#bonu

The next two days saw the gang’s little home turned into a designer’s nightmare. With his axe still strapped to his back, Bonu came to and from at all hours to make deliveries and preparations. Having recruited Edwin to his mission, the two had become quickly acquainted with every florist and baker in town.

Grumbar and Keros kept out of the way, opting instead to simply watch the hurricane from a safe corner of the parlor.

“You gonna say anything about where you were?” Keros asked over a milky cup of tea as Bonu paraded through with what could only be described as an ungodly amount of flowers.

At his side, Grumbar sipped at his own tea. “Nope.”

While Bonu and Edwin came and went, wiping demon blood off his robes was about the extent of preparation that Grumbar went through.

On the agreed upon day of the affair, Keros was finally roped into assisting. He helped Bonu create his both tasteful and gaudy vision of flowers, ribbons, and cake in the small garden beside the City of the Dead. Arches and bouquets, Bonu had managed to turn the graveyard adjacent space into the couple’s perfect church.

This was, of course, all in the shadow of an actual church near the cemetery. A small wooden structure, the priest there had also been warned against wedding the two, but from the doorway he smiled at the little set up and arrival of the young lovers before heading back inside. ( Best to avoid the whole ‘speak now’ thing by not actually witnessing it at all. )

Ian and Lyra showed up at the garden together shortly before the appointed time. Lyra gasped softly at the decorations and readily passed a small pouch of silver dust towards Grumbar when she saw the old cleric.

Taking it from her, Grumbar gestured to the little makeshift altar Bonu and Edwin had put together. “The two of you, come here.” He set the dust down beside the few things he had brought with him — a stone bowl, a red silk string, an athame, and a matchbox — and then held out his hand for their vows.

After reading over the vows, he passed them back with a nod and cracked his fingers together before picking up the red string. “My god is a… god of oaths,” he explained. “There is only until death do you part with this ceremony. If your love is true, offer each other your ring fingers to tie this ribbon around and we will begin.”

Keros, Bonu, and Edwin stood as witnesses to the ceremony as Ian and Lyra readily tied the string to each other’s fingers, smiling softly at each other all the while. The string between them was coiled into the stone bowl and Grumbar emptied the powdered silver over it. “You will read your vows together and place them in the bowl when you finish.

Over the garden as the young lovers read their vows, there was a soft energy that hummed with the performance of the ceremony. Not an audible thing, not one easily picked up on, but there all the same as the last priest of Grumbar carried out these sacred rites.

The vows were set in the bowl together and Grumbar gestured for their tied fingers to be extended. With the athame, he pricked their fingers and let their blood drip over the vows before striking a match and setting the contents of the bowl aflame. As the flames burned crimson, Grumbar settled his hands on either side of the bowl. “With this, let your bond be as sturdy as stone. So mote it be.”

As he spoke, the fires licked up the ribbon before it broke, coiling up and burning slowly in the bowl. It left Lyra and Ian married, with rings of ribbon on their fingers, and an overwhelming joy.

Grumbar looked away from the newly weds, both to give them their peace as they stepped away from the altar and because he had the strange sense they were all being watched. He looked back towards the church, seeing nothing at first, but soon catching a glimpse of dark eyes from one of the shrubs. Before he could nudge one of the fighter types he lived with, a stone being rolled out, stopping right at Grumbar’s feet.

“Grumbar!” the stone creature said, voice gravelly and harsh.

“Who’s your friend?” Bonu asked, still wiping at the tears the ceremony had invoked.

The cleric looked down at it warily. “Not sure…”

In the rough, primordial Terran language, the creature introduced itself to Grumbar as an aspect of the divine Grumbar.

Keros, only familiar with primordial Aquan, leaned over towards Bonu and Edwin and whispered, “I think this is Grumbar’s son… But this accent is a little… drier than I’m used to.”

Grumbar, on the other hand, found he could understand the dialect quite clearly. “You’re a… guardian?” he asked, suddenly fluent in Terran.

“Yes, Grumbar.”

“Do you have a name?” He was met with silence and returned to Common. “So we’ll work on the name thing.” Grumbar looked back at the others. “I… guess we have a new… rock.”

