Miranda Illdesserin

[*WhenWizardsWar]

~The Sword Coast:Baldurs Gate~

A heavy fog curls around the dock ward of Baldurs Gate, a thriving city named after a grand adventueror, embracing the harbor like a mother holding a child close. The dock is empty this night, the only sound coming from the water laping against the dock posts and shoreline. A figure moves quietly through the night his destination reached quickly, a warehouse far away from the main plaza. He knocks on the door in a pre-planned sequence and then steps inside. The warehouse is stuffed with crates, though only one person stands within, a woman tall and beautiful, a woman garbed in the finest red cloth the man had ever seen, her bald head tattooed and flickering in torch light.

The woman folds her arms as the man approached carefully, his gaze drifting to the shadows where he spots dozens of lesser creatures, goblin kobolds and gnolls armed to the teeth and waiting all of them branded with a slaves mark. He moves to the woman who stares at him with cold calculating eyes.

"Were you successful?" the woman asks suddenly, straight to the point.

"Yes, it was indeed him, we found a secured chamber in the sewer system that had equipment marked with his personal arcane symbol...just like you predicted" the man replied calmly, though he was anything but.

"Was it him, or the doctor?" came her next query.

"It was the doctor, no one knew the other name you told me but everyone knew the black garbed doctor you spoke of, he made a small fortune offering his services as a mortician" the informant replied.

"He is gone though, my sources said he left the city at first light yesterday" he added a moment later.

"Good, your payment is in the record office in this warehouse you have earned it" the woman said as she hissed out an arcane sentence which caused her and the slaves to vanish.

"Fifty thousand platinum peices!" the man gasped as he found the lock box and slowly opened it.


The Red woman watched from a distant hill, watched through a scrying lens as dozens of men from the local thieves guild disappeared into the warehouse, ready to capture her and extort her for magic and money no doubt. She watched as a brief momentary flash of light issued forth from the records office window and the warehouse exploded, showering the dock side with flames and debris, and brief screams of men running from the ruins drenched in flames that would not go out even when they plunged into the cold dockside water.

As the warehouse flames light up the night sky, she slid a ring on her right hand and twisted the gem set on the band. The ring began to glow and energy curled out from the gems many facets towards a spot in the air a few feet from her. The energy tendrils seem to "draw" a picture of eight figures in red robes sitting around a communal table, when the picture is complete it seems to come become animated.

"Report" one of the eight bald headed figures says simply as it turns his head to look out at the woman.

"Our intelligence was of course, correct. He was here, or rather Doctor Ebon was here. It seems he is still hell bent on his experiment, he made quite the fortune here I have been informed, his services as a mortician are very good after all" the woman responded promptly.

Seven of the eight figures gathered began to converse with each other for a few moments, before the room was silenced by loud tapping noises coming from the eighth figure. The congregation, and even their servant looked across the room to the end of their communal table to the being at the end. The being was old beyond compare, his clothes in tatters around his frame, rotten decayed skin dripping from his frame and red pin pricks of light where his eyes used to be. The lich was clad in clad in red robes like the others and his gaze seemed to peirce right through the magical window and into the informants eyes.

"During your travels we have recieved word of his arrival in the city of Waterdeep, the next step of your investigation begins there" he said in a firm yet gravely cold voice.

"Of course master Szass, I will begin at once, Miranda Illdesserin over and out".

[*WhenWizardsWar]

A LETTER HOME.

Gregory, my dearest husband.

I know it hasn't been too long since I last saw you on my return home after the wedding of lord Hiromo and his wife, I can still feel the warmth of your arms around me, the smell of your body fragrance...

Sorry I promise I wont go off on one of my tangents I know how it gets to you my love. I do not know how to say this but...if anyone shows up looking for me in the near or far future please bring him or her to me. I use the vague identifiers because while the body of this person is...unique you will need to actually talk to the individual to find out their exact gender, something I have not figured out yet.

I wish I could tell you more but, alas its probably a wastefully hopeless dream that this individual will show up, it is more likely they have been killed by ignorant...ignorant bastards who don't realise...

You will know what i'm trying to say if you ever meet this remarkable individual.

I worry over their fate and despite having so little contact with this person I know you will understand...

Bah what the hell I am I saying.

Its a ship, my love..the most wonderful creation in existance, and before its destruction i pleaded with it to come find you should it survive its execution.

If it shows up, youll know it..please i implore you to bring it to me if it survived, i always keep promises, you know this and i made it promises i intend to keep.

Please be safe my love, I hope to see you sometime soon.

Maybe you can come visit me in Sigil for once?

Love & Magic

Miranda

[*WhenWizardsWar]

Dear Mr Gullywerk.

