Tales Of The Sword Coast
Of Kano Melavandros


Chapter One, The Unknown Assailant

My vision was blurred; I slowly moved my hand and felt the cold, stone floor I was laying upon, the last thing I remembered was the towering entrance to the vast city of Baldurs Gate before blacking out. Now here I was, with a thumping headache, I was fearful of awaking and wondering what the hell is going to happen, for several weeks now a man has been experimenting on me, god it hurts. I can’t remember a thing and on top of this I have no idea what has happened to my companions. Oh god, here he comes again, what in the hell does he want from me?

Man – “Ah, the child of Baahl has awoken, it is time for more “experiments”

This is the part that hurts, I can see the reddish glow of casting magic, I had better brace myself. The bolts of magic spread from the mans fingertips and hurled themselves towards me, hitting me and knocking me further across the floor, my back hitting some hard object. My vision is still blurred; I wish I knew where I was. From out of nowhere a gravel like voice with a slight echo spoke:

Voice – “Master, more intruders have entered the complex”

Man – “they act sooner than we had anticipated! However, they will only prove a slight delay”

Another wave of magic hit me; he obviously doesn’t have anything better to do than cause me pain.

Man – “Interesting, you have much untapped power”

I blacked out once more. Visions of my home faded out of nothing, the good old days when I was a young lad, it was some kind of huge library, perhaps a school, and a man in gray robes scowling at me. Images of me wandering the grounds, and also the woman, she was there too. It looked as if we were some sort of family, perhaps we are? Or perhaps we were.

Woman - “Wake up!”

I groaned, has he bothered hiring somebody to wake me up this time?

Woman – “Kano, WAKE UP!”

Kano, there’s a name that rings a bell; I wonder if it’s my name. Using my depleted strength I lifted my head and attempted to focus, a woman stood in front of me, from behind what looks like steel bars. I clambered to my feet and leant against the bars, everything was swirling, and I couldn’t tell if I was leaning against the floor half the time. I opened my eyes, the place was wobbly for a few minutes, but bit-by-bit every twisted detail merged with the other to form a gruesome picture, I was in some sort of dungeon, with cages and chains littered about the place. Everything was rustic, and a foul stench hung like a sick fog in the air. My mouth was dry; I could almost taste the hard stone floor as I tried desperately to return some moisture to it.

Woman – “Kano, we have to get out of here!”

I darted my eyesight to the woman, she was a frail figure, with purple like hair and a severely malnourished expression.

Woman – “He messed with your head too huh?”

I thought of replying, but everything was still slightly blurry, and I was too concentrated on standing up, I looked her up and down, and then looked all around me at the vast amount of torture devices, chains, cages and doors that filled the place.

Woman – “We have to get out of here Kano, do you hear me? Speak to me!”

I had heard enough

Kano – “Who are you?”

Woman – “You don’t remember? Perhaps he messed with your head a bit more than mine, im Imoen, we grew up in Candlekeep, that’s our home, and our father figure was Gorion the wizard”

So I was the son of a wizard now? This gets better and better.

Kano – “What are we doing here?”

Imoen – “Your guess is as good as mine, the last thing I remember was being just outside Baldurs Gate, then everything went black and I woke up in some cage a few rooms back, he is evil Kano! He did things to our heads!”

Kano – “That man who was hitting me with magic?”

Saying that reminded me of the pain, and suddenly my entire body ached, that kind of pain would only be the result of several weeks worth of magical exposure.

Imoen – “Yeah, I don’t know what he wants with us, he put this belt around my waist, and I can’t get it off”

I looked at her belt, it was a simple one, but obviously magical, the buckle was tight on, and although almost invisible, the glow around it was apparent.

Imoen – “Kano, we have to move before he comes back!”

Kano – “All right, im moving…I ache all over though”

Imoen put a jagged key into the lock of what seemed to be a cage I was in, I had never noticed until she went to unlock the door, oh well, at least im free now.

Imoen – “I saw our weapons in a room over there, all the magical weapons and armour were taken, but there’s enough to get us equipped”

I didn’t fancy being killed in the first five minutes I had coherent thought, I went straight for the door, looking around as I approached with Imoen, the door was wooden, and substantially larger than the average door, as if they wer not really designed for humans. I opened it.

