The next pool led them to a long corridor, where they were attacked by some floating eyeballs that were quickly dispatched by Minsc, Sarevok and Gromnir. The corridor emerged into a huge cave and a tall, lanky man approached them quickly, his face twisted in a mask of annoyance, "Oh, look at that, all my work destroyed! Who are you?". "My name is Margaret Dawn, my companions and I…". "Well, I'm Iycanth the Enlightened, the mage who more than any other is blessed by lord Abazigail, supreme ruler of Toril! And these lovely creatures you so callously slaughtered are the result of my latest experiment, not to mention my most trusted friends", he added with a wave of his hand towards the corpses.
"…Yes, well, sorry for killing them, but they didn't really give us much of a choice. As I was saying, we are looking for a Scroll of Inversion. Do you know where we could find one?". "Uuuhhm? Is that an Untherian delicacy? Is it served with some leek sauce maybe?". She felt her left eye twitch with exasperation, but kept her cool, "Nnnno, it's a spell used to break a Geas". "Ah, that! Well, young lady, I don't know how it works where you come from, but around here we earn our Scrolls of Inversion". "Not another errand!", Anomen groaned, passing a hand on his face as his wide shoulders slumped. His wife pat his back comfortingly, then turned to the crazy mage, "What do you want us to do?".
"You see, I can't put my experiments on hold, they're quite delicate and their balance is risky. Also, they smell really good. Like cheese. A few days ago, I caught a beholder gauth sneaking around, one of his eyestalks looked in quite bad conditions, so, needless to say it, I grabbed a dagger and tried to cut it off for my experiments", Iycanth said calmly, as if he was talking about the weather, "But the little bastard jumped into the pool east from here and vanished. I need that eyestalk. Sadly, the cave he is hiding in is infested by kobolds".
Imoen curled up her nose, "He wants us to fight Kobolds? Seriously? That's so last season! We did that back when we first started adventuring on the Sword Coast!", she protested indignantly. Iycanth sighed, "Well, if it's too humble for you, then give the quest to that group of idiots over there", he waved to his right, where three figures were standing, all of them turned to stone: a human barbarian, a Dwarf and an Elf, "Here's a scroll to break their prison of stone, now just get going, I've got to go back to my work", he turned on his heels and walked back to his lab.
Sarevok studied the three stony lads, "We have to free them anyway, so we could as well give them the task", he mused, "They don't seem all that bright or capable, but taking a damaged gauth eyestalk is not that hard, even for beginners". Meg shook her head, "I'd rather not do that: we need the scroll and if these idiots mess up the task, we're screwed. We'll just free them and send them on their way", she chanted the spell to turn stone to flesh and in a flash of purple light, the lads were back to normal.
The barbarian shook his head before his eyes focused on the Ilmatari in front of him, "Uuuuhh…Hey there, beautiful. Do I know you?". "No, but that doesn't matter now. How are you guys?". The Elf smiled as he dusted his clothes, "We're fine, thank you, madam. What happened?". "You were turned to stone and we freed you from the spell". "Oh, thank you then! I'm Bondari the barbarian", the human introduced himself, "And they're my friends Nanoc the Dwarf and Tim Goldenhand the Elf. Is there a way we can repay you for your kindness? Something you may have us do, like a quest, maybe?", he asked hopefully.
Meg forced herself to smile, "I appreciate the offer, but no, I just want you to leave this place safe and sound. Here's three flasks of breathing potion for you", she handed them the bottles, "I trust you still have your equipment?". Nanoc nodded, "Yeah, we do…". "Good, off you go then", she made a shooing motion with her hands and the three deflated a little, but moved to the pool that would lead them outside. "Well, thanks again, hot stuff and good luck", Bondari waved at her and left with his friends, crestfallen. Imoen was nearly choking in her effort to suppress her laughter, "Seriously, Meg, ya could have given them something to do! Didn't you see how disappointed they were? Poor things!", she snickered.
The Painbearer rolled her eyes, "They were clearly incompetent and I have neither the time nor the will to humor them", she huffed, "Do you have a sleep spell ready?". "Yeah, of course". "Good, then you will come with me to get the eyestalk. The rest of you stay here, we'll be right back", Meg concluded, walking towards the pool on the east. It led to a small cave filled with Kobolds and a few Gauths and Beholders, but Imoen immediately cast the sleeping spell on them and they were all knocked out cold, allowing the sisters to approach the gauths to search for the right one.
