Admit It!

The bucolic beautiful scene greeted the travelers as Peri had teleported them to the location Balthazar had shown them. The birds chirruped in the trees, the lazy breeze made the leaves shuffle gently. It was such an idyll. It instantly made Sarevok suspicious.

Sarade's dark eyes were intent, and she looked like a black she-wolf, her hackles risen.

- "Something is off here," she murmured. "I don't sense anything specific, but everything is not what it seems."

- "Hm. So probably there is an ambush or something even nastier than that," Peri sighed. "That Balthazar fellow is in the game, I could sense that much... Keldy, do you sense any specific evil?"

Keldorn prayed to Torm and concentrated, but shook his head, frustrated.

- "No... I feel something, but not evil. I have no idea what."

There was a log cabin and a middle-aged human man chopping wood in front of it.

The party greeted him, but didn't stop to chat. What could they say? "Good day, are there perchance any evil illusions or ambushes around?" If he was aware of such, it was likely that he was part of the trap.

After a short trek they encountered two recently dug graves, with signs of struggle near them.

Peri sighed and sagged onto her knees, rubbing her forehead. Her voice was incredibly monotonous and tired as she finally spoke.

- "I know. I just know. Now we are supposed to be all surprised about these graves and go to that woodcutter and ask him about them. And first he will try to play along and and act all pained and unwilling to talk and then we should keep on pestering him, appealing to his conscience as it could be important in order to save the world as he knows it. And then he will finally crack up and blow his cover and be an evil whatever, probably a denizen of Underdark in this case, and say muhahaha and then we slay him."

She was quiet for a moment, her shoulders shaking.

She sobbed involuntarily and slammed her fist to the ground, hard. She let out a frustrated yell, and slammed the ground again.

- "I HATE this! I hate being a stupid Bhaalspawn! I hate all this heroics poured onto my lap! I hate being a character in those stupid melodramatic bard tales Immy used to hog when she was a kid! When will this end! When? Will? This? END?"

She looked at the stunned party members, her eyes wide, the tears of rage pouring. She sprang onto her feet and started to walk huffily towards the log cabin. The others had to quicken their pace to keep up with her.

As the party came back, the woodcutter watched them with a pleasantly polite, enquiring expression. But Peri was having none of it.

- "All RIGHT! Admit it! Just save us both some time and admit it!" she shouted, staring at the man. "You are an evil some or another under an illusion and you have killed the real woodcutter and his dog or wife or rubber duck or whatever. I'm so tired of this! Let's just get it over with!"

The woodcutter's mouth hung open.

- "How did you... no matter!"

And then he took the form of an attractive male drow, complete with the ebony skin and shining white hair. He was a skilled magician, and at the calmer part of her mind Peri was grateful for having Edwin along taking down the man's magical defences. All the cute furry animals grazing about also transformed into drow of assorted skills - there were archers, deadly fighters, a few priestesses.

- "You shall reach mistress Sendai over my dead body!" cried the drow sorcerer formerly posing as the woodcutter.

- "Thanks for stating the obvious," Peri snarled. "I don't know why you bother..." she got winded and ceased talking, concentrating on hacking the enemies down. She felt such a massive anger, such a pleasure out of their screams of pain. The rational part of her mind was again wondering what that was about. But she reveled in the blood flowing, the skill and accuracy of her murderous muscles, the cruelty born in her bones frightening even this skilled drow.

And then the fight was over. The bodies in heaps again, the smell of fresh blood in the air, like so many times before.

Peri wept, still so angry, hugging her knees. The other party members watched her eyes wide with fear.

Sarevok went next to her. Just sat there, saying nothing, like Winski did when he was a child and retreated into his inner anguish.

- "Sarevok," Peri murmured. "I don't want to be a hero or a villain. I just want to be and not to be bothered. Is that too much to ask?"

- "I'm afraid it is, my sister," Sarevok answered gravely. Peri sighed, and both of them were quiet for a long time.