After resting up in the Nashkel inn, Ralis and his group (excluding Dorn, who left alone to the Friendly Arm Inn to wait for Ralis until he is ready to find Simmeon at Baldur's Gate) departed Nashkel and headed for Beregost, hoping to reunite with Safana there, then go to Cloakwood. Along the way to Beregost, Neera and Ralis have been talking to each other for quite some time, which kind of confused Imoen because Neera has never taken a deep interest in talking to Ralis before. Dynaheir, however, knew exactly what is going on. Instead of walking on foot, they hitched a ride with a caravan shipping iron made weapons and tools to Beregost, hired to be its bodyguards. On the second day since their departure from Nashkel, Ralis noticed that destroying the bandit camp seem to have affected bandit raids, because they haven't been waylaid by bandits yet.

"... Every once in a while I forget I'm fleeing Red Wizards who want to open up my brain and study it, and I realize I'm having the time of my life," Neera told Ralis somewhat enthusiastically, breaking Ralis out of his thoughts about the bandits, which got disturbing thoughts stirring in his mind.

"If your idea of fun is endless battles and looting coins and tools from the enemies we slay, I see your point," He said almost sarcastically.

Neera knew exactly what he meant in his sarcasm. "While the blood and pillaging is all very well for some girls, I was thinking more about how it's impossible to guess what will happen from one day to the next," She told him.

"Really? That's what I like about life too. Predictable routines get boring very quickly," Ralis said.

"That's just how I feel too! It's not just a question of running and fighting for our lives. It's excitement! It's an adventure!" Neera announced happily.

"Yes, who knows what the future holds for you and me. Or both of us," Ralis said, vaguely alluding something he knows that Neera wants. Him.

"I like the sound of that. We should talk more about it... later," Neera said calmly, but deep down she is grinning like an excited child.

She caught the vague message in Ralis's words to know that he wants her to be his girlfriend, and it made her feel excited deep down, knowing that there is a guy who has the courage to endure her wild magic and see her as a friend (or more) through thick and thin. Other people like her former classmates, teachers and Ettin the tressym would turn their back on her as soon as her wild magic does something wrong.

As soon as they arrived in Beregost a few days later with no incident from bandits or mercenaries, the first place Ralis visited is the inn where he met the Flaming Fist officer Vai. He found her sitting at the table drinking Tethyrian tanagluth, a red spiced wine. Ralis sat down next to her.

"Well met, Ralis. I'm glad to see that you're still in one piece," Vai smiled.

"More than that. I have something that you may like."

"Oh?" Vai raised an eyebrow.

"Relax, that wasn't an innuendo," Ralis placed his small pack on the table, opened it and 44 bandit scalps spilled out.

Vai's green eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, you sure have been busy."

"Yes. Me and my group stopped a bandit raid on the way to Friendly Arm after we met, and we also destroyed the bandit camp north from Peldvale. That's how I got all these bandit scalps," Ralis told her.

Vai smiled in approval. "It seems I was right to ask for your help. Here is your reward- 3000 gold pieces. you've earned it. The Flaming Fist is forever grateful to you," Vai said. Ralis put the gold pieces in his bag where he keeps his money and shook Vai's hand one final time before leaving the Jovial Juggler.


They reunited with Safana on their way out of Beregost. "So you've returned, my handsome warriors," she cooed, mostly at Ralis, Minsc, Rasaad and Xan.

"Did you get that book and wand identified?" Ralis asked her.

She shook her head. "No. I was told only a mage with the Identify spell can figure out what this book and wand are," Safana replied.

"Oh well," Imoen shrugged.

"So what's our next destination, dear?" She asked Ralis in her usual seductive voice.

"Cloakwood Forest. We're searching for the Iron Throne hideout. They are the ones behind the iron crisis and I'm going to bring the fight to them and give them all a good butt whoopin'!" Ralis said.

"And I will help you, Ralis! There are a lot of butts that need to be kicked, and you cannot do it alone," Minsc said.

"That's why I have you guys, Minsc," Ralis smiled at him.

"Ooh, I love a man who takes charge. Maybe I was wrong about your leadership skills after all. I wonder what other surprises you have that will impress me..." Safana said, gently stroking Ralis' left cheek with her index finger.

He tried his best not to get excited but it is difficult when his body responds to Safana's sensual mannerisms.

"Hey-hey-hey! Don't try anything funny to him, got it?" Neera warned Safana, jumping between her and Ralis.

"Of course, my half-elf darling. I was just teasing him, don't take it personal," Safana smiled sincerely.

"Is it personal, Neera?" Viconia asked, her head under her hood so Beregost's guards and citizens won't know she is a drow.

"Urk...!" Neera had no idea how to answer that.

Her tongue got twisted. "Come on guys, the longer we stand here and chat, the more daylight we kill. Let's go," Ralis said.

"I would do anything to remove that accursed sun..." Viconia muttered as she pulled her hood further over her head and followed her teammates.

By the time they reached Friendly Arm Inn, it is nightfall, so they rented hotel rooms and turned in for the night, and in the next morning, they prepared to leave for Cloakwood. However, before leaving Friendly Arm, Ralis and his group once again ran into Elminster Aumar himself as soon as they left the inn!

"Well met, young one! I trust that thou are well?" Elminster greeted Ralis, smoking his pipe.

"You could say that," Ralis nodded gently.

"I have heard many things about thee in the past few tendays, and I am most impressed," Elminster continued.

"And what have you heard? All good things, I hope," Ralis said.

"That would depend on whom thou would ask, now, would it? For the most part it would appear that thine actions are well intentioned, and are therefore received as such. Much is as I would have done, though perhaps not using the same method. Likely the clues also point thee in the same direction I would go."

"I am certain of where I must go. But perhaps I should confer with you just to be sure," Ralis said.

"As thou hast no doubt determined, the clues seem to point towards the Cloakwood Forest. 'Tis likely that the scoundrels behind the bandits have some sort of base within the wood. Of course, I am only telling thee things that thou dost already know. Good luck on thy travels, young one. Be wary as well, for thou are making powerful enemies, both here, and within thyself," Elminster warned.

Ralis raised an eyebrow. "In thee? What do thou mean?" He asked for confirmation.

"I am sorry I cannot speak more plainly on this matter, but events must unfold as they will without any meddling from this old man," Then he left, heading into the Mirrorshade cleric shop.

Ralis and his group took their leave as well, heading west towards Cloak Wood.


As soon as they entered the forests, Ralis became curious about Safana's history, even though her flirtatious nature disturbs him, yet turns him on a little at the same time.

"Safana, you've been with us for a while, but I know little about you, you haven't told me your history. Where do you hail from?" He asked.

As soon as he asked that, Safana came up to him, walking beside him and put her right arm around his neck leaned towards his left ear and whispered: "I'll tell you anything you want, darling."

Neera bristled in anger when she saw Safana do this.

Then Safana straightened up, her hand still around Ralis's neck and said: "I grew up in the city of Calimport, darling."

"Ah, another Calishite," Ralis said, remembering that Khalid and Rasaad are from Calimshan too.

"My father was a very influential noble- rich and powerful. I could have had anything I wanted, but I didn't want to live that kind of life."

"So what did you do?" Ralis asked.

"When I was a teenager, I ran away from home," Safana said.

"You ran out into the streets by yourself?!" Ralis exclaimed.

Safana chuckled. "No, darling, no. I had the help of of the first mate of a pirate ship known as Exzesus... I can't remember the first mate's name, but I stayed with the crew for several years as we raided up and down the Sword Coast. One day, I tried to seduce the captain so I could manipulate him into doing what I desired, but the crew caught me in the act, when the ship was at port in Baldur's Gate," She said.

"I see. Um, you can take your arm off me now," Ralis said.

Safana did what he asked. "Of course, darling. Remember, if there's anything, anything you want, I'll be there, dear," Safana gave him a wink.

Ralis shuddered as Safana fell back behind the others. The forests seems very peaceful today. Everywhere Ralis looked he saw wild animals frolicking about, he heard birds chirping in almost every elm, breech, felsul, and hiexel tree. After several minutes of walking straightforward, they eventually found a large wooden house guarded by two men. The third man had a bastard sword attached to his belt and he immediately saw Ralis and his group coming.

"You there! Identify yourselves! What purpose have you and your lot wandering this far into Cloak Wood?" The man who is named Aldeth asked Ralis.

Aldeth is a fair skinned Tethyrian man with smooth semi-long jet black hair covering his ears and stood 5'6 feet tall, wearing splint mail armor. Before Ralis could reply, Aldeth rudely interrupted him.

"Are you looking to earn some money? If you are, I would be willing to pay a considerable amount for your assistance. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aldeth Sashenstar, a noble from the city of Baldur's Gate. Perhaps you have heard of me?"

He waited for Ralis to answer, but the name didn't exactly ring a bell in Ralis' mind.

"No matter. I am looking for some good strong people who could defend me against a band of savages. These ruffians have been threatening my companions and me with bodily harm. Would you be interested?"

"If there's someone threatening your life, we will help," Ralis agreed.

"Good! I'm glad you had the sense of decency to help a man in my situation. Let me explain my predicament. My friends and I come here every year to do some sport hunting. This year, however, a group of woodland savages threatened us with bodily harm if we did not stop our hunting trip. Being a civilized man, we realized that it's well within our rights to hunt where we damn well please. After a few more days of hunting, the crass woodmen lost all pretense of humanity and murdered Elban, one of my oldest friends. I'm sure that they plan to attack our cottage here, so we had best be prepared," Aldeth told Ralis and his group.

"Okay then. We'll wait," Ralis said.


A few minutes later, four men appeared, wearing leather armor and carrying quarterstaffs as weapons. The leader, who wore a brown shirt under his leather armor unlike the others who wore blue clothes under their armor stepped forward, pointing at Aldeth and his two bodyguards.

"Trespassers and butchers of our wood, I Seniyad, have come to administer the punishment that you have brought upon yourselves," Seniyad then noticed Ralis and his party.

"Yet who are the ones who stand beside you?" He asked.

"I am Ralis and this is my party. We have been hired to protect Mr. Sashenstar," Ralis replied to Seniyad.

"I have no quarrel to those who respect my forest. I can tell they likely duped you into protecting their sorry hides. Did they tell you about the druid they have slain in cold blood? I will allow you to rethink your earlier decision and leave these men to their deserved fate," Seniyad said to Ralis.

Ralis thought it over. Jaheira would not approve if he sided with Aldeth, she is very protective about nature. Besides, nature is something that shouldn't be abused, and most people fail to understand that.

"Do not listen to these slavering wild men, my dear friends. Their lies befits the uncultured barbarians that they are," Aldeth tried to reason with Ralis.

That did it. An arrogant person like Aldeth needs to learn that being born in a city having money and wealth doesn't mean one is civilized. Ralis turned his head to look at Aldeth.

"Sorry, Aldeth, but we're siding with the druids. They have this great aloe vera balm they are giving away samples of, and my armor has been chafing a bit, ya know?" Ralis tried throwing in some humor to lighten up the tension.

"What?! Have you gone mad, throwing your lot in with a band of madmen!?" Aldeth exclaimed.

"No, you are the madman here!" Jaheira exclaimed, approaching Aldeth, scowling.

"Here we go..." Ralis muttered, stepping aside.

"Everything you see around you has existed long before cities ever existed, you bastard! Nature is a part of our lives! If we hurt it or destroy it, we will hurt or destroy ourselves! So who is the true savage here, the druids or yourself?!" Jaheira snapped at Aldeth.

Ouch! Burned! Ralis smiled.

Aldeth got so mad, his face turned red. "You treacherous savages, you will suffer for your foolishness! I will deal with Seniyad after I kill you!"

He drew his bastard sword, nicknamed Kondar and tried to slash at Jaheira, but Ralis stepped up in front of Jaheira and parried the strike!

"For Baldur's Gate!" Aldeth yelled, trying to slash at Ralis and he kept parrying each strike.

Ralis's party fought Aldeth's bodyguards. Seniyad and his druids just simply watched, with no intention to intervene. I knew this stranger is different... Seniyad smiled in approval at Ralis's choice.

Ralis's party made quick work of Aldeth's bodyguards, mostly because they are outnumbered. Also, Ralis has a little more experience in sword fighting than Aldeth. When Ralis parried Aldeth's strike for the 5th time, he swept the blade away and attempted to stab at Aldeth but he jumped back and Ralis came at him with more strikes but Aldeth kept parrying. Ralis caught Aldeth off guard by pulling his sword to the right when their swords were locked together after Aldeth managed to block Ralis's strike with a vertical parry, and when Aldeth lost his balance from the unexpected move, Ralis brought his sword back and slashed at Aldeth's ribs, easily cutting through the metal strips and chain of his armor since it isn't designed to protect against slashing. Bloodstains in the chest area of Aldeth's clothes quickly grew from his fatal wound as he collapsed knees first with a dying gasp. Ralis grimaced, upset that Aldeth chose to fight rather than surrender, but there is nothing he can do, he chose not to fight the druids, and Aldeth, driven by his hatred towards the druids attacked without reason.

Ralis looked down at Aldeth's sword, Kondar, resting on the ground near his corpse, and somehow, for some reason his guilt of ending the man's life disappeared when he set his eyes on his sword.