Kano – “Well bugger me…”

In front of me stood some sort of gigantic stone creature, it wasn’t moving, which I guess I should be thankful for.

Kano – “What in the hell is that?”

Imoen – “A golem, there’s loads of them about, mostly worker golems that wont cause you any harm.”

Kano – “Right, lets get these weapons”

With an odd look at the creature I slowly shuffle past it, the room was a small one, with several weapons on a central table, a chest was against the wall and a few odd looking paintings on the wall. I moved for the weapons and began sorting through them, picking up several swords and slashing at the air to test them in a very lame way, as if I had picked up a weapon for the first time.

Imoen – “That’s unusual for you, you don’t like swords, it gets in the way of your spell casting doesn’t it?”

I should have guessed, I was the son of a damn wizard, stupid me.

Kano – “Let me guess, I can cast spells too?”

Imoen – “He really DID screw you up, over there, on the chest, your spell book”

Kano – “Why didn’t the man take it?”

Imoen – “From the magical abilities he had, I would say that book would be a joke to him”

I remember thinking thanks Imoen, that gives me a lot of confidence, but then I realized I was already well inside the deep end. I walked over to the chest and grabbed the spell book, staring at its brown, dusty cover.

Kano – “Lets get this stuff together”

We gathered several weapons of different type, and I found a basic wizard robe in the chest along with some more heavy armour, if what Imoen said was true and all our weapons and armour were here, there was enough equipment for 4, maybe 5 people, I wondered.

Kano – “There’s more equipment than we can carry here, who else was with us?”

Imoen – “I’m not sure, there was Jahera and Khalid, Minsc…”

Kano – “They may be in that cage complex, lets go have a look around”

Picking up the last bit of amour, I saw a key lying in the bottom of the chest, I grabbed it, it wasn’t heavy, and would most likely prove useful in one door or another. We shuffled around the stone golem again and went back into the cage room, the place was huge, we began to walk towards the back of the room.

Kano – “You remember anything about Gorion? My memory is still a little fuzzy”

Imoen – “Not much, he was murdered by an evil man named Seravok, you hunted him down and killed him Kano”

Kano – “Im that lethal huh…”

Imoen – “Back there you were a legend, I don’t even know where we are now”

As we walked forward two figures in cages became apparent, a tall thin woman, maybe an elf, and a quite muscular man stroking something in his hand. We approached the cages, the man flicked his eyes upwards a moment, then, realizing it was obviously a friend, leapt to his feet.

Man – “KANO! You have broken free of your bars! Free Minsc! For we must put royal foot to ass for what has taken place here!”

I leaned towards Imoen’s ear and whispered

Kano – “Did he take a knock on the head?”

Imoen smiled at me, the woman on the other cage, now fully awake thanks to the oaf next door’s bantering, gave a nod towards me.

Woman – “There you are Kano, we must leave this place, I swear, traveling with you is never boring”

I once again whispered to Imoen

Kano – “We trust these two, yes?”

Imoen nodded at me.

Kano – “Lets get out of here, Imoen, free the woman, ill get Minsc out of this one”

I threw her the key, the almost dropped it, it was clear that everyone was still out of sorts and quite dazed, maybe I can find the man that did this to us, and if I am indeed as lethal as Imoen tells me, exact pain the likes he has never felt upon him.

Imoen – “Jahera, stand back”

Imoen unlocks the cage and Jahera steps out and stretches’, seeing her old armour and ritual spear and begins equipping herself.

Kano – “Right Minsc, how are we going to get you out of here, the bars are solid, there is no key and I can’t see a lever”

Minsc – “Hurry Kano! For boo is becoming eager to get into battle once more!”

A little furry thing in his palm gave a squeal of delight, it was a bloody hamster. I have probably seen some stupid things in my time, but a man talking to a hamster? That is truly the icing on the cake.

Kano – “What in the hell is…to be honest, im not surprised anymore”

Minsc – “Hurry Kano”

Kano – “All right, hold your horses”

Minsc frowned slightly, at least he’s behind bars or he would probably take offence.

Minsc – “I think you wont free Minsc, I think you want to keep Minsc here!”

He was a brutal chap, and from what I could tell had almost unnatural strength, time for a little test.

