The Mage in the Iron Mask - Brian Thomsen [8]
The thespian beamed proudly, and answered, "One thing I certainly learned from our trip was that the legendary Volothamp Geddarm always travels in style, and only favors the most noble of establishments with his presence."
The greatest traveler of Faerun shook his head in gentle amusement, and conceded, "But of course. And the Traveler's Cloak Inn is indeed the best place in Mulmaster. At fifteen gold pieces a night, it better be. But this still doesn't explain how you knew that I would be in Mulmaster."
"Well," the portly actor explained, his voice dropping markedly as a pair of soldiers passed them going in the opposite direction along the avenue, "while I was enjoying the free and easy life on the road, I came across a leaflet that mentioned that a local bookseller was having a reception for a cookbook author who was on tour, and that the reception was being sponsored by the firm of Tyme Waterdeep, Limited, who I remembered as your publisher. Since it was a cookbook author, I naturally figured that there would be plenty of food there, so I decided to crash."
"Crash?"
"Attend without an invitation."
"Oh," Volo replied, "and they just let you in?"
"Well, not until I mentioned your name, of course."
"Of course."
"The food wasn't very good anyway, low-fat fungus flambe, and such, but I ran into a guy named Pig who claimed he knew you."
"Imagine that," Volo mused.
"Now call me suspicious, but I am not inclined to take a person at their word, particularly when they make claims of greatness."
"Like knowing Volothamp Geddarm?"
"Of course," Passepout asserted. "No telling what a rogue might claim these days."
"No one would know better than you."
"Of course," the actor conceded. "Anyway, he claimed that you and he had made a journey through the Underdark together, and that that trip had been the inspiration for the book. When I asked him where you were, he said that you were probably working on your guide to the Moonsea, and so, voila, we make contact."
Volo chuckled to himself. Imagine, he thought, my two most reluctant traveling companions running into each other. I can't wait to hear Percival Woodehaus's version of the story. He then said aloud to his friend, "Well its just lucky for you that Mulmaster was my next stop. Originally it wasn't, and I wouldn't have gotten here for a month or more."
"I shudder to think of it," the portly thespian replied. "More than a night in that hellhole would surely have been the death of me."
"What did they arrest you for anyway?"
"Acting, without an official permit."
Volo nodded in agreement, and said, "And of course in order to get the official permit, you would have had to pay the theater tax, which, of course, you couldn't afford."
"Exactly."
"Sometimes I think that Mulmaster should be called the City of Taxes instead of the City of Danger," the great traveler declared, a bit too loudly for his paranoid companion who was overly conscious of the excessive number of city guards that seemed to be out on the streets. Volo, noticing the uneasiness of Passepout, quickly changed the subject.
Turning his attention back to his boon companion he said, "Enough of this idle chatter. On to the matter at hand. The Traveler's Cloak Inn is two doors away, and I have taken the liberty of changing my reservation from a single to two adjoining rooms. A few hours' rest, and you will be ripe and ready for some festing tonight. We can talk over old times, have some new times, and make plans for future times, for tomorrow I must leave."
"You think of everything Mist… uh, Volo. But why must you leave so soon?"
"Oh, I'll be back," the traveler answered. "I'll probably even keep the rooms on reserve until I return. You can, of course, avail yourself of their use in my absence."
"Wonderful!"
Volo smiled at once again hearing his friend's favorite expression, and ushered Passepout into the best inn in town.
* * * * *
Around Mulmaster,
the Tower of Arcane Might,
and at the Traveler's Cloak Inn:
While the master traveler made arrangements for the next few days of his