For Whom the Bell Tolls

Seconds before Toreal burst every blood vessel in her head, Grumble and Audric arrived. Grumble was brandishing his brand new axe, and Audric had a funny hitch in his step for whatever reason. I didn't have much time to contemplate it before we headed off to the Reality Wrinkle.
When we got there, we decided that neither Toreal nor Grumble looked like crazy sorcerer material and would give us away from the start. They agreed to wait outside until we could send them a signal, and Audric, Rowan, Nialia and I headed inside. Upon entering, I found I was suddenly wishing I had just forgotten about breakfast this morning. The feeling of sick swimming vertigo we had experienced before the fight outside the university was there, but tenfold. I tried to shake it off as the shopkeep poked his head inside the front room, and began speaking with us. He seemed as if he had forgotten to pack his brain in with him that day. After a few moments of wondering where to begin our search for Alaine, Audric agreed to help create a distraction so I could head behind the curtain and search the back areas of the shop.
Slipping behind the curtain, I saw a staircase leading both up and down. I was flipping a coin in my head to see which I should try first when I heard Audric shout "They have him downstairs!" He must have pulled it from the shopkeep's head, as I doubt he had the power in him to divulge anything through his mouth. I darted downstairs and the strengthened feeling of vertigo hit me like the blunt side of Grumble's axe. It was getting a lot harder to deal with, and now that I was downstairs I could hear disturbing gibbering in languages I couldn't have made out if I had wanted to. It was like listening to every conversation in an ant colony all at once. It didn't assist me in feeling any less like rescinding my choice of breakfast. However, I did notice a large locked door, and forced myself to stagger forward and try to unlock it. Alaine had to be back there. Unfortunately, all the vertigo and voices were nearly impossible to shut out, and I kept slipping up in one way or another. On my third try, I finally got it, and behind me came the rush of my comrades down the stairs.
Practically shoving me aside, they charged through the door into what could only be considered a room on the grounds that it wasn't outside. Everything about that "room" was off and wrong. The sick feelings and jabbering voices seemed to all be concentrated here, and the walls and ceiling seemed put together in a drunken haze. Nothing seemed to connect to anything else, nor make any sense in space. On the floor was what looked to me like a large transmutation circle, and in it stood two sorcerers and a writhing mass of eyes and mouths, all speaking at once in foreign tongues. Also, Alaine was there, huddled on the floor, looking like a terrified child. I managed not to vomit, but only just.
The fight that ensued was long and confusing. At one point, I became so terrified by that strange mass I lost myself and ran upstairs as fast as I could. Luckily I came to my senses before I was all the way out the door, and ran back downstairs to rejoin the fray. When it was all over, and the mass was dead, we brought Alaine back upstairs. Neither he nor Toreal were in any condition to help us fight whatever was left in the book store, so we left them downstairs as guards.
Upstairs was less awful than downstairs. Things were slightly more normal. Up one more floor was a door, which turned out to have a gross living eye on it that perked up when we entered the stairway. Yuck! It could move around and disappear and such. At the top floor, there was a room filled with fog(again with the fog!). We stood at the edge of it trying to figure out what to do, when Grumble went charging into the fog, and was snatched up by something horrid. I couldn't make it out in the fog, but it seemed somehow familiar. A few moments later, a fireball came blazing through the fog, though I was the last one to notice, and got singed. Thankfully, the fireball cleared a patch in the fog, and gave us a guess as to the location of our assailants. What had grabbed Grumble turned out to be another one of those creepy worm things from outside the university. He and Audric took it down, and I managed to finally take out that creepy eye. Man, that thing was so disgusting! I was relieved to see it die.
Shortly after that, the fog dissipated, and we saw three sorcerers standing behind a table at one end of the room. One of them was the most insane looking woman I have seen in my entire life. Audric cast a spell at her, and then she cast a spell at him which burned his flesh and he cried out in pain. Furious, I slid under the table and slashed her legs. Together, we took all three of them out. Unfortunately, with them died a lot of our answers. Dead men tell no tales, as they say. We tried to search the room for answers, and found a false wall hiding a small corner of the room. Inside were a few things, including neat slippers that let you walk up walls and on ceilings!! I took those, as I have always wanted to be able to do stuff like that. No real answers, however, just strange books. Audric suggested that we take the sorceress's corpse and stuff it in the bag of holding. He said he would be able to cast a spell on her that would allow him to speak with her, but couldn't do it until tomorrow.
