Let's Go Hunting (19/10) - Jaezred

Imryll liked to have her meals on one of the higher balconies of the Mountain Palace, and one can easily see why: it provided a sweeping, breathtaking view of the Witching Woods, above its dense, fog-clouded canopy, from which a flock of birds could occasionally be seen taking flight, under the full moonlight. When Jaezred arrived there, pushing along a levitating tray carrying their dinner for tonight, she was already sitting at the small table with candles lit, to further add to the romantic atmosphere.

The first item he served was the spicy margarita, helpfully pre-mixed and bottled for him. He poured the pale green liquid into her glass, then garnished it with a skewered chilli pepper coin from the Plane of Fire and crystallised tears of an elf woman on the rim. Pushing the finished drink towards her, he said, “Now this is a cocktail that captures your ladyship’s essence, in all its irritating glory.”

Imryll raised an eyebrow and gave it an appraising look before taking a small sip. There was a pause as she appeared to be thoroughly scrutinising the flavours on her palate, but it was not long until a flattered smirk crossed her face. “Well, it seems you do learn,” she giggled.

He grinned. “Glad you like it. Leona from the Fiore Popolare is quite the genius.”

“Indeed. I shall have to take another wander over there. Should pair quite nicely with what I’m supremely hoping is a fine dinner, assuming you haven’t butchered it, of course.”

Right on cue, Jaezred uncovered the main dish for the night: caramelised ankheg brisket — as per her request — in sweet and spicy sauce with onions, coriander, lemon, crunchy mushroom garnish, and a side of creamy mash — rich and tangy, as per her tastes. The brisket had been slow-cooked and allowed to bask in the sweet chilli jam for hours, and thus the tender, browned meat fell off easily when Jaezred sank his knife into it.

“You were not involved in the cooking process so I think it shall be fine,” he said as he put a cut of brisket, dripping with thick sauce, onto her plate. “Certainly no toxic alchemical fluids in it, for one.”

“Really now, you act as if you’ve never ingested anything deadly before. You forget, I’ve been to my share of drow parties...But I must admit, this does look surprisingly good. How did you find cooking with something so caustic this time? One of the chefs lost his fingertips the first time he tried.”

An arrogant smirk formed on his lips. “It was nothing special. I suppose I’m just of a superior quality to your fey chefs.”

“Oh really? I’ll bear that in mind and ask for something off the menu next time.”

“I’ll take whatever challenge your ladyship offers.” He leaned in to peck a kiss on her forehead. “Thank you for indulging me tonight.” He proceeded to fill his own plate and glass and took the seat across from hers.

“Well, if you’re planning to spoil me, it would be rude to say no!” Imryll laughed as she took a bite and closed her eyes, taking in all the flavours of the meat and letting out a sensuous “Mmmm...”

After a moment, she opened her eyes again to see that Jaezred had been watching her closely. “Were you planning to eat or just watch me? Not that I mind of course, sometimes an audience is nice.”

“I’m simply trying to see if you liked it,” he quickly answered, blushing a little as he forked some mash into his mouth.

“The acid is still a little strong but that can’t be helped. Down to the choice of cut, I’m afraid...Otherwise, I must admit it is very good! You’ve outdone yourself again, it seems, Lord Jaezred.”

Jaezred blinked in surprise. He almost couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you feeling alright? There wasn’t a single insult in that.”

“Hmm? Oh sweetie, I said you out did yourself, not anyone else. We both know that is a low bar...” She took another bite, clearly pleased with herself.

“Oh, of course,” he muttered in response. “Still, that was the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Oh come now, I’m sure I’ve said nicer before. I think I even used the word ‘capable’ once?”

“Glowing praise from your ladyship.” He smiled at her. “Well, I suppose we should talk business now.”

“Yes, of course—” She paused to continue eating. “So, tell me, what has got my personal chef thinking this time?”

“That I should ask for a raise...”

“For a raise, you’d need to be hired...I could probably put in a good word with the Moonweaver, if you like?” The eladrin flashed him a roguish smile.

“Oh yes, I’m sure your ladyship will tell her majesty about how capable I am...but no, I have news about Farstep and Jack.”

“Ooh, he comes bearing food, drink, and news...Maybe I should give you a raise?”

“Payment in any form is appreciated,” Jaezred said, which got him a flirty wink in reply. “Truth be told, we didn’t find out very much, but it’s still a story worth knowing. Remember that Arcadia tuning fork I told you about? Aurelia built this rod to open a portal to the last location that tuning fork was used for. We went through and followed a set of modron tracks into a cave, and there was a small, scrap metal portal identical to the one outside of Daring Heights — also destroyed. It too was being guarded by nimblewrights, powered down when we found them. It seems they’d been given the shutdown order by Jack at the same time the one in the Dawnlands was compromised.”

