The Glade 4.0

I don't know if I posted this when I wrote it Deliah is Vis' "apprentice". I have a couple of other Vis stories, but I particularly like this one.



“Why have you come to me little human?” StormPyre the Red said as Deliah crept into his lair.

“Little human… Oh. Hello. Um… O GREAT AND POWERFUL STORMPYRE! I COME TO..”

“There’s no need to yell child. I have excellent hearing. Now, tell me what you want before I am forced to do something horrible to you.”

“Horrible? No, I don’t want to think about that. I was sent here by my master, who was told by his master to send me here. I believe that you’re supposed to give me things. I don’t exactly know what though. I’m still new at this.”

The ancient red harrumphed at the girl, a moist wet cloud of heat rolled damply over the assassin in training. “You intrigue me young human. Full of bravado and charm when you’re moments away from a painful devouring. One reason I shouldn’t eat you is that you’re one of the Mistress’ followers, and she doesn’t appreciate that sort of thing. Can you give me another?”

Deliah thought for a moment. “Give you another… Because humans give you heartburn? Because I’m cute? Because I have something for you?”

“Something for me? What, praytell would you possibly have for me that I don’t already have?”

“Already have… I have a story. And a dead cow. The Mistress told me you were fond of beef.” Delia placed a small silk circle on the ground that opened into a 10 foot hole. “See? Dead cow!”

StormPyre lazily lifted his head up and looked in the hole. Inside said hole was the corpse of a dead female minotaur. “A delightful present! Please, close it up and I will devour it later. I do so wish to savor it.” He rummaged in one of the piles he was coiled around and produced another such silk circle. “Here. This is to replace that one.” He handed it to the girl.

“Thank you Lord Dragon.”

“Now, this story. Begin.”

Deliah cleared her throat and sat down in front of the dragon. “Begin… I was born, the bastard child of the Lord Meduseld twenty-three summers ago. In a moment of passion, him and my mother were one, and I was the result. I grew up in the manor, my mother was a lady’s maid to Madam Meduseld. Everyone thought I was a product of some passionate knight, but only my true parents knew that there was no ‘k’ involved.”

“A year after I was born, Madam Meduseld had a child of her own. They called him Alyndas. They were so proud of him, he was going to be the continuation of their bloodline. Was I jealous? Not at all, I was barely able to stand, much less hate. Years passed, and I was given the job of scullery maid, under Madame Cory. Not an unpleasant task, but still hard work. Alyndas was raised into Tyr’s embrace, and excelled at everything he did. I think he fancied me somewhat. Hah! What a joke that would have been. Such a scandal! For that reason, my Father warned him away, and sought an arranged marriage to Shaleea d’Beregost, the young daughter of Tüssel Beregost”

“Fascinating.”
“Fascinating… My story?”

“What? Oh, no. I was simply musing on why I haven’t eaten you yet. It does get good does it not? I would hate to miss a thrilling ending by devouring the bard. I said to myself, never again devour the bard before the tale is told. Now, I shall never know what happened at Kellog’s Mills, or why the striped eagle is said to cry at dawn. Please, continue.”

“Continue… Oh. Right. So, we grew up together, in the same house, but different worlds. Him with his tournaments, and me with my scrubbing. Aly and Shalya also grew up together, finding commonalities in their similar lifestyles. Hah. Paladins and Priests. Birds of a feather. Bleedin godbotherers. Pious gits.”

“You’re digressing. Far be it for me to deny someone their hatred of the ecclesiarchy, but I would prefer you get to the good part before my cow goes soft and runny.”

“Soft and runny…” Deliah winced a bit at that thought. “About 4 years ago, this world’s time, Alyndas and Shaleea departed for adventure. A strange messenger came and collected the both of them for some world shattering reason. And we were left in the manor. Aly’s dad didn’t want him to go, he knew it would be trouble. But, a headstrong young knight, and the devoted follower just *had* to leave. So they left.”

