the City of Splendors, a city of laws. But despite the many patrols of the fabled Waterdhavian Watch and the general civility of the populace, most of the larger houses, Deudermont's included, also employed personal guards.
Deudermont had hired two, former soldiers, former sailors, both of whom had actually served on Sea Sprite many years before. They were friends as much as hired hands, house guests as much as sentries. Though they took their job seriously, they couldn't help but be lax about their work. Every day was inevitably uneventful. Thus, the pair helped out with chores, working with Delly at repairing the shingles blown away by a sea wind, or with the nearly constant painting of the clapboards. They cooked and they cleaned. Sometimes they carried their weapons, and sometimes they did not, for they understood, and so did Deudermont, that they were there more as a preventative measure than anything else. The thieves of Waterdeep avoided homes known to house guards.
Thus the pair were perfectly unprepared for what befell the House of Deudermont that dark night.
Gayselle was the first to Deudermont's front door, accompanied by one of the brutes who, using the polymorph potion, was doing a pretty fair imitation of the physical traits of Captain Deudermont. So good, in fact, that Gayselle found herself wondering if she had misnamed the brute Dumb-bunny. With a look around to see that the streets were quiet, Gayselle nodded to Lumpy, who was standing at the end of the walk, between the two hedgerows. Immediately, the brute began rubbing its feet on the stones, gaining traction and grinning wickedly.
One of the double doors opened to the knock, just three or four inches, for it was, as expected, secured with a chain. A cleanshaven, large man with short black hair and a brow so furrowed it seemed as if it could shield his eyes from a noonday sun, answered.
"Can I help you ... ?"
His voice trailed off, though, as he scanned the man standing behind the woman, a man who surely resembled Captain Deudermont.
"I have brought the brother of Captain Deudermont," Gayselle answered. "Come to speak with his long-lost sibling."
The guard's eyes widened for just a moment, then he resumed his steely, professional demeanor. "Well met," he offered, "but I fear that your brother is not in Waterdeep at this time. Tell me where you will be staying and I will inform him as soon as he returns."
"Our funds are low," Gayselle answered quickly. "We have been on the road for a long time. We were hoping to find shelter here."
The guard thought it over for just a moment but then shook his head. His orders concerning such matters were uncompromising, despite this surprising twist, and especially so with a woman and her child as guests in the house. He started to explain, to tell them he was sorry, but that they could find shelter at one of several inns for a reasonable price.
Gayselle was hardly listening. She casually looked back down the walk, to the eager half-ogre. The pirate gave a slight nod, setting Lumpy into a charge.
"Perhaps you will then open your door for the third of my group," the woman said sweetly.
Again the guard shook his head. "I doubt - " he started to say, but then his words and his breath were stolen away as the half-ogre hit the doors in a dead run, splintering wood and tearing free the chain anchors. The guard was thrown back and to the floor, and the half-ogre stumbled in to land atop him.
In went Gayselle and the Deudermont impersonator, drawing weapons. The half-ogre willed away the illusionary image, dropping the human facade.
The guard on the floor started to call out, as he tried to scramble away from the half-ogre, but Gayselle was there, dagger in hand. With a swift and sure movement, she slashed open his throat.
The second guard came through the door at the side of the foyer. Then, his expression one of the purest horror, he sprinted for the stands.
Gayselle's dagger caught him in the back of the leg, hamstringing him. He continued on stubbornly, limping up the stairs and calling out. Dumb-bunny caught up to him and with fearful strength yanked him off the stairs and sent him flying back down to the bottom. The other half-ogre waited there.
Grumpy, still in human form, entered. He calmly closed the doors, though one no longer sat straight on its bent hinges.
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