“Your son is very cute, Grumbar,” Keros said.

“He’s not my son.”

The knee-high stone creature rolled itself up into a small boulder and began to roll around the four of them. They watched until the rock creature rolled itself out and sat down next to the cleric, watching and waiting. Grumbar nodded.

As Bonu and Keros were cleaning up breakfast the next morning, Grumbar returned at long last. Expecting the old cleric to possibly still be drunk from whatever bender he’d been on in the last week, they were both surprised to find him stone cold sober for the first time since they’d met him.

“Some things came up…” he explained quietly.

While Bonu was all for this change of heart, Keros seemed a little concerned about the strange behavior from their usually predictable friend. Regardless, they caught him up on their latest mission from Mara and the three set out to meet Edwin.

Down the road at the Grinning Lion, Edwin was greeting the day with a house ale and offered to buy a round for the three of them after introductions were made. With Grumbar passing down free alcohol, Keros knew something was up, but the cleric waved off any questions, insisting they should probably get to figuring out this cursed card thing.

Wandering the Trade Ward, they popped into some of the shops that the gang hadn’t hit up the day prior. Orsabba’s shop front was curious and welcoming, inviting people to spend their coin on all manner of magical baubles and goods. They let themselves in with a jingle of the bell and began to poke around the wares until a young man stepped out of the back.

Before he could introduce himself, Keros asked if he’d heard about the death of Valuth Myres and the man instantly paled. “Valuth was a good friend,” he explained. “I-I told him something wasn’t right about those cards.”

Introducing himself as Mateo Leeson, he explained he’d already spoken with the Watch. That wasn’t good enough for Edwin, however, who pushed the man up against a wall and encouraged him to tell him everything he knew about the matter.

Keros and Grumbar were quick to intervene while Bonu poked his nose into the back of the shop. Keros pulled Edwin back, warning the old timer against using force on innocent folks as Grumbar took over the interrogation.

Though Grumbar tried to play good cop, Edwin’s bad cop routine had definitely turned Mateo off. “Look,” he said warily. “Valuth was my friend. I don’t think he got those cards from any of the shops around here.”

He edged around them all to the counter and wrote out a list of all the reputable magic shops in the area, including a new shop that had been stealing business with incredibly low prices. “I don’t know anyone over there, but their prices are too low to be… reliably enchanted. If you can run whoever’s behind this out of business… I might be able to get you some deals with Orsabba.”

As Bonu ducked out from the back, where he definitely should not have been snooping and had definitely found nothing but in process enchantments, Keros distracted Mateo with a thanks and an apology. He slid him a gold piece and followed the rest of them out of the shop.

As they started to make their way towards the River Gate, Bonu started to get the sense someone was following them again. Every time he glanced back, a young man and young woman froze up a bit before eventually steeling themselves up and approaching the group directly.

“Sorry to interrupt, but are you a priest?” they asked Grumbar.

Ian Evry and Lyra Majarrah, as they quickly introduced themselves, were young and in love. Lyra’s family, however, was against the union and had enough money to ensure no church or temple in the city would wed them.

Teary eyed, Bonu was already on the side of the young lovers and insisting Grumbar should help. The cleric sighed and looked them over. “Are you serious about this?” They were. “Then I’ll do it, but only under a few conditions. First, is there a place that’s special to you?”

Ian and Lyra quickly decided on a park near the City of the Dead where they’d gone on walks together.

“Then we’ll hold the ceremony there in two days. You’ll provide me with powdered silver worth 25 gold for it and you’ll write your vows— and I mean really write them. If they’re bad you’re going to do it again, got it?”

Readily agreeing to it, they clasped his hand and thanked him profusely before running off to make their preparations.

Bonu watched them go with a smile and big plans already forming.

The rest of the trip down to River Gate was uneventful. They found the storefront to River Gate Goods dark and tucked away between two busier shops. A pull on the door found that it was open, but no clerk came to greet them.

Trusting that something wasn’t right, Grumbar cast Detect Evil and Good and caught a bright flash of something definitely evil from beneath the shop.