“About 8 months or so after they departed, orcs rose in the east. Like a plague of locusts, they descended on the manor. Aly’s parents were killed, along with much of the guard. Only myself, Gramling and Madame Cory were able to escape with the help of the guard captain. We fled west to the Beregost manor, and Lord Tüssel was able to rouse enough support to go smash the orc raiding party. Not before they razed Meduseld Manor, and slaughtered all the livestock though.”

The summer was hot. Probably the hottest summer on record. Or would be if the people bothered to keep records. It was stiflingly hot in the evenings, and hot in the mornings. What made it worse was the humidity. It seemed so thick sometimes, that if you hit the air with a stick, it would rain a little. The farmers in the fields were worried about their crops. It was too hot for their corn to grow properly, and even were it to cool a bit, the afternoon and evening thunderstorms soaked the fields almost to the point of flooding. All of that was not an insurmountable problem though. What the true issue was, was orcs. Every time the weather turned hot and sultry, the local orc tribes got restless. Tüssel theorized that it had something to do with the thunder and lightning rousing the orcs to war. It happened every 15 years or so, and this year was probably the worst that the local manor lords had seen.

Lord Calthas Meduseld looked out over his fields. The sun was low on the horizon, and the skies were aflame with danger. Calthas was wary. He had heard of orc attacks on several of the other nearby manor houses. Skirmishes really. Scouting parties testing a foe. He knew he didn’t have enough men. He knew his manor was woefully underprepared. What else could he do though. He had no money left, and couldn’t afford more men. Where had all his money gone? It didn’t matter anymore. Susilla was pregnant again, and it was a difficult time for her. He was thankful for Gramling’s assistance with her, but there was so much to do lately. He felt that he was just getting mired deeper and deeper in debt and despair.

He didn’t want Alyndas to go. He ordered him to stay even. But, it was no use. The boy had it in his head that he was going to save the world, and went off to do so. With him gone, Calthas had to work longer and harder to maintain the manor, and he was failing. Things were about to change…

<You six, you go around to the other side of the house. Wait there for the signal. You, Naz, take your orcs and go through the field. This house is full of money and food. Gal wil fire an arrow and we will attack. Take everything, leave none alive. Go. Go now. The sun has set. For Stoneclaw!>

<For Stoneclaw!> the orc raiding band echoed.

Sara was outside gathering water for the night. She hated walking the heavy buckets back and forth to the cistern in the basement every night. To be honest, she was tired of being a housemaid. She craved adventure and fun. But no, every morning, empty the guzundas, help prepare breakfast. Every afternoon, laundry and cleaning tasks. Every evening buckets of water and dinner preparation. At least she wasn’t working out in the fields, but that would at least be a change. She wanted to go with Alyndas and Shaleea. They were her only real friends, and now, they were off having adventures, and she was stuck toting buckets. Such injustice.

The last rays of light faded from the evening sky and the first stars came out and twinkled. The night was clear and calm as the raiders got into their positions. Nothing to do now but wait.

Calthas watched the fields without looking. He was staring off into the distance, and enjoying a rare cloudless night. “Ah, Susilla, Its nights like these that make me happy to be alive. I wish I didn’t have to worry about money so much.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about money if you didn’t lend it to the other manor lords. You wouldn’t have to worry if the other manor lords actually paid you back what they owe you. What happens if the orcs come Calthas? They’re bad this year. I’ve heard the rumors. And I’m not blind, I know the house guard is at perhaps a third of what it should be.”

“I know Sus. I know. I’ll send couriers on the dawn to ask the lords for reinforcements against the possibility of orcs. If they all spare 2 men each, maybe we could have enough to defend ourselves without crippling the other houses.”

“That should be fine Calthas. Come to bed, we can watch the stars from here.”

Sara was out by the well, waiting on Jonas to join her. She’d be damned if she wasn’t going to at least have a measure of fun. He was late though, and she was getting mad. Was she not pretty enough? Common knowledge said she was. She’d give the boy another thirty minutes.