This is an interesting bastard sword. I guess I'll take it. Ralis said, taking Kondar into his hands, examining the blade. It looks like a regular bastard sword, but something feels different about it. He wasn't entirely sure, but the blade looked as if ii is made of both silver and cold iron. Kondar is the name of the original owner of this sword, and though no one tells the tale of Kondar's adventures anymore because bards have forgotten about it, his journey was wrought with treachery and deceit by those he trusted. Kondar paid a royal family's ransom worth of coins to obtain this sword so that he can seek out those who betrayed him, now today, along with the tales of Kondar, the names and deeds of his betrayers are also forgotten. Now, Ralis has two bastard swords once again, though he couldn't ignore feeling guilty about taking a dead man's sword, something about it didn't feel right to him, but he felt the need to push that guilt aside, he needs a new, better sword, one that is magically enhanced. Xan, who was watching Ralis pick up Kondar off the ground had concerns about his course of action. In his experience, taking the weapon of a slain person is a bad omen.

"I congratulate your wise decision," Seniyad approached Ralis.

"It was a tough decision, but I believe I made the right one," Ralis replied.

"I wish you and your party well for whatever endeavor you now embark. If your presence in this wood involves those known as the Iron Throne, then I would suggest you head west, then north."

"Thank you, Seniyad," Ralis shook his hand.

"Be careful, for there are many foul beasts that have inhabited the wood. Ettercaps are among the worst. Another danger is a sect of the shadow druids. Their order is a dangerous splinter group of the true druid order."

"Thank you for the warnings and directions. We'll get rid of the Iron Throne as soon as possible," Ralis promised Seniyad.

"Take care," Seniyad said, then he and his druids headed south.

"Well, looks like we're heading west," Ralis announced to his group.


They walked west through the forest for an hour, defeating any giant spider and small group of tasloi that tried to harm them. Eventually they came to a concrete bridge over a large river.

"That's a beautiful river..." Neera commented.

"I guess we go this way, then," Ralis shrugged and led his group on towards the bridge until he heard someone nearby call out:

"Hold, travelers. Hold a moment," Ralis and his group instantly turned to the sound of the noise and saw a male elf wearing studded leather armor and boots, with a longsword attached to the side of his waist, a longbow and a quiver full of arrows behind his back cautiously approaching them, He has semi long brown hair that would have covered his elf ears if he let it all drop down to the neck level, and there is dark green paint around his eyes as if he is wearing a diamond shaped bandit mask.

"You shouldn't sneak up on us like that, traveler," Ralis warned the newcomer, releasing his grip in the handle of his swords, letting them stay in their scabbards.

"Sorry if I startled you all, but I always approach strangers cautiously," the elf replied.

When he got confident enough to see that Ralis and his party wouldn't harm him, he walked up to Ralis and shook his hand.

"I'm Coran, hunter and archer," he introduced himself.

"I'm Ralis, just an average, run-of-the-mill traveler. This is Neera, Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir, Xan, Rasaad, Safana and Viconia," he introduced everyone.

Coran turned his attention to everyone. "A pleasure to meet such a diverse group of people... Not to mention beautiful women," he said.

He gallantly walked up to Dynaheir first and took her right hand into his in a polite, gentlemanly way.

"I hope you don't mind me saying, but your skin is so beautiful and smooth," Coran said suavely. "And you have such large, beautiful... er, eyes," Coran meant to compliment Dynaheir's ample bosom but he didn't want to risk finding out if she would approve of that or not.

Dynaheir smiled approvingly. "I see thou are fluent in flattering compliments. Some might say effluent."

Then Coran turned his attention to Neera, walking towards her until he stood directly in front of her.

"A half-elven woman with pink hair is a highly unusual but beautiful sight to my eyes," Coran said, winking at Neera.

"Not my fashion choice, believe me," Neera smirked in a sheepish manner.

Then Coran turned his attention to Jaheira. Before he could say anything, Jaheira said: "I am married, so don't throw your honeyed compliments at me."

Coran blinked. "I apologize," He said then he turned his attention to Imoen, standing next to Safana.

"Well, aren't you the cutest lady I've ever seen," Coran said, his eyes wandering down from Imoen's head to her waist. "A fine figure like yours shouldn't be risked in an occupation such as adventuring," he told her.

Imoen smiled. "Ye're all buffle-headed, you know that?"

Then Coran approached Safana, looking directly into her eyes.

"Hmm, I must say, you have such alluring eyes. They say a person's eyes are windows into the soul. And I can clearly see how beautiful your soul is," Coran said suavely with a smile.

Safana smiled back. "Flattery will get you everywhere... But not with me," she said softly at first, but then in a harsh tone at the end.

Coran seemed unfazed by the stinging remark.

"Oh, come on, don't be so sour, my beautiful flower," he cooed.

Safana turned away.

"I assume, Coran, that you think your elvish charms are considerable. Let me enlighten you. They aren't," she remarked.

He blinked in surprise and moved on to Viconia. "Why is such a beauty hiding under a hood? Let me see your pretty face, sweetheart," Coran urged Viconia.

When she pulled back her hood, Coran saw that she is a drow, there's no mistaking her black skin, white hair and ruby red eyes.

"A drow? *ahem*, I wasn't expecting you to be a dark elf, but still you are very-" Coran started to say but Viconia cut him off.

"Hold your tongue, darthiir, lest you want to hold it in your hands," she warned him scornfully.

Her attitude surprised Coran a bit. "Hm. You're one of the most beautiful, yet uncouth women I've ever met," he said.

"Ah, Coran, if you're done flirting..." Ralis called out.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. Are any of you interested in making money? If you are, I'm the person who could help you do it," Coran said.

"We could use some extra cash," Safana said.

"Yes. Tell us more," Ralis said.

"Good. I'm glad you're smart enough to recognize opportunity when it comes knocking. The deal is this: I've been hired out by the mayor of Beregost to hunt down a great winged dragon that's been plaguing the caravan routes. He's offered 2,000 gold for its head. Now before you get cold feet, let me allay your fears. The only description of the beast has always mentioned its deadly barbed tail. From what I know about dragons, they don't have barbs on their tails... that's something unique to wyverns," Coran said.

A wyvern is a large winged lizard with a scorpion like tail and sharp teeth. They are 15 feet in length and weigh a ton.

"Wyverns? Are you joking?" Ralis asked Coran.

"At least they don't breathe fire. All we have to do is find the wyvern nest and kill it. Our only worry are if it has friends over for dinner! So what is your decision, yea or nay?" Coran replied.

"... Yea," Ralis agreed almost reluctantly.

Coran smiled in satisfaction. "Very well then. We shouldn't tarry any longer. Let's collect the heads of these soon to be sorry wyverns," Coran said as he followed Ralis and his group across the bridge.

"Boo shivers in fear at the thought of facing a wyvern... But at least we do so with a bold, witty ally like you, Coran!" Minsc proudly said.

"I admire your enthusiasm, Minsc. 'Tis good for morale," Coran smiled approvingly at him.

"I can see it now... We are all doomed at the claws of wyverns. We will be outmatched and outnumbered and soon find ourselves in their bellies," Xan moaned.

Coran looked back at Xan in confusion. "Is he always like this?" He asked his new allies.

"All the time," everyone except Minsc replied in unison.

"Sometimes I wish Shar would give me a sign that she desires an elf to be sacrificed... because I know the perfect elf for it," Viconia muttered spitefully, casting a glance at Xan.

The depressed elf groaned and muttered under his breath, but no once could hear what he said.


Fourteen hours later, the sun is on the verge of falling, making way for the dusky night, and they still haven't found a settlement or village to rest, just more and more forests. Ralis felt uneasy. He got a bad feeling about camping here, he remembered what Seniyad said about there being all kinds of monstrous beasts in the forest, especially giant spiders and ettercaps. Ettercaps are purple colored humanoid monsters with distended white underbellies, fangs and eyes that resemble spider fangs and eyes, two sharp, black chitinous claws instead of hands and feet, and they stand 6 feet tall. Resting in the middle of the woods with creatures like that wandering about is obviously a bad idea, but what if they never find a settlement out in the middle of Cloakwood? They need to rest somewhere regardless.

"So where are we making camp, oh fearless leader?" Jaheira sarcastically asked Ralis standing behind him.

He partially ignored Jaheira's question frowning seriously, surveying his surroundings, noticing how there are not much sounds of animal activity at this hour, the light from the falling evening sun casts an unsettling dim light on the forest. In other parts of the Sword Coast, despite the danger of wolves and gibberlings, he wouldn't mind making camp, but here in the Cloak Wood forest, he definitely had a bad feeling about camping here, as if it would invite trouble.

"I don't think its a good idea to make camp. I don't like these forests," he said, his voice a little tense with anxiety.

"But we need to rest somewhere. A woman needs her beauty sleep," Safana said wearily.

"I agree. Even the most prolific adventurer needs some rest," Coran said then stretched his arms up towards the sky.

"We will just have someone watch over the camp for a few hours, just like usual. After all, my training did not prepare me for such extended... *yawn*, activity..." Rasaad said.

Ralis sighed, placing his hands on his waist and lowering his head slightly in defeat. He knew he really had no choice but to make camp here. Why fight it?

"Okay. Let's gather some wood and build a fire. Xan, do you have our bedrolls?" he instructed as he turned around to face his party.

"I have them right here," Xan replied, the rucksack containing everyone's bedrolls strapped to his back.

"Good. Let's get to work making camp, everyone," Ralis said.


A few minutes later, a campfire is burning in the darkness of the forest. Everyone huddled around the fire, trying to keep warm.

Dynaheir sat next to Minsc comfortably, but on his left side since Boo is resting on Minsc's right shoulder, and Dynaheir isn't fond of Boo at all.

"Must thou keep that rodent so close? 'Tis surely unclean," She said to Minsc disdainfully, but Minsc was not offended.

"I take no offense from your comments. You just don't understand the bond I have with Boo," he said.

Coran sighed, rubbing his hands together and stretching his hands out at the fire, feeling its warmth make his palms itch from the heat. "This campfire won't last very long, we'll need to search for more firewood," he suggested.

"We'll need to gather some food as well," Minsc commented.

"That's right, I forgot. We should go hunting. We should find a river and catch some fish," Ralis said, but he didn't like the idea of leaving camp to find food.

"I have a spear, I'll go," Jaheira volunteered, standing up.

"Fine, then. Khalid, Minsc, Rasaad, look after her," Ralis ordered.

"I am not leaving Dynaheir's side, Ralis!" Minsc protested.

"I will be fine, Minsc. I am not defenseless, for I am in the company of trustworthy allies," Dynaheir said.

Minsc reluctantly complied and left with Khalid, Jaheira, Rasaad and Xan. The only people in the camp site now are Ralis, Coran, Viconia, Safana, Dynaheir, Imoen and Neera.

Neera had a question that has been nagging her ever since she stopped Safana from flirting with Ralis back in Beregost. She wanted to know why Safana loves flirting so much. At first Neera was sitting between Ralis and Coran, but she stood up and decided walk over to Safana who is sitting next to Imoen.

"Hey, Safana, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Safana replied.

"Why... do you do what you usually do?" Neera asked, frowning and crinkling her nose as she tried to find the right words to her question instead of directly asking why she loves to flirt.

Safana understood what Neera is asking and she smiled.

"Well, its so simple, really. When you stroke a man's ego, you can get them to do whatever you want," She said with a sensual grin.

"Like what?" Neera asked.

"Anything. If you need money, use your charms to charm them into giving you money. Some men may appear strong, but deep down, they are like little puppies. Once you scratch their bellies, they'll do anything for you so you can keep on scratching," Safana told Neera, still smiling.

"Oh," Neera nodded slowly.

"I love flirting with men. It makes me feel sooooo alive." Safana said, increasing the seductive tone of her voice.

"Ralis won't fall for your charms so easily," Neera said.

"Really? I've handled men like him before. He may try to resist my charms, but deep down, he cannot resist. I know he can't resist me."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that," Neera said, feeling the need to challenge Safana.

Ralis decided to have a conversation with Coran while Neera and Imoen walked off to have a private chat with each other, but they didn't walk far, just away from the campfire's light.

"Tell me about yourself, Coran. Where do you hail?" Ralis asked him.

"I hail from the Forest of Tethir, a large forest in Tethyr that is north from Tethyr and the Starspire Mountains and south from Amn and the Small Teeth mountains. I had a wonderful childhood, but I eventually grew tired of living the same, serene lifestyle. I had a craving for excitement and adventure. When I grew older, I traveled to Baldur's Gate, with dreams of obtaining wealth, power and respect. But I was penniless, so I resorted to thievery, stealing only from the rich, and I vowed to myself that once I have enough gold in my pockets, I would start my own business."

"Did you do it?" Ralis asked him.

"No. I lied to myself. I unexpectedly grew addicted to life as an adventurer. Settling down and living a boring life cooped up in Baldur's Gate just isn't for me. I looked forward to each hair raising escape, or dangerous break-in, even meeting a beautiful woman. On occasion I had to leave town for a while until the town guards forgot I ever existed. My most recent retreat is because of my romantic relationship with a woman named Brielbara, who is a mage," Coran told Ralis.

Ralis smiled and frowned at Coran suspiciously. "I knew it. You flirt with every woman you meet, do you? You should be careful, a woman's boyfriend or husband will catch you and give your posterior a severe beating one day if you keep doing this," he warned the elf.

Coran smiled sheepishly. "I must admit, I was caught seducing a human woman who is a member of the Knights of the Unicorn a few years ago. I had to flee from the wrath of a mage who is her husband."

This man is a womanizer! Ralis declared in his mind. Out loud, he shook his head, chuckling and asked: "Life is like a game to you, isn't it, Coran?"