“Another miniature portal...you said it was likely for passing materials through, correct?”

“Yes. This one had a tuning fork for Gehenna. One of my companions, who works in import-export, thinks that this meandering trail through multiple planes is to obfuscate the transport route.”

“Well, it certainly seems to be working since now we don’t know how many steps in this chain there are. And they were powered down? Do you think he just abandoned the chain once it was compromised or just...finished with it?”

“It’s impossible to give a definite answer. However, I’m leaning towards the former, because as far as I know, the shutdown only happened after he was notified of adventurers discovering his operation. And furthermore...we followed another trail in Gehenna, but this time we found a larger portal that could fit humanoids, and no nimblewrights around.”

“Another chain or an escape route, maybe?” Imryll looked to be deep in thought for a moment, broken only to take another bite of the meal before her. “So the modron is clever enough to leave false or misleading trails as well...I’d be careful next time you find one of those portals. Perhaps one might lead into a trap he has laid for you?”

The drow mage broke out into a dry laugh at that. “You should’ve said that before we went on this mission. The last portal was built specially for us, I suspect, and it led to Mechanus, where Jack himself was waiting. He said we keep getting in the way of his and Farstep’s goal so he had to kill us to ‘send a message’. Then he created a monstrous amalgamation out of the giant machines from the Amaranthine Games finale and tried to do just that. I don’t know what the Hells you fey had done with this damned hexadrone, but it is astounding how you’ve managed to overlook his sheer intellect.”

“Sarastra was playing a dangerous game making a pet out of him, that is for sure...Funny as I’m sure she found it, it was quite frankly foolish to think he was going to sit quietly forever. What about this Farstep, any more news on him? The two seem an unlikely couple but clearly a dangerous one, given their track record. I’m of course assuming his ‘message’ fell on deaf ears since you made it here to pamper me again.”

She put on a sweet, saccharine smile — a sight so unusual it was unsettling. Jaezred narrowed his eyes at her and reached across the table to put the back of his hand against her forehead, checking her body temperature. “Are you sure you’re not feeling ill?” he asked.

There was no response from her, only the gradual return of her trademark wicked grin as she sipped from her glass. Jaezred slowly retracted his hand whilst giving her the side-eye.

“Right. Yes, Farstep,” he said, getting back on track. “Around the same time during our confrontation with Jack, our cowboy friend was playing his own hand. I heard the tale afterwards from the party that had the misfortune, but didn’t get a lot of details as the emotions were still...raw. Farstep had disguised himself as an orc to persuade some real orcs to stir up trouble in a small settlement just outside of Daring Heights. Something about a tanner having his flag post stolen. The tanner went to adventurers for help, naturally, and so they walked straight into his clever little trap, which consisted of sovereign glue and a wall of force. Farstep was slightly more successful than Jack, however, as he managed to disintegrate one of the adventurers.”

He paused to take a sip of his drink and cast his gaze over towards the Witching Woods.

“It was an elderly tiefling gentleman, the one who skywrote ‘Ulorian is a coward’ during the Ascension,” he recalled with a small smile.

“Oh now, that is a shame...I was hoping to meet the person who pulled that little stunt. Did you know him well?”

“No, I only spoke to him a few times. Good company. Shame indeed.”

“Hmm...I take it this means there are likely a few people ‘out for revenge’ now? I know how worked up the little people can get...”

“Yes, so…” He sighed a little and leaned forward. “One of them got the sense that I’ve been gathering information about Farstep and wants to be in on it, with the ultimate goal of killing him. And apparently, there’s another mercenary who’s been very intent on going after both Jack and Farstep for a while now. For what reason I do not know.”

“Oh dear, I had hoped you would be sharp enough to avoid being caught out like that. What’s their angle for wanting Farstep? Anything other than our deceased graffiti artist?”

“Nothing. We are friends; I know she had no interest in either of them prior to this. It’s the other one I'm not sure about. But on the other hand, they may know something that I don’t. It could be good to have more eyes and ears...”

Imryll cocked an eyebrow at him. “So long as they are your eyes and ears. It’s good you are thinking this way, but remember, those same eyes and ears can report to someone else too.”

“You’re right.” Jaezred rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps you can lend me a hand and keep an eye out for anything suspicious about them?

“The first one is called Lady Oziah Daybreaker. You might already be familiar with her; she came here not too long ago to pick up a bit of magic but refused to make a deal. Angelborn paladin, disinherited by her father, Duke Something-Or-Other, chip on her shoulder due to that. I don’t think she has allegiance to anyone but herself — not the type.

