The first thing she noticed was the stench. It was very strong, a mix of rotting fish, food, and excrement, and it carried all the way across the bay below deck into the cabin. And they said the swamp smelled bad. The sewers must let out nearby, traveling underground from up the hill where the rich people lived. Dee made a mental note not to eat the local fish unless she knew it had been caught far offshore, despite the glowing review of the local seafood in the Neverwinter section of Captain Flynn's battered copy of Volo's Guide to the North that she had read to pass time on the days of the sea voyage. She mused that this Volo character sure never mentioned the lovely dockside aroma. The captain had warned her that the guide was written before the war with Luskan, and some of the places, apart from the Moonstone Mask, no longer existed. Still, she looked forward to seeing the famous bridges and Castle Never, and she thought it would be grand if she might catch a glimpse of Lord Nasher himself before she left.

She finished brushing then braiding her long flaxen hair, checked the silver pendant of Mielikki around her neck, then looked around the cabin and made sure she had everything in her pack. She chuckled as she checked the decoy pouch she kept in her pack for Neeshka, then the second decoy pouch, then the real pouch of gems she had collected on her travels.

Just as she tucked it away again, Neeshka popped her head in the cabin. "Dee, the captain says we'll dock soon, but you can stay the night on the ship if you want. He thinks it might be safer."

Dee snorted. "How bad can it be compared to the last few tendays?" She reached into her pack and pulled out a long bundle wrapped in sailcloth. "Here, this is for you. It's a gift for all your help. I'm told that there are mages here in Neverwinter who could use gems to add all manner of enchantments to weapons and armor, so I was thinkin' we could use some of those we found."

Neeshka gasped and snatched the bundle away, quickly unwrapping it. "A gift? For me? Really? I saw this in your pack, but I thought you made it to sell!" She threw her arms around Dee and hugged her tightly, then examined the blade. She frowned and looked sideways at Dee. "So...what do you want for it?"

Dee shrugged. "Nothin'. 'Tis a gift. I made it at Fort Locke while you were umm off exploring."

Neeshka hugged her again. "Nothing? Really? I've...never gotten a gift with no strings attached." She examined the balance. "It's beautiful! You do good work!"

Dee couldn't bring herself to tell the tiefling it was probably a farewell gift. Dee had only had to watch Neeshka display a few of her special skills-disarm a couple of traps and open a few locks-before she determined that these were very useful skills to know. She had been more resistant to learning to pick pockets though. In turn, Dee had taught her the two weapon fighting style she learned from her foster father. They had struck up a casual friendship on the journey to Neverwinter, though this meant accepting that the tiefling regularly rooted through her things.

Neeshka slid the rapier back into its scabbard and grinned. "Dee, you sure you don't want to partner up with me? You think fast, you're quiet despite your height, and you're wicked with your swords. The two of us could be the best thieves in Neverwinter!"

Dee chuckled and replied, "Dierdre Farlong, master thief." She shook her head. "Thanks anyway, Neesh, but it sounds like too much excitement for me."

Dee, like many people, had been at first wary of Neeshka because she was a tiefling, and she wasn't sure she wanted to let her travel with them. But it didn't seem right to abandon her to her fate. Dee sighed. She was really going to miss Neeshka once her business here was finished.

"What's wrong, Dee? Dierdre." Neeshka wrinkled her nose. "That's just not you, you know."

"Aye, my friend Aime was the one who started callin' me Dee. Short and sweet. She said neither of which described me, so it was perfect." They both laughed and sat down on the bunk.

"Khelgar is already pacing the deck. He can't wait to get off the ship."

Dee nodded and replied, "I'm going to miss Khelgar. I doubt we'll be seein' much of him once he gets to the temple of Tyr and starts his training as a monk, assuming they accept him as a student, of course."

Neeshka raised an eyebrow. " You have your doubts about that too?"

Dee shrugged. "Not about his ability to train. I just have doubts about whether the dwarf has the patience for it. I'm thinkin' though if they don't accept him, maybe he would be willing to travel with me and Elanee and help her find the local druids, then find out what's wrong with the Mere."

Neeshka leaned in close and whispered, "You just don't want to be alone with the tree-hugger. You don't trust her."

