Nehl Brisby - The Sting

[Continued from the last entry]

"I arrived just as the rest of the party was clambering up onto a roof adjacent to the warehouse where Amyria and Odos had been staying, with several Githzerai in tow for some reason. I assume they had offered to help and Mayim simply hadn't told them no yet... 

As we entered the courtyard, the signs of our combat with the beggar cult from earlier all but gone, Telicanthus and Pennel pulled off from the group of city guards (I noticed at this point that his personal contingent of Githyanki had slinked away. This worried me) and told them that a dangerous group of insurgents slept inside of the warehouse, making this the perfect time to strike. The fools, having no real reason not to trust the Githyanki Lord, charged in. To their credit, they did so with all due trepidation and readiness -- not like idiots who expect to meet no resistance -- but it mattered little, as they were met with an empty room full of straw-padded crates and little else. One of the Githzerai huddled with the party was nudged by Mayim, and he leaped down to lock the warehouse door. I remain convinced that this was more for the guards' safety than our own, but Mayim claimed otherwise. Either she's going soft, or for some reason she's attempting (poorly) to display the slightest bit of humility. My money is on the latter. 

Telicanthus' momentary confusion as the the sudden Githzerai underling was quickly overtaken by the surprise of the Copper Fang descending upon him and his servant from the rooftops, yelling at them to surrender and pay for his crimes. Unfortunately, the pompous ass quickly recovered from the shock of our attack and laughed at us as Githyanki poured from the surrounding alleyways and one of the Githzerai -- A female by the name of Galia, who had been rescued with the others of her kind before I joined up with the party -- suddenly turned and struck down one of her own squad. Mayim later reported that, in fighting the woman, she seemed vacant and sluggish, much like previous enemies they had fought who had been the possessed forms of former allies. She neglected to slay the poor creature, hoping to find a cure for the possession and perhaps save her life rather than end it mercifully. I find this notion naiive, but noble. Something to expect from Mayim, perhaps. She's quite immature in both humor and violence, and this lends itself to a somewhat child-like take on the realities of the world... I'm surprised she's survived this long with that world-view intact, but I find it refreshing... 

The combat with Telicanthus was quite difficult, as both he and Pennel proved to be formidable opponents. However, in time, we managed to overpower them and render both unconscious. We were thoroughly exhausted by this point, but the night was far from over. Mayim and I rushed to the warehouse and opened the door, which was already near breaking from the beating the guards inside were applying to it. The captain of this particular company stormed to the forefront of the group and demanded to know what was going on, surveying the violent scene in front of him that he had only been able to overhear prior. The gods were truly with us for once, as this man proved to be quite sensible for a town guard, taking our story quietly and immediately agreeing to follow our lead for the time being, until such a time as we were able to further prove our case. He did insist on taking custody of the prisoners (we had since tied up any combatant who hadn't been killed Galia in our brawl), so that we would have no chance to assassinate any of them now that we'd gained his temporary trust. We considered this reasonable, and once he was content with the state of things in and around the warehouse, he joined the rest of the party in a mad rush to find Amyria's company (and eventually the rest of the coalition members) to see if they were alright. For my part, I slipped into an adjacent alley and assumed the form of a bat, taking to the skies to scout from above and keep an eye out for other, perhaps unrelated signs of violence.

My eye being elsewhere, the rest of the party found Amyria first, standing in another open avenue with a sword in the gut of one of her followers. It seemed that he, like Galia, had been possessed at some point over the last few weeks and had attempted to strike while everyone was rushed and distracted. Thankfully, Amyria was not so easy to catch off guard. The rest of the party stopped to discuss what's happening with her, so I decided that now was an excellent time to warn Mayim's General Taramin of the danger the Githyanki posed to his life. Getting some directions towards the central Guard Tower in the city from Mayim via the sending stone, I quickly located the General's room from the outside and made a moderately dramatic entrance, crashing through the window and regaining my human form. I was quite fortunate that the man didn't seem to have his sword sheathed by his side at that moment, as I'm not sure I would have survived the landing otherwise. Taramin was on me in an instant, obviously ready to fight off whatever threat I might pose. When I made it known that I was a member of the Copper Fang, and thus knew Mayim, he softened up slightly and listened to my warning of possible attempts on his life by the Githyanki that now roamed the city streets. Taking into account the fact that I had yet to act violently towards him thus far, Taramin nodded and accepted my words. He told me to go and gather the party, if I was who I claimed to be (my absence during the gathering at Telicanthus' mansion meant I had left little impression on the people there...), and prepare to root out these murderous individuals wherever they were. 

The rest of the night was spent in minor combat, bursting into the homes of Coalition members and people of some political clout in the city, halting assassinations and protecting the general populace from those few Githyanki who were villainous to deviate from their stated goal enough to attempt some theft and looting. By the time the sun began to rise on the city of Sayre, reports of violence (and Githyanki in general) lessened and eventually ceased altogether. The only lives lost were the Githzerai attacked by Galia and a few city guards that Assassins had gotten the drop on before being apprehended by larger forces. Perhaps not a happy notion, but in the grand scheme of things, these were acceptable losses."

There is a span of several weeks between this entry and the next.

"Telicanthus, after much coaxing and some 'persuasion' from the city guard (apparently they had offered to bring Mayim in as assistance if he remained obstinate), finally confessed his crimes against the City of Sayre, and we were released from our probationary state of the last few weeks. Many of the actions we had undertaken in protecting the city and its inhabitants had been quite violent, and Taramin had made a point about being sure these actions were fully justified before letting us off entirely. Now that our names were fully cleared, we were lauded as heroes -- for the second time, for everyone but myself -- and Taramin saw fit to grant us several magical items found in a raid on Telicanthus' manor as rewards for our service. In addition, we were offered the use of said manor for a short time as a sort of base of operations before we move on to our next adventure and the land is put up for sale. We declined, much to my own disappointment, but instead the land was given to Odos and the other Githzerai refugees, which is a noble enough purpose for the place. For our own part, we once again raided the ruined Temple of Ioun, this time ousting the beggars for good, and have set up a temporary holding here.

All said, I quite enjoyed this strange turn of events. Had I not been convinced to join up with this band of violent psychopaths, I might never had found out what it felt like to be truly appreciated by a community. Vampire or not, noble or not, the people of Sayre all know me by name, now, and are quick to shout words of thanks or promises of free drinks in my direction while I walk down the street. It is a... pleasant situation. I hope that we can remain here a bit longer, that I might better appreciate what it means to be admired and appreciated, instead of ignored, reviled, or resented...

Nehl Brisby"