"Looks like you have a deep prejudice against me, don't you?"
Raymond watched the anger, resentment, fear, and wariness in Szass Tam's eyes with interest. An amused smile appeared on his face.
With his excellent memory, he certainly hadn't forgotten how badly he had played Szass Tam back then.
He simply hadn't expected the Legendary Lich to be so traumatized by it that the mere mention of cooperation would provoke such a fierce reaction.
In the past, Szass Tam would have cooperated even with an enemy, provided it benefited him.
That was how rational adherents of Neutral Evil operated: their interests came first.
Grudges and hatred could all be set aside if the benefits were great enough, at least until a better opportunity came along.
In that respect, organizations such as Luskan's Arcane Brotherhood, Zhentil Keep and the Zhentarim, and Amn's Cowled Wizards Guild were much the same.
That was why, when he had been relatively weak, Raymond had preferred working with evil organizations to working with good ones.
For one thing, such partnerships were driven purely by self-interest, leaving little else to consider. For another, he felt no guilt about betraying them.
After all, backstabbing a good person felt nothing like backstabbing a monster who had committed every evil imaginable.
That was especially true of clerics of benevolent gods and paladins who devoted themselves to self-sacrifice, protecting the weak, and upholding justice. Apart from a handful of deranged lunatics, few people could backstab them without feeling guilt or remorse.
Raymond, at least, had been nowhere near capable of that while he was still mortal.
Come to think of it, hardly any of the evil-leaning organizations that had worked with him had met a good end.
The Twisted Rune, the first such group he had encountered, had been turned into