"It's this one", Meg said, kneeling next to one of the creatures as her eyes softened with pity, "By the Gods, look at this! The eyestalk is not just damaged, it shows signs of gangrene! Give me your dagger, we must remove it before it spreads". Imoen promptly handed her the dagger and she cut off the infected appendage, then poured a healing potion on the wound and smiled as she saw it close and vanish. "Good, now it's safe and healthy again. It will miss an eye, but better than dying a slow and horrible death".
"You're such a hopeless softie, ya know that, sis?", the pink-haired thief shook her head with a fond smile, "You worry even for a random beast that would have killed us on the spot without a second thought!". "Well, it didn't attack us, did it?". "Only because I put it to sleep first". "It still counts to me", the Ilmatari shrugged and stood, "Let's rejoin the others". When they approach Iycanth, he grinned widely, "Ah, you're back! Do you have the eyestalk I needed?". "Yes", Meg showed him the prize, but snatched it back before he could take it, "Ah-ah, no getting the eyestalk until we get our scroll", she scolded him, waving her finger.
He frowned, but tossed her a sealed scroll, "Here you go, you rude little thing. Now can I…". "Edwin will check that it's the right one first", she cut him off, giving the precious item to Edwin, who opened the scroll and gave her a nod. "It's the right spell, Meg". She smiled, "Well, in that case, here you go, Iycanth". "Finally!", the crazy mage grabbed the eyestalk eagerly, "Now I can finish creating lord Abazigail's army!", he cheered, turning his back on her and moving to his working table. The Ilmatari tensed, "Excuse me? What army?", she asked, her voice taking on a growling undertone that he completely missed.
"I'm working to create floating eyeballs that can shoot death rays powerful enough to destroy a small village", he asked as he poured a blue liquid inside a beaker with purple fluid, "Then nobody will dare to oppose lord Abazigail when he mo-", he was cut off by a hand grabbing him by the shoulder and twirling him around with such force that he felt dizzy. "What of the innocent people that will die?", she asked, lips curled in a snarl. "If they oppose him, they deserve to die", Iycanth said with a shrug, oblivious to the danger he was in.
Sarevok, suspecting what was to come, tried placing a hand on his sister's shoulder, but he was not fast enough and could only watch as her right hand grabbed the madman's face in a strong grip, only it was not a hand anymore, it was a claw and it was attached to a scaly arm rippling with powerful muscles. Margaret Dawn slammed Iycanth's head against the nearest stalagmite once, twice and then one last time, the force of the impact causing the skull to literally burst like a water balloon, sending pieces of bone and tissue and blood everywhere around them.
A heavy silence followed, broken only by her ragged breathing and the soft spatter of blood dripping from her hand and arm, then she transformed her limb back to normal and cleaned her hand with a rag, taking a deep breath. "Daichi, blow up his lab: we can't afford to let his research here for some bastard to find and complete. The rest of you, let's move ahead", she said calmly, trying to walk away, but Daniel grabbed her by the other, not bloodied, arm. "Hold on a second there, sister. Shouldn't we talk about what just happened?". She turned her head to look at him with a frown, "There's nothing to talk about".
"Are you kidding me? You just transformed your whole arm into that of the fu***ng Slayer! And you bashed that guy's head into the rock so hard it exploded! I need to know how much of that was you and how much was our bastard of a sire". "That was all me", she replied without missing a beat, "I have full control over the Slayer's power, it can't take over me anymore, no matter how tired, scared or pissed off I am. Its strength is a tool for me to use as I please and I did. End of the story".
The Elf let her go and recoiled, a worried look on his face, "You know that's not good, right, sis? Our daddy dearest is not exactly to be trusted". "I never said I trust it. I said I can use it". Sarevok gently turned her to face him, "Maggie, you told me, no, you promised me that you would never use it again", he said, his tone was soft yet carried a mixture of bitterness, worry and anger within it.
To his shock, her face hardened, "I'm sorry I broke my promise, but I have no choice: this is a war, Sarry. The lives of our family, friends and companions, not to mention the lives of everyone on Toril are at stake here and I will do anything and use every tool at my disposal to win, no matter how dishonorable or dangerous to me". His gaze softened and his eyes now held only sadness, "This is not you, Maggie". She sighed and averted her eyes, her shoulders slumped, "No. It's not. But this is what I need to be, at least until the war is over", she said tiredly, "Let's go guys, we have a dragoness to free".