Coran chuckled. "Life is an adventure or nothing. What's the point in being alive if you don't experience the the thrills and chases adventuring brings?" He asked Ralis with a wink.

"Ha ha. You sounded almost like Neera there. She loves unpredictable events adventuring brings too," Ralis said.

"The pink haired half-elf? I had a feeling she does. I would say she is my type, but it seems she has eyes only for you, Ralis," Coran said.

"I noticed that too. It appears you have a secret admirer, Ralis," Safana said to Ralis with a smile and winked at him when he turned his gaze to her direction.

Ralis frowned in confusion. "W-w-w-wait, what? How did you all know about this?" He stammered in surprise.

Viconia shook her head at Ralis. "You are the most stupid surface dweller I've ever met," she said disdainfully.

Coran raised an eyebrow at Ralis, shocked that Ralis is clueless to see the obvious. "You mean, you didn't know? I've noticed how she looks at you behind your back. She just can't take her eyes off you, for obvious reasons," Coran said.

At that moment Xan sat next to Ralis, putting him between him and Coran.

"It seems chaos has a habit of following you around, Ralis," Xan said.

Ralis looked at him and frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, Xan?" He asked.

"Neera, the reckless and dangerous wild mage likes you, and you leave considerable death and destruction in your wake. I worry about being in your company, it might become the death of me," Xan said, then stared off into the campfire in front of them.

"So you're saying that I am like a bad luck charm?" Ralis asked with a skeptic frown and smile.

Xan nodded, still absentmindedly staring at the fire. "That and possibly worse. Remember the woman who read the palm of your hand? She saw something in you that terrified her so much, she ran off without taking your coins."

Ralis blinked, recalling the woman. I remember her... She detailed my past with Gorion perfectly. But when she looked further back, something terrified her. Something in my past before Gorion. What is it? He fell into deep thought over the matter until Xan spoke to him again.

"I believe you are dangerous, to me and your group," Xan said with finality.

Coran frowned skeptically. "Him? Dangerous? I find that hard to believe, Xan," he scoffed.

"Your belief doesn't matter," Xan said to Coran, then spoke to Ralis next. "The point I am making is that chaos is attracted to you."

"Like a handsome elf in a tavern full of beautiful wenches," Coran said.

Xan looked over at Coran, frowning at his analogy. "...Yes..." he said with a slow nod, prolonging the "s" in the end with short hiss.

Ralis shook his head in exasperation and stood up. "Look, Xan, whatever you believe, I assure you, no harm will come to you from me. I don't know what caused you to have such a grim outlook on life, but you need to understand that the outcome of our lives depend on the choices we make. Gorion used to tell me: "The future is not always set in stone. We decide our future every day, whether we realize it or not." My point is, you might see a grim future ahead of us, but when we get there, it might not be as terrible as you thought." Ralis paused for a second and rubbed his hands together. "For example, the bandit camp. You thought we would die in vain once the assault began, right?"

"Right," Xan nodded.

"But we didn't die, and we successfully destroyed the bandit camp. No one in my party died except Kivan, but it wasn't my fault he died, he had control over his own actions, but he was driven by his hatred towards the ones who killed his lover, and instead of waiting for us to give him support, he chose to charge on towards a fight that he couldn't win and survive alone. So contrary to what you believe, I do not bring bad luck upon any of us. Our choices and actions bring consequences, nothing more, nothing less," Ralis concluded.

Dynaheir nodded in approval, and so did Coran. "Well spoken, Ralis. For someone so young, thou hast wisdom similar to the wychlaran. Thou wouldst make Gorion proud, if he were alive to hear what thou have said," she said.

Ralis nodded graciously. "Thank you, Dynaheir, that means a lot to me."

"Male, fetch me something to eat," Viconia abruptly called out.

"Who? Me, Xan or Coran?" Ralis replied.

"You. You're are the leader of this group, are you not?" Viconia said and sighed in frustration over Ralis' dull witted personality. From her point of view, anyway.

"Can't you be patient? Jaheira and the others will be back for food shortly," Ralis said.

Viconia grunted. "If we were in Menzoberranzan, you, as a slave, would feel the sharp pain of a whip cracking your back for your disobedience."

Ralis shook his head, placing his hands on his waist. "But we are not in the Underdark. You can't expect someone to give you something at the snap of a finger. Down there, you might have been a master, but up here, you are neither my superior nor inferior. Get used to it," he said.

Viconia scowled sharply at him. "You expect me to get used the churning pain I feel from my stomach? I think not, jaluk. Go find something, anything... maybe a food that you call an "apple", something edible I don't care," she ordered.

Ralis shrugged in defeat. "Oh well..." He sighed.

At that moment, Neera and Imoen returned.

"Hey, where are you off to?" Neera asked Ralis.

"Viconia wants me to bring back some food. Want to help me find an apple tree or something?" Ralis asked her.

"Sure, I'll go!" Neera said enthusiastically and left camp with Ralis.

"... And so the two lovebirds leave," Coran said, watching Ralis and Neera disappear into the darkness away from the fire's illumination.

"Children grow up very fast," Dynaheir noted.


Ralis and Neera wandered through the dark forest alone. They moved in a straightforward path so that they would remember to turn around and walk back. They eventually came to a lake one minute after they walked away from camp, fortunately. There are fireflies all over the place, illuminating the dark area along with the moon and stars high above the dark sky. Ralis and Neera marveled at the sight, but also made sure that there are no carnivorous creatures at the lake drinking water, and as luck would have it, they are alone in this area.

"So far, so good. We haven't run into any monsters yet, but do you see an apple tree anywhere?" Ralis asked her.

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Hmm..." Ralis looked around and sighed, putting his hands on his waist as he looked up at the dark, star filled sky.

He knew that now that he and Neera are alone, he can privately confess his feelings to her and she can do the same too. The mere thought of it made his heart start pounding nervously, but he managed to encourage himself before Neera said:

"You know, Ralis, some days I'm surprised you let me tag along, considering how dangerous my wild magic can be."

Ralis looked at Neera. "The way I see it, the danger is worth the reward," he said as casually as he could, trying not to let his pounding heart give him cold feet.

Neera raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are we still talking about my wild magic?" She wanted to know.

Don't freak out, Ralis. Don't freak out, Ralis silently told himself. "To be honest, you're dangerous in more ways than one. The question is how long you're going to make me wait before I get rewarded," he said.

"Well of course! That's what's so great about wild magic! If you can't handle it at its worst, then you certainly don't deserve it at its best," Neera said proudly.

Ralis opened his mouth to immediately reply, but he closed his mouth and thought over his next words carefully, he almost asked her if they were still talking about wild magic. But instead he said: "I believe the same can be said about you, with or without your wild magic."

Neera raised her right eyebrow up a few more inches and smirked. "Is that really how you feel?" She asked.

Ralis knew that now is the time to cast his doubts and fears aside and get into "Coran Mode". "Why don't you come a little closer, and I'll show you exactly how I feel," he said, making his voice sound suave and sexy trying to imitate Coran's flirtatious tone.

Then Neera gave him the same look as Safana gives him as she inched towards him, gently rocking her hips back and forth. "Well, since you put it like that... mmm!"

Hearing Neera go "mmm" turned Ralis on a little, and he smiled in amusement. "See? You're not the only one who is full of surprises. Now, come here, hot stuff, and let's see if we can trigger a wild surge," he said as he reached out with both hands, gently grabbing Neera's shoulders, pulling her closer to him and dropped his right hand down her back and groped her buttocks.

Even under the moonlight and the illumination of the fireflies everywhere, Ralis could clearly see that Neera is blushing. She is so flustered but happy that she is trying to say something to Ralis.

"This boldness certainly suits you. The way you take charge sometimes... well, it makes me feel confident too," She managed to say.

Ralis could tell that Neera is bedazzled by his prowess, his confidence in battle and as a group leader. What woman wouldn't swoon over a man like that? Ralis could also feel himself getting excited... In more ways than one. He wanted to get reallyintimate with Neera, and could only hope that she is in the mood as well.

Time to see just how clean Neera's cute half elven arse is. Winthrop would be so proud of me... Ralis silently commented to himself, his heart racing with excitement at the mere thought of being in a bed or bedroll with Neera wearing nothing but their underwear or nothing at all.

"You know, I've got a bedroll, and there's a nice secluded spot right over there..."

"No, not just yet," Neera shook her head, still blushing and smiling. "It's so exhilarating, and I'd been hoping for it for some time... Let's return to this subject later, when we have more time to enjoy it," she said.

"... All right," Ralis reluctantly nodded.

Neera winked at him and walked away. He couldn't deny how upset he was that he has to wait before Neera decides when she wants to get intimate, that he got all turned on for nothing. But the good news is at least they made their feelings known to each other. A healthy romantic relationship comes from a slow and steady relationship. However, his manhood disagreed on that. He then remembered the Iron Throne. If they found out that he has a girlfriend, he will end up putting Neera in danger as well, they might use her as bait to get to him. Perhaps when the Iron Throne is defeated, it will be safe for them to continue their romance. And Ralis promised himself that the next time Neera goes "Mmm" will be under bed sheets.

They found an apple tree, took a few apples and returned to camp. Almost at that same time, Jaheira and the others returned with some fish to cook. And so everyone ate apples and fish and fell asleep, except Coran, who volunteered to watch over the camp for 3 hours. However, on the second hour of his night shift, he fell asleep before he knew it, without waking up someone to take over watching the campsite. No one is awake watching over the camp now.


Thirty minutes later, the slowly dying camp fire eventually attracted a wandering group of poisonous giant spiders, accompanied with a few ettercaps. With glowing fire in the middle of the dark forests of Cloak Wood, it was bound to catch the attention of some wandering spiders, ettercaps or both sooner or later. One of the poisonous spiders slowly crawled over to Ralis, looming above his head, getting ready to deliver a poisonous bite to its unsuspecting victim. Even in his deep sleep, Ralis started sweating profusely, as if he sensed the spider is looming above him. Unable to shake off this uneasy feeling, Ralis opened his eyes and saw sharp fangs slowly descending down towards his face!

"AAAAGH!" He shouted in surprise, rolling away before the spider could sink its fangs into his face.

His shout woke up the others and they quickly noticed that giant spiders and ettercaps have invaded the camp!

"Look out!" Imoen yelled.

Minsc just barely dodged away from being slashed up by a nearby ettercap and scooped up Boo with his left hand, and placed Boo on his left shoulder so that he can hold his sword with both hands. Ralis wielded Kondar in his left hand and his other bastard sword in his right hand.

"Where did they come from?!" Coran exclaimed in surprise, drawing his longsword.

"Who cares?" Neera exclaimed.

Ralis cut down the spider that nearly attacked him in his sleep when it tried to jump at him. Dynaheir stayed next to Minsc as two ettercaps closed in on them.

"Such hideous creatures..." She said, then cast Burning Hands spell on one of the ettercaps, fire billowing from her fingers, burning it.

The other ettercap tried to strike Minsc with its claws, but he blocked the strike with his sword, spun around and slashed at the ettercap's swollen belly. Its intestines and partially digested contents spilled out on the ground as it shrieked in pain before collapsing dead. Xan, armed with his moonblade stood side by side with Rasaad, their backs pressed against each other, surrounded by three giant non-poisonous spiders.

"Any last words, Rasaad?" Xan asked him.

"This isn't the end yet, friend Xan," Rasaad said before a giant spider lunged at him.

He crouched down slightly, and kicked Xan's back with his right foot so that Xan would stumble forward and fall, and in that way he avoided getting mauled by the lunging spider. Xan quickly retaliated by turning his prone body around towards Rasaad's direction stabbing the spider that almost jumped on him from attacking Rasaad even though he is laying on the ground, stabbing his moonblade into its abdomen, and Rasaad was nearly double-teamed by the other two giant spiders, but with Xan's help and magic spells, they took them down.

Coran stabbed one spider with his sword then with his free hand he threw a throwing knife at an ettercap, the knife buried its blade right into the ettercap's head, and it collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. He almost got ambushed by a poisonous spider behind him, but Safana saved him by shooting at it with her crossbow. Coran smirked at her in admiration.

"I love a woman with style."

"Urgh. I should have misfired," Safana groaned, rolling her eyes.

Ralis parried the claw strikes of a vicious ettercap, trying to find an opening to attack, but the ettercap wrenched Kondar out of his grasp with just one claw. Ralis kicked the ettercap back before it could do the same to his other sword, then Imoen finished off the ettercap with an arrow to the head. Just when Neera was about to attempt to use Burning Hands on a poisonous spider, it quickly jumped on her, but she managed to stop the spell and raise her staff up in time to block the spider's fangs as it pinned her to the ground.

"Help! Somebody! Help!" Neera wailed as the spider tried to bite through her staff to reach her face.

Ralis, hearing Neera's calls for help came to her rescue, slashing up the spider with both Kondar and the +1 sword.

"I've... had enough... of THIS!" Ralis yelled angrily at 2 giant spiders and 3 ettercaps advancing towards them, then suddenly all the remaining spidera and ettercaps ran away.

Ralis looked confused. "... Did I do that?" He wondered aloud.

"You did, child," Dynaheir said.

"I didn't? Oh, that's good, because there's no way I could have..." Ralis paused suddenly, his eyes widened and he looked at Dynaheir.

"Thy scared them off. I know thou are not a mage, but thy casted a Horror spell on the spiders and ettercaps. That's why they ran away," Dynaheir told them.

