Meg couldn't believe her eyes: in front of her, dressed in the same Ankheg plate she remembered from the Sword Coast and with Varscona hanging from his belt, stood none other than Khalid. He looked just as she remembered him, the only difference was the cruel glint in his dark eyes and the evil smirk curving his lips, so different from the gentle smile she had always seen on his face ever since they first met, "Hello, M-meg", he greeted her. "Daddy?", she called, half-hopeful and half-confused, "How…What are you doing here?".
"I'm here b-because I can't allow you t-to go further, I n-need to speak to you". She bit her lower lip, "Dad, I would love to speak to you, more than anything in the world, but we are in a bit of a hurry…", she trailed off as she saw his face twist in a snarl. "You k-killed me, offered f-forgiveness to the monster who d-desecrated my body and now you dare try t-to ignore me?", he growled. To say she was shocked would be an understatement: she was utterly, completely flabbergasted and those words cut deep in her soul, sending a wave of agony through her, "I…I'm sorry, daddy", she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.
Jaheira frowned, "Khalid, why are you saying this? Meg didn't…". "She did!", he yelled, causing the women to flinch, he had never raised his voice like that before, "It's her f-fault if you are now a widow! And it's yours too!". The druidess stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief, "Mine?". "You wanted t-to follow her after she left B-baldur's Gate. If we had gone our s-separate ways, I would be alive now, we c-could have a family, we could have a child". "But Meg is…". "She is no c-child of mine", he said, his tone laced with poison and the Painbearer started as if slapped.
Anomen glared at the apparition and made to speak, but Sarevok beat him to it, wrapping an arm protectively around his sister's shoulders and holding her close. "Shut the Abyss up, spirit. Maggie is innocent of your death", he spat. The ghost barely spared him a glance, "You should s-shut up, you are n-nothing but a m-monster like her", he said, "I accept no lessons f-from the one who bathed t-the Sword Coast in blood".
"Don't speak to Sarry like that!", Margaret Dawn snapped, suddenly forgetting her pain in favor of anger and the apparition smirked. "Always s-so quick to d-defend him, are you? Your p-precious brother. Or is he more to you?". Now Anomen was really pissed off and he stepped forward, livid with rage, "How dare you make such disgusting insinuations about my wife?! I thought you were a kind man, Meg spoke highly of you, but I see death changed you for the worse", he snarled, "Now begone, before I make you". "Yeah, get your shitty ghostly ass out of here, old man, you're boring me", Daniel agreed, coming to stand beside the Helmite.
Aerie didn't say anything, but she studied the ghost carefully, until she realized why it felt so off to her, so without a second thought, she intoned the False Dawn spell and as soon as the light filled the clearing, the ghost let out a shriek and turned to her with narrowed eyes. "You bitch!", he yelled, his voice now scratchier and with a hissing undertone, "How dare you try and ruin my fun?". "I won't let you prey on my friends!", the Avariel stated proudly, then looked at her leader, "This is a shapeshifter wraith, Meg, not your father".
The Ilmatari blinked at the news, then a slow, sadistic smile curved her lips as her eyes glowed golden, "A wraith, uh?". The Slayer felt the fury bubbling up inside her and chuckled, Shall we punish this beast for taking your father's appearance, little Goddess?, it asked. Hell yeah, she agreed, "Show me your true face". The ghost met her gaze and its form changed until it became a skeletal creature covered in a black tattered robe, "This knowledge won't ssssssave you, godchild. My underlings and I will feassssst upon you all!", it exclaimed as a small army of wraiths surged from the ground to surround him.
"We will see. Guys, take whomever you want, but leave him to me", she ordered, then lunged at the master wraith, "You will suffer for disrespecting dad's memory like that", she said in a velvety tone that spoke of hidden danger. The creature slashed at her with its claws, but his blow was parried by her own claws and his eyes widened, "What…?". "Surprise!", she chuckled cruelly as her left hand, which was still human, brought the Mace of Disruption down on his body with all the strength of the Slayer, "I've learnt a lot about the power granted to me by my heritage, beast. And I've learnt how to make good use of it", she added, jumping back to avoid a swipe that would have cut her head off, but still left a long gash on her cheek. "You think you can sssssscare me?", the wraith growled, "You are nothing but a pale ssssshade of your sire!".