Leaving the Reality Wrinkle, we made our way to the university to give Kartherine the books we'd found. On our way, someone stepped out in our path, looking cooly at Audric.
"Mother wants to talk to you," he said. Audric told the man that "he was out," but he didn't seem to care. "Mother wants to talk to you," he said again. I was frightened a little, but I know better than to get in the way of something like this. Audric is(was?) Shadowspawn, and I imagine that is a hard thing to just disavow. He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, and then he walked away. Reluctantly, I followed the others to the university. When we were done there, Grumble went off somewhere, and Nialia and Rowan went to tell Lieutenant Shella about the Reality Wrinkle. I headed back to the inn to wait for Audric.
I sat alone for quite some time, back to the wall, drinking, hoping wherever Audric was he wasn't in trouble. I couldn't drown out the sick feeling of helplessness knowing I could do nothing but wait. After a while, a not at all unhandsome young man sat down next to me wanting to buy me a drink. I thought for a second and agreed. He was a little too tall to be my type, but who can resist free drinks? Not me, certainly! He seemed disappointed when he found out I was waiting for someone, and I felt a little guilty for taking his drink. I tried to at least be friendly, and listened to him talk for a while. My head was starting to swim a little, but then again, I had been drinking for a while so I tried to shrug it off. We continued talking for a while longer, and then he suddenly made a gesture at the door: "Isn't that your friend?" I turned excitedly to greet Audric and was met instead by a knife. I managed to dodge the worst of it, but his blade still found my skin. Great, I love being ambushed when I've already got a lot on my mind.
I drew my short sword and stuck him, but he laughed it off turning into a wererat! My heart sank a little, but I dropped my shortsword and reached for the silver rapier Audric had bought me. Inn patrons scattered as the two of us fought it out. Drunk as I was, I was still able to hold my own. My silver weapon was giving me a fair shot at winning, and I think my opponent knew it. He started to run for the door, but was met by a large man who punched him back to where I could reach him. I ran the rat through, and thanked the mysteriously familiar man at the door. In response, he began to shrink and change, and then I knew who he was. Relief flooded through me as I jumped into Audric's arms and hugged him close. He had apparently been away at the Assassin's Guild. There had been some questions concerning his abandonment of his assignment to kill Grumble and me, though Audric assured me that now everything was settled, and no one from the Assassin's Guild would be making any attempts on my life.
Shortly after, the rest of the party filtered back into the inn and informed us they too had all met with wererat would-be assassins. Looks like the word got out we were looking to storm the bell tower. After a little consideration we decided to settle Brindinsford's rat problem once and for all without any further delay. We headed out to the bell tower to see what awaited us, after first agreeing NOT to kill the head wererat so we could maybe get some answers this time.
Arriving at the bell tower, we decided to try just knocking. An old man greeted us, denying the rat problem, and telling us to come back some other time if we were so interested in seeing the tower. He closed the door, and we were back to where we started. Never the ones to take "no" for an answer, we decided to just let ourselves in. Seeing us charging in, the old man turned into a dire rat and started to run squeaking for the top of the tower. Fearing our cover would be blown, we downed the rat. No tirade of wererats came plunging from the rafters, however, so we headed upstairs. Despite my warnings to Grumble to let me go first to check for traps, he pushed past and set off a trap. Luckily, it only affected him, but I was still mad. I don't know why he can't let me go first! It's my job to protect him from things like that, and I can't do it peering around his wide back.
Each floor provided us with more were and dire rats to kill, like going through appetizers before dinner. By the time we hit the top we were ready for a real fight. Entering the bell room, we saw several large wererats waiting in the rafters. This gave me a chance to try out my excellent new slippers! I have to say, I don't know how I ever lived without being able to walk up walls. By the time the fight was through, we were all proud of ourselves. We kicked butt, and managed to not kill the boss-man. That's a first.
Audric had the awful and brilliant idea to string the head wererat up from the bell ropes so we could interrogate him better. He told us what he could, and we turned him over to Lieutenant Shella and the city guard. The Baron's own sister came to tell us the city was having a big party in our honor. I love parties in our honor! We were also able to head back to the inn and clean up in time for Bruge's play, which was a nice surprise. I don't think I've seen any plays since leaving home, and it's always nice to get dressed up and go out with Audric and NOT have to fight for my life.