I am sorry to inform you that the letter of note you used to pay for your recent purchase at The Abjurors Arsenal a divine and arcane emporium located in the planar city of Sigil has been denied its value from the counting house you specified, the reason reported as being insufficient funds.

You intended to purchase the following items.

-Five enchanted spoons of endless clean for three hundred gold coins.
-Two decanters of endless water and one of endless wine both for six hundred gold coins.
-Ten silver plated bowls of food purification for two thousand gold.

The counting states you have a balance of less then fifty gold coins. If you still wish to complete your purchase order please correct this issue within thirty days and send us a new note with your updated signature and the current monthly marking.

We hope to hear from you and thank you for using the Abjurors Arsenal for all your magical needs.

Miranda Illdesserin
Owner, The Abjurors Arsenal, Sigil branch.
Chairwoman of the Gold Steps Trading Company, Managment Division.

[*Iggwilv]

After a long delay a boy drops of a message at Miranda's stall. He waits for his tip and then departs. The rolled message bares the seal of The Thayian Enclave in Dragon's Reach.

My darling Miranda

The ship has arrived as you said.  It is in a sorry state.  I have done all I can to make its condition stable but I do not have the time to gather the components needed to repair it. Zulkir Flass' supporters seem intent on furthering her opposition to The Enclave project are proving problematic.  I do not wish to give them the opportunity that my absence from The Enclave would provide.  As much as I long to see both you and Sigil I am afraid for now my place is here.  However if you were able to procure the parts I need I believe I could fix the ship and bring it working order for you.

My love

Gregory

[*WhenWizardsWar]

Miranda taps her fingers on the table infront of her as she reads the letter from her husband. The boy who delivered the letter was paid handsomly and sent on his way, Miranda quickly closing up shop and occupying a table at Khazeets with her customary glass of wine and work books detailing the days events and incomes and expendatures and what not.

She folded the letter open and read it carefully, short and simple as was her husbands way and yet speaking volumes.

She read it over and over again, after the third time tiny tears came tracing down her cheeks, for reasons she could not comprehend.

She had only had limited contact with the ship but perhaps that was enough? never before had she had such intimate contact with anyone, on a mental level anyway.

The ship had survived, and was safe and sound in her husbands care, instantly her mind began to churn like the clock work gears on mechanuis, designs and plans and forumla racing across her vast and complex mind.

She was torn, she wanted to smile and frown at the same time which by nature of the body was almost impossible. She made the ship a promise during their brief meeting for the first time and she intended to keep it, she would see the ship restored to its former glory....no she would improve it far beyond what its wildest thoughts could comprehend.

She owed it that much.

She sighed as she also contemplated the immediate situation around her, her bussiness in Sigil and the looming construction of Illdesserin Tower in the lower ward.

She was about to become very busy....

And it was going to be a expensive.....

She reached down and ran a hand over her stomach, a soft smile and perhaps a giggle escaping her lips.

Great times are afoot indeed...

[*WhenWizardsWar]

Sometime after finding out the ship has arrived safely and has been saved from impending doom, caravan after caravan begin to make their way to her husband at the dragons reach. The transports are heavily guarded, men and women in gleaming gold equipment, the finest gear money can buy and they dont take any crap, guarding the convoys with their lives.The wagons consist of building materials, some common some very strange, zalantiar wood, mithril, alchemical silver...you name it and plenty of crates and containers of expensive, exotic materials like planks of twelve trees bark, stores of mindsilver ingots, a truely staggering and expensive amount of materials. The caravans are carefully itemized and detailed drawings and descriptions of what is stored where are present as well, and if even one thing is out of place her husband has enough authority to disipline the gold knight escorts since he is also a member of the gold steps trading company.

Miranda also begins to include thoughts and ideas for improvements, like useing the mindsilver ingots to reinforce points of interface with the ships conciousness to improve response times and communication, the number of possible ideas and suggestions is staggering and it becomes clear she is giving much thought to the restoration of the ship.

With the latest shipment comes a letter personally sealed for her husband, smelling of lilacs and sealed with a wax signet in the shape of a pair of lips, literally sealed with a kiss.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My dearest and loving husband.

In all the years we have been together we have created countless magical wonders and items, we have given birth to a small merchantile empire that most other seekers of coins can only dream of. We have knowledge, we have power, we have wealth and success and we have love that you have proven to me can never be broken. I miss you dearly and even made more so with the fact that i am going to be in sigil for some time before i get to see you again, bussiness is soaring and my influence of the markets and the spreading of the gold steps trading company name proceeds rapidly, but now more then ever I desire to see you!.

When I returned home to see you after teh Hiromo wedding, it was a happy time for both of us, our time together always is and we never forget any second of those moments, but it turns out that moment is now more important to us then we could ever realise for now we have created the most wonderful, magical thing that can ever be done....we have created life my dear husband.

As I write this letter to you, I am almost one month into pregnancy.