Ralis couldn't believe it. He has no knowledge of magic spells yet he cast a Horror spell on all the spiders and ettercaps invading the camp? He then remembered the time he healed Neera from her minor injuries.

"Good show, Ralis. Good show. You gave those creatures a good scare. I hope you have the same effect on wyverns," Coran said.

Ralis was speechless. He looked down at his hands. "How...? Why...? How did I...? I didn't even say a single incantation to cast the spell..." Ralis mumbled to himself in awe.

"Hey! Are you people all right?!" A man with auburn colored hair and tattered clothes suddenly appeared out of nowhere running towards them.

Everyone jumped in alarm at his appearance.

"Whoa, calm down! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you all. My name is Tiber and I need your help," He said, holding his hands up to show that he is unarmed.

"Help?" Ralis asked him incredulously, sheathing his bloodstained swords.

"Yes. Listen. Have any of you heard of the legendary sword "Spider's Bane"?" Tiber asked.

Everyone stayed silent, and Tiber decided to guess that their answer is no.

"Well, me and my brother, we believe we know where to find it! It's in a cave a few minutes southwest from here! You see, he and I were sent into the Cloak Wood to clear the woods of the spider colony that infests it," Tiber said excitedly.

"But where is your brother?" Rasaad asked Tiber.

His face turned sour with sadness. "He went in the cave to retrieve the sword while I waited, but he never returned. I waited seven minutes for him to come out, but all that came out were giant spiders and ettercaps. I was forced to flee. They almost got me until they noticed the fire from your camp several yards away. You know the rest," He said sullenly.

"It's safe to assume your brother is dead," Viconia noted the obvious.

"There's no doubt in my mind he is. I know our job sounds foolish, but we are doing this with the best intentions. Imagine how many adventurers we could save if we eliminate the spider colony here. Oh, and if you could, can I at least see the Spider's Bane sword if it is there?" Tiber asked.

"Okay. We'll check it out. Xan, Rasaad, Imoen, Safana, Viconia, you're coming with me. The rest of you stay in camp and watch over our guest," Ralis commanded.


Ralis, Rasaad, Xan, Safana, Imoen and Viconia left to investigate the cave a few minutes southwest from camp. Soon they found themselves staring at the cave's entrance.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Ralis said.

"That's rather unusual for you to say, Ralis," Xan said.

"Because I'm serious about it. Just... stay sharp, everyone," Ralis said.

He couldn't ignore the gut twisting feeling he had, but he had to find out what happened to Tiber's brother. They entered the cave with slow, careful steps. They descended down a narrow, semi dark passage. The air began to smell pungent and foul, like rotting meat and fresh feces.

Ugh... The sooner we find the body of Tiber's brother, the better... Ralis thought to himself, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the air's foul odor.

Even Rasaad, Xan, Imoen, Safana and Viconia felt nauseated. They soon found themselves in a large room where the floor is made out of solid webbing, and in the middle of the webbing is a large, humanoid figure with an unnaturally swollen stomach that is so large and fat, it cannot even move. It's hard to tell if this creature is a man or woman, but its pointy ears hint that it is, or was an elf.

"What the...?" Ralis's eyes widened.

The fat figure hissed. "Kill the meat, my petsss," It said, its voice dry and raspy.

"Hold on a second! I wish to speak to you first," Ralis said to the fat creature.

The fat creature bared its yellow teeth. "Sssspeak quickly!"

"Who are you and how did you come to dwell in this dreary place?" Ralis asked the fat humanoid monster.

"I am Centeol, and I have been curssssed, for indignities I've done to Joneleth, a man I used to love, and his wife."

"What indignities?" Ralis asked.

"... I used to be a beautiful and powerful exotic sorceressss, with many powerssss at my command and suitors at my door. But I only had eyes for one man, Joneleth Icarus. He was a great and powerful wizard, the only man worthy of my affections, or so I thought. Though I lusted for Joneleth, he cared little for me, for he had another, another woman already had his heart. So I plotted and sssschemed, and finally came up with a plan to rid the world of that woman. After I killed her, Joneleth went mad with fury, hunted me down, and using hissss powerful magicsssss, dissssabled me with his spells, then he cursed me to this body and set spiders to feed me and keep me alive. I used to love him, but now I hate him, as I hate you and everything. Spidersss... kill them all," Centeol hissed.

Then suddenly, around Centeol, various types of giant spiders descended down from the ceiling around her and slowly approached Ralis and the others. Ralis and his party drew their weapons.

"This is not good..." Ralis muttered, seeing how heavily outnumbered they are.

Eight spiders against six adventurers. What are the odds? Little did Ralis and the others know that two spiders are above them on the ceiling, waiting for the perfect opportunity to drop down on them.

"Running is not an option," Rassad said.

"So we fight," Viconia nodded.

Just before Ralis and his group could attack, the two spiders on the ceiling dropped down... and ambushed Xan! Before Xan could attack, one of the spiders delivered a poisonous bite to Xan's right leg. He wailed in pain!

"Xan! No!" Ralis yelled.

"Ambush!" Rasaad yelled.

"Watch out!" Ralis yelled, quickly remembering there are more spiders coming their way.

The first wave of spiders attacked Ralis and the others. Xan was forced to fight the spiders that ambushed him alone. His right leg quickly grew numb from the poison, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his back, allowing the giant poisonous spiders to bite into him. Ralis tried his best to come to Xan's rescue when he heard his cries for help. Ralis felt helpless and frustrated. How can he defend a friend in need while he is busy defending himself? After killing his fourth poisonous spider, Ralis tried to come to Xan's rescue, but it is too late, the spiders have already bitten Xan to death, and his cries ceased. Ralis felt his rage growing as he watched the spiders feast on Xan's corpse.

Ralis screamed in a frenzied rage, slicing up the spiders that killed Xan, then he went on a rampage, violently cutting up every spider that got in his way.

He even attacked Centeol, who has no way of defending herself other than counting on the support of her spiders. Centeol shrieked in pain as Ralis sliced and diced her fat body. Ralis's swords cut Centeol's abnormally swollen stomach, creating a gash big enough for her organs to spill out, but instead of organs, more than a thousand spider eggs covered in thick mucus and blood spilled out of her damaged womb. Ralis was momentarily in shock and disgust that the reason why Centeol's belly is swollen to highly unnatural proportions is because she is pregnant with possibly millions of spider and ettercap eggs. If she continued living, the entire Cloak Wood forest and the entire Sword Coast would be completely infested with giant spiders and ettercaps! Whoever this Joneleth is, he cursed Centeol to give birth to millions of spiders and ettercaps for her entire life. One of many fates worse than death. Before the mound of spilled eggs reached his feet, Ralis finished Centeol off by leaping at her head and stabbing her in the forehead with Kondar. When Centeol died after the fatal blow, Ralis pulled Kondar out of Centeol's forehead and jumped off her corpse to the right instead of in front so that he won't land in the large mound of blood and mucus covered spider and ettercap eggs.

Silence filled the room. Not a single spider or ettercap was alive in the room anymore. Ralis sheathed his bloodstained swords. If Xan hadn't died, he would have called this a victory. He checked the mounds of hay around Centeol's corpse and found the Spider's Bane sword, which is a two handed sword, too heavy to carry with one hand, and the corpse of Tiber's brother, his corpse completely drained of blood and flesh.

"Ralis, I'm sorry about Xan... I know you tried your best, but..." Rasaad tried to comfort Ralis.

"Don't talk to me right now," Ralis said, his voice full of anguish.


Ralis, Rasaad, Imoen, Viconia and Safana returned to camp with the Spider's Bane, Tiber's brother and Xan's bodies.

"Oh my..." Tiber said grimly when he saw Rasaad carrying Xan and Ralis carrying his brother's bodies on their shoulders.

"Oh no..." Dynaheir whispered.

"What happened?" Neera wanted to know.

"We found the spider colony nest and killed the monster that controlled the spider, but... we lost Xan," Ralis said sullenly.

Good riddance. I was getting tired of his pessimistic whining anyway... Viconia commented silently.

A couple hours later, Ralis and the others cremated the bodies of Xan and Tiber's brother. As Ralis and the others watched Xan and Tiber's bodies slowly burn into ash, Tiber stepped forward to say his last words to his brother.

"Chelak, my dear brother... I will miss the days when we used to dream of going on adventures, righting wrongs, solving problems... Only now today I see that adventuring is not as romantic as we once thought it would be when we were kids. It will break our mother's heart to know that you have passed away, but we will try to move on with our lives and at the same time remember you and our fun childhood," Tiber said.

Then Ralis stepped forward to say his final words to Xan.

"Xan... I know that you were not the most liked of my travelling companions because of your pessimistic personality, but I know that we will never forget you as we move on with our adventure," "Ralis picked up Xan's moonblade and placed it into the fire with Xan's burning body.

Tiber came up to Ralis and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for everything, Ralis. With the spider colony exterminated, you have made Cloak Wood a little more safe for travelers. Still, the loss of a friend and brother still doesn't ease the pain, I know," Tiber said.

"I've lost a few good people recently. I can't bear the thought of losing anyone else," Ralis said gravely, lowering his head.

"I know. It's tough. Well, I better deliver my brother's ashes to mother and... well... wish me and my family luck. This won't be an easy time for us," Tiber said.

"I know. It will be hard, but still..." Ralis paused there.

He didn't have the heart to continue speaking. The next morning, after sleeping peacefully, Ralis and the others woke up and continued searching for the Iron Throne hideout somewhere in Cloakwood. As for the Spider's Bane sword, it is Minsc's new weapon.


After a tenday of wandering the forest, a tenday of fighting the carnivorous wildlife that populates the forest, Ralis and his group found a small tent near a stream, a cooking pot next to the tent and other camping supplies. They soon found out who lives in this small camp. A old man in blue mage robes who has smooth, jet black hair and a very thick beard stepped out from inside the tent and noticed Ralis and his group standing nearby.

"Morning, travelers. It is not often that I meet travelers in these parts of the wilderness..." He paused there to get a good look at Ralis and his traveling companions. "...It would seem that you travelers are in need. You are lucky that you met me. If you desire, I have the skills necessary to heal you," The man continued.

"That's very generous of you sir, but none of us are injured. But could you tell us who you are?" Ralis asked him.

"You may call me The Surgeon. I heal others in penance for what I have done in my past," The Surgeon said.

"That's a very noble thing to do. What exactly have you done?" Ralis became curious.

The Surgeon shifted his eyes. He didn't like reflecting on his mistakes, but he knew acknowledging mistakes prevents them from repeating in the future. "Many have died because of a foolish act of charity on my part. I have a brother, an evil man by the name of Davaeorn (pronounced "Dah-vey-orn"). He lives because I was too weak hearted to kill him when I had the chance," He said shamefully.

"Showing mercy is not a weakness. He is your brother after all," Ralis said.

"Mercy is a weakness. You only leave yourself open to be stabbed in the heart or back," Viconia said.

"Will you stay out of this?" Ralis looked back at Viconia.

She scowled at him for a few seconds then went: "Bah. Don't get mad at the truth, surface dweller."

"No, she's right, young man. Because of my hesitation, many have died at his hands, including..." At this point, tears began to leak from The Surgeon's eyes. "... Including our own father," He managed to say before sobbing.

Ralis walked over to him placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm so very sorry. What do you plan on doing now? Do you plan on hunting this Davaeorn down?" Ralis asked him.

The Surgeon wiped his tears. "Yes. I have heard that he comes to this region, and I hope to meet him one day, to rectify my previous mistake."

"No. It's best if you let me do this for you. It's easy to say that you'll rectify your mistake, but is it easy to cast a fireball on your own brother?" Ralis asked him.

The Surgeon began to say something in protest, but relented. "You're right," he said instead.

"Your group seem to be very capable adventurers. Perhaps you might come to fight my brother... But I must warn you, he is armed with powerful magic spells. I see that you are a fighter, and therefore would not stand a chance against him. Unless..." He paused and started digging into the pockets of his potion pack.

"Unless what?" Ralis wanted to know.

The Surgeon pulled out a potion and handed it to Ralis. "This may be wishful thinking on my part... but take this, it would help you in any fight against magic users," The Surgeon said after Ralis gently grabbed the potion out of his hands.

"... Thanks. I don't know how this will protect me against a powerful mage, but thanks." He nodded courteously, albeit in a confused way at The Surgeon.

"When you meet Davaeorn, drink it, and you will see. Good luck, to all of you," The Surgon said his farewell, and Ralis and his group moved on, walking past The Surgeon's campsite, moving northwest through Cloakwood.


After a few more days of walking through the seemingly endless maze of Cloakwood, fighting past more and more ettercaps and spiders, Ralis and his group came across a small settlement which can be seen across a river up ahead. Ralis squinted his eyes, trying to get a good look at the houses which look like trees.

"Is that a settlement over there?" Ralis asked to whoever in his group knew.

"Yes. That is the village of the druids," Jaheira said.

"Oh. You're a druid too, right? Let's go ever there and see if there's someone there who can give us useful information," Ralis said.

"I would be cautious, if I were you, Ralis," Jaheira warned.

Ralis turned around, looking at her with a puzzled frown. "Why?" He asked.

"That village may be a village of Shadow Druids." Jaheira said.

"So?"

"The Shadow Druids don't believe that people who are not druids will ever live in harmony with nature. They will kill you all, including me, because I'm loyal to the traditional druidic ways. They view the traditional ways as weak fantasies that will never happen," Jaheira told everyone.

"Ugh. All right, fine. We'll stay away from that village," Ralis groaned.