Kano – “Yes Minsc, im leaving you here, you are too weak to follow with us”

Minsc growled, it was working

Minsc – “You are no better than those who captured us! I shall rip your head from your tiny little body! I shall exact vengeance! RRRRAAAAARRGH!”

Minsc grabbed the bars, and in a fit of rage bent them wider and wider apart until he could step out of the cage, I was in actual fact, quite worried at this stage.

Minsc – “NOW YOU SHALL FEEL MY RIGHT HAND, YOU SHALL…you shall…oh………I see!”

Has he totally lost it?

Minsc – “You are a clever one Kano, you anger Minsc enough so he breaks free of the bars! You are as clever as boo sometimes hehe”

What an idiot

Kano – “Yes Minsc, you are now free, and we can destroy those who stand in our way!”

Minsc grabbed a large two-handed sword and a suit of splint mail and equipped himself. Afterwards, he looked like the sort of chap you wouldn’t want to meet in a lit alleyway, let alone a dark one. I readily decided we had wasted enough time standing about conversing with hamsters and bending bars, time to get the hell out of here. We all turned for the corridor that lead out of the room, but saw someone running around the corner, he was a small man, hunched with a hat and boots on, he ran straight for us.

Kano – “What in the nine plains..?”

Almost as quickly as I spoke, the man exploded in a shower of green glowing light

Minsc – “oooooh, that look like it hurt”

Kano – “I doubt he enjoyed it, lets get the hell out of here”

We ran down the corridor and turned the corner, in the next room, a large crystal like contraption stood in the center, with a few levers and a small winged creature, the creature slowly turned, not noticing our presence at first.

Kano – “Why do I get the feeling that thing isn’t friendly”

The creature caught a glimpse of the party, turned, and with a quite weird howling noise flew straight at us, Minsc, who had been almost wetting himself in delight the whole time at the prospect of a fight sprung into action, running straight at the creature with a large and quite idiotic scream, I almost expected him to trip up and fall flat on his face. That moment, I was shown that not all of the dumbest warriors are the worst in combat, Minsc raised his two handed sword and swung it straight down on the creature, the creature must have developed a splitting headache as it was cleaved in two.

Kano – “Blimey, your quite the fighter Minsc”

I turned my attention to the large crystal pillar in the middle of the room, it had to be some sort of trap, already I have seen cages, men talking to hamsters, golems, men exploding and small creatures being split in half, I was quite ready to expect the worst. In my efforts to find a way around the contraption, I looked past it and at the room adjacent, a few men stood in front of a large mound of seemingly harmless crystals, time for another experiment methinks.

Kano – “Everyone stay where you are, when these men attack, wait until they pass the room to engage them”

Imoen – “Right you are Kano”

After satisfying myself that Minsc wouldn’t have some sort of fit at the prospect of battle and run off, I turned and bellowed at the men in the next room.

Kano – “HEY YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS, COME GET SOME!”

The men turned and one screamed

Man – “It’s more fools working for Irenicus! Kill them!”

They all rushed towards across the room and into the room with the crystal pillar, I watched in awe as the pillar shot a bolt of lightning straight at them, sizzling two of them. The man who was left firstly froze, then decided to turn and run back towards the other room, the pillar shot once more, frying him as he ran.

Kano – “Quite nasty that”

I approached the room, but decided that the pillar must be magically triggered and on a timer of three seconds, I picked up a small stone from the ground. I threw the stone in the room, the pillar shot it from the air in a flash of light.

Kano – “All stay here, ill turn this thing off”

I picked up another stone, waited a few seconds, then, throwing the stone towards the opposite side from the control levers, I ran straight for them, the pillar once again shot the stone from the air, I almost tripped as I ran for the levers, and arrived a second before the next trigger, shutting the machine off and saving myself from becoming a kebab. Looking back at the rest of my companions, who were quite obviously holding their breath through the entire time, they all sighed with relief, we continued onwards. The room that the men had been standing in was a vast sort of cave with a large crystal formation in the center, and more crystal formations around the outside and on the walls, it was of quite obvious magical design, the crystals may be used to harness other energy, or keep a powerful being from escaping.

Voice – “Ahh Kano”

I looked around at my companions, they all shrugged back at me, something wasn’t right.

