Scene 5: All the Cheese


‘There she is! Okay; I’m going to cast a minor illusion to lure her over here, and you be ready with the bucket. Any questions?’

‘Er, yes. Wh-why… why are we doing this?’

‘For fun! You remember how to have fun, don’t you? It’s just like those Chiktikka Fastpaws stories you’re always on about, so I know there’s a rapscallion buried away in there somewhere.’

‘Well thats all very easy for you. When she gets mad she’s far more likely to take it out on me than on Abdel’s sister.’

‘You’ll be fine, kid. Just stick with me.’

Aerie’s feet dangled over the edge of a wooden bridge, the moon behind her as she watched the people hurry by below, a few pushing little carts loaded with produce from the now closed markets, a mother ineffectually trying to corral her children to put them to bed for the night. Back in her cage, in the circus, it had often felt like she was frozen in time, the world flowing by her but she could never reach out to touch or affect it in any way. Of course if she put her hands through the bars a cane would have struck them, but she was trying to be poetic and she supposed she still often felt that way.

With a sigh she put the owlbear away, rising groggily to her feet with her fingers round the neck of a bottle. Dwarven Ale. Top shelf stuff. So she wouldn’t lose her eyesight for any longer than a tenday, or her money back. With that she tottered down into the cobbled streets, telling herself that everything was fine.

Things were good. She was good. She had her freedom, her health, so why shouldn’t she be good? And why should she care what Jaheira thought of her life? Wasn’t her mom, and the crusty old bint always found fault in whatever she did anyway, so why should she care? She didn’t. She didn’t care. Bad things happened. The old Aerie would have sobbed and cried about it, but she wasn’t going to cry. She had shed enough tears for several lifetimes, but now she was tough. And whats more, she deserved to have fun.

She had only come to this city for some stinking cheese. Waterdhavian cheese was sold all around the world, so she’d thought it would be an experience to sample some from or near to the source. Circumstances had forced her plans to change somewhat, but she still wanted some. The stinkier the better.

Her nose led her toward the docks until she found a storehouse within which a dwarf was loading crates onto a cart. “Stuff that couldn’t be sold in the markets,” he heaved, “just taking it all out to dump.”

Well that seemed like a terrible waste, Aerie thought. “I… *hic*,” she squeaked, pinching her already red nose. “Excuse me. I would like to buy your cheese.” She reached into the pouch on her belt. She hadn’t a lot of coin left, but she did have a few gemstones she was sure were worth something.

The dwarf inspected one carefully, his pupils dilating. “Er, how much cheese did you want?”

“All of it!” She pirouetted, spreading her arms to encompass the whole storehouse. “All of the cheese! *hic*!” She stumbled, but managed to kick her feet fast enough to stay up.

“You want to buy six carts full of moldy old cheese?”

“Yup,” she giggled. Now to enact the final stage of her grand plan, “and, can you deliver it to the villa of Sir Windbreaker?”

The dwarf frowned. He knew the gems were worth far more than the cheese, which was basically worth nothing, yet with a rueful sigh he handed them back to her. “Look lass; you’re going to be feeling mighty foolish in the morning I reckon. You put these back in there and be on your way.”

Aerie hung her head, flopping away sulkily, muttering, “no one wants to have fun anymore.”

“Just walk it off, lass.”

She walked, anyway. No idea where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there. That was her whole life, really. She walked until she found herself staring into a dry, empty bottle, and she still hadn’t drowned out all the scratching and banging. Or Jaheira’s nagging.

Why did she care?

A bang, a jump, a staff materialized in her hand as she spun round, and then… she sighed, feeling foolish. It had just been a firework. She could hear whoops and chatter coming from beyond a fence around a park down the street. Some kind of magic show? Lacking any other direction she sauntered toward it. There was music, laughter; it sounded like there was more than one show or game going on. Then she found a sign: Extraplanar Circus?

She might have just walked on by. Circuses might have been places other people went to raise their spirits, but she had been in one, both as an attraction and a laborer there; she knew that behind the bright colors and glamor were bruised and worn out bodies and minds. But, extraplanar? Curiosity got the better of her as it usually did.

So she sauntered on, and before even passing through the gate she saw that things were a little bit different here. There was a wood-elf outside dressed in green and blue and gold, greeting and checking people with the aid of a tame ghoul wearing a jester’s collar.

“Ah!” The wood-elf beamed as she approached. “Um, welcome to the Circus of the Last Days! Please…” she pointedly ignored and walked around him. “Er, miss; you need to be-”

Aerie flicked a finger, freezing him mid-stride, one arm reaching out for where her shoulder had been and his face locked in a surprised idiotic grin. The ghoul approached, sniffing. She waved a hand dismissively commanding it to “get lost”. Immediately its brow furrowed and it began to circle round itself, scratching its head in confusion. Then it wandered off, leaving her to enjoy her visit.

NOTES: No, again, not much to say. Pretty self explanatory. I had envisioned Aerie sitting on a bridge over a canal or river, but I checked the FR wiki and it seems like Waterdeep doesn't actually have any waterways, so its a just a bridge over another street.

Last edited by JPCoutelier; 14/01/24 01:31 AM.