WARNING: There is a lot of vulgar language in this. Boo is a rude little hamster.
Boo liked adventure as much as the next miniature giant space hamster, but some things were just too much. His list of experiences which came under the category of "too much" included torture a la mad wizard and a stint in the Hells. He had very much hoped that kind of excess had ended after the whole Hells thing, but apparently it was not to be.
Minsc and Boo and their friends had all been trying to enjoy some rest and relaxation in Suldanessellar, taking in the beauty of the elven city and reveling in the simple fact that they were all alive. Then the world decided that not only couldn't it stay fixed, but it also had to throw an even worse situation at them than before. Or rather, five Bhaalspawn decided that now was a good time to start trying to take over the Sword Coast. Fucking brilliant.
The elves, who were all really uncomfortable with the fact that two more Bhaalspawns had saved their asses and were chilling in their city, expressed the desire to kick them and their companions out in that polite-but-not-really manner that so many elves seem to possess.
Of course, not even that could go smoothly. Another Bhaalspawn just had to come and make an attempt on Syrin's life, which somehow ended in the whole party being pulled into some fucking creepy pocket plane at the ass end of reality. AND GUESS WHO WAS HANGING OUT THERE. MOTHERFUCKING SAREVOK ANCHEV'S DEAD ASS. In true dickbag style, he refused to tell Syrin how to leave the plane until she had given up a piece of her soul to him to bring him back to life, which was just about the shittiest deal possible in that situation, but she took it, because she didn't really have a choice.
What made it even worse was that they weren't even sent back to the place they had been before. They got dumped in some city in Tethyr that was in the process of crumbling under the siege of a Bhaalspawn's army. And of course they had to stay, because Syrin couldn't see people in need and not help them, despite the balls of fire coming down on them all constantly. That part Boo didn't mind at all. The imperative of butt-kicking for justice was what he loved about his friends. He didn't really start minding too much until they had left Saradush.
The moment they left the Pocket Plane and started in the direction of the temple that apparently held some big secret to kicking Yaga-Shura's fiery ass, Sharran assassins found them and delivered a "message" to Rasaad. In this case, "message" meant trying to reduce Rasaad and anyone at his side to a bloodstain in the grass. Syrin's reaction to this was what pissed Boo off.
Instead of being like "sorry, children of Murder trying to destroy the world is a tad more important", Syrin chose to drop everything and drag them all to the Deepstone Mines. Boo had several objections to this.
First of all, there was a bloody war on. Not just any war, either. This was some war for the sake of destruction, some "whoever kills the most people gets to sit in dad's chair" shit. Syrin was putting her efforts to bring that to an end on hold for the sake of one man.
This one man, Rasaad yn Bashir, was not even on the best terms with Syrin. He had broken her heart in the name of not pulling her with him in the downward spiral that was his need for revenge. She had every reason to hate him, not just for ending his relationship with her, but also for taking away her agency in that decision, and yet her feelings for him hadn't waned in the slightest. Boo found this baffling and put it firmly under the category of "love making people do irrational shit". In his less charitable thoughts about Rasaad, Boo reasoned that the monk must be truly phenomenal in the sack for Syrin to be willing to forgive his bullshit. It would certainly explain why she jumped to help him get revenge. The woman had needs. This was not a reasoning, however, that would soon allow Boo to forgive either of them.
"I FUCKING HATE MINES," Boo complained loudly when they arrived in the dreary dark of Deepstone. "THEY'RE DARK AND WET AND CREEPY AS ALL FUCK. THIS ONE'S NOT EVEN COLD. IT'S WARM. I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA SUFFOCATE IN THIS STALE ASS HUMIDITY."
"Patience, Boo. We will root out the evil soon," Minsc soothed, petting the hamster fondly.
"We better, because I don't know if I can watch Rasaad lose it and Syrin give him the sad puppy eyes much longer without biting someone." Boo was quite serious when he said this too. He went to town on the Sharrans they encountered almost as much as Rasaad. Many Dark Moon monks were bitten in hard to reach places. All this shit was their fault after all. He was not going to hold back on taking his anger out on them. Rasaad's anger was on a completely different level, though. Boo would be lying if he said he didn't find the utter brutality of the monk's attacks unsettling to behold. There was a deep hatred behind each of his movements that was terrifying.
"Look at him, Syrin. Is he even the man you loved anymore? This one has a death wish and you are fucked up beyond all help if you think I'm going to let us all be dragged into the Abyss with him," Boo ranted after watching Rasaad rally the Deepstone dwarves. Of course, his squeaks could not be heard over the battlecries of the dwarves, so these remarks were totally ignored and they all charged forward like glory-seeking assholes. "Fuck me," was all the rodent could offer to add to the courageous shouting of their allies.
And then they found Alorgoth and his goading of Rasaad made Boo change his mind a little about the whole situation. This dickwad was ripe for a butt-kicking and the world needed to be rid of him. What Boo did not expect was that the pursuit of justice would require that they enter the DAMNED PLANE OF SHADOW. That right there was one of those "too much" things we talked about earlier.
The Deepstone Mines had nothing on the Plane of Shadow for creepiness. The place made every single hair on Boo's body stand on end. The hamster felt helpless, his teeth and claws unable to do damage to intangible enemies. It was a true nightmare. And at the center of it was the epic finale of everything Rasaad had suffered for. This was the moment when Boo really knew that Rasaad had completely lost himself.
The second fire started raining down on them, Boo was sure they were all screwed, and he watched in terror as shadows swarmed Alorgoth and Syrin tried to shake some sense into Rasaad. There were tears welling up in her eyes, despite her otherwise stoic expression, as she told him that Gamaz wouldn't want him to throw his life away.
There was a tense second that felt like an eternity in which Boo could see Rasaad processing his choice. The hamster knew this moment would determine the future of everyone in the group and he was more than relieved when Rasaad decided to return to the Material Plane and live. That didn't stop Boo from letting loose a storm of indignation, however, when they'd made it back through the portal.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO LET YOURSELF GET KILLED, RASAAD. ACTUALLY, NO. I CAN BELIEVE IT. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT WOULD HAVE DONE TO SYRIN, YOU SELFISH BASTARD? SHE'S OUR ONLY HOPE AT-" Boo stopped short halfway through his rant when he caught sight of Syrin pulling Rasaad into an extremely tight embrace, burying her face in his shoulder, probably releasing her tears so that no one would see. He could hear the faint sound of her shallow, ragged breaths, even muffled as they were by Rasaad's body, and all his anger melted away when Rasaad silently wrapped his arms around her, putting aside his own suffering to comfort her.
At this, Boo felt a glimmer of hope that something of the Rasaad they all knew and loved had survived.