The Serpent Hills was a rocky subtropical forest set at a high elevation. It was almost as cool as Damien's hometown of Silverymoon, though far wetter. In fact, it was raining now, as he stepped from the misty street into a shabby old inn. A few casts of prestidigitation had him clean and dry.
"Any word?" He asked the innkeep, a short Yuan-Ti pureblood with round spectacles and a round face.
"No, sssir. But if I hear of any work opportunities you'll be the first to know, Mr. Sssimyns."
"Thanks." Damien sighed and entered the main tavern room. It was a largely open area with a fireplace on one end and a bar in the back. Damien took a booth in the corner, away from prying eyes, and took out his notebook and pen.
It had been nearly a month and he still hadn't found any work. All magic-related jobs were filled by half-bloods and abominations. Too prestigious for lower castes let alone outsiders. All the scribe work was also filled. Though it seemed like they could have used an extra pen to Damien. He'd asked after manual labor and unskilled work as well, but nothing had come of it.
He was already broke when he came to this town, and he needed funds to buy supplies before he could leave. Damien had already sold most of his extra clothes and unimportant possessions to pay for his room and board.
He clutched the holy symbol that hung around his neck through his shirt. Maybe... if the Lady graced him with Distort Value again...
"You're dressed rather nicely for a man staying at a copper-rate inn," the man said. The S's hissed with that familiar Yuan-Ti accent Damien was coming to recognize. The man looked human, however, and was dressed in finely styled but ragged clothes with black wavy hair and a beard. He wore a matching old flat cap. The man slid into the booth across from Damien. "So, have you run into hard times or do you just travel cheap?"
Damien released the holy symbol and looked up at the man before him. "Who are you?"
"Not one for small talk, I see. I'm Kristopher Ankins. And the innkeeper tells me you're some sort of wizard or something in need of a job. So tell me, Damien, have you hit hard times as of late?"
Damien sighed. The innkeep had probably told him his name. "You could say my luck has been sour. What's it to you, Kristopher Ankins?"
"I have a business proposition that would greatly benefit from your spellcasting." He passed Damien a note in thieve's cant.
"A job? Finally... I was beginning to think there were no open positions in this entire town." He began reading the note and frowned.
Theft that will make us all very well off for a significant amount of time. For details meet us tonight at 11pm, by the... Slithering Snake Rock? Was that a location or a code he didn't know? Damien hesitated then glanced up at Kristopher who was intently watching him.
"Where is this Slithering Snake Rock? I'm sure you can tell I'm not from around here."
"That much is obvious. And it seems you're not as fluent as I had hoped," Kristopher said with a wicked smile. Damien winced. He'd let on more than intended, but he would never have found the meeting otherwise. "Old mill by the river. See you there."
"Yeah. We'll see." There wouldn't be any harm in hearing what they have to say, at least.
❖❖❖
Later that night, Damien headed towards the old mill by the river. It was a dilapidated stone building with a half rotted water wheel. He slipped in through the broken wooden front door into the millhouse. Dust and cobwebs covered the walls and the hallway. Damiens eyes glinted as he walked through the gloom, subconsciously casting prestidigitation to clear the cobwebs and debris. In the far end of the room, he noticed Kristopher Ankins, two Yuan-Ti purebloods, and three ophidians. One of the purebloods glared at him and whispered in thieve's cant. "What are you doing? Do you want to call attention to us and leave evidence behind?"
"Ah, sorry... force of habit." Then he began to cast the spell again to soil the walls.
"Just forget it and stop drawing attention," she hissed and motioned Damien to come over to the group.
"Sorry," Damien mumbled and quickly walked over. Kristopher stepped out with the clap of his hands and faced the small group.
"So, I'm sure most of you already know why we're here. A heist that can make us all very wealthy individuals. But before details, I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Kristopher Ankins, your well loved leader. This is Sassandra, our competent pyrotechnic and trap specialist. Sahil is our muscle. Damien here is our magic specialist. And the ophidians do as we say."
