Chapter 5
Postlude
Other Books in Series:
The Abduction (0-7869-0864-5)
The Paladins (0-7869-0865-3)
The Mercenaries (0-7869-0866-1)
Errand of Mercy (0-7869-0867-X)
An Opportunity for Profit (0-7869-0868-8)
Conspiracy (0-7869-0869-6)
Uneasy Alliances (0-7869-0870-X)
Easy Betrayals (0-7869-0871-8)
Be sure to look for the other parts in your local bookstore.
She floated in beauty at the center of it all: a creature of pure light, her raiment a rainbow, her
scepter a staff of lightning, her eyes twin blue flames.
Paladin and Hero fell to their faces before her.
Her song now was one of triumph as her power blazed brighter. The black tentacles clutching the
diamond ignited, their flames adding to the brilliance. The globe of mirrors melted away, and a
blast of pure force roared out amid the circling stars and wandering moons.
THE DOUBLE DIAMOND TRIANGLE SAGA
THE ABDUCTION
J. Robert King
THE PALADINS
James M. Ward & David Wise
THE MERCENARIES
Ed Greenwood
ERRAND OF MERCY
Roger E. Moore
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PROFIT
Dave Gross
CONSPIRACY
J. Robert King
UNEASY ALLIANCES
David Cook with Peter Archer
EASY BETRAYALS
Richard Baker
THE DIAMOND
J. Robert King & Ed Greenwood
To Peter Archer, who has labored mightily, his praises hitherto unsung, to keep the
Realms alive and colorful. The throne at the center of the fray can oft be too warm a
place but the Archer sits it with dignity.
E.G.
To Steven E. Schend, for showing me around the City of Splendors.
J.R.K.
THE DIAMOND
Š1998 TSR, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.
Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc. and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Ltd.
Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and regional distributors.
Cover art by Heather LeMay.
FORGOTTEN REALMS and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR,
Inc. DOUBLE DIAMOND TRIANGLE SAGA is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc.
All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned
by TSR, Inc.
TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
First Printing: July 1998
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-0691
8642XXX1501
ISBN: 0-7869-0872-6
U.S., CANADA, ASIA, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.B. 34
P.O. Box 707 2300 Turnhout
Renton, WA 98057-0707 Belgium
+1-206-624-0933 +32-14-44-30-44
Visit our website at www.tsr.com
Prelude
Rumination and Ruination
What a nuisance, death. No one’s polite to a dead man
even if the departed is the Open Lord of
Waterdeep.
A few manservants’d get the boot if Holy Tyr’s justice had aught to say about it. They hoist me
like a grainsack, drop me into coffins to check the fit, knock my head against any cornice or
filigree that presents itself, leave me lying however I land, and never deign to straighten garments
gathered at my knees or wadded up at my back.
On the second day of my demise, I was hung in the meat cellar with the rest of the perishables.
Simon the stablehand happened along to pilfer some cheese, and took the opportunity to pose me
provocatively with a three-foot-long Sembian sausage. If I hadn’t once been a mischievous lad
myself, I’d have him hanged like High Forest venison. If I’d not been mischievous
and weren’t
now as dead as Bane the Accursed.
I must be dead. Even Khelben thinks so. No breath. No pulse. Yet I can sense everything going on
around me. I’m haunting my own corpse! Once it decays, perhaps my ghost will be able to
Postlude
Other Books in Series:
The Abduction (0-7869-0864-5)
The Paladins (0-7869-0865-3)
The Mercenaries (0-7869-0866-1)
Errand of Mercy (0-7869-0867-X)
An Opportunity for Profit (0-7869-0868-8)
Conspiracy (0-7869-0869-6)
Uneasy Alliances (0-7869-0870-X)
Easy Betrayals (0-7869-0871-8)
Be sure to look for the other parts in your local bookstore.
She floated in beauty at the center of it all: a creature of pure light, her raiment a rainbow, her
scepter a staff of lightning, her eyes twin blue flames.
Paladin and Hero fell to their faces before her.
Her song now was one of triumph as her power blazed brighter. The black tentacles clutching the
diamond ignited, their flames adding to the brilliance. The globe of mirrors melted away, and a
blast of pure force roared out amid the circling stars and wandering moons.
THE DOUBLE DIAMOND TRIANGLE SAGA
THE ABDUCTION
J. Robert King
THE PALADINS
James M. Ward & David Wise
THE MERCENARIES
Ed Greenwood
ERRAND OF MERCY
Roger E. Moore
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PROFIT
Dave Gross
CONSPIRACY
J. Robert King
UNEASY ALLIANCES
David Cook with Peter Archer
EASY BETRAYALS
Richard Baker
THE DIAMOND
J. Robert King & Ed Greenwood
To Peter Archer, who has labored mightily, his praises hitherto unsung, to keep the
Realms alive and colorful. The throne at the center of the fray can oft be too warm a
place but the Archer sits it with dignity.
E.G.
To Steven E. Schend, for showing me around the City of Splendors.
J.R.K.
THE DIAMOND
Š1998 TSR, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.
Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc. and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Ltd.
Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and regional distributors.
Cover art by Heather LeMay.
FORGOTTEN REALMS and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR,
Inc. DOUBLE DIAMOND TRIANGLE SAGA is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc.
All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned
by TSR, Inc.
TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
First Printing: July 1998
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-0691
8642XXX1501
ISBN: 0-7869-0872-6
U.S., CANADA, ASIA, EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.B. 34
P.O. Box 707 2300 Turnhout
Renton, WA 98057-0707 Belgium
+1-206-624-0933 +32-14-44-30-44
Visit our website at www.tsr.com
Prelude
Rumination and Ruination
What a nuisance, death. No one’s polite to a dead man
even if the departed is the Open Lord of
Waterdeep.
A few manservants’d get the boot if Holy Tyr’s justice had aught to say about it. They hoist me
like a grainsack, drop me into coffins to check the fit, knock my head against any cornice or
filigree that presents itself, leave me lying however I land, and never deign to straighten garments
gathered at my knees or wadded up at my back.
On the second day of my demise, I was hung in the meat cellar with the rest of the perishables.
Simon the stablehand happened along to pilfer some cheese, and took the opportunity to pose me
provocatively with a three-foot-long Sembian sausage. If I hadn’t once been a mischievous lad
myself, I’d have him hanged like High Forest venison. If I’d not been mischievous
and weren’t
now as dead as Bane the Accursed.
I must be dead. Even Khelben thinks so. No breath. No pulse. Yet I can sense everything going on
around me. I’m haunting my own corpse! Once it decays, perhaps my ghost will be able to
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