"I imagine the rest of these poor creatures will lead us through other dreamscapes," Gann said once they had emerged back to where the two humans - bard and wizard - stood, "So which next?"

"Let's save the bard for last, I'm a little frightened of what they will have in store for one such as me," she said, "Though going on stage without my lines did fulfill some oddly specific nightmares."

The prison she found herself after they had stepped, hand in hand, through the portal, looked more like a fine house. The rugs on the floor were of uncommon quality, and the portraits on the wall were the product of a skilled hand. She paused to admire them, but her exploration of a particular landscape was interrupted by an explosion from the next room. She and Gann ran into the next room, where the wizard, again a more robust version of himself, was pacing back and forth, a scorched part on the wall showing where his frustration had manifested itself in an errant fireball.

"There's got to be something I'm overlooking!" he raged, "Something I - Oh! You! You have to help me!"

"What can I help you with?" she asked.

The wizard, a squirrely young man with a mop of yellow curls, paused in his pacing, "This thing, this vile creature, claims to have the right to my soul!" The wizard shouted. He pointed to the middle of the room where, contained in a circle of salt on the floor, a demon stood. He was human in size and shape. He would have been handsome but for the red of his skin.

"You mean that..." she searched her memory for what picture in her books this particular demon matched, "Falxugon over there?"

"Oh! So you know a bit about the infernal then?"

"I actually knew a warlock once who collected them. Kept them in cages like zoo creatures," Adahni said.

"Collected them? Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replied, thinking of the eccentric old warlock. Her thoughts then drifted to his unfortunate granddaughter. Her lonely grave on her farm.

"Try me," the wizard said.

"He hoped to harness their power to defeat an almighty being of shadow, itself a failed magical experiment of a lost empire," she said, summing up the defeat of the King of Shadows into as few words as she could.

The wizard blinked at her, his mouth falling open like a fish.

"Told you you wouldn't believe me."

"It's not that. Are you still in contact with this warlock? He sounds like just the person to help me out of my current predicament," the wizard asked hopefully.

"I've lost track of him," she said.

"Well, if you find him, tell him to write to Faras Windelhelm of Telflamm..."

"He's not here right now, and I am," she said, "And it does sound as though your predicament is a bit… urgent."

"Ah well, I suppose you'll have to do," Faras sighed, "The matter at hand concerns the contract I signd with that... what did you call it? A Falxugon?"

"You signed a contract with that devil?" Adahni asked, shaking her head.

"No!" Farrras shouted, "I - er - th-that is, I did sign a small agreement, so yes, I suppose. Yes."

"Gods almighty, what stories did your mother tell you growing up? Everyone knows deals with devils never turn out well for the mortal involved. Nevermind, what were the terms?"

"Not my soul, that's for sure! We simply agreed on a number of favors he would do for me, if I did certain things for him," Farras replied.

"Do you have a copy?" Adahni asked.

"Ask him," Farras said.

"Good lords," Adahni said, rolling her eyes. She approached the containment circle.

"Greetings my friend!" the devil said, sweeping a low bow. "Enzibur at your service, my good lady. I hope our good friend Faras here hasn't concerned you overmuch with talk of our business relationship."

"Between you and me," Adahni said, "I think he's full of it, but tell me, do you have a claim on his soul?"

"I do!" he announced, producing a scroll out of thin air with a flourish of his fingers, "Here, you may peruse the contract at your leisure!"

"I think my associate and I need to confer in the next room," she said, tucking the scroll under her arm and beckoning for Gann to follow her back to the room where they had emerged from the portal.

"Associate," Gann said, "I like that word. Farishta and Gannayev, fighting at your side!"

"You're welcome, counsel," she said. She took out her pouch of tobacco and rolled a smoke, "All right, let's pick this thing apart word by word."

They sat there at a very comfortable table made of very fine wood, both poring over the scroll, her taking lazy drags from her smoke. The gist of the contract was that Enzibur would grant four favors to the hapless wizard, each lasting a year, and in exchange the wizard would perform escalating acts of cruelty against his fellow mortal, culminating in murder.

"Here it is!" Gann cried, "Here's the damning clause. Pun intended." He had read all the way to the end of the scroll, past endless terms and conditions. There, in very tiny print in a very sloppy hand, someone had added an addendum, "It says here that once everything else has been completed, all the favors, all the... nasty stuff the wizard had to do - the devil gets his soul."