Kano – “Who is this?”

Voice – “That, is not important”

A small explosion of magical energy appeared in front of me, and a swirling mass slowly faded into existence to show a genie like man.

Voice – “What matters is what you seek”

Kano – “And what is it, that I seek”

Voice – “You seek the way out of this place, you seek the man who captured you, and most important of all, you seek who you truly are”

Kano – “Really? And who am I, truly?”

Voice – “That I do not have the answer to, but the others, I have the ability to help you with”

Kano – “Then speak, who is it who captured me, and how in the hell do we escape from this place?”

Voice – “If you answer me this riddle, I shall reveal the answers you seek”

Kano – “If it leads to you making some sense, then tell me your riddle”

Voice – “This is not really a riddle, but a dilemma, someone has captured you, your sister is in the cage next to you, your capturer reveals a red button inside your cage and says, if you press the button, you shall die but your sister shall live, if you do not press the button, you shall live, but your sister will die”

Kano – “A dilemma indeed”

Voice – “Tell me, do you press the button?”

Kano – “Yes, I press the button”

Voice – “AHA! You understand that with any action there must be consequence,
Kano, you have killed yourself in my riddle, now DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES”

The genie disappears, and the ground begins to shake, with a large bang of smoke a gigantic humanoid type creature with leather amour and a short sword spears, it growls and slowly pads towards the group.

Kano – “Guess we have to kill it”

Minsc and Jahera run at the best and engage it in combat, Imoen takes out a small bow and begins shooting the creature, I then realize that I am all but totally useless in combat, but with this thought, I remember my spell book. I reach into my side pack and take out the book, opening it’s front page I see the spell magic missile, slowly reading the text from the pages a faint humming noise can be heard. I finish reading the text, but nothing happens, perhaps I have to memorize it? I skim through the text and whilst it is fresh in my mind I put the book away and hold my hands out in front of me. With a loud tone of voice, I begin chanting the words, slowly but surely a large red globe appears in my hands, swirling with magic, with the last word spoken it hurls from my hands, splitting into several little globes in mid flight, the globes span outwards and then all converge on the humanoid creature, slamming into it from either side, causing immense pain and giving Minsc and Jahera the edge they need to kill it. The creature slumps to the ground, and everybody catches their breath.

In a swirl of magic, the same genie as before appears and smiles.

Voice – “It seems you can truly deal with the consequences of your actions Kano, and for this reason I give you the answers you seek, the mage who captured you is the one named Jon Irenicus, he intends to keep you here, but for what purpose is beyond my sight. The way out of this place shall become apparent when you travel down that tunnel, seek the one named Rielev”

The genie points to a crude tunnel on one side of the room.

Voice – “Farewell, and good luck”

Almost as fast as I blinked, the genie was gone, everyone began walking to the tunnel, I couldn’t help but think that this was going to be a long day, not only a long day, but also a painful day. We all made our way past several locked doors down the tunnel, and came to a junction, to the left an open door with large cylinders inside, to the right, one of those huge doors again. I moved for the open door, and felt a wave of fear as soon as I entered the room, these were no simple cylinders, they were tanks, and inside these tanks were shapes, figures, or even remains.

Imoen - “I know this room, we have been in here…he did things…these things used to be people, what kind of monster is this guy? Captures us easy as pie, kills whoever he wants, it could have been us who ended up in those glass tanks”

Kano – “We will find him Imoen, we will make him pay for what he has done to us”

Imoen – “We don’t even know where we are, and my head is still doing funny things, he said something, something about potential. He said something about unlocking your power so it could be used, but if it leads to horrible things I want no part in it, can we go now?”

Kano – “Hell yes, lets get out of here”

We all ran from the room full of soul-less creatures, and to the opposite closed door, I swung it open to find another golem, this one was seemingly fully functional voice wise.

Golem – “Master? Is that you master?”

I then noticed the golems eyes had been removed; I decided to play along for the moment.

Kano – “Yes, it is I, your master”

Golem – “Master, you took away my eyes, I cannot see, can I open all the doors and begin cleaning now master?”

If this golem can open all the doors in this place, then this has to be a good thing.

