Nera smiled, when she heard Neeskha and Khelgar having another argument. She held her hand upon her sword, but didn't keep her attention towards the road. Her friends' argument was funny and interesting to hear. She had never met dwarfs or tieflings. She knew now that although Neeskha was a thief, she was kind of a good thief. She just stole goods because she never had learned to do something else. She wasn't an assassin or an evil person. She just made sure she could survive. It made Nera realize that there was a grey area between evil and good people. Take Khelgar for an instant. He was a strong fighter, who would protect her and would uphold the law, but at the same time he enjoyed fighting. It wasn't the killing he enjoyed. He was someone who respected someone's strength and you couldn't call that evil. Yet, she was always told that people who fought for the fun of fighting were not good people. "Perhaps they aren't pure good, but I wouldn't want anyone else at my side," Nera thought.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't see the creatures appearing in front of her.
She immediately grabbed her sword when one of the creatures said:
"No place to run this time, Kalach-Cha. That which you have stolen – hand it over, and we will let you live!"
"This is getting tiresome, lass," Khelgar said, while he grabbed his axe, "What's so important about that blasted thing that has them chasing us all over Faerûn?"
"I have no idea," Nera answered truthfully; "I guess we'll have to fight them until they stop."
"Heh," The dwarf answered, "That'll be a lot of killing before this is over, I'll wager."
Nera smiled, but focused her attention towards the bladelings.
"Hand the shard over now, or we will take it from you corpse," the bladeling whispered.
"And we were just getting to know each other," Nera mocked.
"Fool!" the creature snapped, "I shall enjoy killing you!"
Before they could attack, however someone stepped in and threw a spell over them. Soon all of the duergar were entangled.
"Come on, Neeskha, Khelgar," Nera yelled, "We have the advantage! Let's get them!"
She didn't have to say that twice. Khelgar gave a jell and then ran towards the first duergar and knocked him down. Neeskha slowly went over to the next one and while Nera distracted him, she used a good sneak attack to finish him off. Before Nera was able to focus on the bladeling, the fight was over and all of them were dead.
Khelgar and Neeskha came towards Nera and the three of them both watched at the woman standing not far from them. She had long brown hair and her pointy ears made it clear that she was an elf. The sickle she was wielding however made Nera realize that this woman wasn't really a fighter. She had used spells to help them, but Nera was sure this wasn't a sorceress.
"You walk a strange path for a Harborman," the elf started, "Apparently, I'm not the only one who has a problem with it."
"Forgive me," she continued, after she had looked at the three of them, "But I saw these… things about to attack you, I found I could not simply stand by while you were ambushed – again."
Nera smiled and that seemed to relax the elf.
"I'd like to help, if I could. I've been trying to follow you without interfering, but I don't think you'll reach your destination without someone who knows the land."
"Who long have you been watching me?" Nera asked, curious.
"I watch all within the Mere.. but only occasionally observe those who stray from it, as you have," the elf answered, "I am Elanee. And rather than shadow you, I would walk with you."
"With a frame like that, you'd most likely be blown by the wind!" Khelgar suddenly interjected.
"Now, now," Neeskha answered teasingly, "No need to be jealous, barrel-house."
"Of and elf?" Khelgar said," And a tree-worshipper on top of that? Ha!"
"I think you will find "tree-worshippers" a rare thing these days, dwarf, so do not use that word lightly," Elanee defended herself.
"Trust me," Neeskha reasoned, "With a gut like his, Khelgar doesn't do anything lightly."
"Guys, please let me handle this," Nera said, with a smile upon her face to get the angle out of her words.
"Always talking," Khelgar mumbled, "And to the elves and half-demons and the like. It'll end badly, I tell you."
"Yes," Neeskha replied sarcastic, "And who knows where talking might lead us next. Stow it, Khelgar!"
"So," Nera said, while she turned to face Elanee," Tree-worshipper? So you're a druid?"
"I've watched you stumble through thick and bramble, miss path right in front of your eyes, and let those beasts catch you what feels to be a dozen times over," Elanee snapped, "Before casting insults, maybe one such as I could actually help you, Harborman, did you think of that?"
"Calm down," Nera said, a bit taken aback by Elanee's sudden harsh tone, "I think you're slightly overreacting."
"If that is your answer," Elanee's tone kept its harshness, "Then keep your village-born suspicious, they matter little to me."
"Fine," Nera answered. She knew she sounded slightly angry, but the elf wasn't reasonable at all, "How long have you been tracking us?"