He was hoping to get some directions from a helpful person in the village. But he has no intention of getting into a fight with the entire village if they turn out to be Shadow Druids. They moved east, following the river, staying away from the village. They came across a bridge which would take them over the river and towards the druid village. Standing in the middle of a bridge is a druid, a man with neatly combed black hair, wearing leather armor, boots and wielded a quarterstaff as a weapon. He saw Ralis and his group walking by and called out:

"You there! I command you all to stop, so that I may speak with you a moment," The druid said, walking across the bridge to meet up with Ralis and his group.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Ralis asked him.

"My name is Laskal, and I am the protector of the Cloakwood. I would ask you a question before I take my leave of you. I have a message for those that serve the Iron Throne. Would you be a representative of that organization?" Laskal asked Ralis.

"Representative? Neither me nor my group have any connection with that despicable organization. We are sworn enemies of the Iron Throne," Ralis told Laskal.

He rubbed his chin and nodded approvingly. "Mmm. An enemy of an enemy is my friend. My earlier question was just a test. I am glad to know that you also oppose this organization," Laskal said.

"The Iron Throne has caused pain and misery to everyone in the Sword Coast- they have to be stopped," Ralis said boldly.

"Indeed. They have been a blight on these woods ever since they reopened the ancient dwarven iron mine," Laskal said.

Ralis frowned in confusion. "They reopened an old iron mine?" He asked Laskal.

He nodded. "Well, I am glad to know you..."

"Ralis. My name is Ralis Rutela." Ralis said, shaking Laskal's hand, and he introduced the rest of his group to Laskal.

"Ralis. I hope that you and your group will be successful in driving out the Iron Throne. Take this, a potion of invisibility. Hopefully it will aid you against the Iron Throne," Laskal gave Ralis a [otion of invisibility.

"Thank you. By the way, where can we find the Iron Throne?" Ralis asked Laskal.

"To the east from here. It's not a far walk," Laskal said.

Ralis cursed inwardly. They were too far south from their hideout and ended up going too far northwest past it!

"Thank you," Ralis said his farewell to Laskal and led his group east.


For the next sixty-three minutes, they didn't run into a single group of spiders or ettercaps...

"Are we still hunting Wyverns or not? You do remember the reward, don't you, Ralis?" Coran asked Ralis.

"Yes, I remember the reward, but can we take care of the Iron Throne first then the Wyverns second? Besides, I don't have any antidote potions if any of you get poisoned," Ralis said, trying to keep the tone of his voice calm and even without any sign of exasperation.

Dynaheir cleared her throat to get Ralis's attention. He stopped walking, and so did everyone else following him, and they all turned their eyes on Dynaheir.

"I happen to know a spell called "Slow Poison". So if any of you get poisoned, do not hesitate to call me," She said.

Everyone was amused to know this. They didn't know if it is luck or coincidence that someone knows a spell that can neutralize the effects of poison.

"... Well, ain't that a coincidence," Imoen said with a relaxed smile.

"I doubt that this is coincidence, Imoen. This is one of the benefits of travelling with a group. Alone, you can only do so much, but as a team, you can be stronger," Rasaad told Imoen.

"I agree, Rasaad. That is the beauty of camaraderie!" Minsc said proudly as Boo looked up at Minsc's left earlobe on his left shoulder.

Coran couldn't help chuckling. "I do love resourceful women, don't you agree, Ralis?" He asked him smugly.

Ralis didn't want to reply, believing that he would hurt Neera's feelings. Her magic is more powerful than Dynaheir's- heck, she can shoot 4 magic missiles at the same time while Dynaheir can only shoot two! But like Neera said before, even though her wild magic makes her spells more powerful, it isn't easy to control.

"Let's move, people. It's best that we don't lose any more daylight here," Ralis told his group and continued to lead the way.

Four minutes later, when Ralis and his group were walking through a wide open clearing with semi short blades of grass, a river to the northeast and a large hill many yards away to the southwest...

"Everyone, shh!" Coran suddenly demanded, coming to a complete stop.

Everyone froze in place and stayed quiet, turning their heads left and right slowly, and holding their weapons ready.

"What?" Ralis whispered to Coran.

"Stop talking and listen," Coran whispered curtly at Ralis.

Instead of protesting, Ralis stayed quiet and listened. No birds were chirping, no sound of the active wildlife could be heard, just silence. But among the silence he heard a steady rhythm of whooshing sounds nearby, like big wings flapping in the air. Ralis couldn't help but wonder what creature could have such large wings to make these whooshing noises. Ralis looked over at the large hill 120 meters southwest from their position and saw a wyvern with a grayish tan colored body come into view from the top of the hill.

"Look!" Ralis exclaimed, pointing up at the wyvern so that his group would see it too.

"There it is," Coran smiled.

The wyvern screeched loudly upon spotting Ralis and his group and flew down the hill, it's body just 9 inches away from touching the steep slope of the hill as it glided down towards flat ground at the bottom of the hill and instead of crashing into the ground, it adjusted its body in time and flew towards Ralis and the others. Everyone drew their weapons. Ralis could see the wyvern's barbed tail resembling a scorpion's tail whipping about behind it as it flew closer.

"We're going to need some luck here..." Ralis said, sensing that fighting an adult wyvern won't be easy.

"Luck be a lady," Coran replied full of zeal as he pulled and arrow from his quiver, placed it on his bow and pulled back on the bowstring with the arrow while taking aim at the wyvern.

"What?" Ralis looked at Coran in confusion because he didn't understand his quote.

Coran looked back at him.

"Luck is always on the side of the romantic," Coran winked at him.

At the same time, Imoen, Coran and Ralis fired their arrows at the Wyvern. Dynaheir and Neera's magic missiles struck the Wyvern at the same time as the arrows did. The Wyvern screeched in pain but didn't collapse on the ground.

"Move!" Ralis yelled.

He and his group split up to move out of the way from the angry wyvern. The wyvern flew past them, it's sharp scorpion-like tail nearly scratched Viconia's back as it flew by. The wyvern changed course, carefully veering left without its left wing touching the grassy ground and flying towards Ralis, Coran, Minsc and Khalid. The wyvern landed on its feet just inches from them and tried biting them with fast reflexes. Minsc and Khalid tried to use their swords to strike at the wyvern's head every opportunity they had when it tried to bite them while Ralis and Coran stayed at a safe distance, firing their arrows at the beast.

Imoen joined in, firing her own arrows. Viconia tried casting a spell on the wyvern that'll make it fall asleep, but the spell didn't work on it. Dynaheir tried casting the blindness spell on the beast and succeeded. The Wyvern can't see its prey anymore, but it doesn't need its eyes to fight. It started to violently lash its tail about, hoping trying to strike at anyone who is stupid enough to attack it with a melee weapon.

"How many arrows does it take to bring this thing down?!" Ralis yelled.

"Aim for the head!" Coran yelled back at him.

They tried to aim for the beast's head, but its head is not an easy target to hit because it keeps moving! Viconia realized that the only way that Ralis and the others can kill the wyvern is if she can use her Slow spell to slow the Wyvern's movements, that way Ralis, Coran and Imoen can have an easier time shooting at its head, or they can attack it with swords while its scorpion like tail is thrashing around at turtle speed.

"Nightsinger, give me power," Viconia prayed to Shar before chanting the command words and using the correct hand gestures to cast the Slow spell on the wyvern.

The spell worked! The wyvern's movements are now at turtle speed!

"Do it! Now!" Ralis yelled.

"Right!" Khalid nodded.

"Got it!" Minsc nodded as well.

Rasaad, Minsc, Khalid, Jaheira, Safana and Viconia attacked the Wyvern with their melee weapons while Ralis, Coran and Imoen fired their arrows at the wyvern's neck and head. With their combined efforts, the wyvern collapsed dead.

"Yes!" Neera cheered.

"Finally! And none of us got poisoned!" Ralis announced proudly as he placed his Dead Shot bow behind his back.

"Now, we must take the beast's head back and bring it to the Temple of Morning in Beregost. It is there that we can receive our reward," Coran said enthusiastically, approaching the dead wyvern and proudly placing his right boot on the beast's head.

Minsc stood near the wyvern's head, holding his two handed sword, He raised the sword high above his head and brought it down on the wyvern's neck, cutting off the beast's head from its neck and body. Blood leaked down on the grass from the open wound of the neck. The wyvern's head is small enough for Minsc to carry with one hand.

"Now, let's get to that iron mine that the Iron Throne controls," Ralis said.

He and his groups continued east, leaving the clearing.


Ralis heard thunder rumbling in the sky. He looked up. The sky has turned gray. It will be raining soon. A couple hours later, Ralis and his group were accosted by an armored man with long brown hair named Lakadaar.

"Stop where you are and tell me your names!" Lakadaar demanded.

Little did Ralis know that this guard, Lakadaar, is one of the patrolmen of the iron mine, which means Ralis and his group are very close to their destination. Ralis looked back at his party for a second then back at the lone guard.

"I am Ralis and this is my group of travelers," Ralis replied.

"What is your purpose here?" Lakadaar asked.

Ralis then had a feeling that they are close to the mines. Why else would this man be here? This man seems to be alone, but Ralis had a better idea instead of killing him.

"Me and my party are out hunting wyverns," Ralis told Lakadaar as a matter-of-factly.

"Wyverns?" Lakadaar raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Yes, you know, the dragon looking creatures with the fearsome fangs and a sharp tail with enough poison to kill a horse 10 times over. As a matter of fact, my party and I just killed an adult wyvern recently. Show him," Ralis said, instructing Minsc to show Lakadaar the head.

Minsc stepped forward, holding the wyvern head with his right hand, walking towards Lakadaar, and dropped the head to the ground. Lakadaar's face turned pale white as he stared at the wyvern's head. He looked back up at Ralis and his party, and forced a polite smile.

"Uh, excuse me, I have some pressing business to attend to elsewhere." He tried to say politely as possible, then turned around and bolted off.

"I get the feeling you enjoyed that," Jaheira said to Ralis.

"I can't believe it worked," Ralis smiled.

"I get so sensual when I see a man improvise so creatively," Safana said in her usual seductive tone, slowly rubbing her slender stomach and rocking her hips next to Ralis. His body started tingling in excitement.

"I can improvise, myself. Care for a demonstration, my blossom?" Coran tried hitting on Safana again to divert her attention away from the young human.

"Nothing you do will impress me," Safana said coldly.

"You never give me a chance."

"It will be a cold day in the Abyss when that happens," Safana disdainfully turned her head away from Coran.

"I can't help it. You've been dominating my thoughts, Safana. It's really distracting me," Coran continued.

Safana smiled at him. "You have about as much appeal as a rutting Owlbear," She said.

"Ouch," Ralis said, feeling bad for Coran.

Then she turned her attention to Ralis and put her arms around him.

"He, on the other hand, has the strength and prowess of a wild animal inside him. He just doesn't know it yet," Ralis shook the inappropriate thoughts out of his head and gently pulled Safana's arms off him.

"Let's get going people. We must be getting close," Ralis said and continued leading. Minsc picked up the wyvern head and moved on.


Ralis and his group eventually found a small bridge leading to a large guardhouse with horse stables next to it on a small island in the middle of a very large lake. The guardhouse is surrounded by a palisade, a barrier of wooden stakes. Fortunately no guards are to be found.

"Let's go," Ralis whispered.

He led his team across the bridge towards the island. Ralis saw that there are a few horses in the stables, and ahead, past the guardhouse is another bridge leading to another small island in the middle of the lake with wooden stakes as barriers, and towering above the wooden stake barriers on the other island is a large house which gives it the appearance of a small feudal castle, sort of. Before Ralis and his group could head for the other bridge past the guardhouse, four men emerged from the entrance of the guardhouse, drinking bottles of mead, joking and laughing. Their names is Drasus, Genthore, Rezdan and Kysis. Rezdan and Kysus are mages, Drasus and Genthore are fighters, considering they wear heavy armor and are armed with melee weapons. Drasus, who appears to be a few years older than Ralis, has dirty blond hair, a scar above his right eyebrow and wore splint mail armor, Genthore and Kysis have short black hair, and Rezdan has long brown hair, and they are all human. Drasus was the first to notice Ralis and his group.

"You!" Drasus growled at Ralis.

He dropped his bottle of mead and drew his morning star +1. Ralis shook his head, smirking.

"Draw your daggers and spells, and let's have at 'er! You've crossed our employers, and this is as far as you're going to go, my friend. Should've known that lazy bounty hunting rabble wouldn't get the job done. Never settle second best, I always say!" Drasus exclaimed.

By this moment, Ralis's party have already prepared for battle, but Ralis hasn't even touched his weapons yet, he just stood there, smirking at Drasus.

"You want to know what I always say? "Always kill the mouthy one," that's what I always say," Ralis remarked in a smart alecky way.

Drasus and his partners laughed.

"A good saying! I will use your head for a puppet and make it say it over and over while we drink large amounts of mead! Life is pretty good, you know? Now, let's skip the small talk and get straight to the killing," Drasus said.

"My thoughts exactly," Ralis replied, finally drawing out Kondar and his other bastard sword for battle.

