The revenge Chapter 3, a baldur's gate fanfic

Disclaimer:

I don't own Baldur's Gate, the great masterpiece of role-playing.

The story on hand, ‚The revenge' is fan-fiction. I wrote it, because I love to write, but I will not use ‚The revenge' in any commercial way.

Rating: 'M'. Some scenes may be a 'T', but I had the feeling that a few scenes should be rated as 'MA'. I think, in general it's OK, to give 'M'. If you don't like that or if you are too young, don't read!

Chapter3

Nightal 16th, 1369

De'Arnise keep, Amn

Nalia sat in the library of the keep and read a book about magical transformation.

They had spent the last three days with finding a way to free Chloe. Imoen had told the noble what she knew about the curse. It was spoken in a moment of great jealousy and so it was a hard curse, full of magic, fury and emotion.

However, Nalia was sure that she could help her friend. Imoen was a great archmage, but Nalia was more experienced in using magical power.

The noble sighed, stared to the flames of the fireplace… Even here it was cold. She walked to the fire and put one more wooden piece on it. She thought of the guards out there, doing their service. Perhaps she should make them some warm soup… suddenly she grinned and shook her head. No. It was their right to eat something which tasted well.

After a short moment she heard someone who lumbered through the passage to her room.

Imoen tore the door open, "I've got it!"

Nalia smiled, "Hey, and you found the solution without my help."

"Not really. The spell I needed was in one of your books. It seems to be a really rare spell. I think I have to make a copy of the book, before I leave."

"Hm and now?"

She grinned, "Don't know. When I look at the whole situation, it's nice to have a real hummingbird…"
Nalia rolled her eyes, "Immy! That's not funny!"

"Hey, don't be so serious. I'm just joking. I think we should remorph her immediately."

The brunette archmage stood before the table, on which she had placed the bird and held the spellbook in her hands.

Nalia stood behind her and looked at the scene. Suddenly she heard as her friend began to whisper the spell. In the next moment Imoen's voice faded away. Since they got two amulets of power during their adventures in Amn, both of them could use spells without moving their lips.[1] The amulets weren't the best items they had found on their adventures, but they were pretty useful.

Flames appeared in Imoens hands and Nalia saw them burning green and blue. A flash came out of her hands and for a short moment the room was bathed in a mild white light. Then she spoke the last words of the spell loud and… the hummingbird on the table vanished in a golden flash and was replaced by Chloe.

Silence.

Chloe was, to Nalia's pleasure, completely dressed: It seemed that the spell also contained her clothing.

"Are you all right, love?" Imoen asked nervously.

Chloe saw in her face, „Eh; Yes… by all hells, where we are and why's Nalia here?"

Imoen hesitated, "Wha… what is the last thing you remember?"

"We'd argued in the dining room. Then there was a flash… And now I'm here!"

Nalia managed a weak smile. Time to go… „Eh, I'm sure, Immy can explain it all to you."

The brunette whirled around to the noble, "Nali! You can't go now! She'll kill me!"

Chloe crossed her arms and gave Imoen a dangerous gaze, "Perhaps I really will! Tell me, what's going on!"

"Eh…"
"Yes?"

"ItwasbecauseIcursedyoubecausewehadargued," Imoen whispered fast.

Nalia stared to the wall and tried to ignore the scene.

Chloe's eyes widened, "WHAT?"

"Eh, yes… I was angry and thought you were unfaithful, so I transformed you into a hummingbird."

The kensai and daughter of Arcadia blinked, but wasn't able to say a word.

"And I have to say, ya were a very lovely and well behaved hummingbird!"

Chloe clenched her fists, but was able to swallow down her annoyance.

"Love… please, don't be mad. I know it was wrong."

"Be glad that I love you, otherwise I would kill you now."

Nalia cleared her throat and Chloe stared at her, "What is it??"

"Eh, we are here in my keep in Amn and it's the middle of Nightal… We will eat in four hours. Immy can show you the keep."

"Lady Imoen, lady Chloe, the dinner's ready."

The man bowed to the two women and left the room immediately.

Chloe stared at him and whispered, "How pathetic!"

"Hm?" Imoen looked at her.

"I didn't know that she has creeps around her."

"Nalia has servants, as every noble, but no creeps."

"I don't know…"

"Chloe… love… please be nice today."

"Why should I be?" The eyes of the kensai flashed.

