Arowan lay in silence with her head on Yoshimo's chest. Irenicus had put them in one of the rooms that had once belonged to the Cowled Wizards. It was completely unheated, and reeked of the mouldering remains of its owners' last abandoned meal. They'd tossed the source out of the window plate and all, but the stench had had a long time to spread out and make itself at home.

Eventually she fell asleep. She must have done, for in the morning she remembered the wails of those trapped below disturbing her dreams. Imoen was down there somewhere but she tried not to think about that.

By the time the first rays of dawn shone through the window they were both already awake, and going through the ritual of washing, dressing and eating a little food from their packs. She had been worried before, but worried in a distant hypothetical sort of way. It was easy to plan for and rationalize an event that was months, weeks or even days away. Yet today was the day when her fate would be sealed. Freedom, or tortured to death. There was no in between.

Once they were ready, they held each other for a long time, but it was agony to postpone the moment of truth. Hand in hand they walked down the stairs and into the ritual room that Bubbles had prepared the night before.

"Keep to the walls if you can dearies. Try not to smudge the chalk markings," she said.

"You look… different," Arowan ventured tentatively.

Bubbles looked down at her plain dress. It was indeed a contrast to her usual silks and frills. There was no corset now to crush her ribs or push up her breasts, and her face was clean of makeup. The Ilmatari had always assumed that she was hiding something hideous beneath the crusted layers of powder but aside from her teeth, Bubbles looked no better nor worse than any other twenty-something year old.

"You know, until Eric gave me this ring, I never had any power," the necromancer reflected. "I don't just mean magical power; most people don't have that. I mean even the basic power to choose where I lived, or what I had for breakfast, or who I slept with. When I came back to Athkatla with his powers it wasn't long before the locals all knew who I was."

The corners of her mouth curled slightly, and she looked at them with the eyes of someone who had seen far too much in her short life.

"The richest merchants, the cruellest pimps and even the noble ladies were all frightened of me. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see them bobbing and curtseying to a common whore," she went on. "The more they did it, the more I played it up, until it became like a uniform… but I want to face Eric as me."

Arowan stared at the runes scribbled onto the floor. They were three interlocked circles, inscribed with symbols. One of them was the grinning skull that symbolized Bhaal, surrounded by blood droplets. She hoped that the spell did not rely on the artistic talent of the caster, because it was not a very good skull.

The second circle was inscribed with symbols denoting destruction. Swords and thunder, hammers and arrows. In the very centre of it, they had placed the Ring of Gaax. The third circle had been left incomplete, and this was so that Bubbles could make her own way into the middle of it, before crouching down and sealing herself in with runes.

Irenicus appeared at the doorway, pushed in a chair by Bodhi. He was smirking at Bubbles in a way that Yoshimo felt sure would make her suspicious, but she seemed to put his good mood down to almost having Eric in his clutches.

"Begin!" he commanded.

Bubbles looked around her at the floor, double checking that everything was as it should be. The Ilmatari flattened themselves against the cold stone wall, hearts hammering.

"I really should have gone to the bathroom before I sealed the circle," the necromancer sighed. "Ah well. Vivens in omnibus imitantur mores!"

As she recited her words the circles lit up and the ground beneath them began to shake. The scorched hellscape of the Abyss started trembling too. Fault lines appeared between the occupants and lava oozed from the new cracks.

"Now what?" Freya growled, abandoning her daily sport of hunting Sarevok to see Eric hurtling toward her. He had no mewling babies in his arms this time.

"It's happening!" he cried.

Sure enough, before them a twisting vortex of red dust, like a sideways tornado, was opening up. A bridge between their existence and the mortal plane. Sarevok emerged from behind a pillar of rock and hope exploded in his heart like fireworks.

"Well would you look at that," the skinless dog said, sniffing at the vortex. Her cold, black nose was the only part of her that still resembled a normal animal. "Good thing I love a game of tug of war. Bring it on."