“See,” Keros said to Edwin, “this is when you can use force.” And then vaulted over the counter to reach the cellar door behind it.

While Keros and the others descended, Bonu quickly jogged back outside and found some young children playing with some sticks. “Hey, hey kids. There’s something real scary in this shop,” he said pointing at River Gate Goods. “Go find a guard, okay? Tell them: Bonu said to go get Kraag.”

Wide eyed, the kids just nodded at this large barbarian fellow and quickly ran off with their sticks. Deciding that was good enough, Bonu pulled his axe off his back and charged in after his friends.

That was when the screaming started.

Beneath the shabby magic shop, the usual storage cellar had been turned into altar space. Keros dropped to the ground and made room for the others coming down the ladder, his eyes focused on the grotesque demon sinking its claws into a cultist at the head of the room. “Think we found the source of that evil.”

While some of the cultists seemed thrilled to see this creature, others were hurriedly backing away as they realized their mistake.

Arrows knocked, axe drawn, knuckles cracked, and prayers at the ready, the party descended on the demon with the same approach they took to every fight: hurt it hard and fast before it can do the same. Those few cultists who seemed to welcome the demon were taken out of the fight with arrows and by the demon itself. Bonu and Edwin got to work, wailing on the thing with quick, critical hits.

Sensing something holy with Grumbar, who’d gotten a little to close to the thing, the demon attempted to make a terrible strike at him, but was ultimately slain, collapsing in an even more grotesque heap.

“Someone should start explaining what was going on down here,” Edwin suggested, cracking his bloodied knuckles again and looking at the remaining cultists. Keros drew another arrow and planted himself firmly between them and the exit.

One of the men stepped forward, wringing his hands nervously. “We just wanted to change things,” he said. “We’ve lost people and we’ve watched the nobles do nothing. We thought,” he glanced back at the demon and grimaced, “we thought we could summon an archfiend and make a deal, but, uh….”

“But you fucked up.” The cultist let out a startled half shriek as Edwin clamped a hand on his shoulder. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Dave…”

“Alright, Dave. Next time you want to change things, maybe don’t join a cult,” said Edwin. Bonu gestured to the cultist puddle beneath the demon and Dave paled further.

Above them, they could hear heavy footsteps coming into the shop. Keros leaned back towards the cellar door and a gave a little wave as a familiar half-orc appeared. “All clear! Mostly. It’s uh… little gross down here, but all clear!”

Kraag came down the ladder, followed by two more of the Watch as the others began investigating the shop proper. “Gods, what is that?” he asked looking at the mess of demon.

“It was supposed to be Mamnon, but uhm… we… messed up… something,” Dave said glancing back and forth between the remaining two cultists and their ruined altar. At the look from Kraag, Dave wisely shut up and began to examine the dirt under his feet.

“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” Kraag told him before returning his attention to the party wiping off various gross blood splatters from their persons. “Well, thanks for calling us this time. Got here as quick as we could, but glad to see you could handle it.” He squinted at the bloodied mess. “You’re sure it’s dead?”

“Pretty damn.”

Kraag looked over at the old monk and nodded. “Good, good. I hate demons.” With the Watch taking it from there, Kraag told them to head back to the Blackwoods and send his gratitude.

Mara was relieved to hear it was taken care of and paid not only her agents for their service, but offered payment to Edwin as well as a show of good faith. “I can’t promise my mother will want to hear you out, Mr. Thorne, but I will see what can be done. You’ve done us a favor here.”

Having done their good deed and seeing a job well done, Bonu invited Edwin back to their place for dinner and to begin the preparations for Lyra and Ian’s wedding. “They deserve the best. This is a true romance,” he explained, ushering everyone out of Mara’s study. “We’ll need flowers, decorations, a cake! I need at least a week Grumbar, is it too late to reschedule?”

“Yes.”

“Never mind, they’ve waited long enough anyhow and I’ve got the perfect buttercream recipe for this.”

Actually living in Waterdeep turned out to be not so different from simply renting a room in one of its many inns. They spent the next few days working with Mara to learn a little bit more about their position with the family. And Bonu, in high key decorator mode, put both Keros and Grumbar to work at odd and random times. But otherwise the party dynamic was much of what it had been before the offer.