Kano – “Yes golem, go finish your duties”

Golem – “Master, are you forgetting? I need my gem to allow me movement”

Almost blew it then

Kano – “Um yes, how forgetful of me, I shall return with your gem”

Golem – “I will await you here, master”

I led the group out of the room and further along the corridor, the place seems to stretch for miles, I opened another door at the end of one of the corridors to find a single cylinder tank, a sniveling voice coming from it

Voice - “Ahhhh…who be thee…servants of the master?”

Kano – “For god sake, hamsters, genies, winged creatures, golems and now a pickled man? Who are you?”

Voice – “Release me master, I did not mean to go into her chamber, Rielev is a good man!”

Kano – “Aha, the genie said we must seek you, how can we be of help?”

Rielev – “Release me! I no longer wish to live, master, release me! Please!

Kano – “I think I see the gem which is powering your tank, I shall remove it and leave you to your eternal slumber Rielev”

Rielev – “Yes, release, thank you master…”

I removed the gem; the liquid within the tank slowly turning murky, Rielev was dead. We returned to the blind golem down the tunnel, I placed the gem in his hands.

Kano – “Is this the gem you seek golem?”

Golem – “Yes master, I will begin my cleaning duties”

The golem ran down the corridor, being surprisingly accurate when running despite being blinded, we followed it, it opened several locked doors and fairly soon ran out of sight, we stopped to rest a few minutes, we are all quite clearly out of shape. After resting we continued down several corridors the golem gained us access to, until we came to a great central room, circular, with a large grate in the very center, the walls were piled with boxes, chests, bags and there were chains hanging from the ceiling, but that is certainly not what we all noticed to begin with, a large fat creature stood in the room with tentacles, it had suction pads on the end of each tentacle and a huge row of razor sharp teeth.

Kano – “Bugger me that looks a bit rough”

Minsc – “Minsc shall slay the beast! Come boo! To battle!”

Kano – “Minsc you oaf, stay your blade, you would most certainly be turned to chop suey against such a creature”

With a slight mumble Minsc begins talking to his hamster again, what an odd person he is, and for all his stupidity, a valuable asset in battle. I pondered what to do about the beast, we couldn’t sneak around it, and we would most likely be killed in an all out battle with it, in times like this, magic is probably the solution. I sat down near the door, flicking through the pages of my spell book, until my eyes lit up at two pages, clearly labeled “Monster Summoning” and “Spider Spawn”. I stood up, and turned to the beast, I had become more and more familiar with memorizing the spells, and now felt I could handle two instead of just the one. I began chanting the words, Minsc and the others looked on, silently hoping I made no mistake, with my last word and with a huge pillar of smoke, a wolf emerged and lunged at the best, I instantly recited Spider Spawn as quickly as I possibly could, and once finished, a large poisonous spider attacked the creature, stabbing it several times with it’s razor like legs, this was the distraction we needed, Imoen immediately let fly a hail of arrows at the thing, wounding it in several places, and almost as quickly, Minsc was in combat with it, whacking it over the head with his sword, Jahera stood by his side stabbing it with her spear. The wolf fell, the beast cleanly biting off one of it’s back legs then finishing it off with a sweep of it’s tentacle, the spider had weakened the creature too much, and it began to slow down and stumble about, it didn’t take long to finish it off. I wonder what other creatures there are in this god-forsaken place, but no doubt, I shall soon find out. We continued past it’s large corpse and down another tunnel, opening the door, we came across a sleeping quarters of some sort, nicely decorated, with expensive rugs and chests. I stepped forward but was quickly stopped in my tracks by Imoen, pointing to the ground there are several traps in the room, I nodded at Imoen and we all stood as she disarmed any she came across. In the chests and draws we found several small gems we could trade once we escaped, a few new helmets and such that we took with us and a small statue of some sort of gate, thinking that this would most likely prove useful later on, I took it. Navigating the several tunnels connected with the bedroom another room came into view, this room was nowhere near a true reflection of this dungeons master, it was beautifully colourful, with plants in bloom on every table, expensive rugs and a sweet smell in the air.