Love, Magic and Life
Miranda.

[*WhenWizardsWar]

So much has happened lately, Miranda finds it hard to keep track of who is who, what is what and whats going on where...

Business is good, hell better then ever actually and she finds herself in a state of happyness she hasnt known for along time. It is the beginning of her third month of pregnancy and she finds herself back on faerun for her monthly trip to the Dragons Reach and her husbands enclave.

Miranda sighs softly and buries her head deep into the crook of her husbands arm as one hand idly traces intricate runes across his torso. He shifts slightly so he can look down at her, turning slightly on his side to do so.

"What's wrong my love?" he asks softly, one hand gently caressing the lines of her tattoo, the brand if you will that all wizards have on their bald heads.

"Nothing, it's just...the baby will change everything, and its a change we cant control, its not some measured magical experiment, its not some pile of coins that can be counted systematically, I find myself doing things on a whim...the increase in eating and bodily changes...the changes in my moods..." she responds softly.

He begins to chuckle as he wraps his arms completely around her.

"Its not funny! You don't know the kinds of....of..things ive been eating now! Lately ive been in a overly happy generous mood thats cost me a small fortune just because if felt like being nice, my back hurts alot more now and...my god the itching that strikes my breasts at the worse times!" she thumps a hand on his chest and sighs again.

"My darling Miranda, I love you more then anyone or anything in the realms but it sounds to me like you've finally found a magic that is simply beyond anyones ability to manipulate and control" he responds as he tries to cease his laughter.


The two lay there in silence for sometime after that, organizing and deciphering their own thoughts until sleep over takes them both.


"Vyse, are you a count?" somene had inquired Miranda looked over, snapping from her thoughts of her recent trip home, her eyes falling upon the skilled bard standing in front of khazeets bar.

"Uh....n...no, I don't hold.." the bard started to reply but Miranda tuned his response out as she glanced back to the letter she was writing to a rather unlucky orc merchant back home.

"So you do know how to count, ok I told you Vyse could be a count!" the strange woman spoke to another, again Miranda tuned this out as well.

Miranda sighs and places a hand on her pregnant stomach, a tiny almost unnoticable bulge beginning.

She goes back to writing her letter.

[*WhenWizardsWar]

In Tethyr just under two miles away from a Thayan Enclave which Miranda Illdesserin is one of the headmasters a camp of orc merchants sits huddled between an expansive forest and a large lake. The merchants are not what they appear to be, many of them peddle weapons, armors, all manner of sundries and trinkits of which some are magical and some art but the pride of the merchant camp is a very exclusive and valuable commodity.

Dragon parts...yes that's right, these orc merchants happen to sell dragon parts, in the past three months the orc merchants have raised a considerable fortune dealing their wares.

Except the whole thing is a scam, a ruse, a con.

The goods and wares they sell are cheap and inferior, most of them breaking within a month of being bought and used repeatedly....

Their goods are a joke, and so few have figured out that wool has been pulled over their eyes.

But wait...if their goods are poor, cheap and inferior what about the incredible bounty of dragon parts that they sell? The parts that have made them a fortune?

Yep...you guessed it.

FAKE.

As Lathander yields Torils sky to Selunes glittering smile, a man in neutral non descript clothing leaves the head merchants tent after delivering a beautiful mahogany box sealed with a ribbon and a letter stuck to its lid.

Almost an hour later, a massive explosion obliterates the head merchants tent, leaving scraps of tent fabric and strewn orc bits all over the merchant outpost. The orcs who flock to the scene find nothing intact except the mahogany box, its contents and somehow the letter that was with the box. The next orc in the merchants chain of command opens the mahogany box and pulls out a kings tear the size of his fist, a single solitary rare gem worth more then any of the orcs present could even imagine.

While the new headmaster stares awestruck at the gem in the box, another picks up the letter and begins to read it slowly.

"Dear headmaster Orgunsh, my name is Miranda Illdesserin, and I am responsible for the financial stability of the thayan enclave that you and your sorry band of merchants have set up camp near. I am told, and I have seen the shoddy dragon parts and good you and your kin are peddling. While your goods are inferior and shoddy, they are -cheap- and your scam has cost my enclave and its merchants thousands if not hundreds of thousands of coins.

My husband has approached you three times, and in a civilized manner each time at which point he has made you three incredibly generous offers that would make most kings yield up parts of their lands just to have the money offered.

I send you this letter, and I extend to you one -final- offer which upon recieving my offer -loud and clear- i am sure you will see the value in taking what i give to you.

See my offer, hear my offer loud and clear AND GET THE HELL OFF MY LAND. Miranda Illdesserin, soverign headmaster of the Tethyrian Thayan Enclave and owner of the Abjurors Arsenal".