With Drasus's special boots which makes him move almost twice the speed as a running athlete, he was able to quickly get up close to Ralis for melee combat. Ralis was so startled by this he flinched and instinctively parried with his swords, defending himself from a blow that would have broken his skull if he made any other wrong move. Minsc and Rasaad battled Genthore, a black haired human man who wore full plate mail armor +1 and is only armed with three throwing axes and a longsword. He threw two of his axes at Minsc and Rasaad but they dodged them swiftly as they ran for Genthore. Kysus used a magic spell called Summon Monster to summon five armed goblins for battle. Jaheira and Khalid took on the goblins. Ralis tried to strike Drasus with Kondar but he blocked the attack with his shield and tried to bash Ralis's head with his shield, but Ralis leaped back and tried slashing at Drasus spinning briefly almost like a tornado.

He blocked the strikes with his shield, though his shield arm ached badly after blocking the multiple hard strikes. Rezdan cast an illusion spell on himself to create fake images of himself, and just in time, Coran and Imoen were about to shoot him, but his fake images got them confused. Genthore parried Rasaad's strike then kicked him away so that he can have time to parry Minsc's sword. While struggling against the tall, strong man, Genthore was caught off guard when Minsc kicked him in the chest, causing him to stagger back. Genthore was dazed for a second but recovered just in time to notice Rasaad coming and dodge Rasaad's right hand punch, but he didn't have quick enough reflexes to dodge a fatal sword strike from Minsc immediately after. Ralis parried another one of Drasus's strikes, backing away from Drasus as he kept on parrying. Drasus backed Ralis into the horse stables. The horses inside were frightened because of the clashing of steel ringing in their ears.

"You're in way over your head if you think you can beat me, friend," Drasus taunted.

"I'm not your friend!" Ralis retorted, attempting to strike with Kondar, then with his other sword, but Drasus's shield protected him from both blows.

Ralis then had an idea. He unlocked the gates preventing the horses from leaving the stables. the scared horses neighed and bolted out of the stables, running about haphazardly.

"What the?!" Kysus gasped.

One of the panicking horses ran towards him and he jumped away from its rampage. He tried to cast a lighting bolt spell, but unfortunately for him, because of the confusion that Ralis caused, he forgot to cast an invisibility spell on himself first. As a result, Coran managed to shoot him in the neck with an arrow before he could call upon the electric arcane energies. The horses continued to run about wildly. Ralis, his party, Drasus and his remaining party had to constantly scramble out of the path of the rampaging horses as they fought each other. One horse ran straight for Drasus and attempted to kick him. Even though he blocked the kick with his shield, the kick was so powerful, it sent him flying towards the guardhouse door, breaking it and startling the guards inside who were telling jokes, laughing and drinking mead and wine. Drasus hit the wooden door head first, and he was not wearing a helmet at all, so the impact killed him. The five guards came outside to see what is going on and noticed Ralis and his party.

"To arms!" One of the guards shouted, drawing his sword.

"Get them!" Ralis commanded.

"With pleasure," Safana said sensually.

Safana, Ralis and Coran engaged the guards in melee combat. Rasaad managed to finish off Rezdan both with luck and one of Genthore's throwing axes. Rasaad picked up one of the throwing axes, threw it at what he believed was the real Rezdan and got a lucky hit. Safana stabbed one of the guards with her longsword, Ralis overwhelmed the other two with his two bastard swords and Coran killed the 4th one easily who is partially drunk from drinking too much wine. The rampaging horses finally left the island by leaving across the bridge where Ralis and his party came from.

Ralis went inside the guardhouse, stepping over the broken door and checked Drasus's corpse.

"I'm sure you won't mind if I take your shoes," Ralis said as he removed his boots and put on Drasus's boots which give him the ability to run faster than normal. Then Ralis checked his pockets and found a note. It says:

"We have need of your services yet again, Drasus. We are expecting an incursion at our mine location in the Cloakwood. You are to accompany Davaeorn to the site and prevent entry or assault by anyone that is foolish enough to challenge you.

Your standard fee shall be doubled in this instance. If all goes well, you should look forward to more of the same.

Rieltar"

Ralis frowned. Who is this Rieltar (pronounced "Real-tar")? He put the note in his pocket and walked back outside.

"We need to get to that other island," Ralis told his party.

It is now raining. Ralis had to admit that he loved feeling cool rain drops hit his head after a heated battle.

"Lead on," Rasaad said with a nod.

Ralis and his group moved forward towards a bridge that will take them 50 feet across the lake over to the other island where another building protected by stake barriers is. The guard at the other end of the bridge spotted Ralis and his party and warned four more guards of the intruders. Unafraid, Ralis walked across the bridge, prepared to confront four sword wielding guards coming from the other end to meet him.

"We can't have a sword fight on a rope bridge! Our blades might cut it apart!" Imoen exclaimed.

"We won't," Ralis smirked at her.

When the leading guard got close enough, he exclaimed: "Turn around or we will run our blade through your hearts!"

"You can try, or you can turn back," Ralis taunted.

"Try?! I can beat Drizzt with both hands behind my back!" The guard retorted.

Ralis laughed. "Yeah. And then you woke up."

"Why you little...!" The guard charged and tried to stab Ralis, but he swiftly dodged left, grabbed the guard by his outstretched sword arm and threw him off the bridge.

"Aaah!" *SPLASH!*

The next guard attempted to cut his head, but Ralis crouched to dodge the attack and tossed him off too.

"Arrgh!" *SPLASH!*

The third guard was a bit smarter. He tried to kick Ralis instead, but Ralis dodged, holding on to the ropes while rocking the bridge to use the guard's unbalanced body against him, making him fall off.

"Aagh!" *SPLASH!*

The last guard backed away from Ralis. "All right! All right! I'll jump!" The guard voluntarily jumped off the bridge, something that made Viconia, Neera, Imoen, Minsc, and Safana smile in amusement.

They crossed the bridge to the island in the middle of the lake and entered the building.


Inside, Ralis and Minsc killed two unsuspecting guards who were on their lunch break and discovered a set of stairs leading downstairs to the right in the small room. The stairs took them 50 feet underground. Downstairs it seemed like they hit a dead end, but Safana quickly noticed that they are standing on an elevator. Minsc began turning the wheel on the wall, causing the platform to descend down into the mines. When the elevator platform gently hit the mine floor, Ralis whispered:

"I'll scout ahead. Everyone follow me quietly."

He quietly led his group down the mine tunnels until they came across a "T" shaped junction ahead. Ralis heard a few guards talking nearby.

"Have you heard? Some nutjob did a favor for the Flaming Fist and took out the bandit camp, eased the tension off them," One guard said.

"Man, I hate them Flaming Fist pansies. They act like official guards, but they ain't nothing more than mercenaries," The second guard said.

Ralis frowned. How do these guys know this? Do they have spies or corrupt members in the Flaming Fist? Probably, probably not. When the guards voices faded away, Ralis signaled his group to continue following him. They headed down the left path because Ralis assumed that the guards walked down the right path. They found themselves in a open room with 5 ways out. The mine workers looked haggard and tired, and even worse, their bodies are nearly skinny to the bone.

"What atrocity is this?" Dynaheir demanded in outrage.

Upon hearing Dynaheir's voice, one of the guards noticed Ralis and his group and headed for them. Ralis's nose wrinkled- this man's body odor smelled sour, like rotten onions.

"Guards! Guards! Andarson is speaking ill of Davaeorn- wait, you're no guards..." The mine worker said.

"You're right, we're not. We're the cavalry here to rescue you," Ralis told him.

The mine worker took a deep breath and ran off shouting: "Guards! Guards!" down the path where Ralis and his group came from.

One of the guards Ralis overheard talking confronted them seconds later. "Hey! You're the bastards who are messing up our mining ops!" Before the guard could draw his sword, Rasaad knocked the guard out with one swift punch.

With the guard knocked out, they moved on, going down one of the tunnels. They walked past a dwarven miner weakly pushing a cart full of tainted iron.

The miner looked up at Rasaad and weakly said: "Please... Get me out of this hellhole..." Ralis saw the pained expression on Rasaad's face.

"We will do whatever we can," Rasaad said sympathetically.

A few meters down the tunnel, Ralis and his group came across another room full of malnourished miners, swinging pickaxes at the wall, digging for iron, and storing iron in the mine carts.

"Sir... Help me... Please... I haven't eaten a good meal in days..." A nearby miner wheezed at Ralis.

My gods... This isn't a mine... This is a torture chamber...! Ralis thought as he fought to hold back tears.

"This isn't right... It isn't right..." Imoen whispered almost in disbelief.

Neera patted Imoen's back sympathetically.

"N-n-no one should deserve this, not even my worst enemy." Khalid said.

"Save me, dear sir... Please, save me..." Another miner wheezed at Minsc.

"I swear to you, my friend, this injustice will not go unpunished," Minsc promised the miner.

"Pitiful, weak surface dwellers. They wouldn't last a minute in Menzoberranzan if they call this a hellhole..." Viconia said.

Ralis, Dynaheir, Imoen and Minsc looked back at Viconia in outrage.

"These people aren't at their peak strength, Viconia. How can you say that when they have been treated poorly?" Ralis demanded.

"Bah! Being 'treated poorly' should make them stronger. Apparently they lack the will push themselves to and above their limits," Viconia retorted.

"Typical drow logic..." Minsc huffed.

"I would expect a drow to say this. They have no sense of compassion," Dynaheir said.

Ralis wanted to change the subject before the difference in morality in the group causes too much tension.

"Let's go, people," Ralis said, leading on.

The more tired, pleading miners he walked by, the more sadness and rage boiled inside him. The Iron Throne and their lackeys are going to pay for this... In blood.


They eventually came across a dead end. on the wall to the left is a large metal, circle shaped door which looks like a door to a bank vault. One of the human miners nearby noticed Ralis and his group and approached.

"You... You're not with the guards here, are you?" He asked.

"No, we are not. We're here to end this nightmare," Ralis said.

"Really? If you set me free, I can tell you how to bring this mine crashing down around the heads of those fat-headed slavers," The miner said.

"I like where this is going. We'll set you free. Tell us what you know," Ralis nodded.

The miner smiled, showing his yellow teeth. "Well, see, here's how it is. The way to bamboozle these ninnies is real easy. Right here beside me is a steel plug that stoppers up the river on the surface," The miner said, pointing at he steel "door" next to him.

Ralis smiled. He had a clear idea what this miner is saying.

"If you were to release that, then the whole mine will be flooded. Only the master of the mine has the key to open the plug, and he's a real mean cuss. If you were to bring the key to me, I could use it to flood the mine," The miner explained.

"Wait. How do you know how to operate the key? You're just a miner." Jaheira pressed the miner suspiciously.

"There's a dwarf on the 2nd level of the mine. His name is Yeslick, and he's the last surviving dwarf of the clan that used to live here," The miner said.

Ralis's eyes widened. "You're saying that Davaeorn and his lackeys massacred an entire clan of dwarves?!" He couldn't believe it, the Iron Throne is much worse than he thought.

The miner nodded. "Under the threat of death, he designed a plug for the master of the mine. I talked with him last time I was in the cells for bad behavior," The miner explained.

"Okay, you've made your point. We'll try to find this key," Ralis promised him.

The miner smiled again. "Good! If you haven't already been down to the lower levels, try to find a man named Rill. He's a good friend of mine and should be able to come up with a plan on how to get all of the slaves to safety. I'll see you all later, and be careful not to get killed, and be careful around the mine master, like I said, he's a mean cuss," The miner said.

"Thanks for the warning. Let's go, guys," Ralis said.

They turned around, looking for another route.


It took them a while to find a way to the 2nd floor of the mines. They ran into a couple guards along the way, and had to take them out. When they reached the 2nd level of the mines, the 2nd level is not what Ralis or anyone else in his group expected. It seemed like they are inside a castle now judging by the way the walls don't look like misshapen walls of ore, also there are sword and shield decorations on the wall too. That's because they have entered the first section of the Cloakwood mines that is not a mine at all, but more like a living quarters for the guards. Ralis slowly led his group down the hallway and saw at the end of the hall is a guard sitting on a chair talking to another guard. Ralis signaled Coran and Imoen to use their bows an arrows to quietly take them out. Coran and Imoen took aim and fired, their arrows hitting both guards in the heads, killing them quietly. Then Ralis and his group crept slowly into the room to make sure no one else is inside. Up ahead is a locked door to what seems to be a hallway of prison cells. To the left is another hallway leading down to another room.

Ralis walked over to the door which leads to the prison room. He tried twisting the doorknob.

"Locked," He muttered.

"I'll see if they have the key," Coran said, checking one of the guard's bodies while Imoen checked the other.

She managed to find a key. "Got it," she whispered and gently tossed the keys to Ralis.

Ralis prayed that no one nearby heard the keys rattle. He unlocked the door and entered inside. As he and his group walked down past the series of empty prison cells, Ralis began to believe that the Iron Throne really don't take prisoners. But as soon as he began believing that, he heard someone nearby call out:

"You there, wait!" Ralis's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

He looked left and right quickly. When he calmed down, he saw that there is a man in the prison cell to his left.

"I was beginning to think that these people don't take prisoners," Coran said.

"Me too," Ralis agreed with the elf.

"Tell me if I'm right. Aren't you the mercenaries who've been causing the Iron Throne so much trouble?" The malnourished man asked.

"Yes, that's us. How did you come by this information? You look like a slave of the Iron Throne to me," Ralis said.

"Good! It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is Rill and I'm the de facto leader of the slaves here beneath the Cloak Wood. I've heard about you because I'm always careful to listen to what the Blacktalons talk about. It seems that the Iron Throne has placed a large price on the head of someone called Ralis Rutela. Which would be you, I assume," Rill said, pointing at Ralis.

"Your guess is right on the money, ol' skin n' bones," Imoen said.

