Farewell
to BalnorBalnor's Farewell
As they sit and converse, the other members of the party slowly join them in the tap room of the inn. The last to arrive are Balnor, Lucretia, Ceely and Milo - accompanied by an attractive young looking half-elf woman, a Luckpriestess if her clothing is anything to go by! Balnor seems somewhat subdued and embarrassed, but introduces the newcomer as Vaslin Riverside.
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> Getting her drink, she made her way to the table,
> taking the last chair available, and working up her
> nerve to tell them of her decision (and keeping an
> eye out to notice if any of the men took note of her
> cleavage!).
Balnor glances up at her as she approaches the table, he appears nervous and seeing her in a dress, his eyes bulge for a moment and sweat breaks out on his brow. If anything, he looks a little more nervous and apprehensive.
"I know it is rather sudden" he says. "But I am not coming to you-know-where after all." Seeing the surprised expressions, he quickly hurries on. "Our journey from Neverwinter has made me look at life differently... a-a-and I have decided to make a change in my life. I am joining the church of Tymora..."
"No!" says Larz in disbelief. "You?!" he shakes his head, still not believing what he is hearing.
"Near death experiences can do that..." says Blondung mildly.
"I'm afraid it is true." continues Balnor. "Luckpriestess Aratha Sul, over at Fortune Hall, had a vision from Lady Luck herself, and although I will not be coming with you, she foresaw that Vaslin here would come in my place."
Blondung looks sharply at the young Luckpriestess. "Hang on a minute..." he says, sitting up straight. "Going without you is one thing Balnor, but taking someone new to you-know-where is not on!"
"She does know where we are going" replies Balnor.
"I thought we were keeping that a secret!" Blondung throws his hands in the air in exasperation, sitting back in his chair.
"I didn't reveal it, Luckpriestess Aratha Sul foresaw it in a vision!" Balnor wrings his hands and looks down at his feet. "It is important she goes with you..." he mutters. Looking up again, he gulps. "Without her, one of you will die in Kheizar Dalan!"
"Shhhh!" hisses Larz. "It IS still a secret!"
<Yvandel aka Sebastian wrote>:
> "You'll be missed, Balnor," he told his former
> companion, raising the glass of water that he was
> drinking into the air.
Balnor raises a wan smile at the toast. "I'll be right here when you return. I'll want to hear all about it!"
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "Here Here...to Balnor...Adventurer and Swordsman
> extraordinaire!" <Lucretia raises his goblet as well.>
Balnor blushes somewhat. "My skill with a rapier is nothing compared to the damage you can do with your bastard sword Lucretia!"
(OOC: this was before he made his announcement)
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> She just glared at him, and when he looked over
> at her, she turned away, stood up (making sure to
> lean over the table as she did, as if to say 'oops,
> sorry, coulda been yours, but too bad!'), and went
> off to the bar with her empty mug.
Balnor gulps as Cleo turns away from him. He knew his leaving the group would be particularly hard on her. Earlier in the journey, it had been Cleo who had pulled him through. Back in the Broken Fang Woods - when he had nearly died - he remembers opening his eyes and looking up to see her looking down at him, worried. Later, it was she who had been most upset when Von Fedel - his mouth suddenly goes dry at the thought of the mad priest's name - had attacked him in the yard of the Sprite's Refuge. For a moment, he looks at his scarred palm - the symbol of Cyric still etched there from the red hot holy symbol Von Fedel had forced into his frozen hand - and he shivers. His fingers snap shut, and he looks back at Cleo's retreating back as she heads to the bar. Did she used to wiggle like that when she walked? He could see the other men in the bar sneaking glances at the attractive woman in the skimpy dress, and suddenly he blushed. Perhaps Cleo had thought he was looking at her cleavage, and that was why she so pointedly turned away!
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> Ordering another, she drank it there, preferring to
> assimilate these personal and group changes alone for
> a while. After finishing her second drink she was
> feeling much better again. 'Ah, to the Netherworld
> with it! In the end, it's up to him what he does with
> his life....'
The man next to Cleo at the bar, who had be surreptitiously eyeing her whilst drinking suddenly sprays his beer and chokes, and Cleo suddenly realised that she had actually vocalised her thoughts. "By the gods teeth woman!" mutters the man as he wipes his mouth on the back of his sleeve.
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> Returning to the table, Cleo smiled at the group,
Balnor heaves a silent sigh of relief. It looked like Cleo hadn't noticed after all what he must have been staring at. Now he had thought about it though, he found he couldn't stop looking towards her cleavage, and another blush crept up his face.
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> and at the pretty newcomer, speaking up at last.
> "Well, Vaslin, all I can say is - you're in good
> company." Putting her arm around Ceely's (who
> was sitting next to her) shoulders, Cleo smiled,
> and continued, her speech somewhat slurred,
> "There's no one elssss I'd rather haf by my side
> when I'm bein' chassssed through a gods-forsaken
> ssswamp than theze guyz."
Balnor sinks just a bit lower in his chair. He too felt a loyalty to the group and felt awful for betraying it by not going with them. For a moment, he contemplates changing his mind, but the sudden image of a spinning axe flying through the air towards him makes him literally flinch, and he fingers the scar in the centre of his chest. Shivering again, despite the warm air of the inn, Balnor smiles weakly at Cleo as she jokes about attacking trees. He was not the only one to go through emotional stress during that journey he remembers.
