The Party of Five had been a famous/infamous group of six members of the Thieves' Guild of the city of Farrog. At one time this particular band of thieves had been the "terror of the city's wealthy",[1] but it had been a few years since they had all worked together. In their own minds, the 'Party of Five' had been the "finest adventuring band of thieves [that the] world [had] ever seen".[2]
The Six Members of the 'Party of Five'[]
- Plaintly Grasp, de facto group leader & organizer - aka "The Fence"
- Barunko - aka "The Muscle"
- Le Groutt, master burglar/second story man ( partner of Mortari )
- Lurma Spilibus - aka "The Fingers"
- Mortari, master burglar/second story man ( partner of Le Groutt )
- Symondenalian Niksos - aka "The Knife"
In The Fiends of Nightmaria[]
Plaintly Grasp called for a reunion of the 'Party of Five' in "Pink's Tavern" where she was a regular. The reason for gathering the band together again was the arrest two days previously of Mistress Dam Loudly Heer, who was the Head of the Farrog Thieves' Guild. The Head had been arrested and taken to the crypts of the Royal Palace of Farrog on the orders of the new King, the usurper, regicide, and necromancer, Bauchelain the First. It was decided that the 'Party of Five' would that very night infiltrate the Royal Palace to find and rescue Dam Loudly Heer.[2]
The 'Party of Five' managed to gain entry into the bowels of the Royal Palace via an unguarded old postern gate, but only after an attempt to scale the palace wall left Le Groutt wounded and Mortari seemingly brain damaged.[1][3] As the sextet moved further and further into the depths of the Royal Palace, they experienced a variety of "alarums and excursions", including an encounter with a masturbating ape-like demon possessed by the Indifferent God.[4][5] An unexpected meeting with a group of escaping prisoners (Apto Canavalian, Brash Phluster, Steck Marynd, Tulgord Vise, Tiny Chanter, Flea Chanter, and Midge Chanter) guided by Seneschal Shartorial Infelance turned into a brief brawl before the 'Party of Five' could push onwards.[6]
Finally stumbling into Korbal Broach's Chamber of Collections, they encountered Bauchelain's partner in his guise as Farrog's new Grand Bishop. Broach was able to help the 'Party of Five' achieve their stated goal of rescuing the Head of the Thieves Guild by presenting them with Dam Loudly Heer's severed head. Plaintly Grasp, triumphantly, pointed out to her fellow thieves, "That's how it goes on a mission like this one... Nothing seems to go as planned and then, all of a sudden, it's mission accomplished!"[7]
The 'Party of Five' then managed to retrace their steps through the Royal Palace back to the postern gate by which they had originally entered. At this point, Barunko had a sudden epiphany - which he immediately shared with the others - i.e., they were, and had always been, a "Party of Six".[8] Unfortunately, after returning to the city streets, the band unexpectedly found that chaos reigned in the streets of Farrog. Bauchelain and Korbal Broach had blindly provoked a war with neighbouring Nightmaria and that Imperial Kingdom had sent its overwhelming military forces in response. To clear their escape route to the city's gate, the two necromancers unleashed a horde of undead on their own citizens.[9][10]
Ducking the undead, which included Dam Loudly Heer's headless corpse, the 'Party of Five' desperately searched for a place of safety for themselves with Plaintly Grasp picking the lock of a passing carriage's storage trap. Crawling inside, they were surprised to discover it filled with an immense treasure. It was only once they were all safely inside sitting in utter darkness that they realised they could no longer find their way out.[11] They had unwittingly found their way into the carriage of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach and the Warren where the necromancers kept their endless treasure. There was no way out and something else was trapped inside with them.[11][10]
Trivia[]
Author Steven Erikson calls the Party of Five a "reference to the classic gaming group--the D&D gaming group", who serve as a "satirical sendup...of the impact of role-playing [games] on fantasy fiction."[12] They were "basically writ[ten] up [as] a classic adventure group where everybody has their particular skills that are all perfectly matched to each other. Although in this case, each one has more or less one skill and nothing else. So they're fairly low level characters, if you think about it. But not in their own minds anyways."[13] And Erikson "introduc[ed] them in a tavern, of course"--a standard trope of fantasy role-playing games.[14]
Quotes[]
Plaintly Grasp: "Another successful mission by the Party of Five... Into the very palace itself and back out again! Another legend to our name, friends. I don't know why we ever split up in the first place."
Symondenalian Niksos: "Artistic differences... Overblown egos, too much drugs and hard liquor."
Plaintly Grasp: "No...that's what ruined 'The Seven Thieves of The Baker's Dozen' and the 'Fancy Pillagers'."
[Remarks exchanged between Plaintly Grasp and Symondenalian Niksos in The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 22.]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 2
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 12
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 12
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 23
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 17
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 18
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 22
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 16
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 26
- ↑ (Melo)Dramatic Reading and Discussion - Fiends of Nightmaria with Steven Erikson and Philip Chase - A Critical Dragon - See 1:50 and 19:10
- ↑ (Melo)Dramatic Reading and Discussion - Fiends of Nightmaria with Steven Erikson and Philip Chase - A Critical Dragon - See 19:45
- ↑ (Melo)Dramatic Reading and Discussion - Fiends of Nightmaria with Steven Erikson and Philip Chase - A Critical Dragon - See 8:10 and 21:20