The Dagger of Waterdeep

A Call in the Night

     *Ring Ring* *Ring Ring* *Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

     The phone rings inside of a quiet and dark room. Two figures lay on a bed which is set against a wall. One of the figures, sighing, rolls over and taps the other.

    "Honey, answer your phone."

     The other figure sits up, his elven features being revealed by the moonlight streaming into the room and reaches for the ringing phone. He looks at with obvious disgust for the disruption. He holds the phone to his ear and a connection establishes.

      "Hello Mr.  Lar'ian, a ninth level bounty has just been placed."  The man says nothing, but instead waves his right hand. His features suddenly change into that of a tall human male  wearing a shirt, tie, and dark pants. A long brimmed hat and neatly trimmed beard cover the man's head and face. A gun is strapped on the illusion's hip.

      "Name is Sam, and cut the titles.  Are the fine members of the WPD chasing this bounty?"

     "Nope, we got  Faerûn's Bureau of investigation following this one. It's still way hot, the criminal is still killing citizens. The news is calling him the Dagger of Waterdeep."

      "Alright, on my way. We talking six figures?"

      "What! You won't do this just for the good of the people? Fine fine, they're going for seven, this guys kill count is getting in the hundreds."

      Sam hangs up after a quick goodbye, and turns to the figure laying in bed. His wife is already back to sleeping with her snores filling the room. Sam creates a dark door on the wall and steps through it right onto a sidewalk outside his house. Still appearing as the man he gets in a black car and pulls onto the road. The radio blares on with the engine's start and the host begins to speak. Sam starts driving underneath the midnight moon to the bounty office. A series of cop cars rush past going the opposite direction with sirens blaring. A loud announcement begins to blare through the radio.

   "Please stay off the roads. I repeat stay off the roads. This is not a test, this is a warning of a necrotic outbreak that is currently is plaguing the center. The authorities have not confirmed any source as of yet." 

   "Not my problem. Better hope our finest take care of the zombies."

    Sam pulls into the parking lot of the bounty office. Inside stands an elf whom looks very worried.

    "What if they get up here. I should leave, but my boss would kill me. Maybe the police can--"

     "Excuse me." Sam breaks his panic attack. "I'm looking for the bounty on the dagger. I need to know where the last attack was and last known whereabouts."

    Sam's soothing words cause the elf to calm down. After a few deep breaths he turns to a filing cabinet behind him. He begins to search the disheveled cabinet for the set of papers concerning the dagger. He suddenly stops and turns back to his desk and begins to search through the stack of papers. After a short search he pulls out the papers labeled Dagger-Top Importance. 

   "You should really go home. It's really not safe out there." Sam points out the door towards the center of the city.

    "No, no, no." The elf shakes his head. "It's dangerous no matter what. Welcome to Waterdeep right?"

     Sam returns to his vehicle with his illusion still in place. Sam looks at the paper and rifles through them looking for an address. The illusion mimics Sam's reaction as He notices the address.

     "Shite on a stick. Of course the zombies are near the last known whereabouts of the dagger. Wouldn't be interesting if they didn't coincide.  Don't know what's worse, the zombies or the feds."

      "What if the Dagger caused the undead to rise?" Sam continues to talk to himself as he drives down the road unbeknownst of the danger hidden behind every corner.

"Author's Question"
Please let me know what you thought. Was it good, bad, mediocre, ugly, and how can I make it better?
This chapter came from a silly idea I had a long time ago, but I never finished the first part, "What if fantasy met a modern thriller?" As always let me know how I can improve, and I'm starting with dialogue, it needs improving.