There was a short, sputtering cough from the middle of the dim room. The electrical crackling had stopped, and it was eerily silent.
"I'm probably blushing so much that Jaheria can see it, even without her elven sigh..." I embarrassingly thought to myself.
"S-sorry about that you guys, I didn't think all the lights would turn out." I said in a quiet voice. Kraeth smiled at me through the darkness. "No worries at all Imoen, you made the portal close... for the moment at least." He said, giving me a pat on the back. I had always loved adventuring with my brother. Though we weren't biologically related, it still felt that way.
I gave a weak smile back, and murmured, "Maybe if I hit the switch again the light will come back on..."
"Wrong, mortal." A sudden booming laugh pierced the silence that surrounded us.
"Minsc? Please tell me that was you..." I barely managed to squeak, but I knew it wasn't. This voice didn't have Minsc's northern accent, and it certainly lacked his incredible enthusiasm for even the most simple of things.
"Wrong again, tch tch."
At this point, the lights flashed back on. I could see now that we no longer stood in the marble room with the spire that spewed forth demons, but instead this place seemed almost... organic. A group of large, red crystals was in the middle of the humid room, as well as many more groupings were along the walls. Everywhere there were pools of purple-colored water, and the ground seemed to... move every now and then. A shape in front of us slowly illuminated itself. From the ground, a purple wisp of smoke rose and slowly formed in to the upper-half of a very muscled man. It carried a scimitar in each hand, and its head was adorned by a puffy, purple hat with a multicolored feather extending from it.
"Welcome, Kraeth!" its voice boomed, "You have escaped slightly later than I had expected, but welcome nevertheless. I am Ataquah." It said with a large grin.
"Indeed," I heard Kraeth's calm, musical voice sound out, "We have escaped. I wonder what part you had in my capture.
"Ha-ha!" It laughed, "Worry not, I did so enjoy your blundering, it was not I that wished you captured." It gave a slight sneer as it said this.
"I care little for your amusements, answer my questions or feel my wrath." Kraeth said, narrowing his pretty, brown eyes. Wait, pretty?
"Ha-ha!" The being laughed, yet again, "I had not... foreseen this! Excellent! Very well Kraeth, what do you wish to know? The Past? The Present? The Future? All of these things, and nothing. Tell me Kraeth, will you answer a question for Me? I would be ever so delighted..."
Kraeth growled, "If it leads to any making of sense..."
Ataquah shouted with glee, "Here is my... hypothetical... question! You and your sibling have been trapped, the mage responsible appears in front of you and forces you to make a choice! In each of your cells is a magical button, if you push your button but your sibling does not... You die, and your sibling goes free. If your sibling pushes the button and you do not... they die, you go free. If either both or neither of you pushes the button... heh," it chuckled, "You both die! So tell me, dear Kraeth... What would you do?" Ataquah was grinning immensely at this point. I honestly was not aware of what he would answer; Kraeth struck me as the self-sacrificing type... for the most part.
"There is no question at all here," He said calmly, "I would of course push the button." I was glad. I realized that Ataquah was not talking about us, but the thought that Kraeth would do as such for me... err... someone, was truly a happy one.
Now, it was all Ataquah could do to keep himself from bursting out in inane laughter, "Well! No action is without consequence, especially for those who follow the noble path! Deal with this, O' Noble One!" Ataquah disappeared, cackling like a madman. Truly, I believe he may have easily been just that. A cloud of smoke rose where Ataquah had just stood, but when the smoke dissipated, a large ogre stood in its place!
The ogre was wearing a rather crude suit of large, yellow plate mail, and was wielding a rather rusty, yet incredibly large blade. Despite its shoddy equipment, I knew that the strength of the beast would truly be what mattered. I wasn't disappointed. The ogre immediately through his large sword towards me. Luckily, I was hit only by the flat side. Pain raced through my chest where it had it me, and I was pinned to the ground in an instant. Unable to move, it was all that I could do to watch Minsc shout out how he was going to tear the skin off of evil's ears and have Boo chew at them.
Kraeth pounced on to the ogre's back, attempting to club it into unconsciousness with his mace. He was not successful. The ogre, a being of much superior strength, threw him off as if he were naught but a child. Hitting the ground with a tumble, Kraeth was quick to take the battlefield again. Minsc at this point was busy hacking in to the beastie's leg armor, eventually cutting off one of its legs (tis but a scratch.) The ogre roared at this, smashing Minsc to the side. It was about to squish Minsc in to a pulp, when it was suddenly interrupted by Jaheria's spear piercing its head, causing it to collapse to the floor.
"Well done!" Ataquah's voice was quick to announce. Though the creature was no where to be seen, its voice radiated throughout the chamber, "It appears you can deal with the consequences of your action, mortal! For your indulgence, I offer advice. Seek out Reilev."
Kraeth quickly rushed to my side, but I was unable to answer his attempts to talk to me. "She's alive. Taking a hit like that couldn't have been painless, she's only unconcious." I heard his voice say to the others.
"Actually" Jaheria's voice said, "I believe we should rest as well.
Just before I slipped in to sweet, sweet unconciousness, I heard a slight chittering from the darkened corners of the room. Then all slipped in to darkness...