Yeah. Tell me your total.”
Xavier picked up a twenty-sided die and looked down at his paper. “Okay, I’ve got a fourteen in my Intelligence and max ranks in Knowledge (nature)…” He raised his hand, forestalling the predictable calculation that any one of us would have gladly offered. “… and an additional plus two from nature sense as a druid. So I’m at plus eight.” He had already added the numbers up on the sheet, but he recalculated them to get a reaction, and he was rewarded for the effort.
“Jeez,” Dingo said. “All right. Roll ‘em.”
Xavier rolled his d20 in his hand longer than was necessary but finally dropped it on the desk before him. It bounced around with a clatter before stopping. “All right, I rolled a sixteen, so with plus eight, I’ve got a twenty-four.”
“Nice,” Dingo said. “You totally killed that DC
[4] , so you recognize that Astra, whom you all believe to be a half-elf because of her ears, is actually some kind of true fey. She looks like a nymph, but there’s even something… more about her, as though she’s part nymph, part something else.”
“Oh, gods,” I muttered. “A nymph. Okay, guys. If anybody goes blind suddenly and without explanation, we know who to blame.” Dingo just grinned. “But I’m assuming Caineye isn’t about to relay this information to us, so to me and Wild, she’s still some kind of half-elf.”
Dingo nodded. “That’s right.”
“All right,” I sighed. “And I’m guessing my two ranks in Knowledge (history) or (nobility and royalty) aren’t going to help me much here.” Our DM shook his head. “Okay, well, getting back to the game, I ask her, Lady Astra, when did you last face this ‘Sayel?’”
“Okay,” Dingo replied. “She says…”
*
“I never actually saw him myself,” Astra admitted, bowing her head. “I guess… I was a little fired up. I was told that a man with a glass sword that he could summon from nowhere was the one who…” She paused. “I was asking if anyone had seen someone like that around town, and somebody mentioned seeing you here.”
“Curious,” Kaiyr replied. “Until today, I have had no cause to manifest my soulblade. It seems someone recognized me as a blademaster. Perhaps they believed you needed my aid.” He paused. “I do not believe that person was wrong.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us about this ‘Sayel’ person?” Wild asked, happily sipping at a tankard of ale three sizes too large for him. “I mean, this is all really mystical. Sounds like you’re on a wild goose chase.”
“I am not!” Astra growled, slamming her fist on the table. The noise attracted the other patrons’ attention, and when Astra noticed this, she took a breath and composed herself. “I am not. Someone… did something to me. Someone named Sayel, who had some kind of blade like the blademaster’s here.” She gave the others a sheepish look. “He, uh, also wears green armor. Which, I guess, you know…”
Kaiyr tugged his traditional robes open slightly, revealing a plain shirt of chain mail beneath the folds of fabric, dark blue over white. A ghost of an amused smile passed over his features, ever so briefly.
“Yeah, I know,” Astra sighed.
Caineye raised an eyebrow, curious as to exactly what this Sayel might have done. He checked his tongue, but Kaiyr spoke for him: “Lady Astra, I will not force you to tell us how Sayel wronged you, though I believe that knowing his misdeeds may help us find him.” His gaze turned hard. “For now, you have my trust, but should I discover you have deceived me or these two gentlemen here, know that I shall be relentless in pursuing you and exacting retribution.”
At the blademaster’s first comment, Astra seemed to relax, but then anger began to smolder behind her violet orbs at his last words. “I’d like to see you try.”
Kaiyr blinked once, slowly, and told her in a gentle voice that nevertheless conveyed a grave warning, “I would rather it not be necessary.”
“I’d rather not, too,” Wild said.
“Same here,” Caineye agreed. Vinto yawned, unconcerned. “Astra, I agree with Master Kaiyr that even though more information may help us, I’m willing to trust your judgment.”
Astra nodded but pushed away her half-eaten meal. “Thanks, but I have some business to attend to.”
“Need help?” Wild asked, hopping down from his seat. He drained his ale and tossed the empty tankard back onto the table.
“No. If you’re all really that set on helping me, meet me down in Viel. There’s a little abbey about a mile northwest of the town, in the foothills. It’s a safe place to meet. If I don’t find you after three days or so… well, maybe I’ll have found Sayel by then.” She shrugged and rose. “Ta-ta, boys.”
Kaiyr stood and bowed even though she had already turned and was sauntering toward the door. “Farewell, Lady Astra,” he replied gravely, and his sentiment was echoed by Caineye and Wild.
