Neera joining in this early meant a bit of a change of plans. Some of it more convenient actually; seeing as how the power-leveling trick needed an arcane spell caster, and Neera could fill that in lieu of Xzar. So Xzar and Montaron would be able to, uh, enjoy their holiday sooner rather than later.
I know, I know. I could just drop Neera in favour for another wizard. That way she wouldn't leech my exp when I and Imoen went power-leveling, then pick up a wizard with free levels later. But honestly, I wanted Neera on my team. There were a couple of reasons why:
She is the arguably the second strongest Wizard in the game.* Only Edwin has more raw power, but he's an evil Red Wizard. I need high reputation as a goodie goodie for lowered prices, which was crucial to my play-style, so Edwin (or a certain sorcerer) isn't a viable option. Baring alignment issues, Edwin place as #1 is undisputed. Neera place in the number 2 spot is, so let me qualify my statement.
Neera counts as a specialist mage with no specialization. That means extra spell slots and no prohibited spell schools. So she's got the raw number of spells per day and flexibility to cast them all. That alone is extremely strong. But push come to shove, she can take a risk to cast any spell using a level 1 slot. Using this trick she can even cast high level spells she wouldn't normally be able to! She guarantees a wild magic surge when she does this cheat but it's a fair balance for the nonsense she can pull off.
A 5% chance of a wild surge whenever she casts any spell was a small price to pay for such advantages. If she didn't have this drawback, Neera would be indisputable #1 mage, not #2.
Being part of Enhanced Edition content added later, Neera comes with more content. That means more quests and unique magic items. You know I'm not gonna give up on the good stuff if I can help it, right? I would try to incorporate more EE content characters for this reason if they were not either non-compatible or downright awful.
I made a show of sneaking into Feldepost's Inn, then coming out and telling everyone the coast is clear of possible assassins.
"Assassins. Really? Sure you're not being paranoid?" Neera asked, one eyebrow raised as she, Imoen, Xzar and Montaron walked in.
"You have experience being hunted, right? You sure you want to make light of my experience?"
"Probably not," Neera conceded. "I'm just going to shut up now."
"'Ere now, get out! I don't like your type here!" One of the drinkers present at Feldepost's called out as soon as he saw us armed adventurers walking in. This was Marl, a pretty random NPC who was in a bad mood. Normally I'd purposely go and talk to him, but for now I led everyone to a different section of the inn out of sight of him. Marl continued to heckle us silly adventurers but we ignored him for now.
I stuck out a hand to shake Xzar's. "This is where we should part ways, for now. Don't forget, we're going to correspond regularly and you're to put in a good word for us with your superiors."
"If your work is up to par, your petition will be considered," Xzar said shaking my hand.
"Fair enough. Let's sort out the equipment we, your faithful servants, will need for the field work ahead."
Xzar was quite reluctant to part with the Ring of Wizardry in particular, but flattery and pleading did the trick. Eventually. God damn, this process of unequipping party members is so much easier in the game, and less bruising to my ego.
We spent the night pouring drinking and wishing each other well. "This is important work too, getting drunk and talking to the patrons. The latter bit, but getting drunk is great too," I tried to say in a joking manner. "Did you guys pick up any rumors yet? We need good jobs-"
"Eh, shut up and drink already. Work can be sorted out tomorrow!" Imoen said.
I grinned and held up my cup. "Okay, fine. To victory and membership!"
Imoen cringed a little. "To victory!"
"To promotion!"
"To murder our enemies!"
"To not blowing us up!"
The next morning I met the girls over breakfast. Imoen looked totally fresh, while Neera was looking a little worse for wear. No sign of Xzar or Montaron. Maybe they slept in.
"It is now tomorrow. So, got any good jobs for us? Easy work for good pay and field experience," I asked over eggs and ham.
Imoen frowned. "I'm literally eating my breakfast right now! How would I have the chance to find any, taskmaster?"
Neera closed her hands over her ears, sipped some coffee. "Softer please. Ears still ringing."
…wait, is that really coffee? Faerun has coffee? Questions for later. "Fine, looks like I'll be dictating what work we take then. If you both don't mind."
Neera squinted and shakily put down her cup. "I get the feeling you dictate everything regardless. Does the need to boss people around come from some sort of insecurity issue?"
"Yep, yer got it." Imoen cheerfully agreed and lathered her pancakes in honey and... maple syrup? Faerun has maple syrup? More questions for later.
I gave Imoen and Neera a withering look for that insecurities comment, but ate my eggs on toast.
Neera gave Imoen the side eye. "Why are you so unaffected? You guzzled down more than me. At least Sonny here barely drank."
"Brought up by an innkeeper. What do you expect?" I answered for Imoen.
"Yep, that's right." Imoen said and began devouring the pancakes which were absolutely soaked in sugary syrups.
"First up, we have some shopping to do. But it's a bit of a walk outside of town," I said, and turned to Neera. "You managed to memorise the spells I asked for, in spite of the hangover?"
Neera just nodded and pointed to the Ring of Wizardry on her finger while she sipped on more coffee.
Before we left, I decided to handle Marl. Marl and Dunkin was still drinking in the inn from last night. Dunkin was having some juice, but Marl was just sleeping on the table.
I pointed out Marl to Dunkin. "Has he been here since last night? That's really concerning."
Dunkin gave me some side eye through his glass of juice. "None of your business, stranger."
