No Longer a Game

Chapter 13 - Spoiled Brat, Shadow Thieves, and a Job

After Christie left the group the companions made their way to the Leaky Cup Inn. Natalie trailed behind feeling lost, depressed and unwanted. The elf wrinkled her nose at the stench of the docks; the smell of fresh and spoiled fish was overwhelming. She frowned when they got to the inn. It was like the one in Lund they had stayed at; dirty and smelly and she mentally kicked herself thinking about giving Ahira all the gold Samera paid her for her sexual service. She should have kept some for herself so she could have stayed in a better place or maybe she should have stayed with the captain on his ship; her companions, she no longer thought of them as her friends, would not have cared anyway and made it very clear to her that they would have no problem leaving her behind while they made it back home. At least in her mind she thought that. The captain was going to be in port for two days and offered her the use of his cabin while he was in Athkatla; of course the offer also included the use of her body as well and in truth while she thought the sex was amazing, kinky, gave her many blissful orgasms, and when she woke the next morning her petite body would be sore and bruised in a good way; Natalie was getting a little bored with Captain Samera; just as she became quickly bored with all he past lovers.

Once again they got only two rooms, one for the females and one for the males, and Natalie quietly followed Rain to their room. She wished Christie was with her; the drow may have been angry at her but at least being around her made Natalie feel safe and wanted. She wrinkled her nose again as she walked into the room.

"God, it even smells in here and this room is so dirty." She commented as she placed her pack on one of the two beds.

"Well it's what we have so deal with it." Rain told her sharply.

Natalie laid her staff on the bed and turned to Rain, "Why are you so angry with me? You are the one who fucked my girlfriend...on two different occasions." Natalie asked in an angry tone. "We...we used to be friends."

"First she is no longer your girlfriend. Second I enjoyed it a lot so when she wanted to fuck me again I let her, third prostituting yourself to Samera was a cheap, slutty thing to do just to get back at Christie, and lastly I am tired of you acting like a spoiled brat. And we were never friends, Natalie. Christie and I are and have been friends before she met you, but you and I were never really friends. To you I was just someone you could harmlessly flirt with because I am gay and you enjoyed embarrassing me with your comments and flirtations and that was it."

"I am not a spoiled brat." Natalie protested. "And...and you were my friend."

"Yes you are. You don't get your way and you pout and whine and try to manipulate people with your charm and flirtations and if that does not work you fuck them to get what you want. You use people, Natalie. You don't have any true friends. I don't think you know what a true friend is. You see people as a means to get what you want."

"I do not. You...fuck you, Rain. You know nothing about me or my life or...or what...how...just...just...fuck off."

Rain laughed, "Don't play all 'poor little rich girl' on me, Natalie." Rain moved closer to Natalie. "You know when Christie first started dating you; you were all she talked about. She talked oh sweet you were, how kind you were, how pretty you were...for weeks when we got together to play the game we had to spend the first twenty to thirty minutes hearing all about how wonderful you were. Derrick mentioned your reputation around campus, hell we all knew about it, but Christie did not care. She would tell us the stories were exaggerated and you really were not like that."

Rain moved closer and the anger in her eyes made Natalie back up until she backed up into the wall. Rain could feel her anger and cruelty surface as her game character's personality took control. It seemed to always take its place over her true self when she got angry or scared. It was like it wanted to protect her.

"Christie told me all about the time you took to Savannah to meet your parents. How nice they were how they doted on you and how they loved their only child. She told me how rich they were and how privileged you grew up. But I did not have to get that from her. The rest of us have to struggle and take student loans and work part time jobs to pay for college, Jason is on a football scholarship but he works hard to keep that scholarship and if he gets hurt it's gone and so is his college education. Hell Michael can't even wipe his own ass so don't play the victim, Natalie. Your parents pay for your tuition, your fancy loft, your clothes, and hell you get a new car almost every year. So don't tell me how 'poor Natalie' had such a terrible childhood!"

