Couriering Kindness

A lone man travels northwards upon a road past the town of Beregost, lodged between the cities of Amn and Baldur's Gate. He was a simple man, neither old nor particularly young, and for most of his life he had done a simple job. The simple job of couriering packages and information from one place to another. A job which had earned him the name of 'Courier'. This trip to the north was no different for Courier from most of his trips, a bit of coin to take a package from one town to another. In this case it was a small package from the city of Tethyr and he had been travelling for a good part of the month.

It was a joy to travel alone, with only his pack and the world around him; setting his own pace for the day, scrounging for himself and resting in the wilds. However, as much as he preferred it, living in the wilds was still dangerous. So when he spotted a camp in the distance he thought that he could take a night amongst others and sleep with both eyes closed. This particular camp happened to belong to some local poachers, resting after a successful hunt. Courier didn't particularly care what these folk got up to, he wasn't a man without blemish, so he wasn't about to judge them. He spent the night with them, trading stories and exchanging coin for a good meaty meal. While most of the game was already skinned and smoked for transport, Courier noticed a cage at the far end of the camp. This cage held two terrified bear cubs.

Courier inquired, curious why they had captured the two cubs. According to the poachers, a local carnival was looking for new animals to tame. The poachers were hoping that they could get a better price for the cubs alive than for their pelts and meat. It was reasonable explanation and Courier shrugged, seemingly uninterested. A few more hours spent carousing and with booze and nearly the whole camp fell asleep. A single sentry kept watch; this group of poachers was large enough that no bandits would be foolish enough to mess with them.

The moon rose above the camp and the Courier lay awake, stirring restlessly. He was used to the land and used to company yet he was unable to fall asleep. Ruffle to one end, ruffle to another, tried counting clouds - nothing. Something was keeping his mind awake and abuzz with energy, the need to do something.

Courier felt wrong.

More time passed as he tried to work out what was so wrong when it finally clicked. Among the game hunted there hadn't been a single bear pelt to be seen. It dawned on Courier that the cubs must have been captured from their parents. Whether this was a lie of the poachers or they were just that foolish, Courier didn't know. But he felt the need to do something. Surprising himself he packed up his belongings as he knew he had to free the bears.

First he had to be rid of the sentry, or they'd raise the alarm before he could free them and he would be quite dead. He found a good rock and with a well placed throw the sentry stepped from his post to investigate. While the sentry was distracted he quickly picked the shoddy lock and freed the cubs without a single person in the camp noticing the escapade. Wisely, Courier decided it was better to move onward towards his destination rather than be blamed for the missing cubs come morning. He moved on and it was hours before the camp even noticed their prize was missing.

Unfortunately for Courier a few things he hadn't thought of worked against him. Firstly he had blabbered far too much about his destination and job while carousing. He had told several folk who it was he would be meeting, and where, while they were not drunk enough to forget. Secondly, he forgot that the camp was next to a rapid river and the camp had a small boat which they would quickly make use of. Thirdly, thinking he was far ahead of the camp he didn't rush to hand off his package and be away from town. His client unfortunately had many dealings with these very poachers and when they took their boat downriver to inform him they beat Courier there by some time.

Courier's client knew what Courier had done and rather than simply accepting the package and paying for Courier's time, Courier was met with a quick show of swords. The Courier darted towards the nearest door to escape, but it was futile, and so ends the tale of the kind hearted Courier... Except not quite!

Suddenly bursting through the nearest door with a bellowing roar was an unexpected guest. A huge and angry bear. The door broke off it's hinges and slammed into one of the Client's guards. More and more bears poured into the building, raging and tearing into everyone. Everyone except Courier. Courier clambered to his feet shocked and bolted from the building, running as far and as fast as he could from the place. Unwilling to even look over his shoulder at the loud growls and screams of poachers, the Client and the Client's guards, which continued for some time. The town was in a panic from the commotion and no one noticed him as he fled from the town.

It was then that the Courier decided to leave the Sword Coast, booking passage on a ship for distant lands. As the ship was docking it raised a cry of alarm from the seafarers. There was a large breach in it's hull as if it had struck reef or been shot with a black powder cannon. Yet, it was internal, as if something had burst outwards.

Something rather bear shaped, that had then swam off into the distance.

Originally told by Anders Flounder during the first Day of Stories. Recorded, written and embellished by Minto T Fuzzypaw.