The Companions of Tartiël

by Jeff Wilcox

  Shrugging, I looked to Matt and Xavier, who both nodded. “All right. I open the door and let him in. I’m… going to roll a Sense Motive check to see if anything’s fishy.” I rolled low and shook my head. “No beans.”

  Dingo took his d20 and rolled several times. This alerted us to the fact that there likely was indeed something up. But the sign of a good gamer is the ability to avoid acting on metagame knowledge, so we just waited. We figured the kid was probably just stealing a few coins from us, anyway, so it really didn’t matter. “All right. Well, the kid leaves a cart covered in plates full of eggs, bacon, and bread, and cups of tea for all of you, including Luna.”

  Matt smiled. “I’m diggin’ in, then. Kaiyr, having some?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll eat, too, since it’d be a waste to let the food get cold while Luna sleeps. She’ll just have to have a cold breakfast, unless Caineye would be kind enough to reheat it with produce flame or something.” I winked at him. “You never know; it might just earn you her gratitude.”

  Xavier snorted but didn’t reply audibly, so Dingo sighed and said, “I want all three of you to make Fortitude saves.”

  “Aw, shit, it was poisoned?” all three of us exclaimed in some manner or another. Dingo just nodded and waited while we rolled.

  “All right!” Matt said, making a gesture of victory. “My first natural twenty

  [25] of the game!”

  “I got a nineteen, after modifiers,” Xavier said.

  “Jeff?” Dingo looked at me.

  I glanced down at my transparent aqua d20, frowning at its betrayal. “Well, I rolled a five. So, plus four makes that a nine.”

  “Ooh, not good. Luckily, it’s a rather weak poison. You’re just nauseated for the next…” He looked down at his wrist, though he didn’t wear a watch. “Minute, until you make the secondary save

  [26] .”

  I rolled again, getting an eleven. “Unless an eleven succeeds, I’m going to run to the rail and barf over the edge.” Dingo nodded at me meaningfully. “Well, I throw open the door, run to the nearest rail, and hurl over the ledge until I stop. Then I stagger back.”

  Xavier spoke up. “I follow Kaiyr to the rail.” Then he looked at me. “Are you all right?”

  “Ugh, no,” I replied sickly. “We should—hurrrk!—ah… we should find that boy and find out wh-who poisoned that food.”

  He nodded. “I’ll help Kaiyr back to the room and go with Wild to find the serving boy.”

  “All right,” Dingo said. “Make me Search checks, both of you.” They both rolled, but neither of them rolled high enough.

  Then Xavier brightened with the light of an idea. “Wolves can track by scent, right? I have Vinto look for the kid.”

  Dingo pointed at him and gave a thumbs-up. “Good idea, sir. Vinto actually gets right on the scent once you tell him to, and he leads you through several halls. It takes a few minutes, but you finally catch up to the boy in the laundry area, putting away towels and sheets. He looks up at you, shocked. Can I help you two with something?” He paused, then nodded to himself. “Why don’t the two of you make Spot checks?”

  They rolled. Xavier shook his head, but Matt let out a, “Ha! Another twenty! That makes my Spot check a twenty-eight!” He showed Dingo the roll.

  “All right,” Dingo replied, “It takes you a moment, but you recognize him… or should I say her?”

  “Is it Astra?” Matt asked, and the DM nodded. “Astra? What the hell? What are you doing here?”

  Dingo grinned and said, “The ‘boy’ sighs and takes off ‘his’ cap. Black hair tumbles out from under the hat, revealing that it is, indeed, Astra. Congratulations, she says. What do you want?”

  Xavier scooted forward and spoke next. “What do we want? You just tried to poison us!”

  “I didn’t try to; I did poison you. But for the three of you, it should be pretty harmless,” Dingo replied for Astra with a shrug. “Wait, don’t tell me. Is Kaiyr puking his guts out?”

  Xavier chuckled a little. “Yes, he is. But… just come with us. I bet he’ll be wanting to have a few words with you.”

  “Might be more than just words,” Dingo replied, muttering. We all laughed at that. “Astra follows you back to the room, laughing under her breath the whole way.” He turned away from them and looked at me. “Kaiyr, what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to head out to hurl over the side of the boat again,” I said. “I’ll probably be returning to the room by the time they get back.”

