Day 32 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Arredondo Bastion)

Day 32 - Deaths Final Embrace. (Ranvier's Catch-up: Arredondo Bastion)



     Money jingle jangled in his belt punch, so heavy that the Tinker Gnome felt he might need to go buy a bigger belt - which he could totally do, now that he was filthy rich.

     He had just got back to his room at the Dirty Knave, an Inn in the trade district of Alaspar, and was going to gather his equipment and prepare to leave, as he knew the Mage, who seemed to have an endless pouch of money, would be on the move after this latest job.

     He casually tossed the odd pouch he had been asked to retrieve on the bed and he went to the foot of the bed and opened the lock on the chest there. As he opened the chest he heard a noise, like a whisper, calling his name. He quickly shut the chest looking around.

     There was nobody in the room.

     Shaking his head he opened the chest again, this time hearing the whisper once more, this time he noticed it came from the bed. Arredondo slowly stretched, standing on his tip toes to look over the lid of the chest. There was nothing on the bed except for the bag.

     Lowering the lid to the chest, Arredondo watched the bag, it seemed to move just ever so slightly, slightly pulsing as if something inside struggled to be free. The Tinker Gnome slowly walked around the bed until he was next to the bag. As if in a trance he reached out and held one of the strings that tied the bag shut, wondering if he was out of his mind, wondering what in the hell it was that Mage had asked him to get. He felt the curiosity gnawing away at his brain, unable to be sated with the current situation.

     He slowly began pulling on the string, drawing it out, watching as the loops of the knot grew smaller and smaller. As he did this he felt the rumbling, rhythmic, pulsing from inside the bag grow stronger.

     He paused, just briefly, as he felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him, an irrational fear and terror seeping from the folds of the bag. But in the end his curiosity won out and the string went taught again as he resumed tugging on it.

     The knot was nothing but a small little bundle of leather string, on the verge of releasing whatever thing was inside the bag, when he heard her voice.

     "Put. It. Down." Said the voice.

     Arredondo turned, looking at the source of the voice to see the Mage standing there in his room.

     "Er... How did you know where I was!? I never told you where I was staying!" He gasped out, half from surprise and half from the the effort it had taken for him to get this far with the knot on the bag.

     "Do you honestly think that I would employ you without knowing where you slept?" She stated bluntly. "Now give me the bag" she held out her hand.

     Glancing back at the bag The Gnome felt the urge to finish what he started, but instead he grabbed the bag itself and tossed it to the Mage.

     With the bag in hand the Mage turned to the door and walked towards it, "Wait!" Squeaked out the gnome "Let me grab my stuff."

     "There is no need" Said the Mage as she glared down at him with her piercing eyes "Your services are no longer needed" and with that she walked out of the room, not even bothering to shut the door.

     "Wha... Wait!" Shouted Arredondo as he ran for the door. Sticking his head out into the hallway he looked up and down the hallway, in either direction, there was no indication that the Mage had even been there.

     He gathered his belongings, and left the Inn, standing in the middle of the street he resolved himself to find the Mage and get his job back, it just paid too damn much. He reached up to the beads around his neck, intending to use the powers of the beads to transform and scout the city for the mage, but as he took hold of the beads he felt the entire thing crumble to pieces. Starting at the bits in his hand he muttered "Some gift Mage".

     He spent the rest of the night looking for the Mage and the last other remaining companion Desina (The Chain Fighter), but was unable to find any trace of them, and questioning only brought up quizzical looks.

     Inevitably he found himself sitting in one of the seedier gambling houses in the entertainment district with a drink in hand, wondering what he was going to do. Looking up from his glass he could see the bar top with about 5-6 empty glasses already on it.

     That when he heard the whoop from behind him. he turned and saw an Elven scurve standing at one of the gambling tables, shouting and getting pats on the back. Arredondo reached into his pouch and felt the large number of coins there and smirked to himself, the faintest glimmer of greed in his eyes.