Dee frowned and swatted her away. "Wouldn't be goin' with her if I didn't trust her." As much as she was loathe to admit it, Neeshka was right though: the druid, the one she should have trusted the most, was the one she trusted the least. She had a gut feeling that the druid wasn't being forthright with her. "I just want to get her to the Neverwinter Circle, then I'll be back. I might even look for work around here."

Neeshka snorted. "Work-now there's a dirty word. Forget it, join up with me! We'll have plenty of coin in no time, and you can go back to your swamp in style."

Dee shook her head vehemently. "I'm a ranger and the daughter of a ranger and a decent tracker and scout, at least at home. I have options."

Neeshka gave her a skeptical look. "You're a ranger because your father is a ranger. Ever think there were more options?"

Dee replied tersely, "Yeah, I have lots of options. I'm as tall as a man and as strong as most men too."

"Doing what then?"

Dee nodded at the rapier. "I think I already make a decent enough blade. I really love takin' a piece of raw metal and shaping it, and in time, I think I might even become a fair swordsmith." But in her heart she wasn't sure if her skills were of Neverwinter caliber. According to Volo, it was a city famous for its artisans.

Dee fastened the straps on her studded leather jerkin Khelghar had made her, and marveled again at how perfectly it fit. "Khelgar could always get work as an armorer. This fits me like a second skin."

"No, your breeches fit like a second skin," Neeshka replied with a grin.

Dee stuck her tongue out at her. "I also don't doubt that I could also find work as a merchant's guard and see the whole Sword Coast. Maybe even go south to Calimshan! Wouldn't that be grand! I've got some coin comin'. Don't forget Marshall Cormick promised us a reward for helping his friend Galen."

Neeshka giggled. "Yeah. Like I would ever forget a reward. And you really have to stop turning them down, you know. It's a filthy habit!"

Dee stuck out her tongue again and Neeshka grabbed at it and caught it. "Ow!" Dee pulled herself free then grabbed Neeshka around the waist and tickled her. Neeshka squealed and twisted away.

Dee chuckled and leaned back on the bunk. "Maybe he could help me work or find Galen and sign on as one of his guards. There are just so many possibilities! Just as soon as I find this uncle Duncan of mine, find a mage he trusts, or as my father put it, that we both trust (it unnerved her, this lack of trust in his own brother), and find out what in the Hells this shard is, and more important, how I could get rid of it, I can get my life back!"

Neeshka shrugged. "Why make it so complicated? Just throw it overboard. Who's going to know? Those things will definitely stop chasing you that way."

Dee replied mockingly, "Just throw it overboard. Yeah, like I never thought of that." She sighed. "I wish it were that easy. I suggested just throwing it away to my father that night in West Harbor before he sent me here, but he didn't think that would stop the attacks. I also have an obligation to help Elanee, but..." She shrugged again. "The way those bladelings seem to show up where ever I stop for more than a day. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinkin' I need to convince her that this was way too big of a problem for the two of us, or hells, even all of us, to take on. I'm a ranger, true, but I'm also just a farm girl who's never been more than ten miles from West Harbor until now, and I don't think Elanee had ever been far from the swamp. It's hard to tell with Elves, but I don't think she's all that old either."

Neeshka leaned back on the bunk beside her. "What are you going to do about it then?"

"See if I can make contact with the Harpers."

Neeshka snorted. "Get those do-gooders involved?"

Dee nodded. "Aye, get them involved. I've got this feelin' in my gut that this is big. And this is just the kind of thing the stories say that Harpers do."

Neeshka pondered this. "Alright, but how are you going to make contact? Aren't they kind of a secret society? Not like you're going to find a Harper Hall here. Ain't like you can stop people on the street and ask, is it."

"Noooo," Dee replied with a hint of annoyance. "But I'm thinkin' that maybe this Ophala woman the book says owns the Moonstone Mask, if she's still there, might help. Assuming an important woman like her'll even talk to me, that is." She opened the book to the entry and held it for Neeshka to read. "Maybe Cormick could introduce me, or I could ask around the bards too. Hells, even some of your people might know. Cormick might also be able to help me out."

"You kinda like him, don't you," Neeshka asked with a grin.

Dee rolled her eyes. "No, it's not that."

Neeshka giggled. "It's not!" "Not even a little? He was kinda handsome if you like those older, lawful, built like an ox types."

Dee shook her head. "I suppose I'm a little bit in awe of him. He's a legend in West Harbor. Everyone still talks about how he won at the Harvest Fair, and that was eight years ago. I just wanted to share a pint or two with him and talk, nothin' more. I kinda had someone back there anyway."