"Because Nalia helped me to bring you back and because I know that you like her."

"Hm…"

"Chloe! Damn! If you want to be angry, be angry at me!"

The fighter looked to the mage and smiled, "All right, I will be nice… for you, nightingale."

Chloe turned around, kissed Imoen on her cheek and left the room. Imoen followed her through the passages of the keep to the ballroom. Nalia was already there, together with Cernick and the Major Domo.

The noble smiled when she saw as the two women enter the room and pointed at two chairs next to her, "I'm glad you are here. Take a seat and feel at home."

She clapped in her hands and the cook appeared with two of his servants and brought them five plates and two bottles of wine.

"It's nothing special, just one course, but I can tell you that our cook makes the best dinners in this region of Amn," Nalia said.

"Yeah, that's true, love," Imoen told with a smirking face, "But the trainee is really bad."

Imoen grinned at Nalia, who smiled in amusement. Then the noble looked to Chloe and changed the subject, "What have you been doing since the group seperated?"

"Immy and I went back to Candlekeep to make it our home."

Nalia nodded, "I've heard of this. Perhaps I will visit you there when I find time. Even the name 'Candledeep' is full of magic and legends and I want to see it one day."

Imoen's face brightened, "Oh, yeah, Nali, you're always welcome!"

Suddenly Chloe grinned, "If you find us there."

"Hm?"

"Next to the actions in Candledeep, nightingale wants to establish her own guild of thieves in Waterdeep."

Imoen blushed, "Eh… that's not exactly… but perhaps…"

Chloe grinned evilly and changed the subject, "Nalia, I have to say, the dinner is really good…"

A shout.

Noise.

An explosion.

After a second Cernick rose and left the room. He came back immediately and turned to Nalia nervously, "Attackers!"

Nalia shot up from her seat, "Where?"

"All around the keep. We can't see them in the snowfall, but they can see us. We've already lost one guard by an archer."

Nalia looked at Imoen, "Immy, take two guards and check the… cellar. Cernick, you and Chloe check the secret side entrance. And you…" she looked to the Major Domo, "… you bring me my amulet, my staff and my robe!"

Nalia didn't await the reactions and left the room.

No one was in the first two rooms of the cellar, but Imoen felt an unpleasant presence. Something was in the third room. Something powerful.

She smiled. Nalia's decision to check the cellar had been a good and intelligent idea. After the party had rescued Imoen in Spellhold a few months ago, they had told her of their earlier adventures. She remembered the story, how Nalia had come in the group. Trolls had dug a hole to the cellars and from there they had been able to surprise the guards, had stormed the keep and had killed Nalia's father.

And now, the situation was almost similar.

She looked to the two guards: Their names were Jolar and Nanes and they were young, too young to be guards… but times were hard and she had been in the same age, when she'd killed her first enemy.

The eyes of this first dead opponent haunted her in her dreams until today.

She shook away her thoughts and activated a farsight spell.

Suddenly she began to giggle, getting a confused gaze from her two guards.

In the room before her were five umber hulks.

The archmage knew what to do. In fact it was quite easy. She prepared a cloudkill spell and whispered to Nanes, "Open the door!"

The guard did it and almost in the same moment, Nalia cast the cloudkill and an ochre ball flew into the next room.

After that, the only things she recognized from there were smothered shouts, then there was silence.

Imoen grinned, "Never play with an archmage, sweeties…"

Suddenly she froze… and saw the shadows of dark creatures.

She looked to Jolar and Nanes and whispered, "Prepare for a hard fight!"

When Cernick and Chloe entered the room to the side entrance, originally a secret of the keep, the first thing they saw was a flashing sword, which shot towards Cernick. Chloe pulled him back immediately and locked the door without delay. She just had seen the supple dark skin of their enemies, but that had been enough.

Drow!

Cernick stared at the kensai and tried to say a word. She ignored him and took the two short swords she had got from him. Shouts: In the yard and on the tower. An explosion and more shouts.

In this moment the captain of the guards found to words, "All hells! What was that?"

"Drow. Evil elves, which live in the Underdark," Chloe explained.

"Drow? What do they want?"

Chloe shrugged with her shoulders, "They want to kill us, so we have to kill them. That's all we have to know in this moment."

"And now? It's a narrow passage and it's full of those drow. If we attack, we could be seriously hurt. We have to wait for reinforcements."