“Whew,” Caineye breathed when Kaiyr sat down, long after Astra had left. Wild had regained his seat and was now nursing another tankard. “I think we’re all lucky to be alive
and seeing right now.”
Wild put his ale down, and both he and Kaiyr gave Caineye their full attention. “What do you mean?” the shorter fellow asked.
Stroking Vinto’s head idly, Caineye told them in a low voice. “She’s a nymph.”
Kaiyr cocked his head. “A nymph in a city?”
Caineye shrugged. “I have no idea what’s going on here. But I do know that she isn’t just a nymph. There’s something else about her, too, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“I’d put my finger on her. All of ‘em, in fact,” Wild said with a grin, returning his attention from his ale. “Did you see that arse? Totally hot.”
He realized he was getting mixed hostile and concerned stares from both his companions. “What?” he demanded defensively. “I was just making an objective assessment of her appearance. You can’t deny it. She’s gorgeous.”
The other two blew out resigned sighs, and they all finished their meal. Kaiyr put another few silvers down on the table, again under the counter-scrutinized scrutiny of Wild. “I have a reservation at this inn for the night,” the blademaster announced. “I intend to take my rest here. Shall we meet tomorrow at the air docks’ ticket stand?” The other two agreed amicably. “Excellent. I shall see you on the morrow. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, both. Good night, Master Caineye, Master Wild.” He bowed and headed upstairs to his room, the black lower robe of his outfit dusting the stairs lightly as he climbed them.
“Intense sort, isn’t he?” Wild commented.
Caineye just smiled mildly and patted Vinto’s head. “Blademasters are like that. I’ve met a few of them in my travels. They’re very serious folk.”
“Sure seems like it. Well, I’m turning in. Good night, Caineye. It was nice to meetcha.” Hopping from his seat, Wild trundled up the stairs and to his room.
“The same to you, and good night,” Caineye said as the halfling left. Pushing back his chair, he looked at the wolf sitting patiently by his side. “Well, Vinto, shall we turn in?”
The wolf whuffled what sounded like an affirmative reply and followed Caineye up the stairs.
*
“The three of you spend the night at the inn and wake up rested and refreshed. Xavier, now’s the time to change any of your prepared spells if you need to.” Xavier shook his head, and Dingo went on, “You have no trouble finding each other at the docks the next morning, but you’re feeling rather hungry.”
I blinked. “Why?”
“You didn’t eat breakfast,” the DM responded, earning himself a trio of confused-and-turning-sour stares from the crowd. He lifted his hands defensively. “What? You didn’t tell me you ate.”
I gave him my best unimpressed look, which, I tell myself, can be quite devastating. “So, if I don’t tell you I eat, I starve? Then, if I don’t tell you I’m going to take a dump, will my bowels eventually swell up and explode, and I’ll go septic and die? Xavier, Matt, don’t forget to tell the DM you’re breathing, or you might spontaneously suffocate.” I kept up my withering expression despite the laughter at my suggestions. “Dingo, that’s ridiculous. We’re not playing The Sims here.”
Ridicule, my friends and I have discovered, is a great salve for stupid adjudications and rules. “Okay, okay,” he conceded, still chortling. “We’ll make it an SOP that when you get up in the morning, you eat breakfast. So knock off an extra silver for the meal.”
“Actually,” Matt pointed out, “you said that the fee for the inn covered dinner and breakfast.”
“Oh,” Dingo said, frowning. “I did, didn’t I? Damn it. Never mind, then. Okay, so you get to the docks, not so hungry, bowels not exploded. Tickets for a ride down to the continent are one gold per person.”
Xavier leaned forward. “What about Vinto?”
“Oh, right,” the DM replied. “Um, since he’s about the same size as a person, they’re going to charge you an extra gold for your wolf.” We all erased the number representing our inventory of gold pieces, or gp, the standard unit of currency in the D&D game, and wrote in our new balances. “The ride down is nothing special; it’s the easiest, cheapest, and most common way to get from the surface to any of the floating cities and back down.
“All of the floating cities have a sister city on the ground, though usually the ones on the ground are far smaller than the one above them in the sky. Ist’viel’s sister city, Viel, barely qualifies as a town. It’s got one tavern with some rooms to rent out, a general store, a small dock for taking people up, and a few houses in addition to the usual: blacksmith, cobbler, and so on.”
*
Kaiyr, Caineye with Vinto, and Wild disembarked from the small airship and made their way through little Viel. There was little that drew their interest, except for an overlarge prison set at the center of town.