The orc finishes the letter which causes those gathered to look at the destruction around them and then to the rare precious stone in the new orc-merchant leaders hands.

A heated debate on what to do next ensues.

[*WhenWizardsWar]

"What about Bob?".

Miranda sighs as she leans forward on her stool, her elbows coming to rest on the stall counter infront of her. She glances at her signs, set up in typical placement and flickering with magical lights as is her custom, her forge crackles behind her, the enchantment shelf twinkles and chimes with casual lingering energy and her alchemical distillery occasional offers up a belch of sound or a pungent odor.

She looks across the empty market streets, to Khazeet who returns her stares as he polishes a glass with a not so dirty rag.

Oh don't get it wrong, she has gotten business this cycle, and there is always someone even the common folk who approaches her once or twice an hour at the very least to have some minor crafting or magics worked...

But the past few hours...

Nothing...

"You keep polishing that one glass Khazeet and its gonna start looking like a polished diamond" she lets her words drift across the way to the bar tender, who shrugs and begins to work on another glass.

For some though, life is good...for Sigils resident gelatinous street cleaner, life is VERY good. The gelatinous cube lovingly referred to as "bob" is often the talk of the streets because not only do many worship him, many appreciate the effort he makes as he oozes his way around the market picking up the refuse left here and there.

Respected, well known and appreciated...for a near mindless organism Bob is surely living the life, and a dozen or more meals a day doesn't hurt either.

This particular cycle, with a market holding the flaming man and nothing else but bored merchants Bob has decided to gently ooze over one of khazeets chair legs, cleaning the dirt and excrement caked under the chairs legs. The ooze which had been cleaning the chair for sometime suddenly quivers as a tiny glittering object bounces off its surface and lands a few inchs away.

He studies it for a moment, many sides...shiny...looks solid...might take awhile to digest...but hes not picky.

-Sloooooop, slooooooop, slooooooop, sploosh, slicckc, slurp- gone is the glittering morsel...but wait! There is another over there!.

-Sloooooop, slooooooop, slooooooop, sploosh, slicckc, slurp- yumm! Oh! Another! And Another! All in a line!

-Sloooooop, slooooooop, slooooooop, sploosh, slicckc, slurp-

-Sloooooop, slooooooop, slooooooop, sploosh, slicckc, slurp-

After pulling several of these brilliant shiny morsels into his acidic mass, he suddenly finds the city gone dark as a heavy wooden box come's crashing down upon his cubed shape.

He had thought something was funny, the wooden box held up by a string and a single wooden pole...with several shiny eats under the box...

Still...at least he was safe from Sigils sludge rain now! He would have to thank who ever gave him the nice hat.

Khazeet watchs as the cube in a box slides off around the market in search of more to eat then he looks at Miranda as she sits back on her stool, gently rubbing her pregnant belly with a chuckle.

"Miranda..." he looks at her, she raises a brow"

"Why?" he queries.

"Bored" she replies as she sips her bowl of formian spices soup.

"What were those?" he asks as he shakes his head and begins to clean another glass.

"Diamonds" she says simply as if it was nothing at all.

The bar tender shakes his head and smiles as a few people file in to have a drink or two but not before he gives a cocky "finally some business" grin to Miranda.

She signs and lays her head down on the counter...

[*WhenWizardsWar]

Miranda shivers for a moment as she reclines upright against a brace of pillows behind her. She smiles as she gazes down the length of her torso to her bald headed husband who's head rests on her abdomen gently with one ear pressed against her flesh.

"Its still early my love, we wont it moving for a month or so at least" she says as she rubs his bald scalp lovingly.

They had locked themselves inside her husbands tent earlier that day when she arrived on her monthly visit home and she found out quickly that her longing for him had been mutual to say the least and despite Miranda being in her six month of pregnancy, they had ended up making love which was both...very difficult and yet, brought to both of them a sensual feeling of closeness that neither of them had ever felt, in fact so draining had it been that hours later, they had yet to get dressed.

"I've been thinking" he said after a long while of holding his ear to her stomach, he looked up at her with a softness in his eyes that she knew, he only allowed himself when he was in her presence.

"If it's a boy, I'd like to name him Edwin" he met her gaze and held it for a long moment.

She smiled and cupped both of her hands around her abdomen, "Edwin....after your father?" she inquired. When he nodded she smiled and giggled.

"Funny, because I was thinking...if its a girl...id like to name her Sophia" Miranda whispered softly.

He smiled and shifted his place on the bed so he could lock his lips with hers, "After your mother then?".

"Yessss..." she let out a soft moan as her lips met his, her arms reached around him, pulling him towards her as an intense flame of passion suddenly roared to life in her body on such a level she had never felt before.

He chuckled as he pulled the sheets up over them for a third time that day.

"We're never going to get any work done today are we?" he whispered.