<Serena aka Archon wrote>:
> Serena raises her goblet. "The Unknowns! Hey! That
> reminds me ? Unknowns!" She sets her goblet down,
> green eyes suddenly flashing. "Guess what I read in
> the Vault of the Sages? Our journey ? on that infernal
> gnomish boat ? it's posted with the News of the Realms!
> It specifically mentions the Unknowns! I guess that
> means we're famous! Locally, at least."
Balnor looks around the tap room. It does look like several people keep looking at the group, curious. For a moment, he feels a kind of pride of belonging to that group, before he suddenly remembers that he isn't a member after all... "A new leaf" he mutters to himself.
Balnor hugs Vaslin back. "Take care of them - they are my friends" he whispers in her ear. More loudly, as they separate, "I will."
As Vaslin leaves, Balnor faces the party again. For a moment, his face is downcast, and the mood is suddenly sombre. Suddenly he grins, pulling on his mask of humour. "Come on folks - tomorrow is the start of a new adventure! I may not be there with you in body, but I'll be with you in spirit. And talking of spirit... Hey Luc, we have some serious drinking to do!"
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> As the night drew to a close, and the patrons started
> leaving or heading up to their rooms one by one, Cleo
> caught sight of Balnor getting ready to leave. Walking
> up to him, she asks him if he'll go with her for a
> private talk.
Balnor turns from the foot of the stairs and re-focuses on Cleo. Having been drinking with Lucretia all evening, it took him a few moments to realise what she had said. Nodding, he silently follows her out to the darkness of the stables, stumbling once as he trips over some horse brush left lying about in the darkness.
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> Heading out to the stables, Cleo turned to face him in the
> near darkness. Putting her hands on his waist, she said ...
As Cleo suddenly put her hand on his waist, Balnor swayed a little, and was glad of the extra support. In his drunken state, he missed her first words.
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> "...and I wanted to tell you... I'm proud of you. And
> I'm happy for you. I'm glad you know what you want out
> of life. I wish I did!"
"Not sho mush know what I want, more what I don't!" slurs Balnor, finally catching up with Cleo's words.
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> "I'll miss you, and Gods willing, I'll come back and
> tell you all about our adventure. I wish you Luck,
> Balnor the Swashbuckler."
Balnor gives a short laugh. "Not mush of a Swashbuk ... Swashbak ... Swas...
<Cleo aka Dan continued>:
> With that, Cleo's left hand moved up behind Balnor's
> neck as her right hand moved around to his back,
> pulling him closer to her. Closing her green eyes,
> she leaned forward, kissing him passionately for
> several minutes, letting him enjoy the softness of
> her lips, and stroking the back of his neck with her
> little fingers.
Balnor's attempts to say the word "swashbuckler" are cut off by Cleo's lips. Surprised, Balnor doesn't respond for a few moments, then passion takes over and he responds in kind. As Cleo finally disengages, Balnor staggers and nearly falls over, his arms reaching for her. "Waassshhhhhuupp????!!!" he says incoherently. In the quiet of the dark stables, Cleo can hear his heavy breathing, his breath forming white clouds just visible in the light coming from one of the inn windows.
'So much for a nice goodbye.' Cleo thinks to herself, her cheeks turning slightly red with anger. Opening the door, Cleo starts up the stairs, wondering if Balnor will even find his way back to his room. 'The bastard probably won't even remember my little goodbye gift to him. Guess that's a good thing.' Cleo thought to herself, wiping her lips and wishing she hadn't done what she just did. Cleo had laid off the spirits far earlier than Balnor had, and her dancing has worked off most of the buzzing that had filled her head, but Balnor hadn't stopped until the barkeep retired for the night. 'Oh well, his loss'.
Reaching for the handle to her door, she hesitated. Conviction got the best of her, and she went back down to help Balnor. Reaching the stables, Cleo found that Balnor indeed hadn't gotten far and was now sitting on a hay bale. "Come on, Bal. Time to go to bed." Cleo said, putting her arm under his to lift him up. Walking back toward the door, it took every once of her strength to keep Balnor on his feet, and to keep herself from falling down with him. More than once the pair almost toppled. "I'm not dressed for this!" Cleo murmurred to herself, noticing that her dress now had a big wet spot on the arm from ale that must have been on Balnor's chest. "COME....ON!" Cleo said, irritatedly urging him forward.
Eventually she got him to his room, having almost fallen down the stairs about 4 times. Heading back to her room, Cleo closed the door, took off her soaked dress, and changed into her woolen night clothes. "So much for a romantic moment." Cleo muttered, disgusted at the way the evening had ended. Unable to sleep, Cleo sat up in her little bed to look out the window. Resting her arm on the window sill, and her head on her arm, Cleo watched the cool, still night outside. It would be a while before she could fall asleep...
***
In the morning, some with bleary eyes, some fresh and ready for their new adventure, the group gather their belongings together and start to load up the pack ponies. Larz turns up and shortly afterwards, Vaslin also arrives. Balnor, holding a hand to his pounding head, comes down to say his goodbyes. "See you in a few days" he says, looking somewhat sorry for himself. "I'll pray you have a safe journey!" he calls, as they walk down the street.