Imoen – “This place does not belong to the monster that captured us”

Kano – “I do not think this Irenicus would rent space out, it must be his”

Imoen – “No, im telling you it’s not, it belongs to his lost love, he spoke of her, of not being able to save her, she is gone, and this room is exactly how his love left it, it has become a shrine”

Kano – “What better way to piss him off than taking stuff from his dead loves room”

It sounded a little harsh, but I didn’t care, ill wrap my hands around his neck and choke him out if I ever see him again.

Imoen – “Take what you want, I refuse, ill be waiting outside”

I wandered around the room collecting magic scrolls, a small gem of some sort, and several potions, most possibly healing ones. The room was a welcome sight from the harsh surroundings we had faced since leaving our home so long ago, since that day we have fought our way through my destiny, sometimes I wonder if my companions deserve to walk my path with me, sometimes it’s just too dangerous. I left the room, we pressed onwards, this place was becoming almost boring, the endless tunnels and strange creatures were too much, and I found myself wanting to be out in the open once again, or in the city where there are inns and shops to browse. Things seem to fade to a dull gray as we blindly open door after door, searching for the way out of this labyrinth, im becoming more and more frustrated. We returned to the first bedroom, and walked across the room to another door. Opening the door, a large portal stood before the group, it looked strangely like a mirror and shimmered in the light. A small hole was apparent in the side of the portal, as if something was supposed to be placed inside it. In times like these, there’s always something strange that acts as a key, I removed the statue I found earlier, the gem and several other odd objects from my pouch and began to randomly place them in the hole in different angles. After several minutes of pure frustration, the statue slot calmly into the hole, and the portal began to shimmer more quickly, an image of a corridor, not wanting to remain in the same place for too long, I ushered the group through. In a hail of mist and swirling images our surroundings took shape, a small corridor with only one door, but a strange figure lurking in the shadows. We stood there, staring straight at it, it’s not as if it didn’t realize we were there, it stared straight back, until finally, it moved towards us. With hands twitching at the hilts we observed a strange samurai-looking fellow approach us, and with a cautious tone spoke:

Man – “So there is sanity in all of this madness, if you are not in league with the evil that lurks here, Yoshimo begs your assistance”

I looked the man up and down; he was quite experienced, with a rather nasty looking samurai kitana, flexible leather armour and several small blades in easy access places all over his body, he had long hair in a slight ponytail.

Jaheira – “A line most likely used by many of Irenicus’s allies, we have been imprisoned and worse, as well as being given many reasons to distrust strangers we encounter”

Yoshimo – “I share your sentiments, I myself have seen many horrors in this place, I am a warrior with no evil intentions, and any assistance you can offer would be greatly appreciated”

I wondered whether to trust him, it seems far too odd that he managed to escape by himself, but at this time I needed all the friends I could get to escape from this nightmare.

Kano – “You are welcome to join us, lets get going”

Yoshimo – “Let me offer you what information I have salvaged from my wanderings through this place, in the room ahead is a man behind a prison of glass, I encountered him a while back, when I turned away and looked again, he was a boy! Truly I am not mad?”

I remember thinking that this Yoshimo person was quite odd, if a little sinister, we moved onwards into the room the samurai had spoke of, there, with his hands gently pressed against a glass wall was a small boy, a locked door was the obvious way into his prison, the boy spoke.

Boy – “Please sir, help me escape, he captured me and held me here!”

I didn’t like it, why were the walls of this prison glass? I thought observation, I thought danger, I thought I was hungry.

Kano – “We shall do no such thing boy, if you are indeed what you claim to be, there are too many hints here that you are not what you appear”

We left the room, and as we walked out of the door, unholy groans came from the creature as it became enraged, I wasn’t taking any risks, this was a dangerous place, it felt as if the very walls themselves would reach out and stab me in the back without a moments notice, I just wanted to leave, leave and take vengeance for what had happened to me and my companions. Traversing a tunnel with a large network of pipelines, a clear slope upwards, we listened to nothing but the sound of our very footsteps, the drips falling and hitting the ground became louder and louder with every moment that passed, something wasn’t right, this was clearly the way out, but we all felt on edge, we were right to be so worried after all. With a thunderous cry a group of rogues jumped from the shadows on every wall, the leader shouting to the rest of his companions

Leader – “I TOLD you he had reinforcements, I said he couldn’t be that powerful by himself”

