Tymora's luck

ACT ONE SCENE 2

Emilo had heard the priest of Iyachtu Xvim mutter the words that would extinguish the magic of the light boy's wand. There was menace in those words, of that tit kender had been sure. The moment the light went out. Emilo dodged to the side and crouched behind a wall but tress. Once Joel used his own magic to light the blade t! his sword, the kender was able to observe the attack completely unnoticed. The attackers didn't bother to search for him. They must have thought he'd run off, or else they didn't really care if he was present, thinking he posed no threat to their activity.

Joel seemed to be holding his own in his fight with the robed attacker, but Jas was completely inundated by tit four men intent on bringing her down with a net. She screamed, "Fire!" at the top of her lungs until the men unstoppered some sort of vial under her nose. Then she collapsed, unconscious. The men dragged her off in the net There was no time to wait for Joel to finish his battle wit the fifth man. Emilo took off after the four men abducting Jas.

The kender had no trouble trailing behind the men despite the dark and the fog. The man who had first grabbed Jas was wearing chains which weighted him down and made it impossible for Jas to fly off. The chains jangled as he walked, and he and his companions all complained about having to drag the weight of the small winged woman. Emilo simply followed the noise they made.

They turned into a small alley. Near the back of the alley, a short set of steps led down to a door in the rear of a building. One of the men unlocked the door with a key and opened it. The men dragged their prize into the building and closed the door behind them. Emilo slipped quietly down the steps and put his eye to the door's keyhole.

A lantern lit the basement room beyond the door. The men hung the net holding Jas from a hook in the low ceiling. Then they sat in rickety chairs surrounding a rickety table and began playing cards. Emilo put his ear to the door.

"Perr's going to be mad about losing his light," one of the men commented. "Going to expect a bigger cut for leading the gullies our way."

"Not our fault. Priest were the one what fizzed it out," another man said. "Let him ask the priest."

"That's cold. And him just a boy. Still paying for the wand, he was," the first man said.

"Think we should tell the priest to light it up for him again," a third man said.

"Right," the first man agreed.

"You ask him, Sladdy. I'm not asking that snake for anything more than the money he owes us. Got venom in his looks, he does."

"What's taking him, I wonder? Don't suppose that berk with the sword did him in, do you?"

"Not a chance. Probably just got lost. No matter. His boss will be here soon. He's the one with the purse anyway."

"The priest's boss is the one that gives me the shakes. There ain't no man under that cloak. It's a creature from the Lower Planes, if you ask me."

"No one asked you."

Emilo pulled away from the door. Even if Joel did defeat the priest, Jas wouldn't be safe. Someone else would be coming for her, someone undoubtedly very nasty, unless Emilo could rescue her somehow. Hastily the kender concocted a plan.

He pounded hard on the door with the back of his dagger. "Sladdy, it's Perr!" he called out in a fair imitation of the light boy's voice. Then he ran back up the stairs and hid in the shadows.

A few moments later the door opened and one of the men poked his head out.

"Perr? Where are you, boy?"

"Hiding," Emilo whispered in the darkness. "Hardheads caught the priest. Priest turned stag on ya; told 'em where to find you and the girl. Hardheads are coming this way. Better run while you can," he called out. Then, keeping to the shadows, the kender ran back down to the end of the alley and ducked behind the corner.

Emilo had to wait only about a minute before all four men came tearing out of the alley and ran off down the street. He hurried back into the alley. It was a simple matter to pick the lock on the door and slip inside. The lantern was still lit.

Jas still hung inside the net on the hook. She was just regaining consciousness, stirring in the net and muttering some foul oaths.

"Jas, it's me. Emilo. You've got to hold still so I can cut you out," the kender hissed.

"Where are we?" the winged woman demanded as Emilo sliced at the rope net with his dagger.

"Somewhere we want to get far away from quickly,' Emilo answered.

"Why?" Jas asked.

"The priest's boss is coming here. Someone from the Lower Planes, they said. Is that a bad place?"

Jas swore again. She grabbed Emilo's dagger and began slicing at the net in frenzied fear. Emilo worked more methodically with his sword. In a few moments, Jas tumbled to the floor, landing on her tailbone. As Emilo helped her to her feet, she grimaced in pain. "There?" she asked, pointing to the door to the alley.

Emilo nodded. They rushed out the door and hurried up the steps. Once in the alley, Emilo froze. From the end of the alley, he heard a noise, a croaking, gulping sound. There was a whiff of sulfur in the air.

