Being early in the morning, the Copper Coronet was quite empty except for the usual regulars. A red-haired dwarf was nursing a drink in the corner, a group of perpetually drunken barflies was sitting around a table near the stairs, a bug-eyed man was eating his breakfast and the pouty red-headed girl that had tried to talk to Laska before was sulking in a corner.

Outside, the rain could be clearly heard pouring down on the roof of the Copper Coronet, accompanied by the occassional thunder. Water dripped through several leaks in the roof and streamed into buckets and pots which were strategically placed on the floor. Laska and her friends, however, had been sitting around the place, bored out of their skulls. Keldorn and Viconia were quietly chatting by the warm fire, while Laska, being in a rare non-drinking mood, was involved into a swearing contest with Korgan which she appeared to be losing. Jan and Minsc in the meantime were engrossed in a game of Amnian Easy-Street.

"Pick a card!" Minsc said as he put his pawn on the appropriate square. Jan quickly fumbled for a card and read it.

"Hmmm, you win first prize in a beauty-contest! Get ten gold," Jan said. "What a nice surprise..."

A squeek and a chuckle from Minsc later, the large ranger responded. "Boo highly doubts that, tiny..."

"If I had a copper for everytime I've heard that," Jan snickered, "I'd be completely broke. Anyway, this will finance two new houses on Graveyard Boardwalk. Your turn!"

Minsc tossed Jan ten cardboard disks and rolled the dice. "Ah!" he yelled. "Four! One... Two... Three... Four... AHA! Dock Avenue! Minsc will buy that street!"

"You really think there's money in that one, Minscey?" Jan said. "My turnipstand failed miserably there. I had expected more walk-by traffic..." Then, it was Jan's turn again. He rolled ten, set his pawn forward and...

"AHA! Dock Avenue! Minsc owns Dock Avenue and you must pay!" Minsc said and held out a beefy hand.

Jan sighed and handed Minsc the ten copper disks. "Ah, story of my life," Jan added.

"... the farmers are usually happy with it, but sometimes these spells of heavy rainfall can last for days on end," Keldorn told Viconia as he warmed his hands at the fire. "And they can be completely unrelenting. The skies can get so dark it seems perpetually evening..."

"I remember the first time I was caught in a rainstorm," Viconia smiled at her own foolishness. "It happened only a day after I had left the Underdark. I thought the sky was falling, and I was certain to drown! Falling water was quite a strange concept to me..."

"I think we have ample time for another lesson, if you are willing?" Keldorn probed.

"Hmmmm," Viconia bit her lip. "I was afraid you'd say that... but seeing we have little or nothing to do, it might kill some time..."

"Actually, this is more of a lesson for me," Keldorn said.

"Oh?"

"Yes," Keldorn said. "Tell me about your family..."

"My... family?" Viconia asked. She lent back in the chair as she prepared to answer Keldorn. "Well, you seem to have a nack for finding elements of surface-life I fail to understand. I cannot understand the relationships...the closeness that the families of the surface retain with each other. In the Underdark, things are very different. Fathers do not exist as you know it, since the males only service the females of their House when they wish to conceive...or when they desire pleasure. Drow males are educated in all forms of erotic art and they exist to please women, to live or die at their whim."

Keldorn raised an eyebrow, but continued to probe. "What were your younger days like, then?"

"You could say I came from a typical Drow noble House. I had a family of fourteen brothers and sisters. The males, I often didn't... mind," Viconia said carefully, letting Keldorn know she was hiding something from him. Something which touched her very spirit. Viconia didn't seem to notice Keldorn's obeservation and continued. "It were my sisters, though, who were the immediate threat. Every Drow noble female seeks to improve her station, no matter the cost to others. I was like that too, and my sisters were my greatest rivals, each one neing more of a danger and a rival then the next. Most of them perished young...some by my own hand." Viconia spoke in soft tones, as if reliving a nightmarish memory.

Keldorn shook his head in distaste. "The whole arrangement sounds horrible and devoid of caring. How the drow survive is beyond me," he replied.

"Pain and suffering bring strength, suliss. And the Spider Queen encourages rivalry and feuds. There was... caring, however, in my childhood," Viconia stammered. "If only a little. You see, Matron Mothers cannot be bothered with the 'trivialities' of raising their children during their younger years. Usually that task befalls a trusted commoner. All the children of House DeVir, that's my House name by the way, were raised by Vierna. She was an aged Drow herbalist and healer, and she was over a thousand years old," Viconia smiled. This time, the memory she recalled was a good one.