Chloe shook her head, "No. I won't wait. We don't know what they will do next. Perhaps they plan to break through a wall and invade the keep."

"And what do you want to do?"

"Attack. What else?"

"You want to attack? We don't know how strong they are. And the narrow door's a problem."

The kensai sighed, "When I tell you to go, you follow. Got it?"

In the next moment she broke through the door.

The first thing, Nalia realized was the snow storm.

Why they couldn't be attacked in summer??

A deafening explosion brought her back to the reality. Nalia looked up and saw that the tower on the front of the keep was hit by this blast.

Shouts.

In panic and in pain.

Nalia closed her eyes. So much damage, so much pain…

Without any hesitation she walked on the stairs up to the tower: She looked out of the crenellations, but saw nothing but the snow. Nevertheless it was clear that their enemies could see the defenders. She cast an infravision spell on herself: As Imoen had said a few days ago, it worked. Nalia saw the attackers out there, all around the keep. Then she reached the central tower.

There were three guards on the tower, who knelt on the ground, seeking protection from the arrows and bolts. The noble knelt next to them and managed a weak smile.

She thought through her options… Perhaps the first step was to place a cloudkill before the keep. Then she would have the time to place some well aimed fireballs and lightning bolts. She stood up and spoke the spell immediately.

The ochre ball left her hands and suddenly she heard… the sound of an arrow.

Nalia's eyes widened as she saw that one of the guards jumped between her and the arrow and shielded her with his body.

Then she realized what he had done.
With a lump in her throat she glided to the ground, together with him, stared into his young eyes… Sweet eyes. He was pretty handsome.

For a moment there was silence in her mind. Just the two dying eyes and her disbelief. Why hasn't she seen him earlier? Why had she been so arrogant to ignore him all the time he'd been alive?

In the next moment the confusion and sadness in her heart was replaced by a hot and furious fire.

"Lady Nalia? Lady Nalia!"

The words awakened her and she looked to the Major Domo, who held the amulet of power, the staff of magi and the robe of Vecna. Nalia's eyes flashed. They would pay! And in the moment when she took the three items she could feel the power, coming from it. Nobody could stop her now… These damn murderers would burn now!

Imoen thought for a few seconds, and then she shook her head.

To storm into the next room would be the absolute wrong way. She looked to Jolar and whispered, "Close the door and lock it!"

He did immediately and when the archmage saw it, she took a deep breath, and then she looked to the two, "Whatever comes throu' this door in the next moments, you have to stop it, until my next spell is finished."

Then she ignored them and concentrated, felt the power, the tension of magic around her, closed her eyes and began to whisper a long and difficult spell.

After a while, golden flashes came out of her body… and something appeared in front of her.

Jolar stared at the thing, when it turned to Imoen, "Why did you call me, Imoen of Candledeep?"

The archmage grinned, "Oh, there are some evil drow in the next room and I thought it would be nice to kick their asses by using the power of the light."

The thing nodded, "That's a sensible reason. Can we start?"

"Lady Imoen… what is that?" Nanes asked unsure.

"That's a deva."

"Deva?"

"I'm a helper of Torm, the god of sincerity."

Jolar and Nanes stared at the deva, while Imoen grinned and cast a haste spell, "Jolar, open the door, and then go back to your position. Admired deva, you will attack first. I will follow. Jolar and Nanes, you're comin' then… Questions?... No?... All right, take care of yourself. I don't want to lose anyone of you."

In this moment the guard unlocked the door… and heard an angry cry.

Apparently, one of the drow had waited behind the door, until the defenders had opened it. Jolar was thrown back and Nanes was completely frozen.

Imoen reacted as fast as she could do and swerved, but she couldn't prevent that one of the blades of the dark elves hit her arm and scratched her skin. The deva glided between her and the drow and its sword of pure energy brought Imoen's attacker down.

Imoen stumbled a few steps back and cast two acid arrows against the next two enemies, who came through the door. With a smile on her lips she cast the domination spell and saw as it worked on the third drow. Imoen took the control over his mind immediately and the evil elf attacked the two drow in front of him. A fourth and a fifth enemy… The sword of the deva had killed the second drow and the two guards attacked them from the side. Imoen swerved the attacker, who stood before her. She knelt down and kicked him in his belly. The drow hesitated one moment. Pain wasn't a problem for dark elves; pain was the basic of their whole civilization and culture. But the kick stopped his attack, at least for a short moment.