"I thought so. Enough introductions, we don't have much time. I need 100 gold." Rill said urgently.

"100 gold? Why?" Ralis raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"The captain of the Blacktalons, on the first floor is not known for his loyalty to the Throne. If you give me the money, I'm sure I could bribe him to look the other way while I escape with the rest of the slaves. After all, most of the Talons are going to be preoccupied with you. Well, how about it?" Rill asked Ralis.

Ralis dug in his bag of gold and pulled out 100 gold coins, handing it to Rill, then he unlocked the jail cell, freeing Rill.

"There's no time to waste. Get going," Ralis ordered.

"Thank you! Thank you so much. I wish you well, and hope that you can bring an end to this stinking operation. Oh, make sure you find Yeslick. He's here too," Rill said before leaving.


Ralis and his group continued walking down the jail cell block until they heard a dwarven voice say: "Ey, who's there, now?"

Ralis looked to the right and found a dwarven man in a jail cell.

"Are ye ore smithing, or did ye burrow into another river?" The dwarf, who is apparently Yeslick asked Ralis.

"Neither. You must be Yeslick, I assume," Ralis said.

"Aye, that be me. Oh, a fine sight are you, whoever you are! Sick to death of bandits, I am! I have been cooped up the longest time, but if you've a spare mace, I'd gladly swing it for yer cause. I can do things a cleric wise as well, so I'm mind as well as muscle. By Clangeddin, a chance to right past wrongs! Can I join you?" Yeslick asked Ralis.

Ralis smiled and unlocked the jail cell. "All help is welcome. We have much work to do," Ralis said, opening the jail cell.

"More helping hands to kick more evil butts! Perfect!" Minsc smiled.

"Thank you, er..."

"Ralis. My name is Ralis, and this is my group, and we have been fighting the Iron throne for the past few days," Ralis said.

"Is that so? Before we go, let me tell ye something. This is my mine that the blasted Iron Throne has stolen. Well, they were my clan's home 125 years ago. Curse me for a fool if ye like, I trusted them! A couple years ago that blasted Rieltar gave me a good trade smithing job for the Iron Throne in Sembia, and then I go and tell him about my old home! About how my clan had the richest iron mine in any coast, and how almost all were killed when we breached a riverbank. Lost most of my kin in that flood, including the lads I worked with, Jomer and Turmod. Those of us that survived couldn't bear to go back down. It was a giant watery tomb, and we left it the way she stood. So I go and tell this to my "friend" Rieltar and he has me chained up! He tortures the location outta me, and now this graveyard feeds the Iron Throne as they bleed the coast dry. If you want to cripple their plans, help me flood this accursed mine once more! They plugged the breach, but knowing hands can loose the flow!" Yeslick said.

"I know, I already found someone who can do that," Ralis explained.

"Good! We can drown these black hearted rats in the very mine they stolen!" Yeslick said enthusiastically.

Ralis ordered Viconia to give Yeslick her spare mace.

"So... how are we going to get down to the lower levels without alerting every single guard here?" Neera asked Yeslick.

"There's a secret passage somewhere here. What may look like a dead end is actually an illusion," Yeslick replied.

"Show us the way," Jaheira said.

"Ye need only ask," Yeslick said to Jaheira.

Yeslick headed for the wall at the end of the jail cell block and pushed it open.

"How nifty," Imoen said, amused.

"Lead the way, Ralis. Ye're the one with the two swords and armor," Yeslick said.

"I got a dirk and bow too," Ralis replied as he squeezed past Yeslick, entering the secret tunnels ahead of everyone.

The winding tunnels appeared to take them to a dead end, but Ralis, remembering that some of the walls here are an illusion, pressed on towards the wall... and found himself in a kitchen. Yeslick came out second, then Rasaad, then Imoen. Ralis saw a fair skinned, shapely middle aged auburn haired woman cooking stew. She seemed a little bored at her job. She turned around and saw Ralis and the others.

"Wh... where did you come from?" She asked, widening her green eyes.

"Uh..." Ralis was at a loss of words.

The woman smiled at them. "You're a bunch of greenheads, ain't ya? You've come here to guzzle some mead, or maybe one of you handsome stags wants to shag me," The woman said.

Nobody said a word. Then the woman giggled at their disturbed silence.

"I am quite a fubsy, aren't I?" She said.

"... Let's get out of here," Ralis said to his group.

They walked out of the kitchen and straight into the dining room full Blacktalon guards and a few mages sitting at a large table eating soup, grapes, bananas, sandwiches, pomegranates, etc. As soon as Ralis stepped out from the kitchen door, all eyes looked at him.

OH DAMN! Ralis cursed silently to himself.

One of the mages, a human woman with long black hair, named Hareishan stood up, shouting: "Hey! That's Ralis! The one who has been opposing the Iron Throne! Get him!" She shouted.

That set them off. The guards stopped eating and stood up, drawing their swords. There's too many for Ralis and his group to fight! Seventeen guards and three mages against six humans (Ralis, Imoen, Rasaad, Dynaheir, Minsc, Safana), three half elves (Neera, Khalid, Jaheira), one drow (Viconia), one dwarf (Yeslick), one elf (Coran) is no contest!

"Damn!" Ralis cursed and shut the door.

"Everyone, back to the tunnels!" Ralis yelled to his group.

They all backtracked to the jail cell block with Hareishan and a few of the guards in hot pursuit.

"Go go!" Ralis yelled as they ran down the cell block to the door. As soon as they reached the door, Hareishan, armed with a wand that shoots magic missiles emerged from the secret entrance with a few guards. She pointed her wand at Khalid.

"Burn!" She shouted.

She fired a magic missile at Khalid as he tried to close the door, and fortunately he closed the door in time to use it as a shield, leaving a black scorch mark on the door when the magic missile hit it. Ralis then locked the door with the key and led his group down the other hallway. Hareishan and the guards reached the locked door, unable to unlock it from their side.

"Break the door down!" One of the guards shouted at the other guard who is slamming his body against the door.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" The guard slamming his body against the door shouted back.

"Which way?!" Ralis exclaimed to Yeslick when they came across a 4 way intersection.

Yeslick looked around, trying to get his bearings. It didn't take him long to come up with an answer.

"That way!" Yeslick exclaimed, and he led Ralis and the others down the right path. At that moment, the guards and Hareishan finally broke down the door and were able to continue chasing Ralis and the others.

"I hope you know where you're going!" Neera said to Yeslick.

"I know this place like the back of my hand!" Yeslick replied.

They ran into one guard in the next room, but Yeslick took him down easily with Viconia's spare mace. Safana looked behind her down the hallway to see if their pursuers are still coming. One of the guards in the other room down the hallway appeared with a bow and took aim at Coran.

"Get down, stupid elf!" Safana growled as she grabbed Coran by the shoulders and pulled him down to the floor out of the arrow's flight path. Safana found herself laying on top of Coran's body.

"I didn't know you cared," Coran smiled.

Safana grimaced and stood back up.

"Come on, this way!" Yeslick led Ralis and the others down another hallway and another room, with a staircase leading down to the 3rd level of the mines.

Ralis shut the door but had no time to figure out which keys lock this door, so he barricaded the door with tables and chairs, with Minsc and Coran's help.

"Down this way!" Yeslick exclaimed, and led Ralis and the others downstairs.

Like before, Hareishan and the 9 guards she is with were once again impeded by a locked door.

"Again?!" One of the guards tried to unlock the door, only to learn that the door is barricaded on the other side. Then two more guards stepped forward, slamming their bodies against the door to open it.

"That's it. Stand back!" Hareishan ordered.

The two guards trying to open the door obeyed and stepped back. Hareishan then began chanting a few command words, doing hand gestures, conjuring up an arrow made of acid, known as Melf's Acid Arrow, and cast the acid arrow at the wooden door. The acid arrow hit the door, and the wood slowly burned away. One of the guards looked at Hareishan in astonishment.

"... Remind me never to get on your bad side," He said.


Downstairs, Ralis and the others ran into an ambush. Overturned tables were everywhere in the room, and bandits, both hobgoblin and human alike were pointing their arrows straight at them! Yeslick cursed in the dwarven language. Ralis concentrated his mind and thrust his hands forward, casting a horror spell on everyone in the room. Confused and scared, the would-be attackers in the room ran around haphazardly as if some monster is on their heels. Some bumped into each other in comical ways.

"Now's our chance! Go!" Ralis said.

"What the-? How did you do that?" Yeslick knew that Ralis is not a mage, and therefore shouldn't be able to know how to cast Horror.

Instead of waiting for an answer, he followed Ralis and the others to the northern exit of the room. Ralis broke the doorknob and shut the door so that when the bandits recover from the horror spell, they won't be able to give chase. Ralis and the others ran down the hallway, passing door after door.

"This place is likely the resting quarters of the bandits here," Yeslick informed the group.

A guard from the 3rd door they passed emerged from his room, pointing his bow and arrow at Yeslick and fired. The arrow caught Yeslick in his shoulder-blade and he howled in pain, tumbling to the ground. Reacting quickly, Coran turned around, drew his bow, pulled out his arrow at the same time as the guard and aimed at the guard and fired before the guard could fire his arrow. Coran's arrow hit the guard in the abdomen. The guard doubled over like he'd been punched in the gut and collapsed dead.

"Yeslick's hurt!" Coran called.

Everyone stopped and Rasaad and Dynaheir came to check on Yeslick's injury.

"It's nothing, just a flesh wound," Yeslick said through gritted teeth under his thick brown beard, then, even though under immense pain, chanted the command words to use the Cure Light Wounds spell on himself after Rasaad pulled the arrow out of his shoulder-blade. Back to full health, Yeslick led Ralis and the group down the hallway until it branched off to the right.

At that moment, Hareishan and the guards who've been chasing Ralis and the group since the 2nd floor of the mines just reached the 3rd floor and saw their fellow bandits just now recovering from the Horror spell, confused.

"Will somebody tell me what in blazes happened here?" Hareishan demanded. One of the bandits, a hobgoblin, stepped forward.

"I... I don't remember... One moment we had them and then... And then..." The hobgoblin explained deliriously, then his mind went blank.

Hareishan shook her head in disgust. This shouldn't have happened. This should have been the end of the line for Ralis and his group. She then noticed the closed door with the broken doorknob.

"They went that way," Hareishan declared. From the opposite exit of the room, a mage with short blonde hair named Natasha joined up with her own group of guards.

"What happened, Hareishan?"

"Ralis and his little band just went through here. They left that way," Hareishan replied.

"Good. We'll corner them. This floor is just one big square. You and your group go after them that way, my group and I will corner them at the room where the stairs to Davaeorn's quarters is," Natasha said with a sinister smile. Meanwhile, Ralis and his group continued running down the hallway. They encountered little resistance, but nothing they couldn't handle.

Yeslick, who is in the lead of the group bashed every bandit that got in their way until the iron in Viconia's spare mace caused the mace to break down. Yeslick cursed.

"I need a new weapon... Damn weak iron..." Yeslick muttered.

Neera peeked into the nearest room and saw that it has a variety of weapons, shields, armor, bows, etc.

"This is the armory right here, isn't it?" Neera called.

Everyone looked at her. What a coincidence they happen to be standing near the armory room. They entered the room and Yeslick immediately began "shopping" for his weapon of choice, and armor that would fit a dwarf. Imoen went looking through the armor too. None of the armor caught her interest except one that is as dark as Viconia's skin: the shadow armor. She took the armor into her hands and went into one of the back rooms of the armory to change out of her old armor into the shadow armor. By that time, Yeslick armed himself with two maces. He couldn't find body armor that would fit him, but that's fine, he has two maces now, and that's all that matters. Imoen stepped out of the back room, in the shadow armor.

"Well, how do I look?" Imoen asked everyone.

Everyone was silent, unsure of what to say.

"... Wow, uh... black doesn't really suit you..." Ralis said uneasily.

Imoen frowned. "Ralis, you rumjake fool!"

"Can we argue later? The longer we stay here, the faster those guards will catch up to us!" Yeslick said.

"Right. Let's move!" Ralis said with a nod and everyone left the armory, continuing down the hallway.


Ralis and his group eventually reached the room where Natasha and 10 other guards were waiting for them.

"By Clangeddin, we're trapped!" Yeslick exclaimed.

Natasha grinned. "I wouldn't turn around and run back the way you came if I were you. My friends are on their way right now to completely corner you all. Resistance is futile, so you might as well give up and die," She said.

"Never!" Ralis retorted.

"Have it your way," Natasha shrugged.

Neera had half a mind to risk using her wild magic and did it. She used the Reckless Dweomer, a spell that no other mage knows, a spell that is directly linked to her wild magic. With it, there's no limit to what magic spell she can cast. The problem is the inability to choose which spell to use and control it. Neera took the risk anyway, and the wild surge created a dark cloud which covered the whole ceiling in the room. Everyone looked up at it.

"What the hell...?" One of the guards muttered.

Dynaheir immediately recognized the spell- Cloudkill!

"Everybody leave the room..." Dynaheir said trying to hide the urgency in her voice.

Ralis and his group stepped out of the room except Yeslick, Natasha and the guards. Ralis realized he never told Yeslick about Neera's wild magic.

"Yeslick, come here!" Ralis called.

"What, Ralis? Ye gotta see this, it might rain indoors," Yeslick said.

"No, you dwarven fool, that's-!"

Too late, the clouds unleashed a barrage of lightning in the entire room, electrocuting Natasha, Yeslick and the guards for 10 seconds.