"She was kind.... she told us stories... taught us about all the animals which live in the Underdark... she even gave us ample opportunity for play," Viconia said.

"Us?" Keldorn asked.

"The children of House DeVir, suliss," Viconia quickly corrected, but Keldorn was again convinced she was holding something back.

"But," Viconia sighed, "during that time, I was also taught the tenents of Lolth by Devora, my eldest sister. She... didn't spare the whip. But it was always Vierna who healed my wounds and... made it better."

"She sounds like a unique individual," Keldorn said.

"She was," Viconia smiled sadly. "But let me tell you, Keldorn. The feelings she showed were not unique. Not even among the Drow. Forget what you have heard or read about our race, Keldorn," Viconia sighed and shook her head. "We are not evil incarnate. It's usually the commoners who can afford feelings and display them in public. I travelled the Underdark on trade missions to other cities and then I found out Menzoberranzan, that's the city where I was born, is actually one of the most tradional of our cities. I once travelled to Rilauven in the far north, and walking across the marketplace there, I often saw scenes which were unimaginable in my own city : Children running and playing, mothers nursing their young, and even a few couples of lovers quietly chatting in a seperate corner. And I... deeply envied them," the Drow lamented and shifted uncomfortably in her padded chair.

"But what about you, Keldorn?" the Drow asked with a sly grin, deciding to turn the tables. "I've told you about my childhood, how about you told me a little about yours?"

"There's not much to tell," Keldorn mused. "Compared to yours, my childhood was much more peaceful. Some might say boring..."

"Indulge me," Viconia pressed.

"I was born in Esmeltaran, as the son or a weathly nobleman, and cared for in a most luxurious way," Keldorn began. "My mother hired tutors and knowledgable men from all over the Realms to educate me in all manner of subjects, ranging from ettiquette and philosophy to strategy and the art of warfare... I found those subjects to be facinating at a later age, but to a child those lessons always seemed rather dull. But later in life, during my teen years, my decisions became rather... questionable. One might say I was quite a... juvenile delinquent," Keldorn said with an uncomfortable look on his face.

"NO!" Viconia said and broke into laughter. "You? Say it is not so!"

Keldorn sighed, but smiled a little. "Sure, make fun if you wish, but I was fast becoming a severe disappointment to my parents... I prefered to hang about with my ruffian friends on the streets over anything else. One day, I decided to pull a prank on one of the passer-by's, a Tormtar priest. As I was about to lift his foot, he snapped around and glared at me, snarling : 'No, my son. You will NOT!'... That very night, I had a dream which changed my life forever. An avatar of Torm stood before me, and layed his sword on my shoulder... He did not speak, but the tranquility with which that dream filled me was most alluring. As soon as I woke, I headed to the temple of Torm, where that same priest from the night before was waiting for me, smiling... I quickly became involved and enthralled by my Church... And eventually, my Church sponsered my application to the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart..."

"So, you moved to Athkatla to better serve you god, then?" Viconia chuckled.

"Yes," Keldorn said. "As a squire I toiled to earn a place in the Order. Earning my Paladin-hood was one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for the... rookie-work," Keldorn grimaced. "Instead of the battles for good I expected, I was put on guard-duty in front of the Order Guildhouse, or sent on menial tasks of errands. And I found out as well, that the Order never tells its squires about... the paperwork."

"That," Viconia shook in her chair from laughter, "must have been a letdown."

"Oh, I was sent on missions soon enough, but, yes, to the impetuous youth that I was, standing in the rain waiting for trouble which would never come, was quite... a letdown," Keldorn chuckled. "That seems like a very long time ago, now..."

"And what about Lady Maria?" Viconia asked.

"Ah!" Keldorn said, lighting up instantly. "I would meet her ten years later. The first time I saw her, I was about to enter the Guildhouse, when I spotted her across the bridge heading into the Temple of Lathander. She was a vision of loveliness, with the sun shining on her beautiful face..."

"Let me guess," Viconia sighed. "Love at first sight..."

"For me it was," Keldorn grimaced. "But she wouldn't even see me standing! It wasn't until the annual joust..."

"Joust?" Viconia asked.