  “Okay,” Dingo said, clapping his hands together once. “The four of you—”

  “Five,” Xavier corrected him; then, by way of explanation, “Vinto.”

  “—five of you arrive outside the door to Caineye’s and Wild’s room. Which of you was up front?”

  Matt looked up, frowning. “I probably was. Caineye’s got better Spot than me, so he probably should have been behind to keep an eye on Astra. Why?”

  Dingo just shook his head. “Excellent. Anyway, as you get there, the door crashes open, revealing Luna wielding a dagger. And… the surprise round begins.”

  “Great,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I had a feeling she was faking all that sleep.”

  Rolling his d20 on the little folding table he always brought over, Dingo glanced up at Matt. “Wild, are you hit with a twenty-four?”

  “Tch,” Matt snorted. “Duh. My Armor Class is only twenty.”

  “All right. She jabs you with a dagger. You take…” He paused to roll a d4. “… five damage,

  [27] and you need to make me a Fortitude save.”

  “Again?” he asked, incredulous. But he picked up his die and rolled. “Uh. No good. Eight.”

  “Okay, then you’re paralyzed,” Dingo replied. “Now, I want the rest of you to roll initiative.”

  We did so, our dice clattering across our desks or books. Dingo rolled for Luna. Fortunately for us, he rolled low.

  “Kaiyr, you’re first. What do you do?”

  I gave a noncommittal grunt. “I’m still nauseated, right?” I asked Xavier for his Player’s Handbook, and he handed it to me. Flipping through it, I got to the glossary. “Oh, good. I’m limited to move actions and free actions. So I can stagger around and talk. I’m just not going to do anything. I delay my turn unless I’m right next to her. Am I?”

  “No,” he replied, “Astra and Caineye are closest after Wild. Caineye, you’re up. What do you do?”

  Xavier glanced down at his sheet. “Damn,” he muttered. “Sorry, Wild, I’m not going to be any help with that poison.”

  Matt just shrugged in response. “It’s cool.”

  Xavier flipped to the spells he had prepared for the day. “Well, I’ll cast produce flame and move back as far as I can in the hallway, up to thirty feet.”

  Dingo nodded. “Astra tells all of you to get out of there and that she’ll handle this.”

  I raised a hand. “Can’t do so well with that. I can’t run, so I might become collateral damage.”

  The DM threw up his arms in an imitation of Astra. “Fine, Astra growls. She Tumbles through Luna’s threatened area with…” His d20 clattered across his table. “… a definite yes. She grabs you, throws open the door to her room, and pretty much tosses you inside, then follows you in and locks the door.”

  “Awesome,” I said. “Luna’s up now, right?”

  He nodded. “Caineye, she pretty much ignores you, which is lucky for you. But inside Astra’s room, several darts come shooting under the crack at the door… and they all miss unless you’re hit with a six. Astra pretty much throws you on the bed and dives onto it with you as the darts whiz by right where your feet were a moment ago.”

  At the diving on the bed part, Xavier muttered something inaudible and threw up his arms in exasperation. I understood why and just grinned. “Great,” I replied to Dingo; then, in my Kaiyr-voice, “Ugh… I think I might—”

  “No time to be sick, Kaiyr, Astra says,” the DM replied, but he looked at Matt, the
n Xavier, saying, “Wild, you’re still paralyzed and likely to remain that way for quite a while. So Caineye, what do you do?”

  “Well,” Xavier said, “I’ve still got my produce flame in my hand. I tell Vinto to get away, and I throw one of the flames at her, since I get two for being level two.”

  “Roll it,” Dingo said, nodding.

  Xavier rolled his d20. Having to only hit her touch AC

  [28] made the job easier, and he touched her with the flames; rolling 1d6+2, he dealt her a modicum of damage.

  “She takes the hit and glares at you but seems more focused on beating down that door,” Dingo said, turning back to me. “Kaiyr, Astra hands you a small vial. Here, this should make you feel better.”

  “I drink it and thank her.”