She plunged her teeth bone-deep into Eric's legs. The deceased necromancer howled and wept in agony but there was no way the werewolf's grip was going to loosen. Bubbles's only options would be to give up, pull both of them through or rip him in half. Sarevok braced himself and waited for his chance.

"Transite in mundo ubi iam fuere!"

The other end of the vortex was howling like a gale in the ritual room. Arowan and Yoshimo clung to each other for dear life, their hair whipping around their faces. Bodhi's jaw was scraping her neck. In his eagerness, Irenicus leaned so far forward in his chair that he almost toppled out of it.

The Ilmatari could no longer hear Bubbles over the sound of the screaming wind and they realised that they would not be able to hear when she called the word 'vita.' Very quietly, in the tiniest whisper, Arowan began to chant 'Sarevok' over an over again, hoping that when the moment finally came she would beat Bubbles to it.

Down in the asylum, Imoen had flung herself flat on the floor, shaking as though she were having a fit. Viconia held onto Rasaad as the walls around them tremored ever more violently. Large chunks of mortar were crumbling away from between the bricks.

"What are they doing up there?" Jaheira had to bellow to make herself heard.

"I don't know, but it's going to bring the place down on top of us!" Dorn hollered back. "We must get out of here!"

"Let us out!" the druid screamed through the bars at the warden, but the hunched little man seemed to be as insane as the inmates. He gazed vacantly into space and kept repeating over and over that it wasn't on the timetable. Jaheira turned back to Anomen in despair. "He's a madman! I may as well try to persuade Shank and Carbos!"

Viconia gasped, and threw herself at the door, shoving Rasaad off her in the process.

"What are you doing?" cried Jaheira.

"Remember in the tavern, how Arowan got them to leave that dwarf alone?" the drow replied, her red eyes flashing. "Shank! Carbos! Bubbles is in here and she is going to be crushed to death. Quick, come and save her. Bring the key!"

The zombies tripped over themselves to obey, smashing the warden into a bloody pulp and scooping their way through the mush to find the key. Viconia stretched her fingers through the bars and Shank gave it to her. When the party let themselves out, the zombies cannoned through the two women in their eagerness to find Bubbles. Rasaad stood aside, but Dorn had not hacked anything apart in an age.

The first sweep of Rancor sliced off the top of Shank's skull like a watermelon, bisecting the shrivelled remains of his brain. As the lower half of the zombie fell, the enchantments upon it finally dispersed and a powerful stench of death filled the corridor. Imoen vomited, but immediately straightened up.

"Get a fucking grip you lot!" the part of her that was Freya berated her other personalities. "This is a human nose we're working with here. I can barely even smell it! Here- that's mine!"

Imoen seized a long-unused sword protruding from Rasaad's backpack, failing to realise that in this body she had neither the strength nor the height to take it so easily. The monk, having no use for it himself, handed it to her.

It was the sword that Freya had 'inherited' from Sarevok, though before it had belonged to either of them it had been the preferred weapon of Bhaal when he'd walked the world in mortal form. With a noise somewhere between a battle cry and a snarl, Imoen hacked at Carbos madly. She barely had the strength to lift the blade but was making progress through the power of raw aggression, and the undead hulk's slow response.

"Enough, we must move!" Dorn growled, chopping through the second zombie's brain in the same manner. All the worms that the enchantments had been keeping penned into Carbos's body burst out upon his final destruction. The party, followed by Imoen, trampled them as they made their way into the gold carpeted hall.

"This way!" cried Jaheira, gesturing with her staff to the only doorway they had not passed through already.

They felt the wind before they saw the vortex and the hellscape beyond it, but it was so loud that nobody heard them arrive. Arowan's face was buried into Yoshimo's neck, her lips still mouthing Sarevok's name, while the thief was watching Bubbles intently, trying to lip-read.

Sharran and Selunite had been to Avernus so knew that they were not looking into hell itself, but something very similar. In the swirling centre of the link between planes they could see Eric and the skinless dog that was Freya biting on for dear life. Behind them loomed a huge, bald man who looked a bit like Rasaad.

"Vita!"