"So he's fucked," Adahni said, "I remember when all of this would have been settled in a fiddle contest."

"A what?"

"A fiddle contest. The devil challenges you to a contest of music, he plays, you beat him, and you win endless riches," she said,

"Do you even play the fiddle?"

"Poorly," she said, "Fingering's the same as a mandolin, but I never really got good at it. I suppose challenging him to a contest for the poor man's soul is out then."

"A fiddle contest," Gann mused, "The mythology of your people is strange indeed. What other ideas do you have, my lemming?"

"Baatezu law is strange,," she said, "They're evil, of course, but they're utterly devoted to rules. They gain power by gathering souls, it's like gold for the rest of us, but only within a very strict set of guidelines."

"So they're everything you hate, aren't they," Gann said.

"I have a certain admiration for them," Adahni said, "They're consistent. Their collected souls, though, they only count if they are given up of free will. No coercion, no trickery beyond your average everyday fine print."

"So, you're saying if the devil forced his hand at any point..."

"From my understanding, it would render the whole thing void," she said.

"Nobody's perfect 100% of the time. Not even devils," Gann said, "There must be some irregularity. Let's get it out of him."

They cornered the wizard in the next room. He was a shivery, rabbity little fellow, all twitches and oversized ears. He cowered before them more so than he even did before the devil.

"OK, let's go from the beginning," Adahni said, "How'd this mess start?"

"It all began several years ago. I was one of two apprentices under the tutelage of master wizard, Galban of Telflamm, At first my studies went well, but then the other apprentice, Ithias, began to pull ahead of me. The master began to get upset that he had to teach us at different rates, and he started assigning me menial tasks so he could spend more time with Ithias. It became so unbearable that I went to look for a new teacher. One prospective teacher who lived nearby was summoner, but I arrived Early to our meeting and he hadn't. Instead, I found him in a circle in the center of the room, waiting for me." He pointed over at Enzibur, who danced a little jig and bowed again, delighted at the attention.

"Did the summoner ever arrive?" Adahni asked.

"I don't know," replied Faras, "While I was waiting I began talking to Enzibur over there, who was sympathetic to my plight and promised to help me with my problems."

"I'm sure he did," Gann said, "Is that when you signed the contract?"

"No," Faras replied, "I returned home, but Enzibur began to visit me whenever Galban and Ithias went out, and we eventually came to an arrangement."

"And then?"

"Things went well enough at first. I fulfilled a couple of conditions in the contract,and was rewarded as promised. My studies began to pick up, and my situation got better. And at some point the favors vanished. I have no idea why."

"There was a stipulation in the contract that stated favors would only last a year, you know," Adahni said, unfurling the scroll and pointing to the clause.

"There was? Hells. I must have missed that part, too. If only I'd never signed the stupid thing!"

"No argument here," muttered Gann, "What did you do when the favors ran out?"

"I summoned Enzibur. Unfortunately, Ithias burst into my room and caught me talking to him. He immediately began threatening to tell the master."

"Not a smart move," Adahni commented.

"No, but Ithias was never quite as brilliant as master Galban believed. He didn't foresee what I did next. Without thinking, I cast a spell at him. He wasn't quite so quick to run to the master after being doused with acid! Fortunately, I had an area silence spell memorized as well. You wouldn't believe how much he screamed," Faras said, with a disturbing little giggle. Adahni wondered if he wouldn't have been damned anyway, with or without the aid of the devil.

"How'd you get out of that one?"

"I fled. I grabbed a few of my things and just started running. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away before the master discovered what I had done. It didn't take long for him to find me, though."

"Oh boy," Gann sighed.

"He said I was dangerous and he began chanting a spell. I didn't know what to do. I closed my eyes and was cowering when I heard the crackling of energy and then harumph of surprise. I opened my eyes, and he was gone. I searched the area where he had been standing and found only some dust. I was scared out of my mind!"

"Did his spell backfire?" asked Adahni.

"It's possible. I suppose. Galban was a very powerful wizard, though. I doubt he could make such a mistake. I suppose he could have teleported, or he might have been killed by a spell. Either would explain the dust I found."

"And you're sure you didn't do anything?" Adahni probed.