Damien nodded towards the others. "So... The details?" Damien asked.
"Straight to the point. I like the attitude. But yes, it's a simple job. Low risk, as we're robbing no one but the dead. High reward, as the goal is a pure gemstone. I'm sure our magic specialist here will know why. Damien?" The group looked towards him.
"Typically, they're used as material components for high level spells. If it is as pristine as you say, you can probably even sell it for more than it's base worth, as pure gemstones of a large size are hard to come by."
"Exactly!" Kristopher said with a grin. "This gem is in the heart of an ancient Netheril crypt. As far as my information can tell, it's never been explored as it's right where the moor changes to hills. Too steep and too wet to entice lazier thieves and explorers. Supposedly, it's on private land, but no one has seen or heard from the owner in years." He rolled out a map onto a dusty old table, pointing out the location.
"So this is why you set me to studying Netheril traps and defenses," Sassandra said. She glanced at the map but didn't pay it much heed. "Kristopher, I don't care about your maps. I trust you to not give us a bad job. What's the timing and strategy? If it's a human crypt it should be easy, but if it's a Yuan-Ti crypt there's going to be some problems. The ancient Yuan-Ti were scared of being turned into blood liches."
"Blood liches?" Damien asked. "I've never heard of such a thing. But you can't forcefully be turned into a lich, as far as I'm aware."
"I don't know what they are exactly and frankly it doesn't matter. They were scared of being turned into some monster so they locked their crypts up tighter than the Waterdeep bank vault. I'd know, since I robbed the place," Sassandra said with the pride of a thief.
"You speak of a Nechrichor," Kristopher cut in. "But as you say, it matters not. Luckily, I doubt this was a crypt of a Yuan-Ti. More likely a human princeling of some sort. But we should prepare for the worst. The strategy is the same as always. Stealth in, carefully comb our way to the prize, sleath out. We leave in two days time an hour before dusk. Damien, do you have any form of healing?"
Damien hesitated. "Yes."
"Good. Prepare yourself accordingly. I expect you to be combat ready."
"Well, I... yes, of course," he stuttered.
Kristopher exchanged a few more words in the native Yuan-Ti language with the others then, with a tip of his hat, he dismissed the meeting.
❖❖❖
The afternoon before the mission commenced, Damien sat cross-legged on the bed in his dingy room. His eyes were closed as he breathed in a meditative rhythm, starry holy symbol clutched in his hands. The minutes passed, and he felt the arcane power renew inside of him, but he did not feel his goddess's presence.
"It's a crypt. The gem is no one's." Damien whispered. "Really, by selling the gem, someone else will be able to further their own arcane studies."
No response.
"Listen, after this I can leave and find more proper work. It's no different than when I've pawned items, distorting the value a little. Or said I had graduated when– when–" He let out a long, shaky breath. No response came, but some part of him knew why. He refused to acknowledge the simple truth of the matter.
He stood up with a sigh and strapped on a belt with his rapier sheathed on his right side. He stashed the holy symbol and a few backup spell components in a pouch beside it. Damien picked up his dagger and knelt in the corner of the room. He shimmied the edge of the dagger into the seam around one of the floorboards. Sliding the dagger around the edge then under the floorboard, he managed to pry it off the base of the floor. It only took a few additional minutes to hollow out a hole large enough for his glasses, notebook, and pen. The few possessions that he didn't need on this mission.
He tossed them in the carved depression and replaced the floorboard. A quick casting of mending to the edges of the floorboard made the impromptu compartment virtually imperceptible. After a quick check to ensure he wasn't missing anything, Damien left the tavern and went to meet the group.
❖❖❖
Kristopher led the group from the edge of town deep into the woods. They walked in silence. Stealth was easy, as darkvision let them travel without torches or light. Once they were far enough into the woods to not draw suspicion, Kristopher chatted softly with the others in the native Yuan-Ti language. Damien walked uncomfortably a few paces back with the ophidians.