"SAREVOK!"

Irenicus cried out triumphantly. There was a deafening sound like thunder striking yards away, and the Ring of Gaax broke into two. For a few brief moments it robbed all of them of the ability to hear anything except a high tinny whistle. The centre of the vortex changed direction, focusing on the bald man. They watched as Freya wrenched her jaws free of Eric and bounded at Sarevok but it was already too late. He was lunging at the portal, hurling himself through it, in ignorance of what awaited him beyond.

Arowan and Yoshimo opened their eyes, and the first thing they saw was Bubbles. Her eyes widened in panic and disbelief, before her whole body contorted in pain. They could not hear her screaming, but she collapsed to the floor writhing and convulsing as the geas took her. The ranger's fingernails began to rake over her scar until her fingertips came away red with blood, until Yoshimo registered what she was doing and seized her wrist.

In seconds it was over. The tornado-like link between the two worlds blew itself out and dissipated in a cloud of dust. Bubbles twitched her last and lay covered in the scuffed white chalk that she had so carefully inscribed onto the floor. Her wide eyes stared up at nothing.

The ring of Gaax lay broken in one circle, Bubbles dead in another but in the third was the prize for which they had both been sacrificed. He was naked, fatigued and dripping with sweat but unquestionably alive.

"I live!" Sarevok cried, rising to his feet.

"Now that is what I call a demigod!" purred Viconia. Rasaad's hearing had just returned sufficiently for him to catch that remark, and he scowled. Sarevok was marvelling at his hands (though that wasn't the part of him that had caught everyone else's attention) and was flexing his fingers, overjoyed.

"Flesh and blood and bone! I am alive! Ha ha!" he boomed. "I swore that I would scratch and claw my way back into the world of the living and I have done it!"

A slow clapping came from the doorway. It was Irenicus, hunched in his chair, his useless shrivelled legs dangling to the ground.

"Yes you have, haven't you?" he greeted him. "And how do you feel, my Bhaalspawn? Healthy? Powerful?"

Sarevok turned golden glowing eyes upon him. He had lost none of his god essence. Everything had been dragged back with him, ready for him to try again. His first plan for ascension, to spark a blood bath, had been a nonsense and he realised that now. As for his drive to slay all the other Bhaalspawn, well that had been a trick of his father's. The residual will of Bhaal inside each of them telling them to slaughter each other so that he could reform.

"I feel all of that," Sarevok declared brashly. "And wiser too. Who have I to thank for my return? I promise you that you shall stand at the right hand of a god when I claim my birth right at last."

Irenicus smiled, snakelike. Tucked away behind the rest of the party, Imoen began to laugh quietly. It was Eric's laugh, though nobody alive in the room had heard it to recognize it.

"Not truly dead, nor truly alive," Anomen recoiled at Sarevok. "This thing is an abomination!"

For the first time, the Ilmatari realised that their party had followed them into Spellhold. Arowan raised her eyes from Bubbles's corpse, horror-struck.

"And how did you escape from your cage, pretty bird?" Bodhi asked the cleric sweetly. Anomen flinched.

"What are you doing here Jaheira? Go home!" cried Arowan. Then her eyes lit upon Dorn Il-Khan, looming between Anomen and the Servant of all Faiths. She screamed.

"SILENCE!" Irenicus thundered. "Or I might forget our deal. I have no time for the squabbling of insects. Bodhi! I trust the necessary arrangements are in place for part two of our ritual?"

"Yes," the vampire quivered. Bubbles was dead. Once again her brother's schemes had claimed another victim without warning. She wondered when it would be her own turn but thought with some comfort of her lovely golden coat tucked away in her coffin.

"Where are my clothes and weapons?" demanded Sarevok, who had not grasped the reality of the situation. He was still under the impression that it was his loyal followers who had brought him back from the dead. "Tell me what remains of my resources and allies? We must act quickly. What are you waiting for? Move!"

"You are intent on godhood, or reclaiming your mortal life or whatever, but I don't really care," replied Irenicus indifferently. "You can do nothing now. Your fate was sealed since before you arrived."

