It took 16 hours to return to Nashkel, somehow. It didn't take nearly that long to travel through the mines while navigating all the traps and twists and turns, so I have no idea why it took that long overland.
Once we got to Nashkel, we were still bruised and hurt from all the battles. But we figured before we rest at the inn and heal up, we could stand to report our successes to the people eagerly awaiting word of our return.
The first thing I did was visit Joseph's wife since her house was closest. She wasn't exactly happy to receive the bad news of Joseph's passing, but thanked us for the return of his ring. We left the poor woman to grieve for her husband.
Oublek was the next closest. I had concerns that I wanted to sort out before turning in the emeralds however.
"Let's just say, and this is only a hypothetical scenario, someone found the two emeralds stolen by Prism," I asked Oublek. "How much is the reward for the safe return of said emeralds?"
"Why 300 gold!" Oublek said proudly.
…a 300 gold reward for emeralds worth 1500 gold? Which dumb bounty hunter would EVER consider turning them in?
If Greywolf were alive, he would sneeze right at this moment.
"I see. Ah, such a shame I can't collect that wonderful 300 gold reward," I said to Oublek than hastily waved him goodbye. "Hope you get those emeralds soon!"
Imoen and Neera cheerfully waved goodbye as well, while the rest of the party walked away with their heads hanging low.
Next in line at Nashkel was Berrun Ghastkill (…wait, that's his actual name. Ah, never mind).
Berrun Ghastkill was extremely pleased with the evidence we provided him, being the letter to Mulahey from Tazok ordering him to poison the iron, as well as Mulahey's Holy Symbol. He took both items and thanked us profusely, rewarding us with 900 gold for our efforts. He left us the second letter by Tazok where he was berating Mulahey and instructed the half-orc to contact Tranzig in Beregost.
Before Berrun left us, I tugged at his pants hem. "A moment good ser. We have a request before you tell the townsfolk of the good news."
The party, especially Jaheira, looked at me with concern.
I pointed at Branwen. "One of our party was especially slighted by the people responsible for this iron crisis. In order to catch the offenders, we may need a head start before news of Mulahey's defeat is made known."
Branwen's eyes widened for just a moment, before she nodded in agreement. "Yes, I see the wisdom of this act of prudence. Tempus would have no issue from measures taken to prevent cowards from escaping their due," she said, then continued to Berrun, "I beseech thee. It is imperative that the announcement of the good news be delayed. We will need to rest and gather our strength to make sure we can punish the dogs responsible."
Berrun frowned something fierce, but he nodded. "I'll do what I can, since the cause is right and your contribution to our town should be rewarded with our co-operation. But there is a limit how long I can delay such important news. No more than a day, no, two days at the very most."
Damn, now we really have to go back North to Beregost first. I was hoping I could delay it further so we could clear the southern regions first, but it looked like that would not be reasonable. I'd have to make up some reason to come back south later.
I caught sight of Neera stomping and pouting in the back. I guess she was hoping to do something else around here too.
As we walked to the Nashkel Inn for a very well-deserved rest, I was considering how to spin stories to the group when I heard a voice ahead of us, just outside the inn. "I am Death come for thee. Surrender, and thy passage shall be... quicker."
A hooded figure in black and green clothes stood before us, posing with a deadly-looking shortsword in one hand and mystical energy glowing in the other.
My mouth hang agape. CRAP. I totally forgot about Newbie Trap #5!
…uh, did he always look so cool?
Nimbul, aka Newbie Trap #5, was actually the least threatening of the assassins for a variety of reasons. Not for lack of offensive power, mind you. Like most mages of this level, Nimbul's tactics boil down to Mirror Image-> Horror -> zap you to death with spells. Nimbul was basically another Tarnesh with a LOT more Magic Missiles (six!) at his disposal. Being level 7, every cast of magic Missiles threw out 4 missiles which did 1d4+1 each (average 14 damage per cast). With his respectable AC of 1, interrupting his spells was much harder compared to most mages.
In spite of these formidable powers, the challenge to Nimbul didn't actually lay in defeating him. The difficulty with Nimbul lay in an entirely different concern.
"Wait, wait," I cried out. "I'm not ready-"
"Struggle if you must, dead one. I don't mind working for my money," Nimbul said, his eyes flashing with arcane power. He took a moment to change his pose, shortsword drawn back and mystical energy in his other hand held out threateningly. "Why Nimbul has been hired to deal with the likes of you, I'll never know."
God damn, why is he so cool? Why can't I be that cool?!?
Nimbul started incanting, but was almost immediately interrupted by an arrow in the knee. The arrow did not come from any of our party.
Nimbul's theatrical display had not fallen on deaf ears. All around, patrolling Amnian guards had drawn their bows. They weren't particularly good shots, but the sheer number of arrows was too much for Nimbul to avoid.
And to top it off, a certain monk leapt forward, and landed a jumping kick right to Nimbul's gut. Nimbul doubled over in pain.
"I'm helping! I'm helping!" Rasaad cried out as he followed up his strike with a devastating back-hooking kick to the head.
Was I thankful? Of course not, I was absolutely horrified! I reached out my hand, and cried out, "No, don't-"
CRACK. Too late.
Thing about monks is, unlike everyone else in the game, their fists (and feet) were literally deadly weapons. That means that if they defeat an opponent, that opponent is killed, not knocked out.