  “Okay. You feel a magical wave run through you, and you are no longer nauseated. Then you hear a banging at the door as Luna tries to break it down, but the door holds. Caineye?”

  “I throw my other flame, then fall back and wait and see what the other two do,” Xavier replied, rolling his die. “Tch, a nat one.”

  “All right, then. Your flame shoots by her, missing her by a mile, hitting the wall and scorching it but not doing any real damage. Kaiyr, what are you going to do?”

  Thinking quickly, I said, “I look at Astra, and I whisper to her, Lady Astra. Many of these rooms are connected through the lavatory. Do you have access to the next room?”

  Dingo nodded for the nymph. “Yeah, I always rent two rooms on these things, just in case… things like this happen.”

  “Awesome. I get up and stand on the bed. I keep whispering while Luna tries to break down the door. Go to the next room. In ten seconds from the moment your foot touches the floor here, I will open this door and shout for Master Caineye. Together, the three of us working together should be able to take her down. Go. And, assuming she complies, I start counting as soon as she steps off the bed.”

  Both Xavier and Matt gave me appreciative looks. Dingo nodded

  [29] his accord. “Astra doesn’t argue or even stop to speak, and ten seconds later, you open the door?—Okay, you throw open the door after hearing Luna pound at it again. We’ll say it’s your turn, since Caineye’s not doing anything, right? Cool. So, what do you do?”

  I picked up my infamous aqua d20. “I attack her. I’m going to take the minus four penalty to deal nonlethal damage.” I dropped the die. “Let’s see… eighteen, plus five, minus four, for a total of nineteen.”

  “Not a chance,” Dingo laughed.

  “All right, then I call out to Caineye to help us with whatever he’s got.”

  Xavier sent his character to our rescue; for this battle, we were not using the battle grid, instead approximating distances, since this was a relatively stationary battle. The three of us, after Astra joined the fray, traded blows with Luna, who managed to land a few scratches on her original. It took us several rounds, but finally we began wearing her down. I only attempted to deal nonlethal damage with that first attack.

  My d20 clattered across the desk. My aqua d20 had just rolled a 2, 3, and a 4 in succession, so in frustration I had tossed it into my die box and pulled out my gray-with-black-numbers d20. “All right! A nineteen, plus five, for twenty-four. And,” I said, drawing out the word, “assuming I connect, that’s a critical hit.”

  Dingo nodded. “Yep, you hit. Roll your damage.”

  I chuckled. “It’s not going to hurt much, but… two-dee-six plus two… that’s going to be nine damage. Completely average roll.”

  The DM shrugged. “Well, it does the trick, and Luna falls to the ground, obviously unconscious.”

  “I roll a Sense Motive check just to make sure she’s not faking it,” I announced before he could say anything else, since it technically was still my turn. I rolled and got a 22.

  Shaking his head, Dingo replied, “Nope, you’re pretty sure she’s for real, especially with the blood pooling around her. She’s still breathing, but she’ll buy the farm soon if she doesn’t get help.”

  I sat up straight, in what tended to signal that I was speaking as Kaiyr, or about to. “I take a five-foot step into her square and face Astra. Lady Astra, stand down, I say calmly.”

  Dingo screwed his face up in Astra’s anger. “Move aside, Blademaster. She has to die, and this is the best chance to be rid of her.”

  I shook my head, my ponytail bouncing emphatically. “No. Lady Astra, she is no threat now. We have subdued her.”

  Dingo rolled his eyes and raised his hands in a huff. “Yeah, but she’s going to be a threat the moment she gets back up.” When I shook my head and made as if to brandish a weapon, he continued in an angry voice, “Ugh, don’t you understand? What the hell is wrong with you? She is my Nemesis! She only exists to kill and replace me; the only thing I can do is to kill her before she gets to me.”

  Again, I shook my head. “I am still not convinced that she is truly your Nemesis. Do you not remember what happened at the monastery, Lady Astra? The creature born there was devoid of spirit and life; I have spoken with her since then, and she has a personality, a spirit. I can see it in her.”

  “She was fooling you! Are you mad? Didn’t she just try to kill both of us? I know those needles and what poison I keep on them. She would have killed us both!” Dingo yelled, quietly because it was quiet hours (heck, it was probably approaching one in the morning by then).