"Kinda?" Neeshka asked inquisitively.

Dee looked away. "Aye, kinda. Truth be told, I've been thinking of leaving West Harbor for a few seasons now. You probably would understand. Don't get me wrong, I had really good friends there, but sometimes I almost prayed for something to happen to end the monotony. I have no desire to be a farmer."

Neeshka shuddered slightly at the thought of being trapped, even for a little while, in a small village.

Dee continued, "So many of the girls I grew up with are already married, and most of the rest, falling in love and having kids is all they ever talk about."

Neeshka snorted. "Love, or lust."

Dee chuckled. "Aye, I think that's more often the case."

"And you?"

Dee replied, "I don't think I even know what love is, but after seeing what a ruin love made of my foster father after he lost his wife, I want no part of it. And most of the time, 'tis nothin' more than a fluttering in the nethers anyway."

Neeshka giggled. "Yup, that's about it. But you said kinda? Come clean." Neeshka stretched around to look her in the eyes.

Dee hesitated then answered, "There was one boy, Wyl Mossfield. I had a few tussles with him in the barn, but that was about all." Neeshka gave her a skeptical look. Dee shook her head. "I always stopped him before he had a chance to do much more than fumble around under my shirt. Not because I thought there was somethin' wrong with it, but I'm sure not ready to settle down, and I sure don't want any kids."

Neeshka giggled. "So you're telling me you've never...never ever? Nothing? Never even kissed the one-eyed monster? Never..." Dee grabbed Neeshka's tail to stop her. "Ow! Hey! That's sensitive!" Neeshka rubbed her tail and pouted.

Dee shrugged. "Sorry. Aye, never. Maybe it's because I've seen a few too many girls married to a boy they were tired of before the baby even arrived. I mean, I don't even know who my father was. I know I didn't want to end up like that."

Neeshka answered, "But there are potions an alchemist can make up, you know, and women who know how to help you out of that kind of predicament, if you ask around."

Dee shook her head. "Maybe in the city, but not in West Harbor. You've never lived in a small village. We had one mage, which was rare enough, and if you even asked him for such a thing, I don't doubt he'd have gone right to your parents. So I took care of myself. I was stronger than Wyl, so I could fight him off when he got too hot, but the one time I was about ready to give in, he umm...finished." She grinned sheepishly as Neeshka laughed and slapped her knee.

Dee chuckled too. "Besides, he hadn't been too happy that my friends and I planned to enter the Harvest Brawl against him and his brothers, told me it wasn't gonna look good if his woman beat him, and then he wouldn't even talk to me after we won. Wouldn't even pay up the 10 gold we wagered on the match. So we were finished." She sighed again and stretched. "This journey has given me a lot of time to think, and you know what I realized? I've thought a lot about my friends Bevil and Aime, and about my father, but..." She sighed again. "I've hardly thought of him these past tendays. And what's worse, I got to thinkin' the only attraction he had for me at all was that my foster father didn't care much for him. Gods! Think of bein' bound with someone for life because your father didn't like him."

Neeshka nodded sympathetically. "Was your foster father that bad?" Dee looked away again. "Did he beat you? Or worse?"

Dee shook her head. "No, nuthin' like that. He was good enough, treated me well, and I had wanted for little growing up. But I sometimes felt like he resented being saddled with me." She shrugged as Neeshka patted her shoulder. "I'm grateful he took me in when he could've passed me off to a temple, but there's little things..."

"Like what?" Neeshka asked.

"Like the way he always calls me his foster daughter. It really grates on me, like he's rubbing it in. What I wouldn't have given for just a hug that didn't seem forced. I've lived with him all my life, but I don't feel like I know him at all..." She sighed bitterly then paused for a moment before she continued, glad for a sympathetic ear. "During fight practice one evening, Georg, leader of our militia, suggested that I go along as a guard when the village sent its grain to market after the harvest. I had been working up the nerve to tell my father."

"Were you afraid he wouldn't let you go?" Neeshka asked.

Dee turned back to look at her. "Truth be told, I was more than a little afraid he wouldn't care. But then came the attack the night of the Harvest Fair, and he sent me into the swamp to retrieve the shard, and then sent me here the next day before the sun was fully up. I hardly had time to get ready! I was numb-I just threw things into my father's old pack. Hells, I was wearin' my nightshirt until I got to the inn past the swamp, and I'm still wearin' my work boots. That's the first thing I need to replace when we get in."