The short walk to the next room was beyond his ruined legs, but it made no difference. He teleported them all to where he wished them to be. Sarevok found himself in a glass tank with tubes and wires running from the top of the dome. He pounded the insides uselessly with bare hands.

"What is this?" he blazed. "What do you think you are doing?"

"You will find that you are powerless," Irenicus taunted him. "Your rage is for naught. You thoughtlessly ran back to mortal life spurning your chance to become part of a god, but don't worry. You won't have to dwell on your foolishness for long. Your life ends today."

Sarevok roared and hurled his considerable strength against the tank from all angles, but succeeded only in bruising himself.

Hovering at the side of the room with Yoshimo, Arowan could see now why she was here. If resurrecting a better Bhaalspawn had failed he would have needed his backup on hand. Wasting time finding her would have meant having to set all of this up again. Joined to Sarevok's tank were six others, each containing a Shadow Thief. They were shackled immobile, their bodies covered in tubes circulating fluids in and out of them. Their eyes bulged with fear, pain or both like squeezed guinea-pigs.

"Dude, you want to get out of there if you can," Imoen advised the trapped Bhaalspawn unhelpfully. "I was in that tank. It's seriously uncool."

"Silence chimera," Irenicus warned her.

"What did you do to her?" asked Arowan, though her common sense told her to keep quiet.

"It was necessary to split her patchwork soul into its component pieces in order to extract one for Bodhi," Irenicus replied, with just a hint of pride. "Not an easy task, we had to try many different experiments did we not Imoen? But we achieved it in the end. I kept her alive afterwards out of curiosity. I wanted to see whether the remaining fragments would reform, but it does not look like it, and caring for her grows burdensome. Still, one problem at a time. For now, Sarevok, I must focus on you."

"I will not help you," the naked man growled ferociously. Viconia's pupils dilated.

"You assume that you are a volunteer," Irenicus sneered, "But I do not need your cooperation. I will take your essence regardless. You see those Shadow Thieves in the tanks? They are the fruit of Bodhi's guild war. This device of mine will channel their souls to you and dislodge yours like one ball knocking another. And I will collect it."

He teleported himself into one last empty tank, closed his eyes and lay back as though about to enjoy a pedicure.

The ritual was far less elaborate than Bubbles's had been. Bodhi simply flicked a switch, and one by one the tanks crackled with blue lightening. The captured thieves jerked and died, their deaths mercifully quick, but as their souls tried to leave their bodies the tubes vacuumed them up, spitting them one by one at Sarevok.

He crumpled, too large by far to lie down in the tank, and ended up slumped in a U-shape. At first the party thought that he had been killed, but his eyes snapped open. The golden sphere of his divine soul hovered before him and he snatched at it, but to no avail.

Irenicus's machine sucked it through a tube and into his own pod, channelling it into his body, and releasing the used souls of the Shadow Thieves through a vent. The mage cried out in ecstasy, his eyes wide as though seeing the world properly for the first time in forever.

"Bodhi! Now!" he cried. She pulled another lever, opening the pods and rushed forward with healing potions. Sarevok sprawled out of his, drained but forcing himself to rise to his feet.

The vampire poured healing potion after potion down her 'brother's' throat, and this time they worked. Blood returned to his legs. They kicked and flexed, functional once more. With a roar of triumph, he sat up, unscrewing the more cumbersome bolts from his hands and tossing them aside. His ruined face knotted back together, the stitches bursting and tumbling to the ground.

"What have you done to me?" Sarevok howled. "I will kill you!"

"Well you are a strong one indeed," Irenicus replied, impressed despite himself. "You resist beyond all reason. What a shame that you are empty inside, with nothing but the mortal half of your soul to sustain you. The curse that was wrought against myself and Bodhi has ceased and yours has begun. You will wither, wane and die. Only this time there will be no Abyss. What is left of you is bound for the mortal afterlife and whatever punishment for your hubris awaits you there."