  Xavier raised his hand. “I’m going to step in and use a cure minor wounds on Luna, so she doesn’t die while these two have their little lovers’ quarrel,” he said, drawing a chortle from all of us.

  “Fair enough,” the DM replied. “She stops bleeding out for now. So, what was Kaiyr about to say?”

  I raised a hand calmly. “I still believe that she can be steered from this destructive path. I will speak to her upon her awakening and determine her true motives. And, we shall do everything in our power to keep her away from you. I’m going to roll a Diplomacy check, even though I’ve only got a few ranks in it. Um, how’s a sixteen help my case?”

  Dingo sighed, still roleplaying Astra. “Fine,” he said tersely, “have it your way. She stalks away, and you hear her muttering, It’s not me I’m worried about now. Freaking blademasters….”

  I sighed. “I release my soulblade, and it disappears.”

  Matt cleared his throat, drawing our attention. “Um, guys. I’m kind of still paralyzed here, and probably standing or lying in a pool of Luna’s blood, depending on whether my body’s rigid or limp.”

  I looked at Xavier, but he shrugged. “I can’t do anything.”

  “Well, not much to do but prop him in a corner and throw a sheet over him,” I said, grinning. “Why don’t you carry him in? I’ll take Luna, seeing as I’ve already got blood all soaked into these robes.” Then I realized that once again, I’d be carrying “the girl,” a position for which Xavier was currently and constantly vying. Oh, well.

  We had our characters carry the stiff-jointed Wild and the unconscious Luna into Caineye’s room and lay them on the beds. “We’ll wait for Luna to wake up,” I told Dingo. “I’m going to watch her like a hawk, since she apparently faked sleep last time. Oh, and we’re going to divest her of all of her weapons. All of them,” I said pointedly, “meaning we’ll strip-search her to get them all. I’m not risking our lives, and she’s a nymph, anyway. Aren’t they supposed to walk around naked?”

  Dingo nodded. “Good deal. She wakes up about an hour later, not really trying to cover the fact that she’s awake. What do you do?”

  “What about me?” Matt asked.

  “Oh, right. You eventually have feeling return to your limbs. It really stings for a while, but by the time Luna wakes up, you’re fully mobile, if feeling a little stiff, as though you’d been driving for eight hours without a break.” He looked back at me expectantly.

  Leaning forward in my seat, I demanded, “Why did you try to kill Lady Astra?”

  “Quite the face and question to wake up to,” Matt
commented; I’m not sure whether the comment was in-game or out-of-game. It could have been either.

  Dingo spoke in a semi-falsetto, really just speaking in a weak voice. “I-I can’t help it, Kaiyr, she cries. It’s just s-something I have to do. Please! I don’t want to. Help me stop!”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I… roll another Sense Motive check. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you’re dead, after all.” I rolled and got a twenty. Dingo rolled as well; whether or not she was Bluffing, it was his job as a DM to not let us know that.

  “You’re… pretty inconclusive,” he said, shaking his head. “She seems to be telling the truth, for the most part, but something tells you that either she really is compelled to do this, or she’s not quite telling you everything. She looks at you with big, helpless eyes. Just keep her away from me. That’s all I ask.”

  “Don’t worry,” Xavier replied for Caineye, “We’ll take care of you. She won’t get to you while we’re around.”

  “She nods, then keeps looking at you as her cheeks flush red.”

  I stayed silent, trying to give Xavier some stage time. “Is something the matter?”

  “She nods again and says, I have to pee.”

  I tossed my d20 across the table, sensing foul play. “Sense Motive… with no luck. Nine.” Hunkering down in my seat and leaning forward, I once more became Kaiyr. “You realize, Lady Luna, that honoring such a request is difficult. Right now, you must earn back our trust for having run off last time and attacking us just now.”

  “I’m not going to say anything, but I’ll look at Kaiyr pointedly and make a Bluff check to get a silent message across as I leave the room,” Matt said. He dropped his d20 onto his Complete Adventurer and nodded. “That’s a success. Kaiyr, you figure that I’m going to your room to make sure that she doesn’t slip out the other side of the bathroom, since our rooms are connected.”