With a shower of sparks, the pitch soaked rag was ignited, and the arrow was fired high into the air. The attack was on. Orcs burst forth fro their hiding places and quickly overwhelmed the few guards that were awake. Screaming and howling, the hordes raced for the outlying houses and quickly slaughtered the inhabitants. Farmers and their families were slaughtered in minutes. Grabbing sacks of foodstuffs and anything that wasn’t nailed down, the outlying buildings were quickly ablaze. Fires and screams pierced the night, and the manor was roused. The remaining guards rushed forth, and put up a valiant, but futile effort. The few guards that remained were quickly dispatched, and the main house was entered.

Sara heard the screams, and saw the fires and dashed for the treeline. She knew she had to get help. She ran as hard as she could towards the Beregost manor. Tüssel would help them. Racing through the brush, she left snatched of dress on the bushes she ran past. Thankfully her natural grace prevented her from losing her balance and really hurting herself on the hard, rocky ground. Onward, she fled. It was about 5 miles to the Beregost manor. She had run it before in about half an hour on a dare. Now, lives depended on her.

Inside the manor, the brutish Stoneclaws killed and looted their way through the manor. Grabbing whatever wasn’t attached, cutlery, art objects, decorations, etc, all went into sacks. Outside the house, the lone remaining guard was shepherding Gramling and Madame Cory away from the house. He didn’t know he was the last, but he did know that he had to get his two charges to safety. All of the buildings were now fully aflame, and some of the fields were starting to catch as well. Orcs ran into the stables and stole the horses. Orcs broke into the stables and slaughtered the cattle, carrying away huge slabs of meat. Orcs descended on the manor house like ants, now that the defenses were mostly defeated.

“My god Susilla, they’re in the house,” Calthas said breathlessly. “We’re done for!”

“Calthas, where are the guards? They’re supposed to be…” Susilla was interrupted by a crashing against the door. “Calthas!” She screamed.

Lord Meduseld snatched his sword and shield from the wall, arming himself against the orcs. “Susilla, get away from the door. No matter what happens, I love you.”

The bedroom door shattered in under the blows of the orc warriors, and a half a dozen greenskinned monsters rushed the room. Calthas felled one of them quickly with a forceful blow. The second one through the door aimed a club at Calthas’ head and missed. Calthas swung and connected with another orc’s arm, almost severing it at the elbow. A third orc pulled off a fierce double overhand blow towards Calthas, only being warded off at the last moment by the Lord’s shield, shattering it, and sending a shock up his shoulder. Calthas dropped to one knee, and was left unprepared for the blow that ended his resistance… and his life. Susilla screamed, “Calthas! No!” and the orcs were upon her in a flash.

About forty minutes later, a dozen manor guards from house Beregost rode up. Sara had summoned them in a breathless gasp. They were too late. The orcs had gone. The buildings still burned, and all that could be heard was the roar and crackle of the fires. Timbers, weakened by the flames, cracked and settled to the ground in a crash. The Beregost guards rode slowly around the area, looking for survivors, but none were found. The Meduseld manor was lost.

“I don’t know what happened Milord,” Pasa the guard told Lord Beregost. “It happened so fast, and we were so undermanned. We were overwhelmed in minutes. We never stood a chance. I got madam Cory and Gramling out, and shepherded them here as fast as I could.”

“Yes child. Good work there. Hopefully others will make it here over the night. Sara the scullery maid is upstairs having a nap. She was almost in hysterics when she got here. I sent some guards to search for survivors, but I don’t have a lot of hope. The orcs are as thorough as they are vicious. I can almost see the flames from here. I doubt that there’ll be any remains with the ferocity of the flames. I fear that now, Alyndas is the last Meduseld.”

“Such a senseless waste. Good cows are hard to come by sometimes.” The dragon mused.

