They left the room quickly, all saddened by what they had witnessed within it. Duran was trying to cope with the fact that she had just killed someone in cold blood, however much he had wanted it. She had never killed anyone but in self-defence before, her heart aching with the guilt over what she had done.

They went back to the sewage golem, giving the stone to Minsc and shoving him forwards to speak with the golem once more.

'Here is the stone,' he announced proudly.

The golem didn't move. Minsc looked crestfallen.

Hiding a smile, Imoen gently took the stone from his hand, and placed it in the hole in the golem's chest. Instantly the stone creature bowed.

'I bow to your will, master.'

It stepped past them, and the four of them followed it, passing down passages they had already been through to Ataqah's cavern. There they followed the golem down into the pit, and found themselves face to face with an otyugh.

'This is the guardian?' Jaheira laughed derisively, and threw herself into battle with the creature. It didn't stand a chance against them.

Duran yawned widely, stretching her aching muscles, and realised that she was bone weary. Looking around at the others, she saw similar signs of fatigue in them.

'We'll scout around a bit, and find somewhere we can rest,' she told them, seeing the grateful looks on Jaheira and Minsc's faces. Imoen, however, looked terrified.

'Rest? Here?'

Duran fell back to walk beside her.

'Im, we have to. Who knows what else we might come up against? Or even how big this place is?'

She stopped, holding her friend's shoulders and looking deep into her eyes.

'Look, there'll be someone on watch all the time we're asleep. We'll have plenty of warning if we're attacked.'

Imoen looked unconvinced, but bowed to the inevitable.

'Okay, but I'm telling you, I won't be able to sleep here.'

Jaheira returned, throwing her equipment onto the ground, and herself after it.

'This is most defensible place in the area,' she said, 'and it's out of the way of those patrols. I would suggest that we sleep here.'

'Minsc and Boo will take the first watch,' Minsc announced, settling himself against the wall.

Duran grinned at his enthusiasm, turning back to Imoen.

'See? We're well protected. I won't let anything hurt you, Im, I swear.'

She lay down on the unyielding floor, her arm as her pillow, and shut her eyes, effectively shutting out the dungeon around her. Imoen stared in disbelief as her breathing slowed and her face grew peaceful in slumber. She lay beside her friend, and closed her own eyes, but was unable to shut out the sounds around her.

Every distant slam of a door was their captor finding them missing, every drip of water was him coming closer, every time Jaheira sighed in her sleep, she had been killed by monsters come to return them to their cages . . . Imoen had never felt so alone in her life. Silent tears slid down her face, tears of fear and horror and loneliness. She lay there for what felt like hours, waiting for the death that she was certain was coming.

A warm hand covered her own, and she jumped, her eyes snapping open to find Duran gazing gently, sympathetically at her, her green eyes luminous in the dim light. Imoen forced a smile for her friend.

'I've got to hand it to you,' she said softly, 'you sure have some kind of courage to sleep in this place. I would have run screaming a dozen times over if you weren't here.'

Duran shifted slightly, brushing the young thief's pinkish hair from her eyes.

'I know what you mean,' she agreed, her voice gentle and comforting in the darkness. 'This place worries me, too.'

Imoen's face brightened slightly as one of her fears was lifted by her friend's simple words.

'Does it? Then I feel better. I figured I didn't deal with this as well as you. We're alike because of Gorion, but I prefer being in the background.'

Duran smiled.

'Perhaps, though I remember you not hesitating to step up front when needed.'

Imoen grimaced, shrugging off the compliment.

'Well, when people are in danger, sure. Winthrop taught me how to get out of trouble, but Gorion always said there are times when it's worth getting into.'

Duran's expression grew sad, reflectively thoughtful.

'Do you remember much about him?' she asked softly. 'My memory is still fuzzy.'

Imoen could see how much it was hurting her friend, not being able to remember the most important person in her life.

'He was a great mage, and supposedly a great adventurer. It's funny; we lived with him for years and Jaheira seems to know more about him.'

'Nonsense, he was secretive with everyone.'

Both girls jumped. They hadn't realised that Jaheira was awake and listening to them. They shared a grin as the elven druid went on.

'We just had . . . mutual acquaintances.'

Imoen waited, to be sure that she had finished before going on.

'I guess he was a great friend of the Harpers. Even got a visit from Khelben 'Blackstaff' once.'

Duran looked perplexed; either she'd never heard the name before, or more had been done to her than Imoen had thought. Nonetheless, the young thief hid her concern and elaborated for her.

'Real powerful mage,' she explained. 'Talked to Gorion like an equal.'

She sighed.

'I wish we could go back to those days, before all this fuss and bother. Before I learned . . . well, we've seen so much. Candlekeep seems so small now.'

Unshed tears sparkled in Duran's eyes, but she forced them down. She never allowed herself to cry anymore, not since . . .

'There wasn't much to go back to with Gorion gone,' she murmured, tracing patterns in the dirt with a slender finger.

'We still had friends there,' Imoen assured her. 'They were proud, even if they didn't show it. Winthrop said so. He always thought Gorion was too stuffy. I don't know, though.'

Her face slowly froze as, unbidden, memories of their captor's experiments rose in her mind. She sat up, looking away as Duran echoed her movements, an arm about her shoulders.

'We won't be able to just walk away, you know. The guy who captured us . . . he knows about you.'

She turned, her eyes burning into her friend's with intense emotion.

'Duran, say we won't look back. I don't care if he can 'tap the power' or access whatever avatar stuff. We've got to get away from all this death.'

Duran returned her stare with one of steady resolve.

'I have no intention of looking back. Our 'host' has proven his evil intent.'

Imoen relaxed, a relieved smile spreading across her face.