“The second one goes by Delilah. Half-elf; martial artist, assassin. Always wears a mask. Has a pet cat. I don’t know anything about her beyond that.”

“Hmm. They do sound familiar,” replied Imryll. “This Delilah sounds like one of the ones Bugbite rounded up for me before...Well, in any case, I would suggest you are in a better position to do that than I, being your neighbours and all. But I'll keep several ears open...Lady Oziah and Delilah...”

“Oziah is easy enough, but Delilah has a tendency to disappear into the shadows. Someone watching from afar would be helpful. But what do you think I should do now? Should I bring Oziah, or both, into the fold?”

“Well, do you trust either of them?”

“You know I don’t trust anyone. Well, anyone but you.” He reached a hand forward to fondly stroke her face down to her chin.

She smiled. “As endearing as that is, coming from such an oaf, you still need to decide if you can or not. You’re going to have to start somewhere. You seem closer to Lady Oziah, why not test the waters...see how helpful she may be?”

He nodded, swirling the drink in his glass. “Sounds fair. I shall have to ease her into it, and make sure that the other one doesn’t find out.” There was a brief pause before he continued, “You haven’t asked if we managed to capture Jack.”

“Ah, well,” she said before finishing her drink. “That’s because I don’t need to, dear.”

Jaezred let out a chuckle and used a mage hand to pour more margarita into her glass. “Well, would you like to know how he got away?” He swivelled his body around to fully face her. “We actually had him, by the way. It was Aurelia’s fault he escaped. We destroyed his machine, confronted him, but of course we didn’t have a way of dragging him back to the Material Plane against his will. But Aurelia did, being a conjurer”—he got progressively angrier and more animated as he told the story—“so I sent a message to her the very moment we saw Jack. And yet, she didn’t turn up until after Jack has slipped from our grasp! Even though we’d agreed beforehand that we needed her help! Why, you ask? Oh, council business! More important than Jack, naturally!”

“Aurelia again? Seems like a regular thing these, you telling me of her shortcomings...It’s a wonder that quaint land of yours hasn’t sunk into the ground yet. Still, if you fought with Jack, how capable is he?”

“Evidently, his intelligence is his best asset. The amalgamated machine was formidable to be sure, but too large, sluggish, and clunky — still no match against a party of competent adventurers.” After the words came out of his mouth, Jaezred suddenly perked up, as if suddenly remembering something. “All this trouble wasn’t for nothing, though. I learned something potentially crucial about our criminal duo. But first…”

He looked expectantly at her. She returned the same.

“...Two hundred gold, same as last time?”

She smirked and slowly reached into the folds of her robes with one hand, procuring yet another spherical ruby and rolling it across the table towards Jaezred, whilst raising her other hand to conjure an illusory image of her lover, speaking in a flirtatious tone: “Payment in any form is appreciated.”

He rolled his eyes. “How dare you use my own words against me.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t make it so easy.”

“Right...so, Jack used a soul coin to power the Amaranthine Games machines. If you recall, Farstep’s simulacrum left behind a particularly heavy soul coin in Sigil. Jack said he got his from Farstep. I didn’t know soul coins could be used in this way, but it’s clear now that they are using them as a source of power.”

“Have you...found any more of those coins? Besides this one and the one that was taken to be destroyed a while ago?”

“No. And this last one was used up; no way to tell what was once inside.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, we already know Langston has the Orb of Souls, but it seems like he has learned a bit more about how it’s used...tactless as it may seem, a soul is quite a powerful thing. It does raise the question of what else he has learned to do with it now, though…”

“You think he’s been using the Orb of Souls to create these special soul coins? That is...concerning.”

“Well that, or he has a small piggy bank of them saved up? Finding one is interesting...but two now? Seems more than coincidence to me.” The expression on Imryll’s face turned into one of worry, and she leaned slightly across the table. “...Do...do look after yourself if you keep digging,” she said. “We don’t know what else they may have cooked up with something like that…”

Once again, Jaezred was surprised. He waited to see if a hidden insult would come springing out of nowhere, or if the concerned look would morph into a mischievous grin once more. But nothing came.

The witch leaned back slowly and gazed off the balcony, idly taking another sip of the cocktail, then turned back to Jaezred. “So...I do hope you’ve prepared a suitable dessert?”

He stared blankly at her for a second, before getting up to serve the rum-soaked candied apples he bought from a diner in a cave within the recesses of the Mountain Palace. “You were being genuine? You’re really not quite yourself today, are you? Since when do you care about me?”

“Hmmm? About being careful? Well of course I’m being serious...who else is going to cook for me and rub my feet?” She gave him a playful wink.

“I really do need a raise…”

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Thank you once more to Anthony for roleplaying Imryll!