After about an hour, the woods opened up to reveal a rocky cliff overlooking the moor. Kristopher led them down a switchback path slick with mud from the recent rain. As they reached the bottom of the path, a crevice revealed itself in the rocky cliffside.
"It looks like a natural cave, but this is our entrance," Kristopher said. "I believe a landslide covered the original entryway ages ago."
Sassandra made her way to the front of the group. "Ok, Kristopher, it's my turn now. Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to check the doors, then our spellcaster is going to head in first–"
"Me?" Damien interrupted in horror.
"Yes, you're going to cast your magic and check for traps. If there's any, I'm going to disable them."
"But you're the trap specialist!"
"Yes, I specialize in deactivating traps. Is that a problem?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"No, no, I suppose not," Damien sighed.
"Good." Sassandra waltzed over to the cave entrance and peered in. "Well, it looks ok to start. Spellcaster?"
Damien sighed again and followed her to the cave entrance. Sassandra motioned for him to enter and he walked past her. It only took a few meters for the change in the walls and floor to reveal itself. This was the crypt. He cast the spell find traps but found nothing.
"It's clear," Damien called back over his shoulder. The rest of the group shuffled through the entrance into the room. It widened into a hemisphere past the entrance. Half ruined ancient drawings and glyphs covered the smooth stone walls. The floors suggested they were perhaps a mosaic in years past, but flooding and wild creatures destroyed the design long ago. Large stone vats and rubble sat along the sides. Straight ahead lay a closed double door.
"Huh, that's odd. Lot of these Netheril crypts had at least one trap in the front room to scare off lost adventurers and lone thieves," Sassandra said. "Wonder if the landslide took it out."
"I don't see much here. Let's keep going," Sahil said, looking into an empty stone vat. The double door to the next room was locked. Sassandra set to work picking the lock with quick success. She opened the door and swore as the group was greeted with the orange glow of torches. A pureblood Yuan-Ti woman stood at a table with her back to the group. At Sassandra's swearing, she turned with a jolt to see them. She had black curling hair and wore red robes with black and yellow cultic symbols dyed into them.
The pureblood, glancing at Damien, cast silence over the group. Sahil dashed towards her, unsheathing his scimitar. Damien pulled on the power within him to subtly cast magic missile at the woman. She let out a muted cry as the small darts hit her chest and her concentration dropped. Sahil was on her in an instant, but his blow was blocked by an invisible shield. The woman grabbed Sahil's face and her hands began to glow with burning power. Sahil let out a shout before thrusting the scimitar into the woman's stomach. She let out one final gasp as she collapsed to the floor.
Damien watched in stunned silence. He had seen death, yes, but not this sort of killing. This sort of... murder?
"Come on, wizard. Unless you want to wait for her friends," Sassandra said and slapped him on the back. Jolted out of his stupor, Damien followed the group past the body and towards the table at the back of the room.
Kristopher was already at the table, rummaging through papers and bottles of various colored liquids. "This is bad, but not insurmountable. It looks like our friend here was a part of a group trying to ascend an abomination. Seems like a small group, and they were foolish enough to write their meeting times on their minutes. Looks like they won't be here for another three days."
"We should still keep our eyes peeled. If there's one there's bound to be another," Sassandra added.
"Agreed," Kristopher said. "Take a quick look at these things if you want, but we should keep moving. Damien, trap check on the next room." Damien went to the next doorway and cast find traps again.
"Arrows, some sort of pit... another trap I'm not familiar with. Sorry, this only gives vague impressions of what the traps are." Damien stepped back to the table to investigate further as Sassandra set to work, disabling the traps. Kristopher soon exited the room followed by Sahil and the ophidians.
Now alone, Damien looked at the notes. Native Yuan-Ti language. Without his glasses, he'd just have to take Kristopher's word on the contents. However, the list of names on the minutes didn't look long enough to warrant much concern.
