Adrian: Baldur's Gate

Adrian stared at the newcomer; it was a ghoul. Adrian had never met a talking ghoul before. Well, unless you counted words like "food", "kill", and various slurping noises.

"You makes friends with undead? Korax likes!" the ghoul said, rephrasing it's opening statement.

"You would be...Korax then?" Adrian asked uncertainly. Inwardly he wondered why so many people referred to themselves in the third person.

"Yes. Korax remembers when he died. He was a son of....a son of...somebody important, he thinks. Not remember that part clearly. Anyways, this mean masked mage, he try to take Korax....no, take something from Korax...can't remember....anyways, his spell not work right, and Korax become Ghoul."

Adrian turned his head, very, very slowly, and looked at Xzar. The necromancer nodded, ever so slightly. Korax had been a Bhaalspawn. And instead of killing him outright, some mage had inadvertently turned him into the most intelligent ghoul ever. Adrian shivered a little.

"And what, exactly," said Adrian, carefully, "Do you want with us?"

"Why, to make friends!" Korax's long tounge poked out of his mouth and licked one decaying eye. "You make friends with undead; is good. Korax needs friends."

"Really want to be friends with us?" Wheedled Xzar. "Come over and meet my big friend here!" He pointed to the giant skeleton. As Korax shuffled over, Xzar shot a meaningful glance at Adrian, who nodded. What better way to deal with such a threat?

"Shake hands," Xzar invited, and When Korax took one massive skeletal hand to shake, Xzar chanted the spell. There was a red glow, then Korax was gone. And the skeleton was even bigger.

"That was highly entertaining." Said Edwin. "Really, really it was. Please, no more games with undead today, hmmmm?!?"

"Agreed, actually," said Xzar, looking a little winded. "Any more tricks with undead like that, and I'll be unable to cast spells today."

"Then let's go," said Adrian.

After encountering a small, almost meaningless group of Gnolls, Adrian's party entered into an area that almost devolved into desert again. The dried bones of some large reptilian creature were half buried in the ground. It was barrenn.

But not entirely lifeless. Though Edwin would probably have pointed out that it lacked any *intelligent* life.

"Look at this bunch of rough-shod upstarts!" a sneering voice called.

Adrian raised his head, and his eyes narrowed. Before them was a group of five "adventurers", or so he assumed they were. Two bratty lads in shining armor, a thief in the usual leathers, an obvious cleric hefting a mace, and a female mage in tasteless pink-and-orange robes. All human, all younger even than Adrian.

"You pathetic specimens obviously need to be taken under wing," the mage sneered at them. "We're Waterhavian heroes, veteran experienced adventurers. You could learn from us."

"Oh, really." Adrian's voice was very flat. "Learn what, perhaps? How to trip over our own swords?"

"Quite," agreed Edwin. "These babies have strayed too far from their mother's breasts."

"Surface dwellers, always so arrogant and presumptuous," sighed Viconia.

The mage purpled in the face. "That sounds like a challenge! Guys! Get the--"

Before they could get anything, Edwin dropped a fireball on them. A lightning bolt from Xzar followed quickly after. Adrian almost casually lifted his crossbow to shoot down the survivors, and between his actions and that of the Giant Skeleton, it was over in minutes.

They got some fair-to-middling magical treasure from the fools' corpses. But they had no opportunity to relax. From the north came a hissing sound they knew well from the dungeons below Candlekeep....

...the hissing of Basilisks.