Despite the leaders words, the men didn’t seem to care about anything but killing us, running as fast as possible to engage us in battle, my friends got to it, Imoen shooting her bow, Minsc swinging wildly, it was a heated battle, with several deadly blows struck, blood was spraying everywhere, and during the fight I couldn’t help but notice the huge amount of bodies we had passed all through this nightmare, all dressed in gray, all carrying basic daggers, short swords, and wearing leather armour, these people were assassins, we were in the middle of some kind of war. The last man fell with a scream, the combatants gained their breath, I sniffed the air, it was cleaner than before, I began to run through the tunnel, my companions struggling to keep up, wondering what in the hell I was doing, at that moment I didn’t care, nothing was going to stop me from getting out of this place. The light from the outside shone brightly, almost blinding me, I was slowed to a steady walk, we all adjusted our eyes to the sunlight, we were so relieved we almost didn’t notice the immense debris at our feet, from the heat haze we began hearing voices, the sound of steel drawn and the echo of threats, we had emerged into the middle of a battle. I tried sorting the figures into sides, although many men stood around one man, I closed my eyes momentarily, wishing it wasn’t him, when I opened them again, I was greeted by the sight of Jon Irenicus, surrounded by assassins, it was fairly obvious that he had killed most, if not all of those who lay around his feet.

Irenicus “You DARE attack me here? Do you know whom you face? You will suffer, you will ALL suffer”

With a flurry of spells Irenicus killed them one after one, his skills that of seemingly godly power, they never managed to swing an arm in his direction, which led to another puzzle, how in the hell was I going to compete with such power, and on top of that, how in the hell was I supposed to exact vengeance against a man who has dispatched several assassins in only a few seconds? Irenicus turns to face the group and myself.

Irenicus – “Ahh child, you have escaped, you are more resourceful than I had anticipated”

Imoen – “We wont be tortured anymore!”

Irenicus – “You SILLY little girl, you have no idea of what I am doing, do you”

Imoen – “I don’t care, all I know is that I will have no more part in it”

Imoen readily chanted some quick words and threw a hail of magical globes at Irenicus, as I predicted at the time they may as well have bounced off of him, they did little but burn his clothes, and somehow I didn’t think he would be thankful for it.

Irenicus – “Enough of this! You shall come back with me!”

At that moment, four shimmering portals materialize with a searing humming noise, slowly several robed figures stepped from the portals to surround Irenicus and the group, I swear, could this day be ANY more of a bastard than it already is?

Robed Figure – “This is an unsanctioned use, of magical energy!"

Second Robed Figure – “All those involved shall be detained, this disturbance is OVER”

Looks like it can

Irenicus – “You cannot contain me you fools, BEGONE!”

Irenicus once again unleashed a magical bombardment, completely decimating the experienced mages in an explosion of energy, but as he killed one robed figure, another portal appeared with another to replace him, soon he was surrounded by seven mages, they were not at all pleased to find their number dead.

Third Robed Figure – “This mage is strong, we must overpower him quickly”

Irenicus – “You bore me mageling, let this END”

Third Robed Figure – “You will cease your spell casting and come with us, even if you kill us we are many in number, you will be overwhelmed”

Irenicus stood for a moment, scowling at the mages, they seemed like a sort of magical police force, not that I cared at the time, I either wanted to slay Irenicus, or for the moment at least, escape so we can figure out where the hell we are, and what our next move is.

Irenicus – “I will come with you, but you WILL take the girl also”

Imoen – “What, but, ive done nothing wrong!”

Third Robed Figure – “You have been involved in illegal use of magic, you will come with us”

A hail of portals opened, the mages led Irenicus through one, and Imoen was bundled through another, I wanted to help, I wanted to just kill them all, rescue Imoen and get the hell out of here, but something told me these mages would brush me aside with a flick of the wrist, and at times like these, it’s best to keep your mouth shut. The debris was in a huge promenade in the middle of a gigantic city, where we were was still a mystery to me, but one of my top priorities is to find out. And so I stood, in the middle of a crater full of debris, missing the closest person I have to family, feeling severely homesick, battered, bruised and mentally exhausted, time to find a place to stay for the night, time to find Imoen, time to go home, but something tells me that it wont be that simple, it never is that simple…