Rain's game character background took over her mind and she remembered growing up in the slums of Selgaunt, a large port city in Sembia to the west. Her mother was a human of poor background and her father some unknown elf adventurer. Rain grew up poor and her mother died of disease when she was ten, leaving the young half elf girl to survive the streets alone. She survived by begging and often stealing. She remembered her hatred of the wealthy and privileged like Natalie who kicked her and spit on her and beat her for begging for food just to survive. When she was twelve her stealing attracted the attention of the local thieves guild, the Night Knives. Instead of killing the young half elf girl, one of the lieutenants took a liking to Rain and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

He also taught her how to fight and kill. Rain was granted membership into the guild after she murdered a wealthy nobleman who owed the guild money and refused to pay. She was only twenty when the Night Knives went to war with the Zhentarim and lost. It was not a war between great armies fought on a battle field, but a street war where ambush and murder was the common battle. It was a war where Rain perfected her skills at killing. When the Night Knives were almost completely destroyed the survivors fled the city. Again on her own Rain tried to pick pocket a large dwarf on the streets of Deepingdale, a small city in the Dalelands. The dwarf caught her and was about to chop off her hand, but his Paladin companion interceded. The paladin gave Rain an option, either the dwarf takes her hand or she joins their group. Rain took option number two and has been a trusted and valuable member of the party ever since; but she never lost her hatred of the rich and privileged. It was that hatred that caused her to be so angry at Natalie.

Natalie slapped Rain's face hard. The sound echoed in the small room. "Fuck you, Rain! You...you don't know anything about my childhood...I...I...never had a childhood! It was taken from me when I was...just fuck you! You are just a sissy faggot anyway!" Her arm flew up to slap the half elf again.

Rain was faster. Her rogue character's eighteen dexterity socre gave her speed and agility and quickness that seemed almost impossible for someone to have. In one fluid motion she grabbed Natalie's hand, pushed the elf's head against the wall, and with her free hand drew her kukri from her belt and held it to the other girl's throat.

"You know why I didn't use this blade when I killed that man in Lund." She taunted Natalie with the rhetorical question, "It's because it's enchanted with an evil magic and it scares me to use it at times. It's a vampire blade. When it cuts and kills someone it drains the very life force from that person...almost like their soul...as it heals me of any wounds. I take their life force with it and it replenishes mine, but I can feel the evil of it...right now I can feel it's thirst for your blood. You ever call me a faggot again I will not cut your throat and make it quick, I will kill you slow with it and make you feel it's evil as you die."

Rain lowered the knife and Natalie starred at her in disbelief but the look in the rogue's face told Natalie she meant it. The half elf let go of Natalie's arm and stepped back. Natalie starred at the knife in Rain's hand and really saw it for the first time and it glowed with a pulsing dim blood red light. The hilt of the knife formed an evil looking demon head.

"I...I...do that again and I will burn your body to a crisp with a spell."

Rain laughed and gave Natalie a mock bow, "Go ahead. Cast one and see if you get it off before I thrust my knife into your gut. Or better yet cast it but remember what Samera told you about the Cowled Wizards. Use a spell and let them take you to that Spellhold place and see if we come and rescue you. While we go home you will rot in that place, I promise you that." Rain put her knife back in her sheath and left the room.

Natalie moved to the bed and sat down and scooted her body up so her back was against the headboard. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs and started to cry.

"I...I want to go home." She said aloud to no one. "Everyone hates me and...I just wants to go home to my mommy and daddy."

Natalie thought of what she would do when she got home. She would take a year or so break from college and move back in with her parents, the only people who loved her. She really did not mean to call Rain a faggot. She hated that word but Rain did provoke her and it just came out.

"What the fuck does she know about me anyway? Everyone thinks they know me but no one does." Natalie said aloud as she cried. "They don't know...the things...the things I..." Natalie paused and hit her head with her small fist. "No...no...go away...don't...don't think of that...just go away."

Natalie continued hit her head with her fists to drive the thoughts and memories out of her head. Memories she tried to forget, to bury deep in her mind and lock away, but they always came back. She felt her chest tighten and found it difficult to breathe as her heart raced and she could hear feel it pounding in her chest.

"No...not now...just go away." She muttered as she cried and continued to hit herself.

