Seeing his stalwart Druid fall stiffly to the ground, Negrath could feel his mind race as he tried to remember if any of his other two spell- slingers had mentioned memorizing a resurrection spell lately…

Lifting his eyes to the victoriously laughing female by the throne, he crawled to his feet carefully, only to kneel by the still form, a few steps further up.

Surprised, but not allowing his face to show it, he saw her moving burned lips as she whispered;

-"Not…quite gone yet…Aerie…"

Barely giving it sound, he replied;

-"Viconia…"

Her opening of one weakly burning eye stopped him, before she closed it to draw a slight, ragged breath, relaxing as much as her dying body could, awaiting the touch of her friend.

Standing, he momentarily turned to the rest of the group, locked eyes with Aerie, and, glancing down at the fallen Druid as he started walking, approached the victor of the previous dispute…

Glad to hear the shuffling of cloth as the mage hurried over to the Harper behind him, he turned his full attention to his main opponent, as she settled back into her throne, observing the proceedings behind him with an amused air;

-"I believe I have proven my ability to destroy you?

I do not need helpers to take care of such dungeon-bait as you.

Are we clear on this?"

Desperate for time, he nodded, bowing as low as he thought would be taken seriously;

-"Yes, your power is indeed overwhelming, and we shall not bother thee again, my lady."

Hearing a snort from Viconia, and what probably where her relaying a comment or two to Keldorn, he dared a look at his superior in the grove.

She was clapping her hands, smiling as she shook her head bemusedly;

-"My, my, my, a proper little actor, aren't you?

Don't you think I know what you're doing? Your making a pitiful attempt to buy your friend time to get help…I have nothing against you leaving, and there is no way she is going to be able to deal me any sort of harm today at all, so…"

Whatever the amused Druid had planned to say, were interrupted by the clack of solid wood on stone, and Negrath turned to see Jaheira, standing upright, doing a good job of not looking like she leaned on Aeries surrendered quarterstaff, and looking better than she did, though not quite fit for any kind of fight.

Nonetheless she spat dryly, and proclaimed;

-"On the assumption that you would not have gained followers without following at least -some- of our ways…"

-"Of course I follow them!" the opponent replied, parading the fact as her strongest weapon; "They are my Strength!"

Giving a slight cough, Jaheira smiled thinly;

-"Then you wouldn't mind accepting The Challenge?"

-"…The Challenge? From whom? You?!? Oh my, what fly-swatter shall I use if that is the case, hmmm?"

-"YOU'LL BE WISE-cough-…you'll be wise to use…anything -but- a fly- swatter…I know I will!"

-"So Be It!

We will Fight to the Death in the Pit, for the Rights to Serve this Grove," the woman on the throne stated haughtily, and Jaheira chuckled derisively, "as High Druid and Bane of All Civilization!"

Sparing a look at Aerie, who were continuously and quietly pleading with the Harper, supposedly to make her let Viconia help, He idly wondered if the Drow had re-memorized the healing she had used on him at the Inn…suddenly, giving that Ultimate Heal-scroll to Viconia, didn't look like all that good an idea anymore...



The group, having settled around the pit, stared anxiously down into the relatively deep hole in the floor, each one wishing(openly or secretly) that they could have taken the Harper's place, where she stood opposite a smoothly laughing Shadow Druid who were in intimate contact with every living plant of their surroundings...

Almost lazily feinting this way and that, the chaotic Druid initiated the fight, still laughing as a positively glowing Jaheira growled in unmoving response, identifying the teasing feinting for what it was…an insult to her level of ability.

Her "new" staff, although lighter than her old one, and not half as magical, were a familiar weight in her hand…it had been hers long before they ended up in Irenicus' dungeon, and she cared not in the slightest how it had wound it's way back to her after being discarded by her kidnappers.

What mattered was that she was sure of it's strengths and weaknesses, and knew it would hold to the end of this battle, and beyond…whichever way it went.

Gathering strength in her calm posture, she refused to react, even when the opponents staff grazed her arms or legs…she just stared calmly into the others eyes…whenever she decided to make a genuine attack, Jaheira would know…

With a flair of anger at the others passiveness, the teasing ended, and the Grove leader swung, full force, at Jaheira's head, daring her to strike back.

The Harper danced sideways with a slight stumble, her staff never appearing as anything but a walking stick.

Yelling in rage, as though she somehow believed Jaheira to be insulting her, the opponent dropped her staff, dropping to all fours as she shrunk and shifted, taking the shape of a great, black panther, known to Negrath from the one time Jaheira had received two of their kind as her summoned helpers.

At that, Jaheira exploded into action, hesitant stumbling gone like ale in a dwarf…

Taking a step back, she leaned on the wall of the pit, sliding down to sit haunched on the floor.

Fluidly maneuvering her body to lay flat on her back, she bent her knees, and put her feet flush against the wall, eyes never leaving her opponent…

Having the staff, dropped as she stepped back, materialize as a horizontal pole between her outstretched hands, she shot from the wall, just as her opponent leaped at where she had spent her final "preparations",

…and found itself rolling on the floor, yelping in pain as it's hind feet, broken by their meeting with the old, but sturdy weapon, burned like hell's forges.

Rising to her feet, Jaheira walked over to the whining animal, which presumably were in too much unexpected pain to change back just then.

As ripples forewarned an approaching transformation, the Harper knelt, pressing her staff over the panther-Druids throat, and queried, voice hoarse from the recent exertion;

-"This fight was to the death, remember?"

Silencing it's whining, the defeated Shadow-Druid just stared defiantly at the Harper through the cat's eyes.

Sighing tiredly, Jaheira added to the pressure on the staff, growling;

-"May my friends be witness to the fact that I could have killed you, and therefore are your superior as of this very moment? Just nod, City- dweller."

With a half-choked growl, the great cat's head moved in a slow nod, at which point Jaheira fell forward, finally allowing her body to recover from the lightening bolt.

To prevent retaliation, Negrath and Minsc leapt into the pit to take over the prisoner, and lift Jaheira up to sleep out, resting on their gathered packs.

From his place in the pit, the ranger, holding the staff securely under the still unchanged animals jaw, looked up at the Grove aids, who were looking down at their defeated leader in a very distraught fashion;

-"Boo tells me you belong here as little as this evil cat. Do you tell Minsc Boo is lying?"

Sensing a trap, and not quite knowing who the large warrior was talking about, they all shook their heads, studying each other to find out who this traitor "Boo" was.

-"Then you had better get out of here, before Jaheira awakens, and starts giving me orders about what to do with you." Negrath commented, having followed the exchange from his most recent perch, on the pit's edge.

Evidently recalling what they had seen of her in the "fight", and presumably believing the Harper's friends to be able of similar feats of endurance, they all scrambled around the edge of the large hole to reach the exit, throwing each other suspicious looks all the way.

As the last reached the opening, he turned and spat at them…scurrying along as Viconia stuck her head out from a dark corner to say "Boh!"….