“Come by sometimes… Anyway…” as the girl continued her story, the dragon kept noticing her strange verbal tic of repeating the last phrase spoken to her, and wondered quite what it was. Narrowing his eyes while she prattled on about nonsense he *really* didn’t care about, he focused on the girl’s mind, and saw a peculiar thing: the remnants of a powerful mind control potion, mixed with a philter of domination. “Interesting,” the dragon thought. “Usually potions would cause a problem when mixed, but these…” He looked deeper into the threads of magic entrapping the girl’s mind and saw that these two particular potions had been designed to mix perfectly. “How clever,” he thought as he looked at the residue to determine a formula. Now that he knew the girl was being controlled magically, he became aware of a particular scent about her. He thought he could detect graymoss and the spores of the black cap mushroom. “Odd that. That’s usually a paralytic.” The girl was still prattling on about living with the High priest of Lathander, “Yes, yes, that’s all fine and good girl, but indulge me, tell me of how you came to know Vis.

“Know Vis… Master Vis? There’s not much to tell. Something horrible happened at the manor the night Lord Beregost was to come to dinner with Alyndas, and he found me, poisoned and delirious wandering in the wood. He said I was unconscious for three days and nights, and raving for another week. He brought me to a priest, strange fellow, smelled of rose. He had a cure for the poison…

<Whyy have you brought her here to me?>

<I need something from you Arkhost. I’m about out of Felmyst, and I can’t keep her like this for much longer. I need your alchemical skill.>

<Are you mad! You’ve been using Felmyst on her? How long?> The ‘priest’ grabbed Deliah’s head and looked into her eyes. Pale and glassy, pupils dilated to the size of the Acheru Chasm, she drooled on Arkhost’s hand. <Her mind is almost gone. What do you want?>

<Arkhost, I need a ‘remedy’ for this situation. I’ll owe you a favor. You know what that means.>

<Hah! I do indeed. Very well, This will not be easy. I can perhaps mix something. It will take a long time. You will need to care for her. She is not my responsibility, and you will owe me two favors.>

<Two?> Vis sighed. <Fine. Lets do it. I am at your disposal…>

<First we will need to reverse the effects of the felmyst. Hopefully she will have retained her faculties. I assume you do not want her to remain a walking turnip?>

<No, I need her lucid, and in control of her actions. But I need her to listen to me. I can’t tell her the truth yet. Perhaps ever.>

<Here. Give her this bluestem extract. It should counteract the felmyst.> Arkhost handed Vis a small greenish blue vial. <Quickly now!>

Vis administered the curative, and Deliah closed her eyes and slumped into the assassin’s arms. <Well, that’s better. > He said, a sarcastic edge to his voice.

<She’s sleeping. It will take some time. Put her on the floor, over there.> The alchemist pointed to a mat in the corner. Vis carried her over and laid her down gently. He covered her with a blanket from his pack as she started shivering.

<Vis, come here. I’ll need your help if we are to do this properly. If you want to bend her mind to your will, we will need to create a mixture that will do so. It will take a bit of creativity, but that’s why you came to me. I need to know what you have given her.>

<I gave her the felmyst, and I may have given her a bit of this.> Vis handed the alchemist a bottle, labeled ‘suggestions’

<Philter of suggestion? Amateur. You want this effect to last, don’t you? Let’s see. If I take this elixir of mind control and combine it with… hmm… Ah yes! Philter of domination, and add a dash of loyalty serum. Perfect. This’ll take a few hours to mix properly. You should have enough for a long enough period to break her. That is what you want, isn’t it?>

<Yes, that should do nicely.>

<You do know that the felmyst will take about a month to purge from her system. You’re going to be here for a while.>