"Oh, am I?", she smirked and following her instinct, she called upon the residual power that permeated the forsaken temple, gathering the scraps of Bhaal's taint that were left behind after countless bloody rituals and her eyes glowed so strongly that the nearby shades shrieked in agony as the light hurt them. "Meg, what the Hell are you doing?", Jaheira called, trying to sound stern despite the dread clawing at her heart, her enchanted spear blocking the attack of her opponent before cleaving it in two at the middle. "We have field advantage", her daughter replied as she struck at the master wraith again and again, "I'm just using it".
Gromnir and Daniel shared a look, then grinned and followed her example, expanding their senses to draw upon their sire's power as well and as their eyes too began glowing golden, they felt a rush of strength and speed engulf them. "Oh, this is gonna be fun", the druid commented, throwing himself back into the fray. Imoen shot them a quick look, tempted to do the same, but then shook her head: she had felt the darkness of the Taint back in Irenicus' dungeon, when he was showing her those sickening, bloodcurdling deaths and she didn't want to feel any of it ever again. No matter what power it could grant her, it wasn't worth it.
At least Sarevok could not follow their lead since he wasn't a Bhaalspawn anymore, not that he needed the power of the Taint to royally kick ass anyway: he swung the Sword of Chaos in a wide arc, the huge blade cleaving through the shades like a scythe through grass blades. Aerie cast another False Dawn, then cast flame arrow after flame arrow at the shades, which were more damaged by the light of the flames than by the fire itself.
Edwin was a bit annoyed at not being able to throw a fireball, with his friends being so close to the enemies, so he contented himself with casting chain lightning to 'lighten up' the place, while Yoshimo slashed at his opponent with his katana, the blade of which had been bathed in holy water. Minsc, for his part, was beaming as he swung Azuredge left and right, a cheerful battle cry on his lips, "Go for their shady ghostly eyes, Boo!".
It was a long and painfully tiring battle, the shades managing to leech upon the adventurers' life force every time they made contact with even the smallest bit of unprotected flesh, yet in the end, the party prevailed and as the last wraith faded into nothing, a final screech full of agony resounded through the clearing. Despite the many bruises and bleeding wounds littering his body, Daniel laughed, "Wow, that was so cool!", he exclaimed, then his face twisted in a grimace, "Oh, shit…", he groaned before falling to his knees and throwing up. Gromnir was about to go to him, when he too felt nauseous and retched violently, spitting bile on the ground.
Jaheira, Aerie and Meg were at their side in an instant, worried. "What's wrong, brothers?", the latter asked and the Bhaalspawn druid looked up at her, his forehead matted with sweat. "How the hell can you still stand after that stunt, sister?", he panted as he tried to get back to his feet. "Well, I've trained a lot with it in the last months…". "You WHAT?!", Jaheira shouted and the Painbearer cringed. "Rats, me and my big mouth", she muttered under her breath.
The Half-Elf whirled on her with a menacing scowl, "I seem to recall telling you to not use the Taint unless you had no choice, child!". "I know, I know, sorry, but I just thought that maybe it would be better if I learned to truly and fully master it, you know, just to make sure I wouldn't make a mess in the worst moment", Margaret Dawn hurriedly said, raising her open palms as if to defend herself form the scolding. "The Taint is dangerous! You can't trust it, have you already forgotten what it did to your brother?".
"She's right, Maggie", Sarevok spoke up, coming to stand by Meg's side and looking down at her with concerned amber eyes, "The Taint of our sire is not our ally, no matter how helpful it pretends to be. All it wants it to take over you, or for you to be consumed so that Bhaal can be reborn. I have been there before, little sister, I know how tempting its offers of help can be, but you must ignore it and just rely on your own power and strength to go on", he said, hugging her, "I don't want you to end up trapped inside your own mind as I once was".
She hugged him back, guilt crushing her heart at his words, "I'm sorry, big brother. You're right, I will not use it again, I promise. Please forgive me, I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry", she pleaded, hiding her face in his chest. "There's nothing to forgive", he smiled and kissed the top of her head tenderly, "Now come, we have an entire temple to search". "Okay", she smiled back and nodded.