After the play, we went by carriage to the party. Everyone important in town was there. I had a chance to apologize to Toreal one more time for breaking into her stuff, and Audric and I talked to the Baron's sister. She confessed to us that ever since the Baron changed advisors, he's been a changed man. While she feels like the advisor is a good one, she is concerned that her brother has become so withdrawn. It all makes so much sense! I have GOT to get myself into the Baron's chambers and do some spying. I know Audric won't be happy about it, but I don't care. I am the sneakiest of the group by far, and when I work alone, I get things done without incident. I am careful and quiet, and by gods I want some answers! Brindinsford is a city of questions, and it is driving me mad. I don't want to leave this city until we set things right. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some headway with the Baron. Until then, I'm going to curl up next to Audric in bed and get some much needed rest. Today has been far too long.

Those Who Wait

After getting some night air, Audric and I landed back on the wall and snuck back to the inn. As we entered, I noticed there were a few people still up in the common room. Two men, and a halfling. I was just dismissing them in my mind when I realized that I knew that halfling from somewhere. A moment's thought and a glance at Audric confirmed my suspicion: She was the halfling that picked my pocket the other day! What could she possibly be thinking, sitting there in plain sight, as Audric nearly knocked her senseless the last time we met.
As Audric and I made our way towards the stairs to head up to bed, it became clear that the three of them wanted to speak with us about something. I was much more interested in heading to bed with Audric than I was in finding out what they could possibly want with us at this hour, but they were kind of in the way of us getting to bed in the first place. Begrudgingly, I sat down with them to hear them out.
Apparently my public take-down of that gnomish lock has given me a bit of a reputation in town. One of the men informed me that they ran a Trading Company, as he idly traced the Thieves' Guild symbol in some spilled ale on the table. They were appreciative of the way Audric and I had handled my would-be pickpocket, and wanted to let me know that if I ever needed any information, or assistance while in town, I could always come to them at the... Trading Company.
Somehow they had also found out about our interest in the bell tower. They had already sent associates to investigate the situation, and, big surprise here in Brindinsford I know, they were never heard from again! According to the man, the tower has not previously been a source of trouble for the city. It has been run by a nice family that is known in town. I refrained from asking if the family name happened to be "Ratcliffe" or "Rattagan" or something equally hilarious to probably only me. I instead tried to assure them that we could handle whatever was lurking in that bell tower, and thanked them for their offer.
As Audric and I got up to go, our guests made their way to the door, but not before the female halfling smacked Audric on the ass! I was so mad! Words cannot describe how many evil thoughts tried to cram through the door of my mind at once! Thankfully(I suppose) they all just ended up getting stuck in the doorway, and I did nothing but fume. I hope she enjoyed that, because the next time she does anything of the sort, she is going to learn the virtues of one-handed lockpicking. Incensed, I crawled into bed and fell asleep thinking of all the things I should have done to that little trollop.
I awoke the next morning, still a little mad, and headed down for breakfast. The others joined us soon, and we explained Toreal's presence to Nialia, along with what our guesses were about the trouble at the book store called "The Reality Wrinkle." It was decided that we should all meet at Toreal's place, then head over there to investigate. Hopefully, we would find Alaine there, and maybe our evil sorceress as well.
Grumble seemed to be more somber than usual this morning. He tried to hide it, badly, and wandered out the door on some errands without saying anything about it. I know the two of us were never close in the way I am close to my family, but I have always thought of Grumble as an extra brother, albeit a quiet one. I also know that since Audric and I have grown closer, Grumble and I have drifted apart a little, and I feel guilty for that. Still, I would like to believe that if he was truly troubled by something, he could feel able to talk with me about it. Not like he would ever take me up on that. He has never even told me what happened to him before the two of us met. Just that "something bad happened." Maybe one of these days I'll get to find out. I can't help wondering what could be so bad that he would lose both name and beard, and have drunk himself to the bottom of a very tall glass...
With that in mind, it was decided that if Grumble wasn't back in time to go meet Toreal, Nialia, Rowan and I would head out to the shrine to meet her, while Audric stayed behind to meet Grumble and catch up with us after. We waited, and waited, and when it was time to go, Grumble was nowhere to be seen. Us three ladies headed off in the direction of Toreal's shrine to let her know the plan. I hoped Grumble would be along soon, as I figured Toreal would be chomping at the bit to get Alaine back, and she doesn't strike me as the type of person to handle delays with grace.