That is, until Grumbar left the house muttering to himself one morning with barely a glance at the other two. A quick promise to return eventually was all they got before the cleric slammed the door behind him.

“Should we follow him?”

“It’s Grumbar, I’m sure he’s fine.” Probably.

A few days later and still no sign of Grumbar, they were called to meet Mara and found her rifling through paperwork in her study nervously. After asking after the cleric and getting shrugs from the archer and barbarian, she sighed and shook her head.

“I don’t know if he’d be of help here or not. There was a tragic accident in the Castle Ward three days ago. Valuth Myres perished in an explosion. He was found among the rubble of his home with an untouched deck of cards. A wizard with the Watch recently confirmed they’re cursed, but we haven’t a clue where he got them. Earlier that afternoon, Valuth been seen bragging about these supposedly ‘lucky’ cards at a tavern nearby, but that seems to be all we have.”

With orders to check in with Kraag at the Watch before the case ran too cold, they made a quick detour for Bonu to grab a small basket of pastries from their kitchen and headed off.

It was a quick trip across town to the Watch House and the guards seemed already accustomed to Bonu arriving unannounced with pastries. Bonu, to Keros’s amusement, already knew the path to Kraag’s office and knocked before just letting himself in.

Kraag, surrounded by a pile of paperwork, sighed when the door opened. “So Lord Blackwood sent you?” Kraag asked as Bonu offered him pastries. Despite looking beyond tired, the half-orc took one with a nod of thanks. “I’ve got people missing. Continued unrest. And now people dying.”

He went on to explain that, over the last couple of weeks, people had been turning up missing in the city. Until any evidence of them were found, the Watch was at a standstill there, but Myres’s death was raising other alarms.

“We’ve spoken with a friend of the victim, Mateo Leeson, but he doesn’t have any idea where Myres got these cards. We have a dozen magic shops in the city and it could be any of them. Could be an outside merchant. Could have been a gift. Nothing’s turned up yet and I’m run thin already,” he said with a gesture to the paperwork.

Promising to do what they could to help, the two made their way out of the Watch, following a vague lead that could really take them anywhere in the city. Inevitably, they ended up at the Roaring Lamb for their usual lunch and greeted Nick with friendly conversation.

At one end of the bar an older human gentleman with long graying hair sat watching the tavern and making friendly conversation with any who seemed interested. Though there was a small keg at his hip, he kept pushing his glass back towards Nick for refills when his conversations lulled.

Plotting out their means of investigation at one of the tables, Keros and Bonu missed much of the altercation between the old timer and three younger men in the tavern. But as a fight began to break out, the two pushed aside their drinks and stood up to come to his, and the barkeeper’s, assistance.

Which, they would quickly see, was mostly unnecessary.

Though Bonu and Keros had meant to just scare the lads into backing off with a little show of force, the old timer held none of his punches and unleashed a quick flurry of blows in the face of the first thug to raise his fists. With him preoccupied, Keros rounded on the second and pulled an arrow from his hip. A flash of arcane energy flared at its head and he stabbed it into the attacking thug’s shoulder, causing him to go blind for a brief second and recoil from the fight.

Smarter than his fellows, the third simply turned tail and booked it. Bonu was quick on his feet, however, and chased after him, calling the guards as they sprinted down the main road. Keros, loathe to leave Bonu to his own devices, abandoned the old timer, who seemed just fine on his own with the two staggered thugs, and booked it after the barbarian with his net in hand.

After a brief tussle and ensuring the city guards had it from there, they took stock of the brief mess they’d made of the tavern. Before Nick could even raise a fuss over the broken glassware, the old timer slid him a couple of gold paired with a smile and an apology.

“You lads are spirited,” the old timer said, as Keros and Bonu each slid an additional gold to Nick’s recompense. “Name’s Edwin,” he said, inviting himself to their table.

Introducing themselves, they marveled at his fighting ability to which he laughed, taking a drink from a newly refreshed pint. “Just an old traveler. Nothing special. But I like the folk around here. There are enough bullies in the nobility, we don’t need to go fighting among each other on top of it.”