And there was more she kept to herself. It still amazed her that her father had managed to contact Captain Flynn during the time she was in the ruins. How had it been possible? What else hadn't Daeghun told her? She hated the feeling gnawing at her gut that she was no longer in control of her fate. Hells with that! "Let's get out of here, Neesh. Smells like we're about to dock."

She stepped through the door to the main deck, froze in her tracks as she looked around, and gasped in astonishment as she looked across the water at the lights of the city. It was so big! She hadn't even imagined how big a city of 17,000 people would be, or how beautiful it would be at night. She ran to the side of the ship for a better look, straining on her toes and leaning over the side. Up on the hill she could even make out the castle! She shouted to Neeshka and pointed. "Look! Is that Castle Never? And over there, is the Sleeping Dragon bridge? And that one must be the Dolphin Bridge!"

Neeshka laughed loudly. "Well, no one's going to know you're not some yokel just arrived in the big city. I better stick with you. You'll be an easy mark."

Dee only half heard her. That was it! She was definitely going to stay around for a while, just as soon as she finished helping Elanee. She frowned then as she remembered her bear, Cillian, who came to her on the way to Fort Locke. It had been really hard being away from him during the voyage. Sometimes she summoned him at night and drifted off to sleep on the floor with her face pressed into his fur. She sighed. She was sure there was probably a law against bears loose in the city. For his sake, if she stayed, she had to live on the outskirts. She asked, "Hey Neesh, is there a law against bears in the city? Are they gonna make me try to put him on a leash?"

But Neeshka and Khelgar were squabbling as usual, and Elanee was holding a bundle of herbs under her nose to ward off the smell. Khelgar had been moaning and groaning the whole trip, and Elanee had been unnerved by the vast, deep expanse of the open sea, until after a few days of tolerating her complaints even Dee had snapped that there was nothing "unnatural," at all, it was just a different kind of nature.

For her part, it had taken Dee almost a day to get used to the motion of the ship, and she spent her time at the rail as much to watch the view as to be ready to empty her churning stomach. She loved the fresh sea air though, and had gotten her sea legs in no time. She had even thought of talking to Captain Flynn about signing on as crew on his return trip south, though she had seen that the life of a sailor was a rough and tumble one.

She'd been in two fights during the voyage, putting sailors who were looking for a "bedwarmer" in their place. Just last night she and Neeshka had been drinking and gambling with some of the crew when one of them accused the tiefling first of cheating, then of jinxing him. He grabbed Dee's arm and said he'd get paid back, one way or another. She reacted with a vicious uppercut that sent him flying; then his friend jumped on her back, Neeshka jumped on him, and the rest was a blur of fists and clubs until the captain and Khelgar broke it up and admonished them for not inviting him to the fight. Elanee had refused to heal them. Neeshka had rolled her eyes as Elanee stalked back to bed and muttered, "Yes, mother." Dee's knuckles were scabbed and swollen, she had a bruise on her jaw, and a swollen lip, and she just now realized that she hadn't even asked Neeshka if she had cheated.

They debarked even though Flynn had strongly suggested it was safer if they stayed the night and left at first light, but she was determined to get this over with. And there was so much to see anyway! Neeshka especially couldn't wait to get off the ship and back in her city, and she paced impatiently as the ship docked and sprinted to the dock as soon as the gangplank was set. Dee stopped and asked directions to the Flagon at a city Watch outpost, as well as directions to the Temple of Tyr.

Neeshka ran back and grabbed her arm impatiently. "Let's go! I could've told you that!"

Dee replied, "Fine, but I wasn't sure if you would've known where the temple was. We can head over there in the morning and see if Cormick is in on the way. Oh, and I want to go shopping once we get the reward! I want to get new boots, and find something nice to bring back for my friend Bevil's mother, and something for Bevil too, and maybe something for my father."

Neeshka looked her over. "The armor is good, but we've got to get you some clothes that don't scream 'farm girl.'"

The Watch sergeant had said the Flagon was just up the street, so they made their way there first to meet the uncle she hadn't even heard of until a few tendays ago.

Khelgar and Neeshka had finally stopped bickering. Khelgar rubbed his belly and said, "Now for a few pints, a big bowl of stew, and a bed that isn't moving."