'Means a lot to hear you say that,' she grinned, but the expression died on her face as she glanced about. 'I can't stand all these shadows . . .'

Duran pulled her into her arms, holding her friend tightly in the hopes that she could at least allay some of her fears just by being there. Imoen snuggled into her embrace, laying her head on her shoulder with a contented sigh. They sat together in the darkness, waiting patiently for Minsc and Jaheira to wake, so that they could continue their journey.

The four of them entered a bedroom, furnished practically with little in the way of decoration. Imoen surged forwards to stop them from moving further into the chamber.

'Can't you feel it?' she asked. 'The evil? The threat?'

As they watched from the doorway, she prowled around the room, finding and disarming three traps what could have killed them.

'Okay, you can come in now,' she told them. 'There's a portal through there, but I'm guessing we'll need a key of some sort to get through it.'

As one they moved into the wooded area west of the room, an underground forest of such beauty, it was hard to believe that this was the same dungeon where they had been tortured. From the shadows stepped three dryads, their beauty matched only by the trees around them.

'Protect me!'

'Yes, help us!'

'Free us!'

Duran found herself in their midst as they clutched at her clothes in fear and desperation.

'Slow down!' she protested. 'Who are you and what is going on here?'

'We are his possessions.'

'His servants.'

'His concubines. I am Elyme.'

'I am Ulene.'

'I am Cania.'

Elyme stepped closer, falling to her knees beside the half-elf.

'Please, help us to escape!'

'How can I help you?' Duran asked, a little embarrassed by their certainty that she could help them.

'If you can escape, you must take our acorns to the Queen. Tell her of our plight in this creature's lair.'

Duran's eyes widened, and instinctively her hand went to the belt pouch in which three acorns lay.

'Acorns?'

'Take them to the Fairy Queen who lives in the south end of the Windspear Hills. This will be our deliverance from this . . . this Irenicus and his dungeons!'

Jaheira spoke up.

'So . . . we have a name for our captor at last. Irenicus, is it?'

Duran drew the acorns from her pouch and showed them to the dryads.

'Are these your acorns?' she asked.

The three almost throttled her in their joy.

'You have done a noble thing for us. Please, take them to the Fairy Queen.'

Cania suddenly looked even more excited.

'We will help you escape!' she announced. 'You must use the portals to travel up to the next level of the complex. This is how Irenicus travels. They are triggered by a certain key.'

Elyme took up the explanation, her eyes bright with hope.

'He uses Her key. He still loves her, you see. He keeps her room just as it was, though well protected.'

Ulene ran her hand across Duran's hair as she and her sisters moved back into the shadows of their trees.

'May the forest always open a path for you,' she blessed them, before she, too, disappeared.

Duran replaced the acorns carefully, and followed her friends along the path to where it entered a beautiful room. An alarm sounded in the distance. This must be Her room, she thought, briefly wondering how anyone as cruel as Irenicus could hold such a wonderful memory as love.

'What . . . what is this place?' Imoen murmured, her tone disgusted. 'It's beautiful! Oh, there is simply no way that thus space belongs to the same person who owns those horrible glass containers.'

Duran couldn't help herself. Injecting a note of irony into her voice, she leant casually against the wall and said lightly,

'It is unlikely that our captor would rent out space. It must be his.'

Imoen shook her head violently.

'No, it can't be. Not the person I know. This . . . this bed, that table . . . I know of them. He would . . . he would speak of them while . . . while he . . .'

Her voice trailed off, and when she spoke again, it was oddly emotionless. Duran was suddenly alert. It was not like Imoen to let things get to her so much.

'It's for a lost love, kept in perfect condition. She despises him. This is his monument to her. He spoke of all this but . . . his voice was cold . . .'

She looked up at her friend, her eyes haunted with the memory of pain and torture.

'No emotion at all, not even remembered. He spoke of these things while he cut . . . he cut . . .'

Her voice rose in terror and denial of what had been done to her.

'. . . and the spells that wove through my brain . . . cold, ugly things!'

She lashed out, and Duran caught her arms, pulling her close to contain the outpouring of emotion. Minsc, oddly diplomatic, moved away, to stand watch over the path that led to the room they were in.

'He cannot hurt you now,' Duran whispered, holding her friend as close as she dared. 'You're among friends.'

'It still hurts . . . his sick fingers are still in my head, doing whatever it was he started. I see blood and death . . . behind my eyes . . . Irenicus . . . This room: if he could care for anything, he would care for this room. Above the lives of all of us. It makes me sick. I feel . . . I feel . . . so much hate . . .'

While Imoen sobbed in Duran's arms, Jaheira discreetly cast 'Find Traps', and was confronted with an assortment of deadly trips that criss-crossed the room. Looking up, Duran realised that they needed Imoen to find this key that they needed.

'Im, sweetheart, we need your help here.'

The emotional thief looked up, dragging herself to her feet and moving to disarm the traps. She rummaged in a chest, and came up with a key.

'I've got it,' she said wearily, returning to their side.

Minsc whistled suddenly, waving them to his side.

'There are rock people coming towards us,' he informed them, and sure enough, the two golems they had dismissed as being useless were thundering up the path towards the beautiful room. Jaheira grabbed Minsc's arm and dragged him into the shadows by the door, Duran pulling Imoen to the cover of the darkness opposite. When the golems had entered the room, they broke cover, running for the portal. They could hear the golems behind them, their heavy footfalls growing closer by the second.

The four adventurers leapt over the sofa in Irenicus' bedroom, stumbling into the portal room as the golems crashed through the chamber behind them. Taking a firm grip on Imoen and Jaheira, who had not let go Minsc, lest he try to fight their pursuers, Duran stepped into the rippling portal, and felt the world fall away.