Against Keros’s better judgement, Bonu went onto say not all nobility was bad. The surviving Blackwoods were certainly trying.

Curious to hear those sort of sentiments, especially about the Blackwoods, Edwin reluctantly agreed. “But as long as its only them doing the ruling around here, nothing will change. That Sultlue was just on trial and nothing’s come of it.”

Taking a leap, Bonu suggested that if Edwin could help them out with a favor, maybe they could put him in touch with someone who had more power to change things than them. “We could put in a good word, but first we’re looking to figure out who killed this guy, Valuth. He sorta blew up. Kind of a pressing issue.”

Finding their investigation more interesting than a daytime bar crawl, Edwin agreed to help, especially if they could put him in touch with a lord. So they settled their tabs and headed out, with Edwin sipping at his flask as they left.

The couple of magic shops they stopped in were small and a bit skittish, having already had guards and concerned patrons poking in earlier in the day. They swore their products were up to code with the merchant guild’s magic division and that they’d never done business with Valuth Myres.

One shop they popped into was less of a magic shop and more of a general armor and weaponry shop with some magical wares within, but they stopped in out of curiosity. While there, Bonu commissioned a new set of armor and Keros impulse traded his silvered rapier for a finely crafted trident.

Duwain Bladesemer even agreed to give them a bit of a deal when Bonu yet again let slip they had connections to the Blackwoods. If they could forge an exclusive contract between House Bladesemer and House Blackwood for their armory supplies, Duwain promised Bonu even better deals in the future.

“That was productive,” Bonu said as they walked out, their purses much lighter.

Sipping from his flask, Edwin eyed the two of them. “Was it though?”

With night starting to roll in and being no closer to solving this than when they started, they split ways with Edwin for the evening. They would meet him at the Grinning Lion, the inn closer to Blackwood Manor, in the morning and try again tomorrow.

“I like him. He has a good heart,” Bonu said, leading the way home.

Keros agreed and looked up at the darkening sky. “But have you noticed everyone we work with is always drunk?”

Having left his fellows without much explanation, Grumbar found himself inexplicably drawn to the needle point tower that loomed in the heart of Waterdeep. While he had never intended to visit the Plinth, the strange dreams and troubled thoughts he had been having since he swore himself to the Blackwoods drew him closer.

A massive granite tower with spiraling balconies, the Plinth was a beacon for worshipers of the old gods whose practices were often forgotten and unwelcome. There was solidarity among the various priests, monks, and other followers within who came to remember they were not so alone. And as the last priest of Grumbar, Grumbar had planned to avoid this place with more care than he had avoided plagues in the past.

Finding himself there now, however, Grumbar’s feet brought him to a forgotten altar on the ground floor where darkness quickly overtook him. Instead of this tiny stone altar, he stood before a massive stone face, larger than any mountain and impossible to see in a single glance. Though the mouth of this face moved, its voice, rough like gravel, reverberated through his very being: 

“Hello, my child. You lost faith in me, but I do not hold it against you. I have been gone too long and too much has changed in my absence. But more change is yet to come. 

You have work to do. The land is in peril and the anima of this world is crying out. There is an evil clawing at the roots of the world, threatening to tear apart the very mountains themselves. Though you are a mere mortal, you are my only living follower in this land with even a glimmer of belief left in you. 

Yes, you have broken tenets. You have not preached in my name for over a decade. But none of that matters, because at your core, in your immovable bedrock, you were still true… just… waiting. We have both been… asleep. But even the land will shift and buckle if enough pressure is applied. Now… the earth quakes… and the world wakes. 

You have much work to do, my Chosen.” 

After Lord Sultlue’s arrest and the unfortunate incident regarding the Wooden Man and his employer, Lord Blackwood requested that Keros, Grumbar, and Bonu remain in Waterdeep for the time being. After reminding them that they owed her their freedom, the group readily agreed, even though Greyson and his dogs were long gone.