<I know. I think she’s worth it. Gods, the way she moved. Perfect for my needs.>

<She better be. This next month will not be fun for you at all. Or cheap. Or easy.>
…and bade me take it every night for a week. I was devilishly sick for a month, I almost wanted to be dead myself! But, their care led me out of darkness, and I’m now having the time of my life! Its all such a grand adventure! I don’t know what would have become of me without Master Vis. He’s been kind and patient with me, and I’ve learned a new trade! Well, two trades if you count the assassination thing. Which I don’t, its just a twist on the thievery. I still needed to take a small dose of the curative once a week though, he told me the effects of that particular poison can linger for months, if not years. I tell you though, it tastes horrible, and my mind seems to spin every time I did take it. But I took it, Vis needs me, I just want to make him proud of me. That’s why I came here! I wanted to prove that I had no fear of… how did he put it? ‘Trafficking with greater powers’”

“Hah. Greater powers indeed.” The dragon squinted at her, and then shook his head. “I smell the stench of the nine hells on you. How have you come by that place?

“That place… Baator. After I got over the remedy, Vis trained me as a common street thief. Pickpocketing and cutpursing in Baldur’s Gate. I ran confidence scams, selling glass jewelery bestowed with magical auras in small towns for a steal and rode off, cat burglar skills. I wasn’t very good at the burglaring, almost getting caught a couple of times… would have had Vis not bailed me out… and I have a hard time with traps, but the climbing and leaping and tumbling… that, I’m really good at. Vis saw this, and took me to see an old associate of your Master’s. Johannithazar Kinthil Razlarashi, the renowned Thief-Acrobat. He’s an abashai now. Seems your Master killed him and sent his soul to Baator, and he owed his master a favor. Its convoluted, and Vis worked out the details for days. In the end though, I spent 3 years there, training every day in that… err… hellish landscape.”

“He sent me on errands, fetch this, destroy that, elude those others and whatnot. Every day something different. I performed well, and Master Johann was promoted on my back for the tasks I was doing. Eventually his scales turned obsidian, and he said I was ready to go. I really had no idea how long I was there, it all seems a blur now. Vis came and retrieved me, and we came back to Faerun. Seems only a month or so had passed here for the amount of time I spent there. I was lean, and dangerous, and Vis said he had the largest challenge ever for me.”

“Deliah. I’ve missed you so. I trust your stay with Master Johann was informative?”

“Informative… Yes, it was! Look what he gave me!” She held out her hand, and inside it was a smooth metal cylinder, greenish blue to the cast and about 5 inches long and 2 inches across.

“Hm. A cylinder of greensteel! Very nice. I’m shocked he felt he couldpart with such a treasure.”

“Such a treasure… No silly! Look what it does” Deliah closed her hand and sharply twisted her wrist. The cylinder extended instantly to ten feet in length. “It’s a pole vault! He said it was called something, but I forget what he said. Its an instant pole! Isn’t that great!”

Vis cocked his head. “Great… Yes dear! Its wonderful! It shall be useful indeed!.” ‘Wonderful, he thought, now she’s got me doing it. I really need to see Arkhost and get that fixed, Its cute, but sometimes it just grates on me.”

“Useful indeed! Oh Vis, I’m so happy to be back here. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve learned!”

“I can’t wait to see it. For now, lets take a rest for a couple of weeks. Just you and me, no training, lets just relax with each other.”

“Each other… That sounds pleasant.”

A couple of weeks passed, and the two found themselves back in Baldur’s Gate. “Deliah? Do you think you could kill a man?”

“Kill a man… Of course I could kill a man. I’ve… well, I’ve not done it before, but I’m pretty sure I could. Why do you ask?”

“Because Its time you learned how.”

“Learned how… What do you mean? I know how to kill a man. Its really not that hard.”

Vis sighed, “True, the actual *killing* isn’t all that hard. Hell, an enraged housecat could probably do an unprepared wizard. But what I refer to is the art of killing. I am the first of a new order of assassins.”

“Assassins? Tüssel told me they all died when Mrykul destroyed them, and they were no more.”