Natalie started take deep breaths to help calm her panic attack and slow her heart rate and after a few moments her breathing started to return to normal and her heart beat slowed down. She took one last deep breath, wiped the tears from her eyes, smiled. Once again she buried those memories deep and they were gone, at least for now. She got off the bed as if nothing happened and started to unpack her pack, laying her cosmetics, hair brush, mirror, and the scented plant oil Samera gave her on the small table in the room and hummed to herself as if nothing wrong happened.

Rain stormed out of the room and walked down the hallway of the upper floor of the inn and knocked on the door to the room the males were sharing. Without waiting for them to answer she walked in and saw Jason sitting on one bed, Ahira the other, and Lou sitting in a chair at the small table with his spell book in front of him.

"What the hell Rain, what if one of us was naked?" Lou said as he looked up.

Rain laughed, "It's not like I have not seen a man naked before. God I am a man back home." She plopped down on the bed next to Jason. "I just couldn't take it being with her alone. So what's the plan? We going to meet with this Aran Linvall guy or what?"

"Go easy on Natalie, Rain. She is having a tough time." Lou told her. "Hell we are all having a tough time. Our emotions are getting the best of us. Besides you did have sex with her girlfriend."

Rain made a snorting sound, "Tough time? Please she is a spoiled little brat who fucked Samera so she could take advantage of the perks of being a ship captain's whore. Don't let her fool you like she had me fooled and had Christie fooled. She's a manipulative, spoiled brat, slut." Rain turned to Lou, "And for your information, Lou, Christie came on to me."

"She has some issues I agree, Rain, but she is still one of us and we need to look after each other." Jason told her.

"Fine you look after her. I am done defending her. She's your problem now."

"Well her issues as you put them, Jason, are something terrible I think. Something happened to that girl I believe and Jason is right; she is one of us and we need to protect her as we need to protect each other. So get over you deal with her, Rain; she has done nothing to you. As Lou mentioned, you did fuck Christie so she has a right to be mad at you." Ahira added.

Rain put her hands over her face. "Oh God, you too Ahira? Once again she has charmed and manipulated her way into all of your good graces. God you men are stupid and will do anything for a beautiful girl."

"Remember this, people, Habersham's letter. He said he could not send us to this world until Natalie joined us. I have no clue what that means but maybe we can't get back without her also." Lou reminded them.

"So what about this Aran Linvall? I for one think we should meet him and hear what he has to say. If it's a job then that's money for us to get home...or a start." Rain changed the subject.

"I agree." Ahira nodded, "We need to at least hear him out."

"Ok but keep in mind he most likely is a member of the Shadow Thieves." Jason added, "So we cannot go in there blind. Ahira you go with Rain and show this Bayle man the coin and arrange a meeting with Linvall."

"So we go now?" Rain asked.

"Sure might as well. Give us something to do." The dwarf answered.

"I'll go also but hang back a little in case there is any trouble. Lou you stay here and keep an eye on Natalie...make sure she is ok and does not wonder off. The streets can be dangerous for a single person walking around and for a pretty elf girl even more so. Remember reading about Athkatla in the game books. Slavery is common practice here and slavers aren't afraid to kidnap young girls to sell in some of the illegal underground brothels that cater to umm...well...more perverse pleasures including torturing a girl to death if the right price is paid."

"Got it." Lou said.

"We let Christie go out alone." Rain said in a concerned voice.

Ahira chuckled, "Christie is drow, people think twice before molesting a drow; plus she is a priestess of Eilistraee and people will see her holy symbol and know that. That means that she has ties to people, even if she does not anyone seeing her would assume she was connected to the order of Eilistraee here in the city and that means she goes missing people come looking for her and no one wants a bunch of drow followers of Eilistraee looking for them. Natalie does not and neither do you for that matter. People see the rest of us, Jason excluded since he is a paladin of Tyr, they know no one would look for us."

Rain nodded and the dwarf's assessment mad sense. "So we doing this now?"

"Might as well." Ahira said.

Rain and Ahira walked into the Sea Bounty tavern and it reminded them of the other taverns they had been in. It was smelly, dimly lit, and the patrons seemed hard men who would not have second thoughts about cutting someone's throat. They were mostly ignored as they approached the bar, several men did leer lustfully at Rain and one tried to grab her ass, but Rain was sober and faster and her hand slapped his away.