Neeshka giggled and asked, "You paying?"

Dee added, "I'm just looking forward to a real bath and a chance to wash my hair." She sniffed herself discretely. Yup, she smelled like she'd had a tenday with nothing but a sponge bath. Elanee stayed close to her, eyes darting around nervously and jumping at every sound, making Dee more nervous than she wanted to admit she was. "Hells, calm down, Elanee. Think of it as bein' inside a giant beehive!"

Dee feigned a swaggering confidence she really didn't feel to put her at ease. She stepped up to the door and pushed it open, pausing on the threshold to allow her eyes to get used to the light inside. She scanned the room and its denizens before stepping in. And there weren't many, probably due to the lateness of the hour. She whispered, "The place is dead."

Neehska thought, "What a dive!" She pushed her way past anyway, dive or not, and almost ran for the bar, followed by closely Kelghar.

Dee felt eyes on her, and turned her head until she spotted a man dressed in leathers sitting in the shadows against the wall, a bow leaning against the wall next to him, drinking a mug of ale and sizing her up like a wolf eying its prey. Not bad looking either, with eyes the color of honey, though she thought he could stand a shave. The way he kept his back to the wall and sat where he could watch who came and went told her he might be a ranger, and the slight movement under the table that she spotted-a wolf-confirmed that. She smiled at the wolf. "Well, if he can have a wolf, I can have my bear, and Elanee can have her badger," she thought.

She saw his eyes dart to her weapons, but she realized he was giving her legs a long look too, licking his lips. Well, let him look. She'd been told they were her best feature, not that she cared. Well, maybe a little. She met his eyes with a cool look and nodded to let him know she was aware of his scrutiny. Usually that was enough to intimidate or embarrass men into turning away, but this one was different. Instead, the raw desire he returned in his gaze made her blush, and she gasped and was the one to look away. "Gods, he's lookin' at me like he's already seen me naked! I'm gonna have to find a way to put that one in his place." She felt a rising heat in her cheeks, and she quickly glanced back in time to see him chuckling. She gave him her haughtiest sneer and decided to remember why she was even there. "Better to keep an eye on that one in the mirror over the bar."

She turned and spotted a half elf near the bar watching her warily as he dried his hands on an ale-stained apron. He looked younger than she expected, but then again, he could be a hundred. She didn't see much resemblance to Daeghun, but as she got close she saw there was something familiar about his eyes, and his shaggy hair was the same color. That's where the similarity ended; he was as unkempt as Daeghun was neat. She gave the ranger another glance in the mirror to see if he was still watching her; he was. Dee didn't know whether she wanted to smack him one, or...or what? The tingle in her nethers told her what.

She quickly strode over to the safety of the half-elf and said, "I'm looking for Duncan Farlong. "

He stammered nervously for a minute, "Duncan? He's around somewhere. Why would you be lookin' for him, lass?," rambling nervously long enough to convince her that he was probably as shady as Daeghun had implied.

What exactly did he think she was? It was late, and she was tired, hungrier than she had realized, and she really wanted that bath and bed. She held up her hand to silence him. "Daeghun sent me."

He blinked as the name sunk after a moment in through his drunken haze. "Daeghun?" He looked her over and blinked again, peering at her closely. "Not little Dierdre?"

She shrugged and chuckled lightly. "Aye, I'm Dee, tho' not so little anymore. He's sent me on an errand he says you can help me with. And I'm hopin' you have rooms for me and my friends," nodding at the others at the bar, "and a bath? Is it too late for that?"

He smiled and took her hand and shook it vigorously then pulled her into a hug. She grunted and returned the hug and wondered how he could be related to Daeghun. "Little Dierdre. Should've known at once, ye have yer mother's eyes. Don't worry about the bath. There's always plenty of warm water because of the fire elementals under the river. Now tell me what this is all about. What kind of dangerous errand has my brother sent you on? Gods know he sent me on plenty before I gave it up."

She glanced at the mirror in her watching game with the ranger and was more disappointed than she wanted to admit that he was no longer watching her. In fact, he looked really mad about something. So even as she started telling her uncle everything that had happened, she was trying to think of a casual way to strike up a conversation with the ranger. "I know!," she thought, "I'll just go admire his wolf! That would work with me." Maybe they could share a mug of mead or two, and she would even let him show her the city, if he behaved.