When the clouds disappeared, everyone, including Neera got the shock of their life.

"By the Three, no...! No...!" Dynaheir wailed.

"No...!" Ralis gasped.

Neera's eyes widened. Not only did Cloudkill kill Natasha and the guards, even Yeslick is among the body count! Neera went into mental shock. Her wild magic has injured people before, but this is the first time her wild magic has actually killed someone, let alone someone she never intended to kill.

"This cannot be happening...!" Ralis wailed.

"Ralis, we need to press on," Rasaad said.

Ralis held back tears. Part of him wanted to chew out Neera, to somehow condemn her uncontrollable magic, but he knew nothing can be done about it, and she used her wild magic with the best intentions. This was a necessary sacrifice.

"I swear to you, Yeslick, I will make the Iron Throne pay for what they did to you and your clan," Ralis said.

With new-found determination, he led his group down the stairs to the 4th floor.


Ralis commanded his group to barricade the door while he, Imoen and Neera take on Davaeorn. It didn't take long for Ralis, Imoen and Neera to find Davaeorn. They were in a small room with no obvious passages to the next room, but they eventually found a secred door disguised as a wall, then they ran down the hallway into the next room, where they found Davaeorn. He is sitting behind a desk, reading reports on how much tainted iron has been shipped. He looked up and saw Ralis, Imoen and Neera standing a few feet away from him, facing him. He also saw the rest of Ralis's group barricading the door with anything they could find further back down the hallway. Davaeorn stroked his black beard gently.

"So, the stoic adventurers have found their way into my lair..." he said, monologuing to himself as he slowly stood out of his chair, calmly grabbing his quarterstaff.

"You know why we're here, don't you?" Ralis asked him.

Davaeorn moved towards the left side of his desk and casually took two steps towards the intruders, planting one end of his quarterstaff down on the floor.

"That's the question I want to know: Why have you come? Is it to steal my riches, or perhaps you seek to righteously punish me for my affront to your morality? It matters not, for you will do neither. Before I end you in some gruesome manner, perhaps I should introduce myself. I am known as Davaeorn. I would ask you for your names, but I care little to become acquainted with the dead," He replied.

"Same here!" Ralis drew his sword, and with the help of his speedy boots quickly closed in on Davaeorn, but he escaped through a Dimensional Door before Ralis could cut him down.

"Tremble before the might of my sorcery!" Davaeorn hissed as the Dimensional Door closed up, disappearing into thin air.

"Where did he go?!" Imoen exclaimed, holding her bow ready.

"Get out of here, you two! I'll face him alone!" Ralis exclaimed.

"Are... Are you sure?" Neera asked him.

"Yes. Trust me. Stay with Minsc and the others, help them hold the door. Go!" Ralis yelled.

Imoen and Neera returned to Minsc and the others as Ralis wandered deeper into Davaeorn's quarters, walking into the next room northwest from Daveorn's desk which appears to be the room where Daveorn and his closest allies go to relax, play card games and board games and such, with a fireplace warming the room.

"Fool! Do you think you can take me alone?" Davaeorn's voice echoed nearby.

"Why don't you come out and fight me, you cowardly snake?!" Ralis yelled, gripping his swords tightly.

"Cowardly? You call me cowardly? Be careful what you wish for," Davaeorn sneered from somewhere nearby.

Ralis then felt something sting his back, something so strong that he got knocked down to the ground. He was hit by a magic missile! His back burned painfully as he tried to get up on his feet.

"Your efforts are futile!" Davaeorn taunted.

Ralis turned around to see Davaeorn standing behind the bar, cloaked in a purple aura that makes his body appear blurry. Gathering his strength, Ralis charged at Davaeorn and sliced him with Kondar and his +1 sword! However he never heard the sound of the blade cutting into flesh, just whooshing air, and all the blades struck were the wine bottles stacked on the wall, some broke when Ralis' blades struck them, and others shattered when they fell to the floor. He attacked an illusion! The illusion de-materialized and Davaeorn nearby cackled.

"Your feeble skills are no match for my magic!" He hissed again nearby and struck Ralis with a fireball the size of an apple which knocked Ralis down again.

The attack came from the right, towards the other passageway out of the R&R room. At that moment he remembered the potion Davaeorn's brother, The Surgeon gave to him! Ralis quickly dug into his pack, grabbed the potion and drank it. He stood up, and ran into the living room, the largest room in Davaeorn's quarters. He can only hope it works.

"What's the matter? Is the big, bad mage afraid to get up close and personal with me?" Ralis taunted, holding his bow, pulling the arrow back with the bow string, ready to shoot at anything.

"You want me to get close and personal? Very well," Then from out of nowhere, Davaeorn appeared in plain sight from an invisibility spell and cast a Hold Person spell on Ralis.

He reappeared behind Ralis, so he had no time to shoot Davaeorn. When Ralis realized that Davaeorn is several feet behind him, he turned around, and leveled his bow properly to shoot for Daveorn's chest or head, but by that moment it is too late. He finished casting the spell and a bright arcane sphere of light flew towards Ralis and once the sphere hit him, the sphere exploded into small sparks and Ralis froze up before he could release his fingers off the bowstring. The Surgeon's potion didn't work after all.

"You should have known better to cross me knowing your swords, bows and arrows can't save you," Davaeorn said, then prepared to cast a bolt of lightning at Ralis.

The time for faking is over! Ralis immediately aimed his bow and arrow and fired at Davaeorn! He howled in pain when the arrow hit his left shoulder and he stumbled down to the ground, nerly overwhelmed by the stinging pain.

"But I... You... you should be frozen!" Davaeorn stammered in disbelief as he tried to scramble back up on his feet despite the sharp pain of the arrow stuck into his left shoulder.

Thanks to The Surgeon's potion of magic shielding, it prevented Ralis from being paralyzed by the Hold Person spell. Ralis fired another arrow at Daveaorn's left kneecap. He screamed in pain and collapsed on the floor again. Ralis fired at his right kneecap as he advanced closer to Davaeorn. Then he fired at his right shoulder, and when he stood over Davaeorn, he planted his left boot on Davaeorn's chest, pinning him to the wooden floor. Ralis pulled out the final arrow and aimed at Davaeorn's head.

"You still want to know why I'm here? I'll give you a hint. Your brother says hello." Ralis said coldly.

Davaeorn's eyes widened in fear. The last thing he saw was the sharp arrowhead falling towards his face. Then blackness. No pain, just blackness.


After taking the key to the plug from Davaeorn's pocket, Ralis went to Davaeorn's desk in his bedroom and found three notes. One is from Rieltar written a few months ago last year on the 24th day of Nightal, revealing that Sarevok has returned from the Iron Throne headquarters in Ordulin, the old capital city of Sembia, with news that Rieltar's superiors of the Iron Throne are pleased with the progress with the production of tainted iron in the Sword Coast, and Rieltar plans on putting Sarevok in charge of the mercenary forces in the Baldur's Gate region, and that their first agent has been planted among the ranks of the Seven Suns trading coster. The 2nd note Ralis examined is also from Rieltar to Davaeorn written sometime this year in the month of Tarsakh, informing him that there will be forces investigating the iron crisis, that the Blacktalons who have been arrested and interrogated by the Flaming Fist claim allegiance with the Zhentarim to cover up Iron Throne's involvement and Rieltar had sent Tranzig to work with the mercenaries shipping the iron here to the Cloak Wood mines. The last note is written by Rieltar again to Davaeorn on the first day of Nightal, 1367 DR, informing Davaeorn that the Iron Throne has received his request for extra slaves and such, and that Rieltar has purchased one of the western noble estates in Baldur's Gate. The moment when Ralis placed the notes in his pocket, he heard someone whimpering in a nearby room. Curious, Ralis decided to investigate. He found himself in Davaeorn's bedroom and found a young man cowering in the bathroom.

"You... you killed Davaeorn?" The man named Stephan asked Ralis.

"Yes. And since it's apparent that you are his ally, you are next," Ralis hissed.

Stephan looked like he will wet himself. "Oh... please don't kill me! Please oh please oh PLEASE! I'm just his apprentice, I swear! I don't know anything!" Stephan said.

Ralis crossed his arms in disbelief.

"...Ok, I know a little." Stephan admitted.

"What's the purpose of this installation?" Ralis asked him.

"The mine? Um, I... I think they were going to try and look like the saviors of the day, riding in with their shares of iron to equip the troops or something like that. With the bandit raids and rumors about Amn, the Iron Throne figured that the Dukes of Baldur's Gate would think they needed arms and ore quickly in case of Amnish attack. They... they figured they could get exorbitant prices, or better yet, sanctions against competitors and an easing of trade laws for themselves only." Stephan explained.

"Who are Davaeorn's superiors? Who really gives the orders around here?" Ralis demanded.

Stephan started sweating. "I don't know! I swear it! All I can say is that the regional leaders of the Iron Throne placed Davaeorn here! There are 3 of them, I think, but I don't know their names! Davaeorn was getting orders from someone else too, he complained about it a lot, but he never said a name or anything to me! Honest! The main building for the Iron Throne is in Baldur's Gate, somewhere in the southwest of the city, but I have never been there! I tell you the truth! Can I please go?" Stephan asked.

Something inside Ralis snapped. This sniveling fool is allied with the enemy yet he's groveling like some innocent bystander. The Iron Throne has killed lots of innocents, so why should this man get off easy?

"No," Ralis replied coldly.

Stephan's eyes widened. "No...?" He whimpered.

"I've seen what your friends have been doing lately. I've seen and heard of friends who lost their loved ones and people they grew up knowing die at the hands of anyone affiliated with the Iron Throne. I lost my foster father because of them. I had an elf friend who lost his mate because of them, and he died trying to avenge her. The Iron Throne also massacred an entire dwarf clan just to take over this mine! How can you expect me to show any mercy to all of you?!" Ralis is burning with rage now.

"Please... I had nothing to do with those incidents...!" Stephan whined.

"You weren't involved, yet you remain affiliated with these scum, these gutter pigs. All of you affiliated with the Iron Throne make me sick. All of you deserve to burn in the deepest level of the Nine Hells, for every innocent soul you have taken from this world," Ralis grabbed Stephan by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

Then Ralis cast the Horror spell on Stephan with a simple eye glare instead of hand gestures or command word. Under the effects of the hallucinogenic effects of the horror spell, from Stephan's point of view, Ralis's glaring eyes were bright red and yellow, like burning coal, like a demon's eyes, a demon who is thirsty for blood, and Stephan grew so frightened, he actually urinated on himself.

"No...! Please...! Nooo...!" Stephan wailed, struggling against Ralis's grip.

"So tell me, how does it feel when death comes knocking at your door for a change? Afraid to answer the call?" Ralis said darkly, narrowing his gleaming eyes.

At that moment, Imoen, Neera and the others searched Davaeorn's quarters, looking for Ralis. Neera and Imoen were near the bedroom when they heard Stephan scream like a girl. From outside Davaeorn's bedroom, they saw the shadow of Ralis holding Stephan by the throat with his right hand. Ralis took his dirk in his left hand and cut Stephan's gut, his intestines spilling out on the floor. Imoen froze in astonishment, including Neera. This isn't the Ralis they used to know. Ralis dropped Stephan's corpse and emerged from the bedroom, his armor covered in blood.

"Let's get out of this dump." Ralis said coldly. Everyone, even Viconia was wondering what pissed him off so much.


Ralis and the others took the elevator back up to the 2nd floor from Davaeorn's bedroom and met up with the miner standing near the plug. Ralis informed the miner that they got Rill to evacuate the miners, and he gave the miner the key. As soon as the miner stuck the key in the plug, Ralis, his group and the miner ran for the exit as quickly as they could! The plug popped open and waves of water gushed into the mine! Meanwhile, Hareishan and her guard have just recently given up trying to break open the door to follow Ralis and the others into Davaeorn's quarters. When they returned to the room where Neera's Cloudkill killed Natasha, Yeslick and the guards, they heard rumbling.

"What's that?" One guard asked.

"I dunno." Another said.

Hareishan looked down one of the hallways for a few seconds and eventually saw a large wave of water coming at them down the hallway!

"WATER!" She yelled.

"There's water coming from all directions! We're trapped!" Another guard panicked.

There's no way to escape. Soon the water engulfed Hareishan and the guards from both directions, trapping them in a watery tomb, and with no surface for them to breathe in a pocket of air and find a way to swim out, they eventually drowned. The Cloak Wood mines became a watery tomb containing corpses of guards that have already been slain by Ralis and his group, and the unlucky guards and mages that were unfortunate to be alive at that moment to drown.

Outside the mines, Ralis, his group, the miner who unplugged the plug and the rest of the miners stood outside. The freed miners cheered.

"Thank you all for your kind deed!" The miner said.

"It was nothing. We couldn't let you all suffer like that," Ralis said.

Viconia muttered something no one heard clearly.

"I'd say we all deserve a pat on the back, right, Minsc?" Coran asked Minsc, patting him on the back.

Minsc nodded. "Agreed, Coran, my friend! Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?" He declared, petting Boo gently.

"Good on us that we saved the day," Imoen smiled.

"So Ralis, where to?" Neera asked.

"Let's go to Baldur's Gate. But first, let's go to the Friendly Arm Inn... I need some shuteye in a bed for a change..." Ralis yawned.

Ralis and his group have dealt a serious blow to the Iron Throne, a defeat which will not go unnoticed. Now, Ralis and his group have to go to Baldur's Gate to continue their campaign against the Iron Throne.