“Tüssel was wrong. There was one remaining. My Mistress. She trained me because of my special talent with magic.”

“With magic… I really wish you could teach me that. I’d love to learn magic!”

“Perhaps in time my dear. I don’t know if what I do can be taught. In the meantime, I have an offer from a minor noble to kill another minor noble. Its worth a thousand gold… Interested?”

“Interested… A thousand gold! That’s more than I’ve seen ever! Of course I’m interested…”

The young soon-to-be assassin ran flat out toward the wall, snapping out her pole at the last second, gliding smoothly over the 12 foot wall. Snapping the pole back into its compact form, she glided across the few feet between house and wall, and landed smartly on the roof. For a moment, a tile slipped under her soft booted foot, and she nearly lost her balance. She quickly recovered and darted into the pool of shadow cast near the balcony.

“Flashy my dear. And perhaps a bit loud, but I do so love watching you run.” Vis thought at her, their linked rings of telepathy allowing them to share their thoughts.

“Watching me run… Pfft. I know. That’s why I do it. Now, hush. I need to concentrate. This window’s trapped, and you know I’m not very good at traps.” Deliah looked the window up and down. She knew there was a tap there, she could see the catch, and the wire on the inside. She sat and stared at it for a time, and couldn’t, for the life of her figure out how the bloody thing worked. She hesitated for a moment, and brought out a small, flat hook. She wiggled it halfheartedly under the windowpane, and gave up when she couldn’t hook the wire. She got up on her haunches, and looked around. Slowly scanning the rooftop, she noticed the chimney. Dashing off towards it, she leaped up and stood at the top of it for just a moment before she dropped down into the house. She shimmied down the chimney and dropped lightly into the fireplace.

Deliah looked around the room, scanning for danger. It seemed that she was in a study. From what Vis had told her, the noble would be in his bedroom at the other end of the house. Deliah crept out of the fireplace and edged out of the study. Slowly she walked down the hallway, keeping her back to the wall as she went. It seemed that noone was awake in the house, and all she needed to do was make it to the bedroom, open the door and kill the noble in his sleep. She edged up to the bedroom door and slowly tried to turn the handle. The door was locked. Of course the door was locked. She was about as good at locks as she was at traps. She knelt in front of the door and pulled out a roll of lockpicks. She inserted the tension bar into the lock, and worked on the lock with a couple of different picksafter a minute or so, which seemed like forever, the lock clicked and the bolt slid back.

She went through the door quickly and clicked it shut behind her. There he was. Her target. All she saw was his sleeping form in the bed on the far side of the room. She drew her short sword from the sheath on her back, drawing it downward swiftly. Approaching the bed swiftly, she raised her sword for the killing stroke, and stumbled over a pair of slippers. Diving forward to catch her breath, she fell across the noble, who sat up with a start.

“Wha… who are? Gua…ggrh!” Deliah managed to put sword to flesh and sliced the man’s throat clumsily. The man’s dog, previously unseen by the girl in her zeal to make her first contract started barking vigorously, and advancing on her, malice in its beady little eyes. The now-assassin leaped to her feet and flipped back toward the window. In an effort to get away, she realized that she could dive out the window and vault off the wall. That, or get mauled by an angry dog, and caught by the house guards. So, she did the only rational thing and dove through the window at a run. Eyeing her mark on the wall, she executed a perfect vault off the wall and landed a few feet from where she started. She suppressed the urge to shout “Ta da!”

“Now what my dear? You’ve made rather a mess of this one haven’t you? A good assassin needs to be able to escape as well as enter.”

“Enter… I killed him. I did. I didn’t see his dog on the floor though. He barked, I panicked. I’ll be alright. I’m good at evading. See you soon.” She dashed off into the night. Flicking out her pole again, she vaulted up the rooftops and ran flat out for their sanctuary. Her sleek form nimbly cutting through the outcrops, gargoyles and chimneys, she flew on towards safety. She truly enjoyed running through the city like this, able to concentrate only on hands and feet, balance and leverage. Her training with Master Johann allowed her to make extraordinary leaps and vaults. She swung and bounded through the city, pausing only to orient herself. Once she was satisfied there was no pursuit, she started moving at a slower, more relaxed pace. Even after that exertion, she was barely breathing heavily. She sat in the shadow of an overhang and thought.

