Elminster Must Die_ The Sage of Shadowdale - Ed Greenwood [22]
His guest smilingly turned her head and cupped an elegant hand behind the ear she’d just put closest to him.
The darkly handsome man did not quite smile. “About a century ago,” he told her, “certain mages began to forcibly imprison particular persons within magic items—or rather, in stasis. Their return was linked to specific actions taken upon those items.”
He spread his hands in a gesture of loss. “Their reasons for doing so did not come to fruition and are now largely obsolete; all of the imprisoners have perished. Some of their imprisonments persist, but the great chaos of magic that befell back then twisted their magics awry. Some of the prisoners were lost forever when their items were destroyed; some escaped their captivity but also lost their wits; and some are still imprisoned, but … changed. Having powers like spells they never had before, for instance.”
“They emerge uncontrolled?”
“Your own wits are as swift as always, Lady. Some are indeed self-willed and dangerous to whomever releases them. Others can’t be returned to imprisonment, once out, but can be compelled by the bearer of their item. A few may yet be the perfect slaves they were intended to be. All that have thus far emerged have been wreathed in eerie blue flames, and so are known among wizards as ‘blueflame ghosts,’ though what rages around them are not flames any stoker of a hearthfire would recognize, and they are not ghosts.”
“And some of these items are in Cormyr.”
“Indeed. Notably some containing members of a once-famous band of adventurers known as ‘the Nine.’ Rumor has spread among certain of your fellow nobles that all of the Nine—including the lady mage who later became notorious as the bride of the Blackstaff, and one of the Chosen of Mystra—are secretly under the command of a handful of Cormyrean nobility, who can use them to slay, harass, or seize things from rivals or … anyone. As is the way of rumors, these views are overblown. It’s highly likely that the Lady Mage of Waterdeep never survived to be imprisoned, and it’s simply untrue that nobles are striding around this fair realm right now knowing what prisoners are linked to their baubles and covertly using them.”
“Yet.”
The darkly handsome man smiled like a wolf. “You continue to please me. ‘Yet,’ indeed. In truth, a very few nobles do have custody of one of these imprisoning items, and others are kept in the royal palace in Suzail, the property of the Crown—who, so far as can be determined, have no idea what they’re harboring.”
“And as these blueflame ghosts may well be very dangerous, it’s best they be handled through expendable dupes. Nobles and courtiers you can manipulate.”
The darkly handsome man was suddenly beaming. “Your mind outleaps storm lightning.”
His guest eyed him thoughtfully. “You’re not telling me much,” she said. “Of course.”
“Of course. Prudence is not unknown to me.”
The noblewoman regarded him in silence for as long as it took to enjoy another slow swallow of wine, then asked, “And so?”
“So our work together shall begin. Worry not about contacting me; I’ll speak to you when I desire to—and I’ll be aware when you feel the need to contact me. You should assume that I am aware of your smallest breath and your slightest facial expression, from this moment on.”
That earned him another silent, cool look. “And so?”
The brief ghost of a smile did touch the man’s lips at that. “Your first tasks shall be these. Legend recalls Elminster, sometimes known as the Old Mage or Elminster of Shadowdale; he is real and is somewhere in this city right now. Seek to learn what guises he uses and what he’s busy doing. Learn also what magic in the royal palace and royal court buildings can easily be removed. Be aware that I have other eyes, ears, and hands in the palace; sadly, like the high houses of many a kingdom, it comes furnished with traitors behind every door. Feel free to liberate all you can without bringing Crown suspicion or pursuit down upon you—so long as you bring every last enchanted item,