More than enough time for the deva to behead him.

Jolar had brought one of his enemies to his knees and killed him. The magic of the haste spell sped all movement of the four warriors. It was an easy spell, but perhaps the most useful spell she had ever learned: Perfect, to overrun an enemy.

The door was blocked by the dominated drow, who had to do what Imoen told him. The archmage grinned evilly. It was time to end this.

She prepared, whispered a deadly spell…

Then she made a step forward and cast the wail of the banshee.

From one second to the other, their enemies, including the dominated one, fell dead to the ground.

After a short moment Imoen sent one fireball and two lightning bolts to the next room.

Then she looked to the deva, "Hm? Could you…?"

It didn't show a reaction and glided through the door.

„No more enemies here alive," the deva cried and as the three humans entered the room, they saw about ten dead drow. Jolar felt a lump in his throat, but then he whispered, "All right, we should go upstairs now."

Imoen nodded, but suddenly the four fighters started. Over them were two loud detonations.

"Hm… I know that sound and I've never liked it. Either our friends are dead… or our enemies were stupid enough to make Nali angry… That were two dragons' breathes."

Cernick couldn't say if he was dreaming. Chloe, this gentle person turned into a fighting machine and into a deadly whirlwind.

The whole day he had wondered why the two archmages seemed to respect her fighting skills so much. Chloe wasn't strong – all right, she was trained, but not strong – and as a kensai, she didn't wear any kind of armor. But now she stormed into the room, totally ignoring the drow, swerved their combined attacks and fought them down in this very confined space with elegance, speed and an unbelievable agility.

"Cernick!"

The captain of the guards followed her. Chloe already was in a fight with two drow and one dark elf lay motionless on the ground.

Cernick placed him at her side and attacked the drow, who was standing next to Chloe. The dark elf tried to hit her with an iron club, but the kensai ignored the drow, hoping on Cernick, who blocked the blow with his shield. In the next moment his long sword leapt against his enemy and broke through the armor. The drow died without a cry of pain, but with a mad expression in his face. The captain of the guards pulled his sword back and turned to the next drow, who came through the dark passage. Cernick looked to Chloe and saw her swords killing one of her enemies.

Two loud magical eruptions were set free over them. Something was going on there.

But suddenly there was something next to him… In his side…

He tried to swerve, but was one step too late. A toothed sword hit him in his back and with a painful cry he stumbled back.

Chloe's eyes widened, when she saw him falling, but in the next moment she pushed him hard out of the room... No need for an injured ally. Not here.

"Go back!" somebody shouted behind her.

Chloe smiled. She knew this voice and knew that she could trust it. Without any delay she swerved her attacker and jumped out the room.

The kensai looked up and saw Imoen with two guards.

The archmage cast three lightning bolts, which filled the complete passage of the secret side entrance. Chloe heard a few cries, then deadly silence.

Nalia stood on the tower, without a physical shield. Her guards seemed to back away from her, and even Nalia herself felt the deadly wrath which surrounded her like an unholy aura.

Before she had placed herself in the front of the tower, easy to get for every arrow, bolt, spear or spell, the archmage had cast almost every protection spell on herself she knew. With an evil grin she recognized as the magical and unmagical projectiles bounced off her. Then she felt magical energy. Somebody down there prepared to cast spells to break through her magical shields.

Nalia laughed. Too late…

She closed her eyes and whispered a spell.

And suddenly all around her got grey.

She always had wondered why the world got grey, when she cast a time stop. Why not pink or green? Then she concentrated on the situation again and cast the first dragon's breath. In a normal case the time stop spell was long enough for one complex spell, but Nalia could manage two ones and one spell of lower magic. The amulet of power and the robe of Vecna improved her abilities and sped her up.

After she had cast the first one, she decided to cast a second dragon's breath. She smiled coldly: The dragon's breathes were enough to outnumber them extremely, but a cloudkill would finish them all.

Suddenly her surroundings became vivid again.

She closed her eyes…

And heard the two explosions together with painful cries of her dying enemies…

When she realized that there was deadly silence, where her enemies were a moment ago, she sat down, completely exhausted.

-tbc-

[1] That's a difference caused by the Saerileth mod. If you play with her, you have the chance to get two Amulets of power.