In desperation, Sarevok turned to the only face he recognized. Imoen's. He stumbled to her, clinging to her hospital gown for balance.

"Help me."

"She is in no position to help you, she cannot even help herself!" Irenicus crowed. "Bodhi, remove this nothing and Imoen as well, while I redirect the portal. Our friends in Urst Natha will be waiting for us."

"What about us?" Yoshimo cried hoarsely. He never liked to attract the mage's attention, but their deal had been with him and not Bodhi. Obviously he had forgotten all about them, and if he walked away his last chance of being released would leave with him.

"Ah yes, our deal," Irenicus mused. He stretched out, revelling in his strength and vitality. If there were such a thing as 'the right mood' with this man, they had caught him in it. "Yes, you have held up your end better than I could possibly have dreamed. Bodhi, release Yoshimo from the geas, and let these cretins go. We've no further use for them."

Bodhi turned excitedly to follow her brother, calling back gaily over her shoulder:

"You are released from the geas!"

Despite everything, Arowan's face split into a relieved smile and her grip clenched like a vice on Yoshimo's arm.

But Bodhi wasn't finished yet. She gestured at Imoen and at Sarevok who was still clutching at her gown. "Just as soon as you finish off these two for us."

"Pardon?" Arowan blinked.

"Kill them," Bodhi clarified.

She and her brother stalked away, leaving the party, Sarevok and Imoen hunkering in the room together. Yoshimo did not move, but the muscles around his brows were twitching and his eyes started to water. Gasping for breath, he drew his katana and stepped forward.

Rasaad moved to block his way, as did Anomen. Viconia found herself joining them, leaving the thief hopelessly outnumbered but bound by the geas to obey. Dorn, however, stayed put. He watched Arowan keenly from the shadows, his black eyes glittering.

"Traitor!" Anomen cried, "You will be cut down for this, so I do swear."

"You cannot win this fight," Rasaad told him. "Do not dishonour yourself further by attempting to slay an innocent girl before the end."

Yoshimo stumbled and dropped to his knees, his body wracked with pain. It hurt too badly to resist the geas. He raised his katana again and prepared to be cut down.

There was a very slow creak.

Everybody turned to its source and froze. Arowan had notched a fire arrow into her bow and pulled it back, aiming straight at Imoen.

"You took Dad from me," the ranger told her. "You carry a stolen piece of my soul. Now I'm supposed to lose Yoshimo for you as well?"

"Arowan, put the bow down and go to your husband," Jaheira advised her. "We both know that you're not capable of murder."

Only Rasaad knew differently. He felt sure, in his heart, that Arowan had slain Mazzy Fentan before the Shade Lord took her over. He made to throw himself between the ranger and Imoen, only to find the floor rushing up to meet him. The monk hit the ground with a painful crash and found that his ankles were bound by vines.

"This isn't murder," the ranger said. "Neither of them are really alive. Sarevok is an abomination that ought to have stayed in the afterlife. As for Imoen, there is no Imoen. Gorion's daughter died a long time ago. This thing that he made out of stolen pieces of soul is no more alive than Bubbles's zombies."

"Nobody has the right to decide but you Arowan," Jaheira said, as Rasaad tried to free his feet from her conjured plants. "If you've made your choice, then I won't let the others stop you. But it is murder."

"I say it is not murder. They're both dead already. Sarevok was killed by Freya and Imoen, the real Imoen, died in childhood." Arowan whispered in a calm but hollow voice.

"Arowan, please!" Imoen begged. Yoshimo clutched his throat and started to choke as the geas throttled him. The ranger squeezed her eyes shut. Dorn tightened his hand about Rancor, grinning silently. He alone could hear the monstrous laughter of his demonic patron ringing through the hilt.

"You're not really alive. You might as well ask me to let Yoshimo die to spare Shank and Carbos," the ranger said more coldly. "What's the point?"

The arrow whistled from her bow, flying with lethal accuracy past Rasaad and Anomen, before lodging with a thud between Imoen's eyes.

"Shank and Carbos are dead."