After a brief stop to heal their wounds and to catch their breath, the group made its way into the temple, keeping an eye out for any possible threat, but the few skeletons and zombies lingering around were anything but hostile: indeed, as soon as they felt the power of Bhaal in the siblings, the undead knelt and bowed their partially decomposed heads, chanting the name of the Lord of Murder over and over in reverence.
One of them, who wore what looked like a ruined priestly robe, raised his hands to the sky, "Our lord has returned! Praised be our lord!", he cried happily, then fixed his milky eyes on the four Bhaalspawn, "Please, my lord, bless us, we have waited your return for so long!". The siblings exchanged hesitant glances, until Daniel cleared his throat and stepped forward, taking on a very dramatic tone. "All right then, my faithful servants, as a reward for your patience, I give you all my godly blessing! Now go back to…Uhm…", he scratched his head in thought, then shrugged, "To do whatever it was you've been doing all this time", he concluded, turning on his heels and rejoining the party.
"Yes, my lord. You heard him! Go back to cleaning the floors and polishing the altars!", the dead priest barked, causing all the undead to scurry away, then he bowed and left too. "Wow, brother, ya sure you're a druid and not a bard?", Imoen teased the Elf, who chuckled. "Heh, well, my foster mama was quite a famous actress, so I guess it rubbed off on me". "Bless your quick thinking, friend", Yoshimo said, "You spared us an unnecessary fight. Well done". "My pleasure, buddy".
The party resumed their trek, until they reached a big chamber where a human woman stood: she looked about fifty, but her dark skin was leathery and wrinkled like a raisin, her long greasy hair was completely grey and she was skinny and dirty, the black and silver robe she wore looking more like a rag than actual clothing. As soon as she saw them, she let out a raspy chuckle, "Oh, the Spawn-children come! They come to see Nyalee, yes, they do!", she said and the glint of madness in her green eyes sent chills down everyone's spine.
"Are you Nyalee, then?", Meg asked gently, approaching the old woman warily. "Yes, Nyalee is the Wood Witch! Why are you here, Spawn-child?". "We heard that the secret to Yaga-Shura's invulnerability could be found here". Another chuckle, like the sound of dried leaves being carried by the wind, "It is, it is! My son learnt many tricks by Nyalee, oh yes he did! Why do you think he survived that long, Spawn-child?".
Edwin looked her up and down, frowning, "And you expect us to believe that a Fire Giant is your son? (This scruffy old monkey has completely lost what little brains she had in the first place)". "No, the boy didn't spring from Nyalee's womb, no. But she raised him, taught him magic and he rewarded her by taking her heart away!", Nyalee's face contorted with a mixture of anger, pain and sadness, "She told him how to tear his heart from his chest and keep it safe, no blade or spell could kill him then. And he did it, but he took Nyalee's heart too and left her here alone to rot! You want his blood, right, Spawn-child?".
"I have to kill him, yes", the Ilmatari admitted. "Then listen closely: there is a fortress, in the Marching Mountains, where the boy has made his lair. His heart must be there and Nyalee's heart too. Bring them to her and Nyalee will remove the magic from his heart, so you will be able to kill him". "Where exactly does he hide the hearts?". "Nyalee doesn't know. She told you all she knows. Now go and find the hearts, go!", the old witch concluded, pushing the younger woman impatiently.
"Okay, okay, I'm going", Meg got away from Nyalee as fast as she could, moving back to the courtyard, where she stopped to look at her companions and she noted how tired they were, "So, we have a long journey ahead of us, what say you if we go back to the Pocket Plane to rest?", she proposed. "Sounds like a plan, I'm on", Imoen agreed, followed by all the others. A plane shift later, they were in the small abyssal cocoon and Meg wasted no time in creating two more rooms for Daniel and Gromnir, who were more than grateful and happy for the chance to take a bath and sleep in a soft bed. Everyone retired to their room and for a few hours, all of them enjoyed some peace and quiet. Well, nearly all of them anyway…