The kender dragged Jas farther down the alley and pulled her down to crouch beside him in the dark shadows.

They'd left the door to the kidnappers' hideout open, so a faint beam of light streamed out into the alley. A giant creature stepped out of the mist into the beam of light. It resembled a frog, though it was several feet taller than a man. It made its way down the alley, walking on its hind legs. It seemed to be looking straight at them. Emilo felt a momentary sense of hopelessness steal over his heart.

Then the kender felt Jas stiffen and sway. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark. She reached her hand out toward the frog creature. Fortunately the frog creature, standing in the light, could not see into the dark shadows where they were hiding. Nonetheless, its gaze seemed to exert some evil power over Jas. The kender slid his hands over the winged woman's eyes.

Jas's body shook, then relaxed.

The frog creature shimmered and shrank, then transformed itself into the shape of a man in a great cloak. In human form, it made its way down the steps, ducked through the door, and disappeared into the thugs' hideout.

Emilo grabbed Jas's hand and tugged her to her feet. They ran past the door, down the alley, turned, and dashed down the street, around another corner, and down another street. They didn't stop running until they bumped into a Hardhead with a light wand who ordered them to halt.

"I haven't done anything," Jas insisted. "I'm running from a creature who tried to abduct me."

"I know, miss," the Hardhead said. He blew a shrill whistle. A few moments later, Joel and two more Hardheads appeared out of the mist. Joel's tunic was torn and stained with blood, and his flesh beneath was scarred but not bleeding. He looked sick with worry.

"Jas!" Joel cried out. "Thank goodness you're all right."

"Thank Emilo," Jas corrected. "He helped me escape. If it hadn't been for him, I'd be a prisoner in Gehenna right now."

Joel looked surprised, but he was relieved to learn his suspicions about the kender had been incorrect. He broke into a smile and clapped a hand on the kender's shoulder. "Thank you," he said heartily.

"Show us where you left the thugs that captured you," one of the Hardheads ordered.

"I don't want to go back there!" Jas declared, her voice rising in pitch. "There's a monster back there who wants to take me to Iyachtu Xvim."

"Iyachtu Xvim?" the Hardhead asked, puzzled. The other two Hardheads rejoined the group in the street.

"Xvim's an evil god of one of the Prime worlds," Joel explained.

"The monster was an evil creature from the Lower Planes," Emilo added with obvious relish. "It was a giant green and yellow frog, ten feet tall. It shape-changed into a man in a cloak."

Joel bit his lower lip, wishing the kender were less extravagant with his description. No one is going to believe such an exaggeration, he thought.

But the Hardheads seemed to take the description in stride. "Hydroloth," one said.

"Undoubtedly," the leader replied.

"It's in a basement room in the alley beside the alchemist's guildhall," Emilo offered helpfully.

The Hardhead leader nodded. "Got it. You three can wait here," he told Jas, Joel, and Emilo. "Follow me, men."

The Hardheads followed their leader into the dark mists of Sigil, intent on apprehending the amphibian culprit.

"Let's go," Jas whispered.

"They told us to wait here," Joel replied.

Jas rolled her eyes and sighed. "They said we could wait here. They didn't say we had to. If you think I'm waiting around so I can testify against a hydroloth in a Sigilian court of law, you're nuts. I've had it up to here with this whole dark-stalker problem. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to keep from getting delivered to Iyachtu Xvim, even if it means asking for help from another god. Now, are you going to take me to Finder or not?"

"All right," Joel agreed before the winged woman had a chance to change her mind. "Let's go. This way," he said, heading down the street in the direction of the Civic Festhall. Jas followed.

Emilo trotted along beside Jas. "This scholar friend of Joel's that we're going to see-is that Finder?" the kender asked.

Jas nodded.

"Is he really a god?" Emilo asked excitedly.

Jas shrugged. "He and Joel seem to think so." Joel turned and shot Jas an annoyed look.

Jas grinned. "But neither of them claim that he's a real important god," she explained.

"But he lives in a place called Arborea?" Emilo asked.

Joel nodded.

"Is that in the stars?"

Joel shook his head. "It's one of the Outer Planes. That's where our gods live… most of them anyway."

"Is that different from the Lower Planes, where the frog creature came from?" the kender asked.

The evil gods dwell in the Lower Planes, one of which is called Gehenna. That's where the frog creature came from. Arborea is one of the Upper Planes. Finder is a good god," Joel explained. He shot a challenging look at Jas, but the winged woman made no comment. Her mind, Joel could tell, was on the evil god in Gehenna whose priests were trying to enslave her.