Barrityl is going to be gone for quite a while – handling all of the orders that Shaddar (and Cutt) gave him. Hawke begins yelling orders at the drow porters as to where things should go and what should be unpacked first.
Half of the drow who serve in the underground palace are excited or satisfied (for many different reasons. Some were disgruntled with the old leadership, some are still dazzled by his mental suggestions, some wanted change, etc. As for the rest? They are utterly terrified. This is acceptable.
“It is boring here and I tire of second-hand reports,” Shaddar thinks. “I shall go into the slums to taste the dark winds of change for myself!”
He takes Toothsnatcher with him. He makes sure that the minotaur is wearing his standard, mediocre Swashbuckling Rogue attire. Those who think that his group has been eliminated must be taught differently.
He goes straight there, not trying to avoid any patrols of other travelers. He hopes to find folks whose minds he can read on the way. He is disappointed in his desires – at least in the border zone. It is almost totally devoid of travelers. Near the entrance to the slums, they pass by a small group of men, but the humans refuse to make eye contact and quicken their pace to pass by as fast as possible. Their thoughts are quite revealing.
“Oh, gosh! Who is it? Wait... Am I mad? I don’t want to know!”
“Please, no! No!”
“I pray we will not encounter any of the dread Mist Demons in these accursed border areas!”
“What violent enemy stalks our city now?”
“These travelers smell funny… Are they undead? I’ve got to get out of here!”
Shaddar enters the slums. It is a different area of the slums than he has visited before. In the center of the nearest block there is a huge, solitary pavilion instead of a collection buildings and shops. Under this roof is a series of wide steps that lead to a platform that is graced by a fancy-looking well. Made of fine stone blocks, an ornate crossbar, silk rope that trails to the brass handle of an ornate crystal bucket. The entire structure is draped with flowering vines and looks disgustingly picturesque.
Large lines of people are waiting to reach the well, but none of them have water vessels in hand. After Hawke’s story about the current fear that most folks feel towards contaminated well-water, Shaddar is certain that they are not here for liquid refreshment. No. This is something different. He joins the crowd in order to watch the proceedings and continues to pull thoughts from the humans around him.
Shaddar watches as the line of waiting people moves forward.
The man next to the well tosses a single coin into the well with a flash of gold. Then the man lowers the bucket down into the well and steps back a pace. The crowd quiets ever so slightly with a palpable air of expectation.
There is a moment of stillness and all eyes are on the taut rope leading down into the depths.
Suddenly the rope jerks of its own accord and dances in a circle before stilling. The crowd ooh’s and ahh’s appreciatively.
The fellow who dropped in his coin cranks the handle to draw the bucket up and there is a small waxed-paper boat floating inside it!
The crowd’s thoughts as to its color and style of folding begin at once.
“Yellow?”
“A simple design – could go either way…”
“Health or sickness! I wonder which it is?”
“I hope I don’t get yellow.”
The man opens the origami boat and scans what is written on it. He looks grim and the onlookers cluck their tongues in sympathy at the obviously not good news that he has been given.
He shuffles off, clutching the yellow paper forlornly and the next person in line steps up to the well and drops their coin inside.
As Shaddar watches it becomes clear to him what this is all about: fortune-telling. Almost all of the simpletons who stand in line believe that this well is a magical oracle, but Shaddar can sense the minds of those who are in on the operation quite easily – including the woman who is putting the fortunes into the bucket at the bottom of the well.
Apparently the fortunes are color coded: yellow for matters of health, red for employment, blue for relationships, green for luck, etc. White is the most common and is considered fairly boring. Shaddar assumes that these are bland and generic fortunes.
What makes the game interesting to Shaddar are the thoughts he picks up as he gets closer to the front of the line.
“The Well of Fortune! It is never wrong! I’m so excited!”
“Perhaps my fortune will tell me I will continue to have good luck as I travel through the border zone.”
“If only my boss will let me to sleep on the shop floor…”
“Will the constables catch the undead fiend that roams the city soon?”
“Right. The next fellow is here hoping to find a hint as to who his new girlfriend will be. I best send a runner down to let Sharnette know that he should get a nice blue. And a runner to our ‘love-at-first-sight’ gal, as well. Heh-heh-heh.”
What is this? Shaddar follows this last mental thread and discovers that the crowd is filled with shills and urchins who are carrying messages to various members of the group who are running the Well of Fortune. The man whose thoughts revealed so much to Shaddar is leaning up against a pillar near the well, appearing to just be watching, but he is in fact in charge here – eavesdropping on the conversations of those in line and giving clues to the woman at the bottom of the well via messengers.
Some of the members of the Guild pose as customers. Each invariably claims that the well has answered their question perfectly and the crowd loves it and hopes that it will do the same for them. Their skills at acting vary considerably, but no one besides Shaddar sees through the game.
“Let’s see what kind of fortune the Guild of Villains will give me,” he thinks with humor.
The young man at the well does indeed draw a blue note. He smiles happily and Shaddar watches as a tawdry-looking girl plants a huge kiss on the fellow. The crowd hoots and cheers and the young man takes off after his fleeing quarry.
Shaddar plans his approach carefully as his turn at the well draws ever nearer…
Chapter 1 < Chapter 51 Chapter 53 >
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