Though they occasionally received missives from the Blackwoods at the Roaring Lamb, where they decided to stay now that the family wasn’t footing their bill, they didn’t see much of them. Instead, they spent their days catching up on some of the highlights of Waterdeep that they had previously missed out on. Keros caught up on news at the Selune temple, Bonu made his acquaintance with just about everyone he met, and Grumbar continued to ignore his clerical duties and tour the city pubs between some quick for hire jobs the three of them took up.

Days later, they were summoned back to Blackwood Manor. This time, Lady Westra was no where to be seen, but Lady Mara was waiting outside with a carriage.

“The trial is today,” she said after polite greetings were exchanged, “for Lord Arboreus. I know he’s not the sweetest man, but he is innocent. I would like it if you accompanied me. It’s formality, really, the evidence I presented the Watch with is enough to clear him, but… You’ve seen how the people of the city feel about nobles of late. It’s best we go through with the trial as normal.”

With some reluctance ( because he was not a sweet man and the party still thought he was creepy enough to not be trusted ), they agreed to it and joined Mara down to the Piergeiron’s Palace. A grand white stone structure at the foot of Mount Waterdeep, the palace was where the courts were held and where the Masked Lords, among others, would assemble to oversee the affairs of the city.

They followed Lady Mara inside and, alongside Captain Kraag who had arrived ahead of them, were directed by clerks within to the massive court chamber.

With striking statues and cathedral architecture, the room was vast and echoing. At a raised bench in the back of the chamber sat a woman who, at a distance, seemed younger than her long silver hair could lead some to believe. Open Lord Laeral Silverhand sat over the court with a number of masked individuals flanking her.

With a simple bow to the Open Lord and no acknowledgement to the other figures, Mara took a seat in one of the empty rows of seat. Being unfamiliar with the political etiquette of the city, Keros, Grumbar, and Bonu simply followed suit with Kraag at their heels.

Sitting alone in the center of the chamber was Lord Arboreus Sultlue. There was something of an audible, echoing groan from him when they entered.

“You think he’d be nicer to us considering,” Grumbar muttered under his breath.

Mara shook her head. “Grumbar…”

Despite the Lords overseeing the court, it was called to order by the two figures who entered the chamber and took their places below the bench. Blackrobes Kylynne and Claudius were orchestrating the trial. Blackrobe Kylynne, a tiefling, seemed interested in why the party would now speak on behalf of the man they had accused in the first place. Her partner, a human, seemed to be less interested and encouraged them to hurry up their case.

One at a time, they each presented their piece. Explaining how the evidence did, at first, lead to Sultlue — the wights, the snakes, the attempts on his house that seemed to fail — but that this was just part of something bigger.

They presented both Blackwood amulets and the dagger Keros had first taken from the Wooden Man along with the letter. The evidence didn’t point so cleanly back towards Arboreus with the rest of the puzzle pieces lined up.

“We assumed the Wooden Man was dead,” Grumbar explained, attempting to guide their ill-prepared testimony.

Bonu nodded. “We sorta last saw him in piec—” Grumbar elbowed him a bit and Bonu quickly corrected, “dead. We saw him very dead. No reason to think he might still be around. Or a suspect.”

“But since he tried to kill us — again — clearly we were wrong,” Keros added.

Mara backed their statements and Blackrobe Kylynne turned to focus on the accused for the first time. “Lord Sultlue, what do you have to say?”

He tore his attention away from the seated Lords and faced the Blackrobes with his chin high. “I have professed innocence from the beginning. There is nothing more to say on a crime I was victim to.”

“The Watch acted with the information we had in the effort to protect the city,” Kraag said, standing from his spot beside Bonu. “We stand with the actions taken and would do so again, however we are glad to see our actions were only precaution. We have already begun to look for the the Wooden Man and his alleged employer.”

The Blackrobes thanked them all and then began to converse between themselves as Kraag sat down. There was some minor eye rolling from them both at each other and when they turned back to the witnesses, Claudius was more annoyed than before.

“The charges against Lord Arboreus Sultlue of crimes against the nobility of Waterdeep will be dropped in light of the evidence brought before the court. Do the Lords disagree?” Kylynne did not look behind her and, for a moment, was met only with silence.

“The Lords are in agreement,” said the Open Lord, standing at her bench.