As far as Damien knew, most anathema conversions failed, thankfully. The amount of blood, death, and pain involved killed most abominations that tried. The potions on the table did look vile indeed. Special poisons specifically for Yuan-Ti, potions for transforming people into broodguards and tainted ones. It disgusted him.
He glanced towards the door. The others were just out of sight, but not far enough away to be concerning. Damien quickly uncorked the bottles and poured out the contents on the floor. Better to attempt to thwart this little group than leave it to fate. After he finished dumping the last bottle, he glanced at the corpse of Yuan-Ti woman. Should he do something with the body? Could he have saved her? Would it have mattered? He shook his head and hurried to the next room to rejoin the group.
Sahil and Sassandra were arguing with Kristopher in their native Yuan-Ti language when he entered. Seeing Damien, they glanced at him suspiciously and stopped the conversation. Damien awkwardly approached.
"So... the other trap?" he asked.
"Common crushing trap. The walls move in from the side when you trigger a pressure plate." Sassandra pointed to where she had pried up the pressure plate and disconnected the adjoining mechanism.
"We found some old gold coins," Sahil said, tossing Damien a small bag of them. "But Kristopher says this was mainly a religious library." Sahil pointed to the shelves along the walls. To Damien's disappointment, all of the scrolls appeared deteriorated beyond saving from time and moisture.
They continued on to the next door. Sassandra checked it over and began to pick the lock. She grunted as a crack echoed through the room.
"It's completely rusted," she said and removed the picking tools.
"Maybe I can help," Damien said and knelt beside the door. First, he cast mending on the lock and sensed the crack heal. Then he cast prestidigitation and the rust faded away from existence. "The pick and tensioning tool?" He held out his hand to Sassandra.
"No way, spellcaster." She pushed him to the side and picked the lock again, this time with ease. Damien frowned but cast find traps without complaint once Sassandra opened the door.
"Uhh, Sassandra? There's only one. And it opens something."
"Huh? Let me see." Sassandra pushed her way past Damien. "I don't see anything–" Clink. Her boot made contact with a plate in the stone floor, sinking in barely two centimeters. Sounds of grinding stone and clinking metal emanated from the room. "Well, shit."
"Sassandra! We have discussed your reckless behavior on numerous occasions. You would do well to remember my warnings," Kristopher chided.
"It was the drow, I swear!"
"Sassandra, now's not the time," Sahil said, rushing past the woman. He drew his scimitar and readied himself for whatever would enter their field of view.
The rest of the group entered with Damien at the back, but he still saw them first. A horde of around 50 skeletons, ancient and ragged looking, rushing towards them. Some walked as they did in life, some limped on broken feet and legs, some dragged their bones slowly across the ground, the functionality needed to walk long ago crumpled to dust.
"They're skeletons!" Damien cried, and a moment later they came into the view of the others. Sahil ran into action, scimitar making contact with the ribcage of the closest skeleton. As it collapsed it grabbed onto him and gnawed at his shoulder. One of the ophidians had to block his back from another encroaching skeleton as Sahil struggled to disengage.
"I thought the skeleton trap was a myth!" Sassandra yelled, swinging a dagger into a skeleton's side.
"You're too dismissive," Kristopher grunted as he swung his small war hammer into a skull.
They quickly fell into their own skirmishes. Damien watched, stunned for a second time, as two skeletons hobbled towards him. His mind flipped through options on what to do before remembering the obvious solution. Skeletons were undead! He pulled his holy symbol from his side and presented it before the horde.
"Be gone from us," he cried. A silvery blue light emanated from the symbol, causing the skeletons to hold their hands to their skulls and bones to grind with a shriek. Most turned away, running back into the corners they had come from. Only about ten managed to push through the turning and continue on.
One of those skeletons was coming right towards Damien. He slung the chain around his right hand and palmed the holy symbol while simultaneously unsheathing his rapier with his left. He had trained with the rapier numerous times in the past, but it was always in controlled situations. Practice, duels, not rabid skeletons rushing from ancient crypts.