"Yes," Keldorn replied, "a ritual friendly combat where two knights ride on horseback and try to knock each other out of the saddle with a long lance. Anyway, I noticed Lady Maria sitting in the lodge with her family and I rode to her. You see, it is customary to offer a Lady a wreath of flowers to show her that the knight is fighting for her affection."

"So," Viconia chuckled, "females do have some power over males on the surface!"

Ignoring her, Keldorn continued his tale. "Lady Maria simply smiled and accepted the wreath... I almost feel off my horse in sheer joy."

"And the fairy-tale prince won the joust for his Lady," Viconia mocked wickedly.

"No," Keldorn shook his head and smiled to himself. "I got knocked off the horse and landed on my ass..."

"That," Viconia shook with laughter again, "must have been quite a sight!"

"Yes," Keldorn grimaced, "mock me if you like. But it was that time I considered cavaliering wasn't for me, and decided to specialize myself as an Inquisitor-paladin. Then, Lady Maria entered sickbay giggling like a schoolgirl... We got in a conversation and... we were married a year later..."

"That's the story?" Viconia asked.

"That's the story..." Keldorn confirmed. "What about you, Viconia?"

"Well," Viconia's face fell and leant back in the chair, "Marriage still seems a bizarre internment to me, tantamount to slavery. Variety is the spice of life... this is certainly the case in the Underdark, since the very notion of the word 'husband' is a very different one. In Drow culture, the husband pledges an oath of loyalty to a female, and he is then expected to obey her every whim in trade for protection and even a position. Drow Culture also allows for husbands to be disposed of and replaced at the female's indulgence. Husbands deserve to die whenever they become to demanding toward the female or break their oath... I had four husbands in the Underdark, the one more obsequinous than the other... I killed the first three for sport."

Then, Viconia noticed Keldorn's stern look. "Oh, don't give me that," Viconia said in annoyance. "They were fools, all of them... But my fourth husband, that was another thing altogether. I killed him for infidelity with my younger sister." Viconia sighed deeply and spoke in soft tones while she avoided Keldorn's gaze, "Of them all, my sister's betrayal was the most difficult to deal with. I didn't wish to, but punishment had to be administered. I caught them together, and bound them where they lay. I soaked them in lamp oil and flammable moss and set them... ablaze."

"That is a vile deed!" Keldorn said and seemed to be in a little darker mood. Glancing carefully to him, Viconia noticed a familiar twitching on his face, which she noticed in the Beholdercavern when they had first met.

"You misunderstand," Viconia said softly. "I didn't want to do it... I really didn't. But I had too... I couldn't really blame Jarfein for the breach of his oath. My sister had made the first move, and refusing a priestess of Lolth means certain death. But doing nothing on my part, would have been a weakness and would have resulted in my own death... Lolth revels in having her subjects make choices. It is the Dark Mother's favorite past-time."

"There are worse things than dying in defiance of an evil god," Keldorn muttered, but considered that Viconia spoke of yet another breach of her trust, which soured her so...

"Not when that evil god is your own, suliss," Viconia sighed. "I remember the first time Lolth put me to that test. I also remember that the day before, Vierna was expecially nice to me. She gave me sweets and spent all day with me, playing with me and telling stories, but the next day..." Viconia shook her head again. "I was only eight, suliss," Viconia muttered. "Vierna came to see me before my sisters took me away. She hugged me and kissed me on the forehead and she... she was so sad. Then, my sisters took me away to the family temple. I had never been allowed in there, and I giggled as I heard the voices of my sisters echo through the room. After that, they dressed me in the purple-black robes of Lolth," Viconia chuckled to herself, but it was a dry chuckle, laced with sadness. "I was a very tiny girl, and the robes weren't even my size. They swaddled all around me and I had to watch were I put my feet or I would have tripped over my robes!"

"My sisters took me to the altar, where I saw a crying human male bound... My sister gave me the knife and then I realized what was expected of me... I glanced over and I saw my mother; Matron Ginafae standing over the altar, beckoning me to step forward. I did... The human cried and pleaded, and it just felt so... wrong... Deep in the core of my being, it felt so very wrong. And, I... hesitated. Matron Ginafae showed me a little patience, since she understood that this was my first kill. But even that 'small gift' was withdrawn soon. Matron Ginafae beckoned to my eldest sister Devora, who drew a sacrifical dagger of her own. Then, I realized that if I didn't strike, Lolth would demand my own sacrifice... So I closed my eyes, and plunged the dagger in the man's heart...."

