rub his hands together as he spoke. 'It has to be something suitably interesting to him, though. Something more interesting than playing at investigating this niggling crime before him.'
'You have an idea already?' Grozier asked, looking expectantly at the merchant-priest.
'Yes. Remember what I said he likes?'
'Wenching and fighting?'
'Precisely. I'm sure we can arrange it so that he has ample opportunity for both.'
'That's going to be interesting to try to pull off,' Grozier said with a derisive snort. 'He may already have some companionship of his own.'
'A young man his age and temperament is always interested in a little more,' the priest replied.
'What about his uncle?' Junce said, rising to his feet. 'Didn't you say the mercenary was also planning to speak to him, drag him into this?'
'Kovrim Lazelle can be easily dealt with,' replied the priest. 'I will see to it personally. Do not involve yourself in the temple's side of things. Our connection to your financial endeavors must remain invisible.'
'As you wish,' Grozier said. 'We'll keep on as before and leave these other matters up to you.'
'Excellent,' the priest said. He turned to go. 'Are we still meeting in two days' time?' he asked at the doorway out of the study.
'Yes,' Grozier replied. 'The usual place and time.'
The priest nodded and departed without even acknowledging Bartimus's presence. Grozier, however, did.
'Bartimus, stop lurking over there and come sit down.'
The wizard bobbed his head obsequiously and entered the rest of the way into the study.
'As you no doubt heard,' Grozier continued, 'our young mercenary is being quite persistent. I'm concerned about what he might yet find '
'I arranged it so that there would be nothing for him to find, as you and I decided,' Bartimus said quickly, worried again that his employer was going to blame him for some shortcoming. 'I can't imagine what else he could do.'
Grozier snorted.
'Tell him what you and the priest discovered,' the merchant said, looking at Junce. The rogue chuckled.
'We followed Vambran Matrell today after he went to the watch headquarters to meet with Captain Leguay,' Junce explained, flopping down onto the chair once more. 'When she didn't give him any satisfaction, he left in a huff. The priest read his thoughts and discovered that Vambran seems to think he has a way of finding our phony watchmen. He seemed to have some notion of tracking down a dagger.'
Bartimus frowned.
'Of course, I suppose that's possible, assuming that he knows of a particular dagger to track. Certainly, there are ways to do it, both arcane methods and divine incantations,' he said. 'But that wasn't something I would assume he had the capability to utilize, since first and foremost, he would need this dagger to be familiar, and secondly-'
'Enough,' Grozier interrupted wearily. 'I don't care how likely it is that he can do it. The fact is, he seems confident that he can. In those situations, I tend to trust that he knows what he's talking-er, rather, thinking-about. The question we should be asking ourselves is, what do we do about it? I don't intend to let the fate of all my planning rest in his hands,' the merchant said, nodding toward the door where the priest had departed. 'Trusting in the possibility of simply distracting him is a little too chancy for my tastes.'
'I can get over to Dressus's place and figure out what dagger we might be talking about,' Junce volunteered. 'I can go ditch it somewhere harmless.' Then the spy began to smile. 'Or, better yet, I can go slip it somewhere rather dangerous, and let him wander into a little trap.'
'Ordinarily, I'd say absolutely,' Grozier said, motioning for Junce to hold off. 'But in this case, I don't want to take any chances. I think it's time we got Vambran Matrell out of the middle of this entirely.'
'You want me to kill him?' Junce asked, his eyes glittering. When Grozier nodded, the assassin said, 'I think I know just the group to help me do it.'
'Then take care of it,' Grozier replied, smiling coldly.
After Junce departed, Grozier turned back to his house wizard and said, 'There's a possibility that our friend Junce will fail. Vambran Matrell has proven to be rather resourceful. If that's the case again, it might not be such a bad thing for our pest to find Dressus and the others.'
'Pardon?' Bartimus asked, confused. 'I thought we didn't want him to learn anything from them.'
Grozier sighed and said, 'Right. I don't. However, I think Dressus and his rowdies have begun to outlive their usefulness. Even if we managed to get rid of the dagger, nothing says Vambran Matrell doesn't have other methods of finding them. I'd rather not take that chance ' the merchant said pointedly, looking at his employee.
'Ah,' Bartimus said, 'so we'll let him find them, but it will be too late.'
'And I hope too late for him, too,' Grozier added. 'I knew I could count on you to solve this problem for me.'
'Me?' Bartimus yelped, taking a step back. 'I can't-oh, wait. You want something else.' He began to think about his repertoire of magic. 'There are a number of different things I might try. Let's see,' he said, beginning to mentally tick off possibilities. 'I could-'
'I don't want the details,' Grozier said impatiently. 'Just come up with something suitably nasty that's certain to deal with everyone.' The merchant was nodding then, a pleased look on his face. 'Yes. If our nosy little mercenary lieutenant slips through Junce's ambush and still wants to track down his favorite dagger, we'll just let him. That should solve our problems just fine.'
As usual, the Temple of Waukeen in Arrabar was bustling with activity when Vambran arrived. The building itself soared from the middle of a vast open lawn, a great rounded structure capped by a massive dome and surrounded by various towers that were all topped with sweeping, majestic spires, each one taller than the next and reaching skyward. All of their various surfaces were etched in gold inlay and precious gems, some of the stones large enough to glitter brightly even when viewed from several blocks away. No expense had ever been spared in the construction of the temple, and its expansion continued even then, as more and more space was needed to house the new priests who pledged their lives to the Merchant's Friend each day.
Vambran bypassed all of it with barely a glance, for he had seen it many times before, and truly, such a display of wealth did not impart the same impression upon him that it would most others. Still, he was surprised by the amount of new construction going up on the grounds. He gazed at the scaffolding where another wing was being built, the walls already halfway up and the skeletal ribs of the interior floors being put into place. Soon enough, the outer shell would be complete, and workers would plaster and paint those walls, embedding more gold and gems into the surface as they finished.
The lieutenant stepped inside the main entrance. In addition to the scores of worshippers who had come to pray for a boon before their day's business dealings, numerous priests moved through the spacious sanctuary, their robes, miters, and scarlet cloaks glittering with precious gems, gold, and even divine light, the result of magical orisons placed upon them. The effect was designed to bedazzle all who looked upon the holy men's and women's dress. More of the precious jewels and metals covered nearly every surface of the interior of the temple, the only exceptions being the broad arched openings that served as windows and doors, the tapestries that hung on the walls-though those were more often than not woven with thread-of-gold and had tiny gems stitched into their images like elaborate stained-glass windows-and any surfaces where adherents would need to walk. As a faith designed to pay homage to wealth, the temple presented the right message to its people.
Rather than moving into the main sanctuary, Vambran turned to move down a hall, heading deeper into the interior of the temple, up into some of the spires of the structure where many of the various offices were housed. Even as he walked, though, Vambran nodded in satisfaction that even on the day after a festival that ran long into the night-or even into the small hours of the morning, in some quarters-the devotion to the goddess of trade, coin, and wealth was strong.
Vambran passed beyond all of that and wound his way into the halls where the business of the church was handled, where the priests responsible for all the various financial activities worked. He sought the offices of his superior, Kovrim Lazelle, who was in charge of many of the business-related activities of the Sapphire Crescent.