The skeleton swung a rusted sword at him, but he parried with his rapier. Following through from the parry, he delivered his riposte to the skeleton's chest and with a flourish of his right hand cast booming blade. It struggled against the energy, causing it to explode in a thunderous wave of bone dust.
Damien's attention on the first skeleton distracted him from the second one closing in, and before he could properly dodge or parry a rusted blade crashed into his right shoulder. He cried in pain then cast magic missile on the unexpected assailant. The missiles connected and downed the second skeleton, allowing Damien to take a second of reprieve to heal his wound.
He looked around at his companions. They were making quick work of the skeletons, but they were injured nonetheless. Damien cast mass healing word and watched as their injuries lessened with the power. The boost was all they needed to tear through the rest of the unturned skeletons. Soon all that remained was the chattering of fearful bones.
"Well, let's go! Hurry!" Sassandra called as she dashed towards the final door. The others followed, Damien on her heels. She didn't bother with picking the lock, instead lunging at the door with her shoulder and bursting through the door. Damien cast find traps before he could fully take in the room.
"There's one... It fills the room. I don't know with what. Also we should block the door. The skeletons will return to fight in less than a minute." Damien blinked, taking in the room as Sahil shoved a heavy chest in front of the door. The room was ornate. Gold inlays and red paint covered the walls, broken by stark black text and imagery. He could tell from what remained intact that Kristopher was right, this was an ancient Netheril human crypt. Along the edges of the room were the goods the prince was supposed to take with him to the afterlife: gold, long rotted foods, disintegrated scrolls, expensive gems, and rare spell components. In the center of the room there was a large stone vault. The final resting place of a long forgotten prince. On top of the coffin was set the largest gemstone Damien had ever seen. It was a peachy color, cut perfectly in the style of an emerald, and completely translucent. It was nearly a half a meter long.
"Sahil, Sassandra, gather any valuables from the sides. Damien, a little help with this gem, yes?" Kristopher said, cautiously approaching the vault. Damien took a deep breath, praying for guidance, then attempted to dispel the magic that lay on the gem and vault. He sensed that it worked.
"I think I dispelled whatever trap was in here, but I can't cast the spell again to be sure," Damien said. Sassandra gave a smirk to Sahil. What was going on with those two? Before he could contemplate further, the sounds of skeletons cracking against the door caught the group's attention.
"Well, time to find out if you did or not," Kristopher said, nonchalantly picking up the gem and lightly tossing it between his hands. Nothing happened. "Good enough for me." He wrapped the gem in a cloth and put it in his bag. Sassandra and Sahil filled their own bags with as much loot as they could carry and gave the rest to the ophidians. Kristopher tossed a few gems to Damien, but they all seemed to sense his deficiency in strength.
"Alright. We'll move the chest, Damien will work his magic again, and we'll make a break for it," Kristopher instructed. The others nodded, taking positions and drawing weapons. Sahil prepared to slide back the chest at Kristopher's command.
"Go!" Kristopher bellowed. Sahil slid the chest aside and immediately the skeletons began to pour in. Damien presented his holy symbol and turned the horde again, even fewer skeletons having the will to push through this time. They ran through the door and across the room of skeletons as fast as they could. Upon reaching the door, Damien heard a cry and turned to see one of the ophidians groveling on the floor. It had been too slow from the weight of the loot on its back. A skeleton had slashed through its leg, leaving it unable to run.
"Leave it," Kristopher called back. Damien hesitated for a moment at the door before turning and casting cure wounds, needing to pull on more power to extend the spell's range. The wound in the little creature's leg sealed, and it managed to run and catch up with the group.
They dashed through the rooms. Damien caught up with the others quickly, though he was unable to pass Sassandra. After they had all entered the first room, Sahil rolled the stone vats in front of the double doors as the rest of the group continued to flee.