"Only eight," Keldorn shook his head. "That foul demon has a lot to answer for..."

"Quite," Viconia sighed and mused how much this conversation was like the one she had had with Dynaheir so many months ago, but just like then, she did not tell her about what happened afterwards, how she cried for hours in Vierna's arms. 'No, nobody should know that,' Viconia thought. 'I've exposed enough weaknesses today...'

"Keldorn?" Viconia asked. "I wish to thank you for listening to me. It's nice to have someone to talk to, even if you only are a lowly male," Viconia chuckled.

"You are my student," Keldorn said. "And getting these buried secrets out in the open, compels trust and... Where are those two going?" Keldorn interupted as he and Viconia noticed Laska and Korgan going up the stairs...

"Scumface."

"Beardless lilly."

"Broadarse."

"Pointy-eared fish-face."

"Dilweed."

"Night hag."

"Hipster Doofus."

"'ipster Doofus?" Korgan broke in, interrupting the contest. "Ye be losin' yer touch, lassie."

"What do you expect?" Laska sighed. "I'm so bored even a play would be exciting to me right now!"

"Now, ye dinnae 'ave to be overreactin', lassie," Korgan grimaced. "'ere," he said, handing Laska a pocketflask, "'ave a nip o' dwarven grog. It be bound to put some color on yer face."

"Thanks," Laska said and put the flask to her mouth.

"OY!" Korgan shouted. "I be sayin' a NIP, not the whole bloody flask!"

"Sorry," Laska said sheepishly. "I'm just so damn bored..."

"Ye know," Korgan began and whispered in her pointed ear. "If ye be really bored, might I be interestin' ye by sayin' thar be an entire backroom in this 'ere place, with al sort o' entertainment not fer the faint o' heart!"

"Oh?" Laska grinned. "Well, that figures. A dive like this always has a backroom. What is it here? Cockfights? Cause if it is, I'm not interested."

"Now, I nay been in the backrooms afore," Korgan said. "But I be 'earin' many tales! HAR HAR! Come on, we must be talkin' to Lethinan."

"I cannae believe ye not be interested in spendin' some time with some of Madame Nin's lovely merchandise," Korgan chuckled.

"If I really want to find someone to share my bed with, I can find one for free without having to resort to buying someone's time and body. Besides, it's more fun that way too," Laska grinned in reply, but almost grimaced after remembering the talk she had that rat Lethinan, who was disgustingly eating a leg of lamb at the time. For some reason, she felt compelled to take a bath.

"Of course ye would be sayin' that," Korgan snarled, "since it be far easier for an elven lass to find a bedwarmer than a sturdy dwarf like yers truly 'ere. And fifty gold be a bargain fer a whole night."

"Nah, I don't think so," Laska said. "Is there anything else to do in these backrooms?"

Korgan sighed. "Alright, lassie. But if ye donnae like that one, it be back to sitting bored at the tables."

"LET ME PASS NOW!" they heard Keldorn say from the other door leading to the backrooms. Elf and dwarf shared a brief look when they heard the clanging of metal as the guard was roughly shoved aside.

"Aye," Korgan chuckled. "'ere comes trouble..."

"And we even haven't done anything yet!" Laska added. "Well, at least not this time..." she said, remembering the bucket of water she placed over the door to Keldorn's room at the Sea's Bounty, which ended up in drenching a very irate butler.

Keldorn stormed into the backrooms, thoroughly disgusted by the grime and dirt laying everywhere around him. A grinning Drow was in tow.

"Can't I even leave you alone for five minutes?" Keldorn said. "At the earliest opportunity you two sneak off to indulge in cheap debauchery!"

"I wonnae call fifty golders very cheap, long-limb," Korgan replied.

"I am appaled that you would indulge in your most base of excesses so easily, dwarf," Keldorn replied.

"'old on, fool," Korgan snarled. "I be not the one settin' up this fine establishment. I be simply using what the gods be givin' me. Be appaled by that one, laddie!"

"Geez, we just decided we'd rather go see the fights anyway!" Laska replied.

"I... see," Keldorn replied sheepishly.

"Hey!" Jan yelled as he and Minsc stepped past an unconscious guard and into the backrooms. "You lot aren't leaving us behind, are you? At least have the decency to tie us to a tree, like my uncle always did with his dog... Until the dog broke free one day and decided to take out her frustration on my uncle..."

"Great!" Laska said. "Now we can all go see the fight..."