Elanee explained that she had been following the bladelings and duergar, but that after a while she had discovered that they were following Nera. She wanted to help Nera, and guide the paladin to a quicker path, which would be able to hide their trail as well. Nera agreed, against Neeskha 's and Khelgar 's advice. Nera also decided to let Elanee know why the bladelings were attacking her. When the druid heard about the shard she was surprised to hear about but knew nothing about it. After the conversation they continued their journey again, this time not following Nera, but Elanee. After a couple of days, Nera got slightly nervous. Elanee was going far away from the road and if the druid would decide to betray them, they would have nowhere to go.
Neeskha agreed with her and they both decided to have a little chat with Elanee about it. While Khelgar was falling asleep, the both of them went to the druid. Elanee got up when she saw Nera and Neeskha approaching and smiled softly.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked, her tone soothingly. For some reason, Nera felt as if she was treated like a child. That wasn't a good way to start a conversation.
"You could say that," Neeskha replied, "How much farther is this place? You can lure is anywhere and…"
"Perhaps you should let your leader do the talking, Neeskha. She might have better things to say," Elanee interjected.
"Well," Nera said, while she looked from Neeskha towards Elanee, "I actually want to say the same thing. This path your are following… It worries me. If anything would happen to anyone of us, we wouldn't know how to get back on the road."
Elanee looked at her coldly and did not answer. Nera swallowed and nervously played with a small dagger she had retrieved in a fight a couple of days ago.
"Look, Elanee. I do not mean to insult your are anything, but as our leader, I need to be able to protect us all and to get us out of here alive," Nera reasoned.
The dark brown eyes Elanee stared into her blue ones and Nera had the feeling that Elanee thought of her like a stubborn child. But she wasn't a child! She was a true paladin of Tyr and she needed to know everything about her companions.
"Well, are you not saying anything?" Neeskha said, irritated, "If that is your only answer, then Nera hear will soon decided that you aren't good enough to enjoy our company, so to speak."
Elanee moistened her lips and pierced her eyes into Neeskha 's.
"Watch what you are saying, tiefling. Our leader might trust your methods, I do not. Stealing is not allowed in the Mere and I do not believe it is allowed in the world outside of the Mere either."
Neeskha blushed, but Elanee already turned to face Nera.
"Perhaps I can put an end to your worrying if I tell you we are already here. This is Eridis… the "Maiden's Glade" in the tongue of the Harbormen," the druid said.
"Eridis?" Nera repeated, "That sounds elvish… almost Illefarm, in fact."
The druid nodded and went back to her things.
"That is correct, Nera. You surprise me."
It almost sounded sincere.
"You should not worry," Elanee continued, "We are protected by the animals, because they would protect the druids."
Nera heard something behind her and slowly turned to see what it was. As always her hand lay upon her sword and when she saw the wolf that was standing behind her, she immediately drew her sword out.
"You mean those animals, Elanee?" Neeskha asked, while she sided with Nera.
There was no time to explain why they were there. The wolf jumped towards Nera, but she was fast enough to jump away from it. Neeskha threw a dagger towards it and hit it in the neck. With a cry, the animal fell down and died.
"Thanks Neeskha," Nera said, while she got up.
"What? Where? Did I miss a fight?" Khelgar suddenly asked.
Nera grinned and shook her head.
"Hardly a fight," the paladin answered, "We just have some problems with the natives here."
"I do not understand this," Elanee suddenly said, "Something has happened here."
"We'll find it out, Elanee," Nera assured her, "But if anyone of those wolves attacks me again, I will have to kill them."
Elanee nodded softly, but kept quiet. They investigated the area and found one of the Circle, in the form of a giant bear. The druid, however, had gone mad and had attacked them. Nera had no choice but to kill the animal and only with its last breath, it had revealed its true identity.
With a mind filled with worries, Nera continued towards Highcliff only to discover that the town had been under attack of a tribe of Lizards. Together with her companions she searched for the lizardmen and found them. But she found also another Shadow Priest, which let her to believe that there was something going on beyond her knowledge. She decided to let it rest and was able to convince the Lizardmen to stop attacking the boats. After that they were able to travel towards Neverwinter. After a long conversation with her Uncle, Nera learned that she had to join the city watch to be able to enter Black lake. The first missions were no trouble at all, but when Nera had to go to Old Owl Well, to investigate what had happened with a certain Emissary, she met someone who would alter her life forever…