A/N: Yes, I've done it. A retelling of my own of HotU, for now. Here's a bit of background on the heroine, the next chapter will jump right into the action - about the beginning of ch.2, of course. Follows the original storyline, but there're a few dramatic changes to it. So, please, read and do review: just a couple seconds of your time and endless happiness for me ;)

Disclaimer: What belongs to Bioware belongs to Bioware. The other characters -those you don't recognise- are mine.

Yria Ingerd

Yria Ingerd was no hero.

She was not overly tall, nor was she petite. She was not slender and curvaceous, she was downright thin and, truth be told, quite flat-chested. Her hair was long alright, but it wasn't golden or ink black or fiery red: it was a quite common chestnut shade, not curly nor wavy nor straight but with attitude. An attitude of its own, mind you. The only amazing thing about her dark eyes was how often they hid behind the curtain of her bangs. She didn't look heroic at all.

Most importantly, she didn't think heroic. She had a love for all things comfortable, like a warm hearth, a soft bed with thick covers, or a plushy couch in which to fall asleep. This makes us wonder how come she landed herself at Drogan's school for wannabe adventurers, in such a godforsaken place as Hilltop.

Well, she had a love for gold coins, obviously. How else was she going to acquire all those comfortable things, if she was stuck on her parents' farm?

Don't get it wrong, though. Adventuring was not the solution she found to that one problem. It's a bit more complicated. You see, it all started because of an elf. It happened fifteen years ago, and his role was quite innocent, so Yria didn't even remember his name by the time she reached Drogan's. But, in the end, it was his fault.

Yria Ingerd was a sorceress. Magic was a mantle that seemed to be easy to wear for her. Of course, back then, when she was five, it hadn't manifested in any colorful way, but it was there nonetheless. And in such a small community as hers, this was a rare feat indeed. Perhaps this was the reason behind the elf's actions, or perhaps fate was just being particularly playful that day, or perhaps there was some kind of intricate elven scheme and he was acting on High Forest orders. There's no way to know why during that Summer Festival fair, a trapper waltzed in town to sell his pelts, and to buy whatever it was he had to buy, and decided to pay some kind of attention to the very ordinary child who sat close to the vegetables stand. It was not any attention, either. He performed a trick to amuse the child. He pulled a silver piece out of her ear. The child stared at the coin in the ranger's hand in mute awe.

And she smiled. And she started to plot.

Of course, a five-year-old sorceress could do nothing. Besides, her mother was rather stern about being home before nightfall and being in bed soon afterwards. And Yria, obediently, complied.

She was twelve when she discovered that the vines of her backyard, those who reached almost to her window, could withstand her weight and, not only that, but were fully climbable.

And then, she put her plans into motion. She sneaked out and created all kinds of mischief in the middle of the night, aided by a handful of useful cantrips that she was already able to cast. Then she returned home. Then she offered a solution to the problem a couple days later, when concern invaded the villagers because they couldn't find the source of their problems. And, yes, then she reclaimed a reward. A neat trick and a gleaming silver piece afterwards.

And she did it again. And again.

She was sixteen when she discovered just how much weight the vines of her backyard could withstand.

It probably would not have been worse than a sore backside if Gurney hadn't been walking by, on his way to meet dear Anna. And still, it would not have been too bad if he hadn't thought it amusing to give the fallen girl a scare while she rubbed her bruised bottom and got her bearings back.

Because Yria was not overly brave, she was not only scared, but terrified to next week. This would explain the rather out of control surge of magic that knocked Gurney off his feet, carved a hole on the side of the henhouse and put fire to the vines of her backyard.

As she herself said the moment she realized what had happened: "Uh-oh..."

And so, she packed her stuff and her not too small bag of coins and, a long trek and a few days later, she knocked on Drogan's door.

The good-natured dwarf took her in, no questions asked, and spent three years teaching Yria how to control the power she had. It would have been over right there, were it not for the kobolds' raid.

Even though she made sure not to get to the fight too early, because she loved her precious life very much, she had time to do her bit and fell some of the scaly ugly little things. Her part in that great drama that later on would be known quite widely as Shadows of Undrentide would have ended there and then, were it not for two fateful sentences:

"They have stolen four artifacts? As in, four powerful artifacts? What were they doing here of all places? Furthermore, what are they?"

And...

"Me!? Why me? I'm gonna get killed! No, wait... I trust there will be a handsome reward for doing this, if it's so important?"

And thus, Belphron's dry hand found its way south, to a Thayvian market via a rather nice and handsome Thaymart owner; and the Mask of Mask or Mask's Mask or whatever it was really called proceeded to spend an awful lot of time stuffed at the bottom of a ragged traveling bag instead of at its rightful place; and an ancient wyrm's tooth was never turned into the powerful amulet it had the potential to be, but found a rather interesting new destination, namely holding the pointy hats of a weird eccentric wizard who lived isolated in the High Forest, and who could afford to buy an add-on to his menagerie for 1,200 gold pieces.

Of course, the whole event did convey danger, mostly when they discovered why the Mythallar was being sought after and just what kind of a creature was doing all the seeking, but in the end, it was worth it. It was profitable. Besides all the Netherese magic Yria found – and bartered into decent coin -, Deekin the kobold bard did get around writing a successful epic – and Yria did manage to get some exploits out of that one, too. But that's another story altogether.

In any case, adventuring life would have been over to 20-year-old sorceress Yria Ingerd at that point if she hadn't caught wind of the latest potential "gold mine": 100,000 coins, in one go. After all, why retire just when the chance to double her fortune presented itself? So the girl packed her things and hit the road towards Water Deep.

When she collapsed onto the bed of the inn where the entrance to Undermountain was located, she was still counting gold pieces.