Hmph. I ignored that comment and considered the man slouched over the table in front of me. I knew Marl was worth quite a handy bit of experience points for talking to him properly, in spite of the abuse he was showering us with. That is, with the right combination of prompts. The wrong combination of conversation prompts would start an unrewarding battle with Marl which would make everyone involved feel awful. Honestly, it was difficult to get the conversation prompts right even by memory. Marl was in that bad a mood.
Even worse, this entire time I've been here in Faerun I haven't seen a single prompt. Instead of multiple choices of options to choose what to say, I've had to do every conversation myself in a free-form manner. This was significantly more difficult in-person than in the game, which is why I avoided Marl last night rather than cash-in on the free experience points.
Under the current circumstances though… huh. It might be time to flex Sonny's 18 Charisma.
I went to my room and stashed away my adventuring gear so I'd pass off as a regular halfling. To Neera and Imoen, I instructed, "Go and distract the other guy, Dunkin. The one who is watching the guy asleep on the table. Can you two manage that?"
Imoen and Neera looked at each other, turned to me and nodded.
"With a bit of prep. Got some nicer looking clothes. All presentable, like," Imoen said.
"And I'll wash up a bit too," Neera said.
Later, the two ladies got to work chatting up Dunkin, while I walked around the table gave Marl a shake. "Hey ser. Are you okay?" I said with my voice purposely an octave higher.
"Ughhh," Marl groaned, and lashed out with one hand. "Told you stupid adventurers to get lost!"
His hand went right above me. "Ah!" I cried out, still maintaining the kiddy voice, and made a big show of falling over.
From Marl's point of view, his fist had met thin air. He looked down and saw large eyes and a small, baby-faced halfling. A halfling child?...
Marl's senses jolted awake. "Kid, don't sneak up on people like that!"
Dunkin turned to look in our direction, forgetting about the attractive women who were chatting him up. Marl waved his friend away, this wasn't a problem he needed backup for.
The halfling child got to his feet and sat opposite Marl, and gave a sad pout. "Why didja have to go do that, ser?"
Marl's head ached, and not just from the drink. Maybe he needed Dunkin to back him up after all. "Sorry kiddo, I'm just in a bad mood. Drank too much."
"But ser, it's morning now. Good boys should be eating breakfast. That's what papa used to say."
In spite of himself, Marl smiled. A bitter smile, but "That's right. Good boys shouldn't drink in the morning. Or into the wee hours of the morning. Don't follow my bad example. Ooooh, my head. Isn't worth it."
Marl sighed. "Huh, wish my kid was a good boy. His name was Kennair Nethalin. Bit older than you, I'd wager."
The halfling kid looked at Marl quizzically. "Why wasn't Kennair a good boy?"
"He was! Til them adventurers came through town. Filled his head with nonsense they did, and because of them he's dead."
Ah, what's this? The halfling was pouting again. "I want to be an adventurer too."
Now Marl was feeling hot under the collar. "Now, you listen to me young man. You put these adventurer thoughts out of your head. All that fancy magic and stories, it's all a trap for young ones like you."
The halfling shook his head. "Nobody convinced me to do it, ser. Papa filled my head with stories, it's true. But I made this choice myself. Isn't it the same with your son?"
Huh? If Marl wasn't imagining it, the halfling sounded a little older now. "It's not! He wanted to take over the farm and settle down. Maybe apprentice with Thunderhammer during the winter. He never wanted to adventure."
Dunkin politely excused himself from the ladies, and sat with us. "Marl, that's what you wanted. Ye're blaming folk fer what couldn't be helped. That boy was a firebrand if there ever was one. That new plow ye bought last year? He got the gold by helping clear kobolds near Ulgoth's Beard. He wanted to make a difference, make the realms a bit safer."
"By Chauntea, why couldn't he just stay home?!" Marl lamented. His heart ache now matched the drumming in his head.
"Ser, your son really did sound like a good boy… no, a good man to me. I only hope my papa will be proud of me, someday," the halfling kid said (was it a kid?). He held up a glass of milk. "To Kennair Nethalin! A real hero, gone too soon! His loss will be mourned."
"Hear, hear!" Imoen and Neera said together, holding up glasses of their own. Juice, not alcohol.
"Hear, hear!" Dunkin held up his own mug, alcohol.
Marl was about to grab a mug of mead, but the halfling 'kid' quickly switched it for a cup of milk, and gave Marl a conspiratorial wink.
Marl laughed in spite of himself, with tears in his eyes. He lifted the cup of milk. "To my dear boy."
When we were back in the room, getting ready to check out, I thought about the conversation I just had while putting my gear back on.
Wow, that was really troublesome. Marl was super hard to talk out of violence even under normal circumstances. All of that nice-nice talky-talky stuff took a lot out of me.
As for the reward -I summoned up the Record in my mind- 900 experience points! Nearly eight times as much as beating down Tarnesh. It was just a conversation, not a battle to the death. And yet, I somehow felt I earned every last point.
Once I was done and ready to go, Imoen and Neera were looking at me in a strange way I couldn't fathom.
"What?"
"Didn't think you had it in you," Imoen said simply. "So nice to someone who was so rude."
I scoffed. "He's a loving father, that's all. Man deserves some peace. And a few words didn't cost me anything."
Imoen gave me a hug, unexpectedly.
"What was that for?"
"Nothing, just wanted to give you one," Imoen said.
Neera nodded solemnly, though at what I had no idea.
"Alright, we wasted enough time already. My fault, I know," I said. "Let's get to work."