"No! The spell I used to silence Ithias was the last spell I had memorized at the time. So I fled. Again. I didn't stop until it had gotten dark out. I was staying at an inn about a day's ride from Telflamm when I found a letter in my pack. It said that the terms of our contract were complete, and that my soul would become Enzibur's property upon my death."

"So you're trying to get out of it. Any ideas?"

"Not much. I've been researching infernal contracts for weeks now with little progress due to the subject matter. Do you know much of it?"

"Some," she said, "Wait, go back to what you said about Galban. Are you sure you didn't kill him?"

"No! I was too scared. It wouldn't have done any good anyway. He would have swept any spell I knew away with a wave of his hand. All I did was cringe and wish he'd go away!"

"Wait!" Gann cried. He went through the contract, reading furiously, "So this is when you used your wish?"

"What wish?"

"This wish of limited power, the one you got for your second condition... casting an evil spell. So what you're saying is you summoned Enzibur, an evil spell, and then made a wish?" Gann pointed to the clause.

"In a manner of speaking. I didn't say out loud "I wish my master would go away," but I did think it over and over at the time... oh gods, I did it! I'm responsible for my master's death. Galban had friends, powerful friends... oh gods!"

"Wait, wait wait," Adahni said, "Did you actually wish for his death?"

"Well, if you want to be technical about it... no."

"What did I say about Baatezu and technicalities," Adahni said, "I would have another word with our demonic friend."

She turned back to the demon, who was engrossed in shaping his nails with a small file, "Enzibur, my good devil," she called.

"Yes? What can I help you with, fair lady?"

"I just had a couple of questions. The final part of the contract, where Faras had to cause the death of another human being," she said, "Whom did he kill?"

"He didn't have to kill," Enzibur corrected her, "He had to cause a death."

"Ah, yes, of course, my mistake. Whose death did he cause?

"Why, his master Galban, of course. I'm sure Faras has told you all about it."

"How exactly did Galban die?"

"Faras wished him dead. I was only to happy to oblige him and cast the disintegrate spell myself!" the demon announced brightly. He grinned from ear to ear.

"But he didn't wish him dead," she said.

"Of course he did!"

"No, you see, he wished that his master would go away, not that he would die. You were the one who interpreted that wish, falsely, as a wish for death."

Enzibur froze a moment, but quickly regained his composure, "Let's suppose for a moment that you are correct. What does it matter? The wish was made, and here we are."

"Ah ah," she chided, "Not so fast. You made that interpretation and forced his hand. His soul cannot be yours as it was not given up by his own free will. It's invalid."

She saw the wheels turning behind Enzibur's face, trying to find a way in which her words were false. His expression turned from astonishment to anger, and back to serenity.

"I won't forget this mortal," he said, "You've impressed me. Perhaps… a fiddling contest would more suit your talents." With another fluorish of his hands, he brought forth from nothingness a finely made fiddle. He played a few bars, not a tune that Adahni recognized, but it was haunting and sinister.

"Not likely," she said, grinning, "I bid you good journey."

"And you too. Best of luck. You'll need it, I think."

In a flash of fire and a whiff of brimstone, the devil disappeared. She turned back to the ecstatic wizard, who rushed up to her and pumped her hand, thanking her profusely.

"Don't get yourself into anymore trouble," she said, "And if Galban's powerful friends track you down... just watch your ass." Faras nodded enthusiastically, and went about, packing his things.

"So what happens to him now, is he released from his prison do you think?"

"I don't know, but I say, if the whole adventuring thing goes wrong, we could make a killing," Gann said as they returned to the portal from whence they came, "We could be infernal lawyers. Getting your soul back, one client at a time!"

"I can't afford that. Could you imagine malpractice insurance?"

"I mean, can the damned sue you?" asked Gann.

"I don't know. I think that's something we should consider before hanging a shingle."

"It looks like we're about to find out," he said. They had passed through the portal, and stood on a broad plain. The air was not cold, but snow was falling softly around them, though it did not accumulate. The sky hung low and dark blue, shot through with pale white lights. Before them was an endless wall, and as they grew near, they could see the contorted shapes of the bodies that made it up.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"The Wall of the Faithless," Gann said, "Our dreamwalking has taken us to an imagination of the Fugue plane. Let us see what the hag's knowledge will tell us of this place."