Damien ran out of the crypt's natural entrance. As the humid night air rushed around him, relief flooded this chest. They had the gem. He'd be able to leave this awful place. Be able to travel somewhere else and do... something... he'd figure that part out. But he had figured things out before and he was sure he could again.
A fist lurched out from the moving darkness and impacted with Damien's stomach, causing him to buckle to his knees with a gasp. The gasp was met with a gag to his mouth. Before he could react, he felt arms grabbing at him. The ophidians were grabbing his arms. The little creatures had betrayed them? How had they overpowered the others?
Damien tried to squirm free and managed to remove his left hand from their grip. He removed his dagger from his side belt in a quick motion and moved to strike at the ophidian holding his other arm. His attack was blocked by another figure that put his left arm back into a lockhold.
Sassandra.
Then the realization set in.
"Keep that gag and his arms held tight. I don't want any spells flung our way. Hopefully he expended all of his little surprises in the crypt, but stay vigilant." Kristopher Ankins removed his flat cap, causing his face to melt away and reveal a snake head. He stretched, his form seeming to fill out. How had Damien not seen through the disguise? Of course the other pureblood Yuan-Ti wouldn't have so willingly followed a human... but a half-blood like this? Yes, it made sense now.
"Ah, that feels better. The stench of that disguise was starting to leech through to me. Listen, Damien, this isn't personal. Well, maybe it is a little. But you've served your purpose, and you don't seem particularly good at this line of work. Better to cut our ties now." Ankins turned to Sahil. "Search him for any valuables."
Damien squirmed and strained, but Sassandra and the ophidians had him thoroughly pined. His struggle earned him a knee to the groin from Sassandra. Tears welled in his eyes from the pain as she smirked at him. He needed to do something. Cast a spell. Do something. He tried to focus and recite the verbal components of sacred flame perfectly in his mind, to imagine his hands moving perfectly to the somatics, but he couldn't. None of that power was left to him, and even if it was the panic searing through his mind left him unable to act.
Sahil searched his bags, removing the small amount of gems and coins Damien had been given. He removed Damien's weapons – his dagger and rapier. Next Sahil slipped his hands into Damien's pockets with the expertise of a seasoned pickpocket. A few more coins and some simple spell components were removed.
Mystra, Lady, please... Damien's plea went unanswered as he felt as far removed from his goddess as ever. Then Sahil slipped his hands around his neck and undid the clasp on his holy symbol. His eyes went wide as he started protesting through the gag. They could take whatever they wanted but not that!
"Sahil, leave that thing here. We do not need reminders of inferior gods. Or trouble by incurring the wrath of troublesome clerics that symbol would inevitably make its way to if we sold it."
"But-"
"No 'buts.' Toss it."
Sahil obeyed and tossed the symbol into the sand. He scoffed in his heavily accented voice. "Idiot drow. Aren't you supposed to worship your spider queen? Or did you escape just to submit yourself to another woman?"
"That's enough, Sahil. Let's finish this business so we can return before dawn." Kristopher said. He stood to the side, scaly arms crossed, looking like a proud king supervising his subjects. Sassandra smiled and landed a punch into Damien's side. Even through the gag he let out a cry of pain. Sahil struck him across the face. The beating continued as blood, snot, and tears mingled and his vision blurred in and out of focus.
Was this how he was going to die?
Before he had time to consider the implications of that thought, he heard a new voice.
"Leave him, and get AWAY from my property!" A female Yuan-Ti voice. Was that a gunshot he heard? He felt something hard crack against his skull and his consciousness fled from him to the sound of strange fire.
❖❖❖
Damien awoke with a groan. His chest hurt, his legs burned, and his face throbbed with pain. He could sense he was bandaged and in a bed. Who had done that? His eyes fluttered open to see he was in a dimly lit cave. The rock was still rough and natural, but it contained marks where it had been smoothed or widened. The bed he was on was pressed into a shallow alcove across from a small kitchen and table. At the table, an older pureblood Yuan-Ti woman watched him. She had curly grey hair sticking out at every angle from underneath a green headband that matched her green eyes.