“It’s probably to keep extra criminals from above,” Wild said by way of explanation. “I mean, there’s only so much real estate in Ist’viel. Why waste it on un-pleasantries such as prisons?”
“True,” Kaiyr replied. “Come. Let us find this abbey. The Lady Astra was intent on meeting us there.”
Caineye and Wild fell into step as the young blademaster led the way, his sandals tap-tapping quietly on the dirt road leading out of town.
The trio followed Astra’s directions, heading northwest from Viel. True to her word, a small footpath wound its way through the verdant woods north of Viel, leading the party to the base of a short cliff. The trail led its way up the side of the brown rock face via hairpin turns, and then back into the trees for a short distance. The party finally stopped, facing the large double doors of a small abbey. It was of medium gray stone, and despite the signs of some age, it had weathered the years well. The abbey sat on a small plateau partway up the sheer mountain and was thus shielded from all the elements except rain. Swaying, ancient trees stood whispering sentinel over this place, where one could come to worship the glories of nature.
Caineye glanced at the symbol carved into the stone over the door. “An abbey consecrated in the name of Alduros Hol,” he offered. Kaiyr and Wild looked his way, and the druid shrugged. “I am a believer,” he explained. “We shall be welcome here.”
Reaching out, Caineye pushed on the doors, and they creaked open to reveal an entrance hall well-lit by noontime sunlight streaming in through the windows. The stones inside the hall were covered in leaf carvings, and Kaiyr immediately realized that the mottled look on the walls outside must have once been beautiful carvings such as these. Alas for the passing of time, he lamented.
“Hello?” the druid called into the hall. Vinto stepped around him and trotted across the flagstones, immensely unconcerned and feeling right at home. The wolf sniffed the ground for a moment, and then let out a low howl of greeting to the abbey.
“I guess that takes care of that,” Wild muttered to Kaiyr.
A moment passed before a voice rang out from the back of the abbey. “Is someone there?” called a kindly male voice. A middle-aged man wearing robes of earthen colors stepped through a small doorway that led to a courtyard. “Ah,” he said, striding toward the party with a cheerful twinkle in his eye. “We have visitors.”
Kaiyr and Wild stepped beside Caineye as Vinto circled the priest, sniffing at him with great interest before returning to the druid’s side. The robed man did not seem disturbed in the least by the wolf’s inspection.
“And I see we have a friend of nature in our midst,” said the priest, brushing dirt off his hands and tucking a well-used trowel into the sash holding his priestly robes. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Father Cobain.”
*
“The priest looks at you and says, Allow me to introduce myself. I am…” Dingo trailed off, looking around the room for inspiration, obviously not having prepared a name for this fellow ahead of time. “Uh, Father Cobain,” he said at last.
“Cobain?” Xavier laughed. “Like Kurt Cobain?”
Dingo shrugged. “I had a name for him at some point, but I can’t
find it anywhere. I, uh… well, there’s that poster of him behind you. I kind of grabbed the first name I saw on it, which just happened to be Cobain’s.”
We all chuckled for a bit before getting back into character.
*
Caineye was the first to reply to the priest. “Greetings, Father Cobain. I am Caineye, a druid in the service of Alduros Hol. This is my longtime companion, Vinto, and these are my newfound companions…” He stopped and allowed the others to introduce themselves.
“Well,” Father Cobain said after introductions had been made. “It’s a pleasure to have a druid visit us, and an honor to be visited by an elven blademaster. Please, come in and make yourselves at home. I know not where you are bound, but no matter where you are headed, a break and a meal are always welcome, right? It is—oh, my, it is far past lunch time. I should have called one of the brothers to stop working in the gardens and prepare some food. Come, I’ll see that you don’t go hungry, and I’ll have someone prepare beds for you. Is it all right if I put you all in the same dormitory?”
None of the party had any objections, so Father Cobain led the three adventurers and the wolf back into the sanctuary. Kaiyr got a good look out the doorway. It had no door and led directly outside, where he could hear some kind of fountain or spring bubbling merrily just beyond a low hedge. Two corridors broke away from the main hall, heading in opposite directions. Cobain stopped before they got to the hallways and opened a nearby door.
“Here. Please, take seats and make yourselves comfortable. I’ll see to the kitchen.”
“Please, Father Cobain,” Kaiyr said, following the human back behind the counter, “allow me to help in return for your hospitality.”
“You know how to handle a knife?” The question earned the priest a slightly amused, raised eyebrow from the blademaster. “Never mind, that was a silly question.” Reaching over, he grabbed a rope and gave it a few tugs. Elsewhere, a tolling bell called the abbey to mealtime.