With the motion made to drop the charges, the court was dismissed and Lord Arboreus wasted no time in exiting the chamber.

As they filed outside, chatting a bit with Kraag about what was being done about Z ( or Zymun, as they guessed ), they were surprised to see Arboreus waiting for them. Perhaps expecting a small bit of gratitude from the man, they were somehow more surprised by his warning to stay away from him in the future.

“You think he’d be grateful,” Bonu said as Arboreus stormed off.

“You did sneak into his home and get him accused in the fist place,” Kraag pointed out.

Keros just gestured after him. “But still. Manners.”

Mara coughed slightly to grab their attention and smiled softly. “This was mostly formality, as I said, but thank you for coming. Mother is attending some business in the city, but if you could return to the manor sometime this evening, we have a proposition for you.”

Curious, they agreed and parted ways with Mara. Kraag also excused himself on account of “business” when Bonu offered to buy the man a drink if he joined them at the inn. With that plan shot down, Bonu quickly had another idea and looked up at the mountain that backed the palace. “Let’s go for a hike.”

Grumbar started towards what, he assumed, would be a path, but Bonu had other plans and quickly started to climb the rock face. “You have got to be kidding me…” he muttered to no one, as Keros was quick to follow the barbarian’s lead. He stood where he was for a long minute before giving in.

After a long day of more climbing than hiking, they reached the peak of Mount Waterdeep, the sun already beginning to dip. The three sat down heavily, some more out of breath than others, and looked out over the city. Waterdeep was beginning to light up with the coming dusk, but there were no torches or mobs in its streets tonight. The City of Splendors was just that, in part — a little — because of them.

“It’s beautiful,” said Bonu.

Keros nodded, looking out towards the coast. “It is.”

“We’re taking the fucking path down,” Gumbar grumbled.

Catching their breaths, they soon got back to their feet and followed Grumbar’s lead to the gently winding path down the mountain. The chatter was friendly and light with some well meant grumbling about bullheadedness along the way. They might not have meant to stay together as long as they had so far, but they worked surprisingly well as a team all the same.

On arriving at Blackwood Manor, they were brought to a grand study they’d not seen before where Lady Westra sat with her daughter at her side. She looked over the three of them coolly and then folded her hands on the desk. “Are you familiar with the Lord’s Alliance?”

Having only the vaguest idea of it, they said no.

“Waterdeep, Neverwinter, the major cities in these parts, we do not always agree with each other, but we can agree on a desire for peace from outside threats. There is an alliance among certain houses that look to uphold that peace and who employ certain agents to see it done. My daughter,” she said, looking at Mara, “believes you three can be… shaped into proper representatives of both House Blackwood and Waterdeep.”

“You do not have to agree,” Mara said, speaking up, “but in doing so you would be formally employed by our family. If you do not, we ask you keep this to yourselves. These are not offers made lightly or commonly.”

The three looked between each other before Keros raised a hand. “What does it entail?” He made a gesture to the tabards worn by the house guards. “Are we just guards?”

“When necessary,” Westra said. “Without divulging more, you would be our agents beyond Waterdeep when such representation or force is required. And you would answer to Mara.”

Keros, at least, seemed sold on that plan. He glanced at the others and back to the Blackwoods, then put his hand to his chest and bowed his head. “I accept.”

Bonu followed suit. Waterdeep ( and Kraag ), he said, seemed like it could use their help.

Grumbar was the only one hesitant on the matter with both the Blackwoods and his companions looking on expectantly. A pact, as formal as this one, was not something he’d made in awhile, he muttered under his breath. “But if we’re doing this… I also accept.”

Looking only a little bit like he’d been struck by something, Grumbar, alongside Keros and Bonu, watched Mara smile.

Lady Westra stood to make her exit. “Try to keep them in line.”

As Westra left, Mara picked up a key from the desk. “There is a house on the property that hasn’t been used in some time. It’s been recently aired and it’s yours, should you like it.” As they thanked her and took the key, Mara smiled. “Good. This will be something of a learning process for us all, but we’ll discuss the details tomorrow. I wish you all a good night.”

As they left the manor, Keros twirled the key in his hand, brows raised. “We have a house.”