"You're awake, Little Drow," she said. It sounded like this was the first time she was speaking to another creature in years.
"Are you with Kristopher Ankins?" It was a dumb question, and he regretted it immediately. He winced at the question as much as the pain. Luckily the latter was one thing he could fix now that he was awake. He lifted his hands to his chest and spoke an incantation as healing energy flooded his body. The exhaustion still lingered. In fact, it was worse now that he had expended some of his arcane power, but at least he could sit up without unsetting broken bones.
"Gods, no," the Yuan-Ti woman hissed. "You're the one I should be questioning. Why were you working with him? Or were you with those other trespassers I keep having to chase off? I should have killed you and boiled your bones after I chased away the others."
Damien tried to gauge whether the woman was serious or joking. She must have noticed because she spoke again before he could respond. "Don't worry, dear, I wouldn't actually eat you. I'm a vegetarian. The others though... I wouldn't put anything past them."
"I thought it was a myth that Yuan-Ti eat other humanoids." Damien said.
"It is, for the most part. But there are still some groups that see nothing wrong with the practice. Now answer my questions."
Damien sighed. "I needed the money. There was no other work to be had, I needed funds to travel somewhere with more opportunities, and Kristopher Ankins was the first person to offer me work."
"You're a very bad criminal. You should change careers," she said curtly.
"Excuse me?"
"Am I wrong? You obviously have little experience, get wrapped up with one of the most sly and cruel criminals in the area, and somehow maintain that you're some sort of holy man to top it all off." She held up his holy symbol and let it swing from her hand.
Damien's eyes widened as he reached to take it. "Thank you."
"So, Little Drow, what do you actually want to do? You seem smart for how stupid you are. Spellcasters usually are."
Damien started to voice a snarky reply, but restrained himself.
"You may be older than me, but I've lived longer than you. If you keep going down this road you're going to destroy yourself." She pulled out a map of Fearun. "Now where are you going?"
Damien looked at the map. His eyes wandered over to his hometown... but no, even if he was ready to go back, it was too far away for now. He looked to the southeast and saw how close Kas was. Maybe... with some luck... they wouldn't be able to tell whether he had the proper credentials or not. It was so far from Silverymoon, and his advisor had never mentioned anyone he kept in touch with from the university there.
He pointed to the location on the map.
"An academic. I'm not surprised." She stood and crossed the room to a closet. She rummaged through the shelves and brought out a dirty backpack. She put a nearly tied package from the nearby counter into it. "Travel supplies and food. It should last you that far."
"You're... giving me supplies?" Damien knitted his brow in confusion.
"You want to leave, yes? Well, I don't want you around to keep stirring up trouble, either. Take them and go."
"Thank you."
❖❖❖
It was the dead of night. The air was chill and a light rain filled the sky. Damien inched around the inn, careful to keep an eye out for any of Kristopher Ankin's men. No one so far. Luckily, there was a fire escape ladder up to the second story. From there, he could access the window of the room he had previously been staying in. He jumped up and reached the bottom rung of the fire escape. He grunted as he struggled to pull himself up the wet ladder... and fell back down to the street with a splash. Damien sighed and tried again. With shaking muscles and sweat mixing with rain on his brow, he managed to lift himself awkwardly to the second rung. He climbed the rest of the ladder and silently crept to the window. Damien peered in, and to his immense relief, there was no one inside. He used a thin piece of metal to flip the latch locking the window and crawled inside.
The room had obviously been rummaged through. Damien felt a spike of fear as went to the specific floor board he had hidden his things under. He pried the board up with his dagger and breathed a sigh of relief. The glasses, his papers, and his pen were all still there. Apparently they hadn't thought to look under a normal floorboard. He grabbed his things and replaced the board, casting mending once again to hide what had been done. Then he slipped out the window and made his way out of town.
Towards the clocktower.