“I actually did it. I killed a man in cold blood… What a rush!” She thought to her partner, “That was amazing! I want to do it again! What a feeling! That was better than sex! “

Vis laughed through the link, “Again huh? You’re insatiable my dear. I don’t have another commission right now, but maybe we can do something else that’s almost as fun?”

“Almost as fun… Well, if you insist! I’ll be back in the inn in a flash!”
“Undone by a dog!” The dragon laughed as she related the tale of how she committed her first contract.

Deliah sighed, “A dog… Yes. I was in such an excited rush as I approached the noble, I didn’t check out the room fully. I do that. Vis calls it tunnel focus. All I can see is the target to the exclusion of all else around me. He says I need to not do that.” She humphed, “But I think it makes me better. Sharper. I see what I’m going for, and I get it!” She smacked fist into her open palm to emphasize the point. “He’s the stylish one, I’m the flamboyant one. We’re a pair.”

StormFyre thought for a moment about Vis. ‘If she’s the flamboyant one…’

“So little assassin, what has all that to do with me? And why has the Mistress told you to come see me?”

“See you… She told Vis to tell me to come here for some equipment. That I needed to be properly attired if I was to take my place as his second. Tis a dangerous world, with dangerous people, and I would need powerful protection if I was to survive and succeed.”

“And I suppose you want me to help… Yes?” Stormfyre chuckled at the human.

“Yes… Yes, I want you to help me. I told you, I’m still new at this, and I don’t know half of what I need to know really.”

“Very well, I will help you. You have entertained me, and given me a pleasant snack for later. Lets see what’s in here that would be useful for you. And then, you and Vis can go see the Lady. Lets see here. You’ll need this to start with,” the dragon said, tossing her a leather satchel with brass hardware. “Hmm. You’re fast, but these boots will make you faster,” A pair of grey suede boots followed the backpack. “This brooch will prevent you from being surprised, and these bracers will allow you to parry an attacker more easily. Ah yes,” the dragon said as he held up a small golden circlet, entwined with platinum wire, “This will prevent mind affecting magic from controlling you. And, will look quite delightful on you as well!”

Deliah giggled and took the circlet from him. She put it on, and StormPyre saw the effects clouding her mind fade a bit, but not disappear.

“Are you sure it’s doesn’t make the wearer think more clearly? I feel odd… like I haven’t felt in a long time. Its odd really.”

“Fascinating. Well, lets continue. The mistress did say to equip you well, and I’m nothing if not obedient. You said you’re not good at locks, so, lets give you this cloak that makes doors pointless and this belt and buckle combination that protects as a suit of full plate armor. I have a collar that makes the wearer immune to the slash of a sword, This pair of earrings will allow you to understand any language uttered. A handy feat. Speaking of feats, these gloves will allow you to wield any weapon you touch as if you had mastered its use. Here’s a ring that will allow you to quickly regenerate your wounds. And here is a matched set of elemental control rings.” The dragon handed over a ornate mahogany box with four rings inside. “With this, and perhaps a weapon or two, and I think you’re done. Cliché, but effective, a vorpal blade. Keep it away from your neck. Alrighty now, pack it up, and off you go! I have a cow to eat.”

“Cow to…” Deliah shook her head as if to clear a troublesome thought, “Thank you for your help lord Stormpyre. Please, let me know if ever there is anything I can do for you.”

“Yes yes, just go now please. I believe the lady is waiting for you.”

“Waiting… Yes. I wouldn’t want to keep her waiting. Thank you again.” Deliah turned and left the dragon’s lair.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!