At the bar, the two were waited on by a young attractive man who smiled at Rain and blushed when the half elf smiled back. Rain thought he was very cute.

"M...may I help you." The young man asked Rain.

"I don't know...what do you recommend?" Rain replied in a flirtatious tone and a wink. "Ouch." She muttered when Ahira kicked her shin. "What was that for?"

"We don't have time for your silliness." The dwarf replied and then turned to the red faced young man, "We are looking for a man named Bayle. We are told he owns this establishment."

"Father," the young man called out over his shoulder, "Got some one asking for you."

A door behind the bar opened and out walked a tall, fat, man with a bald head. Ahira summed him up quickly and thought even though he was fat the man was as strong as a bull and one not to be taken lightly.

"I'm Bayle." The man said in a gruff voice.

Rain slid the coin on the bar toward the man. Bayle quickly picked it up and put it in his belt. Rain's expert eyes thought the man's hands moved fast...too fast for a fat tavern owner.

"Follow me. Linvall is this way."

Rain and Ahira looked at one another and shrugged. They both assumed it would be more cloak and dagger then just walking into the tavern and showing the coin. They expected something along the lines of, go to the alley of some street at midnight and come alone, but it was not as sinister as they had thought. Rain looked over her shoulder before she followed the fat man and saw Jason enter the inn.

Bayle walked them into the back room behind the bar that served as his office. There were ledgers on a desk and a book shelf with a few books occupying the space but not much else. He walked to the book shelf, slid it to the side to reveal a hidden passage.

"Well come on." He told them, "I ain't got all day."

Bayle led the two down a lit hallway and the down some stairs. They passed several doors until they reached the end of the downstairs passage. The tavern owner knocked on the door and waited. Rain and Ahira heard a male voice telling them to enter. Bayle opened the door and stepped aside to allow the two friends to enter the room.

The room was like a large office. There were book shelfs filled with books, paintings on the wall, a very elaborate desk carved from some dark wood, two chairs in front of the desk. There were people in the room; two men and a woman. One of the men and the woman were standing next to the man sitting behind the desk looking at what appeared to be a map and the ledgers and Ahira and Rain could tell they interrupted a conversation between the three men. Both the man and the woman standing were armed with short swords on their belts, and behind the desk sat Aran Linvall.

Linvall was a thin man with a cruel looking face that to Rain looked like a rodent. He smiled at the two guests and motioned for the other man and the room to leave the room. Once they were gone he leaned back in his chair and smiled.

"Please sit." He told Rain and Ahira. "Bayle, bring us some wine...the good stuff not that swill you serve the customers." Bayle nodded and left the room. "And make sure their paladin friend out there gets the good wine as well."

Rain and the dwarf sat down, "Paladin?" Ahira asked in mock confusion, "It's just us two."

Linvall laughed, "Let's not start out with lies, shall we. I know your paladin friend...Jason is it not...is out there. You and your companions have been watched ever since you left the Mistral. I know everything that happens in this city. I know you are staying at the Leaky Cup Inn, the wizard and that lovely elf mage are back at the inn, and your drow friend has gone to the visit the Temple of Eilistraee. I also know you are in desperate need of funds."

"Ok...so you know who we are so tell us who you are and what you want from us." Ahira replied gruffly.

"I am Aran Linvall, the leader of the Shadow Thieves in Athkatla."

"Not much of shadows if you tell us who you are." Rain said sarcastically.

Linval laughed again as the door opened and the man Bayle brought in the wine. He poured three glasses of wine and handed them out. He left without a word.

"Well, my dear, I don't care if you know who I am. You are no threat to me. With a word I could have the two of you killed here in this room, your paladin friend cut down in the tavern, your two wizards throats cut in their rooms, and your drow priestess murdered in the streets." He leaned forward, "But I see no need for any violence. I have a proposition for you. A proposition that will pay you enough gold for whatever reasons you need it for and you will be doing something for me...getting rid of some competition shall we say."