Nimbul's skull was smashed open by Rasaad's heel. As Nimbul fell to the most useless companion in the game, Rasaad cheered with two pumped fists, "I did it! I'm not useless!"
Khalid came over and gave his fellow Calishite a pat on the back and thanked Rasaad, as we should.
I was too busy gnashing my teeth and staring daggers at the fool monk.
He stole our kill! Our experience points! Our precious experience points!
How the hell was this useless moron causing me problems when he wasn't even in party?!?
Rasaad stood over Nimbul, one hand on his hip and the other pointing at him. "In the end," Rasaad said, then gave Nimbul a thumbs down, "I'm too awesome for you!"
Nooooooooooo!
Arguably, the biggest challenge with Nimbul was landing the final blow on him and thus getting kudos for the kill. He had a measly 21 hit points, and he was often surrounded by Amnian soldiers and Rasaad. Getting kill-steal-ed could also happen with Tarnesh (indeed, this is one of the lame tactics to survive Tarnesh), but somehow the Amnian soldiers were quite the crack-shots compared to the guards at the Friendly Arm Inn.
I hate you Rasaad! I'm never speaking to you again!
Nimbul dropped a Short Sword +1, 20 Throwing Axe (...why?), a Ring of Infravision, and Boots of Avoidance (-5 AC vs Missiles).
Wait, why wasn't he wearing the boots? It would have helped vs all the arrow fire! URGH!
Nimbul disposed of, we could use the services of the inn to rest. We needed two rounds of resting, one to recover our strength, cast healing and identify items, and another round of resting to recover our spells. The round of identification turned up some surprises even for a veteran of the game like me.
"The unidentified longsword was an enchanted Longsword with extra strong enchantment vs undead?" Imoen remarked. "Wow, what a find! It's a shame we didn't realise it until after we had fought so many undead monsters. I can't believe we found something so great!"
I couldn't believe we found something so great either! How did I not remember such a significant item as the +3 vs undead longsword? Was that sword always in the game? ARRRGH, why was I forgetting so many things in this one romp after the Nashkel Mines?
"Brother, are you okay?" Khalid checked on me. My face must have shown my dismay at my own memory lapse.
"Ju-just peachy. I'm just so happy I can't find the words," I said through gritted teeth, trying to force a smile.
"Didn't look particularly happy," pink irritation #2 muttered.
Our items identified, we popped over to Nashkel Store and sold things we didn't need (including 2 emeralds for 1500 gold, 2 shortswords+1, platemail, 2 knave's robes, the ring of infravision, helm of infravision, wakizashi+1, chainmail +1). That brought our gold up to 16617. Somehow. I lost track long ago of how we're raking in all this money. All this sweet, sweet money.
Bwahahahaha... god damn I hated being poor.
Over the course of this misadventure through the Nashkel Mines and back I had gained a level as a fighter (+1 to THAC0), Jaheira a level of druid (+1 level 1 and level 2 spell slot), and Branwen a level of Cleric (+1 level 2 and level 3 spell slots). With the Ring of Holinness from Mulahey, Branwen had a total of two spell slots of level 3. I asked her to prepare Dispel Magic and Holy Smite for now.
Between rests to prepare spells, I wanted to have a discussion with the party. I gathered everyone in the room provided by the inn.
"I just wanted to make sure we are all in agreement for our next step," I said to them. "I trust that we all agree to hunting down Tranzig before he hears of our victory in the Nashkel mines?"
No disagreements. Branwen in particular looked extremely satisfied.
Neera, as I expected, was silent.
"Even if we are in agreement that taking down Tranzig is the most immediate step, I think it may be worthwhile to bring up any other priorities so we can plan further," I said, trying not to look at her. "I'll go first. I really want to bring Commander Brage into custody. See what we can do before he claims any more victims."
"That's a good one," Imoen said in agreement. The rest of the party other than Neera nodded. "We don't know where he is though, so we'll have to search the areas around Nashkel."
I took our map and pointed to the areas west of Nashkel. "Fortunately we can discount the areas that we passed along the way to the gnoll fortress. But yes, it could take some time to find Commander Brage. So if there's anything else which will take less time but needs our attention, now's the time to bring it up."
Neera put her hand up. "I need to find a mentor in wild magic who lives in the area. His name is Adoy."
There it was. I figured the timing was right for her personal quest to begin. The way she started it was different from the game, but we got here in the end.
Neera pointed at an area on eastern side the map. "Here. He lived to an old age with wild magic, so he must have some sort of advice how to manage it. Or at least reduce the unfortunate effects of my wild magic."
"No complaints from me. As keen as I am to help Commander Brage, there hasn't been a new incident with him for some time," I said. I glanced at Branwen, then back to Neera. "We'll still prioritise Branwen's personal grudge over finding Adoy since hers is more time sensitive. Is that okay, Neera?"
She nodded, reluctantly.
Branwen, on her part, spoke up, "Thank you, everyone, for considering my needs. I will not forget the favor I have been shown by this war party."
"This will be the second large favor we have shown you, Branwen," I said frankly.
Everyone looked at me in surprise at my candidness.
"I only say this because I know you may not always agree with my methods. Yet, I must hold you to your vow to serve in this war party, Branwen. I expect your co-operation regardless of the means I employ, underhanded though they may be, until this quest to punish all those responsible for the current crisis plaguing the Sword Coast is complete."
Branwen did not argue or fret. "Upon my honor, until then, my hammer is yours to command," she responded with her head held with dignity, "War chief."