Errand of Mercy

Errand of Mercy by Roger E. Moore is the fourth novella in the Double Diamond Triangle Saga series.

"The paladins sent by the Lord of Waterdeep to rescue his kidnapped bride have arrived in a kingdom of the Utter East. The monarch seems friendly, but the kingdom is beset by menacing fiends. Before the ruler agrees to help the knights in their quest, there is just one small task they must perform."

Summary
The story continues immediately after the events of the Paladins, as Miltiades, Kern Desanea, Jacob, Trandon, and Kastonoph Nesher step through the gate that transported them from the Sargauth Level of Undermountain to somewhere in the Utter East. That "somewhere" turned out to be Eldrinpar, the capital of Doegan. As they arrived they were greeted by Ikavi Garkim, a Mar and the secretly telepathic Chamber of Councilors member and the emperor of Doegan's right hand.

The greeting emissary guided the paladins though the trap-ridden halls of the Stone Arch vault, fighting mistrust and resistance form the new guests. The paladins agreed to being escorted to the palace to request help (or find the culprit) in retrieving the missing Eidola of Neverwinter. On their elephant ride to the palace, Garkim gave the guests a short, albeit unreliable, version of the region's history, culture, colonization and the Bloodforge Wars. Bloodforge was the reason the paladins come to the East, as the forge's basal golems were the creatures that kidnapped Eidola. According to their guide, all of the Five Nations of the Utter East had one of the bloodforges of their own, and possibly, the mysterious faction called the Fallen Temple, one of the five churches that came to Doegan from the Moonshae Isles during the colonization.

The paladins reached the palace and were given guest quarters to rest and clean themselves up. During the rest, a hulking man attacked the paladins but was killed, meting into a goo similar to the apple butter from Waterdeep. This attack by a basal golem only made the paladins' of Tyr mistrust their guests even further.

During a welcoming meal, the paladins and Ikavi Garkim were invited to an audience with the emperor Aetheric III. To their surprise, they arrived to an empty throne room with emperor's booming voice echoing in their minds. Eventually the paladins discovered the telepathic monstrosity in a giant water tank of the black poisonous liquid. The emperor shared with the paladins that the cost of use of the bloodforges was not just draining of the land and its people of life, but also altering their shapes. Aetheric III was altered the most due to his heavy bloodforge use, he resembled a giant aquatic creature with scaled tentacles, beautiful face, huge jet black eyes and rashed, damaged, rotting flesh. The emperor also told them that the bloodforges were created by the Mar's ancestors to seal otherworldly forces and influences on the region away and use of the artifacts weakened the barriers. The fish-creature revealed that Eidola was tased by the Fallen Temple, the temple that used to be that of Tyr, now also known as the Temple of the Broken Hammer. Aetheric III asked Miltiades, the group's leader for help against the common enemy and after a communion with his deity he agreed to destroy the enemies of Doegan.

After the paladins departed, the emperor confined in his advisor Garkim, that yes, the paladins agreed to destroy the enemies of Doegan with their god's blessing, but that also included the emperor himself, the Fallen Temple, and the bloodforges. Ikavi Garkim was tasked to be ready to assassinate the newcomers if they move against the emperor.

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