The Crimson Gold

The Crimson Gold by Voronica Whitney-Robinson is the third book of The Rogues series.

"She wanted out.

She wanted a new life.

She wanted a trophy worthy of a master thief.

She wanted to find the source of the treasured crimson gold.

She wanted to face an undead emperor on his home ground and live to tell the tale.

Careful what you wish for.

Thazienne Uskevren leaves behind the streets of Selgaunt to challenge the Red Wizards of Thay, but even the priceless Crimson Gold might not be reward enough when all of Thay rises against her.''"

Summary
Thazienne Uskevren traveled to Thay's Sunrise Mountains in search for the crimson gold, an emotional quest to help her come to terms with her father's death. After a successful delve into frozen caves of the Sunrise Mountains, Thazi attracted the attention of Naglatha, Thayan chief of foreign activities. She knew Thazi from the noblewoman's home in Sembia. Naglatha sought a talented thief to aid in her plot against the Zulkir of Necromancy, Szass Tam. Naglatha's bodyguards, under the woman's instructions, manipulated events to cause a fight at Laeril's Arms tavern in Tyraturos. Accused of attacking a Thayan noble, Thazienne was convicted to a lifetime of slavery. While in Thayan slave pens, Thazienne befriended a grumpy duergar Justikar Stoneblood. Subsequently, surviving a trial by battle orchestrated by Naglatha, Thazienne and her duergar ally were bought at a slave auction by Naglatha's agent. The Red Wizard offered Tazi her freedom, and the record of her crime stricken from the records in exchange for a heist. If she were to decline, the Uskevren family were to suffer.

The unwilling accomplices accompanied Naglatha to Thaymount where the Zulkirs and Tharchions were to meet. Naglatha plated the lich's downfall as she disapproved of Thay's mercantile international relations under Tam and wanted war and conquest. Unbeknownst to Naglatha, her supposed symbolic and prophetic dreams were the result of demon lord Eltab's manipulation from his imprisonments under Thaymount. Simultaneously, Eltab used his influence to slowly possess Pyras Autorian, Szass Tam's puppet, and the Tharchion of Thaymount. Thazienne and Justikar succeeded in infiltrating the Paths of the Doomed under the Citadel and retrieved the scroll Naglatha was seeking. Following the theft, the scheming Red Wizard proudly and publicly cast the spell from the scroll, unlocking Eltab's prison. Freed, the tanar'ri assumed full control of Pyras Autorian, transforming his body into the giant hulking demon.

Eltab caused Thaymont's volcanoes to erupt, sowing chaos and distraction and causing the Zulkirs to flee; all but the demon's old enemy Szass Tam and Thazi was freed from her slavery by Naglatha's expedient retreat. She and the Zulkir of Necromancy, aided by Justikar Stoneblood assembled Tam's armies of juju zombies, darkenbeasts, and blooded ones confronted the demon lord and his army of demoncyst-changed monsters from under the Citadel. Thazienne barely survived her one-on-one battle with Eltab, winning after suffering deadly injuries and killing the demon's host with her crimson gold dagger.

Days after the fight, she woke up in the Citadel. Szass Tam, impressed and infatuated with the unique person Thazienne was, pulled her dying body off the death's door. Thankful for her aid, he offered her a place beside him, the offer she refused. Leaving the Citadel, passing the cooling lava and mountains of creatures killed in the war against Eltab, she realized that she received her closure with her father's death, and she was free to make her own way in life.

Characters




Creatures




Locations

 * Regions


 * Geography


 * Settlements


 * Buildings


 * Roads



Magic

 * Magic Weapons


 * Wondrous Items




 * Spells

Other

 * Substances & Materials


 * Gems


 * Weapons




 * Gear


 * Vegetation


 * Food & Drink


 * Items