"What am I even doing here?" Keldorn asked himself as he and his friends sat down in luxurious seats surrounding a large fighting-pit. Several men and women in lavish clothing were already seated, but Laska had managed to conquer some front-row seats by casting threatening glares. After sitting down, the lights dimmed and an announcer, a skinny and rat-faced human male made his way to a platform.

"Aye, now this'll be fun," Korgan chuckled and petted his own axe whistfully.

"Hm," Viconia muttered. "These pit-fights are common amongst my own people and serve only to make the audience lazy and fat..."

"Stop ruinin' me fun, darky," Korgan muttered.

"Ah, there's nothing like a watching a fight and making negative comments about the techniques of the gladiatiors," Laska sighed as she leant over the back of her seat to talk to one of the men. "Well, we all know it's all choreographed and faked anyway. I'll bet their swords will be made of rubber too... Well, it's the technique that counts... Say, who's fighting today?"

"The Green Claw-beast," the fat man replied.

"Cool name," Laska said. "Who's the other gladiator?"

"Other?" the fat man laughed. "This is your first time here, isn't it?"

"GOODMORNING GENTLEFOLK OF ATHKATLA!" the announced yelled in a dramatic tone. "Today's fight will be grand indeed. Let us begin!"

Immediately, a haggardly under-fed dwarf was pushed through the door in the back of the pit. The dwarf was looking very nervous and was unarmored and unarmed.

"Doesn't look like much of a gladiator," Laska remarked to Minsc, who was looking very perturbed. It seemed Boo already knew what was going on here.

"I will nae be fightin' fer ye fat cats!" the dwarf suddenly yelled with a dry throat. "I will nae be liftin' a finger fer yer pleasure!"

"You will fight!" the announcer yelled with an irritation lining his voice. "You will fight because you are a slave and you have been told to fight!"

When she heard the word 'slave' being mentioned, Laska narrowed her eyes as her blood boiled with anger. "SLAVE?!" Laska said while standing up in her seat, ignoring the shouts of angry nobles wanting her to sit down and stop blocking the view.

A gate opened on the otherside of the pit and out came the Green ClawBeast : a troll.

"This is terrible!" Keldorn said. "Slaves fighting monsters?!"

"Minsc is outraged and so is BOO!" the ranger bellowed in anger. "We must kick asses a-plenty like the heroes we are!"

The dwarven slave was ready to go down fighting bravely as the troll was bearing down on him. But after Laska and Minsc exchanged a nod, both of them launched themselves into the air into the pit, drew their weapons and prepared to engage the troll.

"Well," Viconia chuckled. "Laska hates slavery..."

"You KNEW this would happen!" Keldorn said with an accusitory stare. "Next time, please warn me!" Keldorn said before carefully lowering himself in the pit.

"Aye, it be fun to watch," Korgan chuckled as he prepared her axe to join the fight, "but no one has ever been 'oldin' ole Korgan from a good fight!"

Meanwhile, Jan and Viconia stood at the edge of the pit launching spells and crossbows alike to support their friends fighting in the pit.

The troll was an experienced fighter, but against the powers of two longswords, two great swords and a tenacious dwarven axe tearing in its flesh, it stood no chance at all. Eventually, the creature fell after letting out one last agonizing bellow. Viconia took the hint and cast the appropriate spell. As her friends backed away, a towering column of flame engulved the troll and finished it off for good.

The nobles, thinking it was still part of the show, cheered at the elf in glee, until... she shouted out loud the one word that strikes mortal fear in the heart of every noble... The tattooed elf took one deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs : "REVOLUTION!!!". As a result, the frightened nobles poured out of the door, screaming, pushing and trampling each other on the way out. The annoying announcer, who ran to get the guards, was promply silenced by a throwing dagger in the back, curtousy of Laska.

"Ye..." the dwarven slave stammered. "Ye be freein' us?"

"Well, what does it bloody look like, ye moron!" Korgan shouted. "But I nay be 'avin' so much fun in a long time!"

"Hey, you can't come in he..." a guard tried to say as a well-armed group entered the prison through the door to the pit, but after a slash from a longsword across his throat, he suddenly found his vocal chords missing. An axe across the gullet silenced a mage, while the rest on the guards chose to flee.

"Hendak be in there!" the dwarven ex-slave pointed to the door. "HENDAK!" he shouted. "We be as good as free!"

A head popped up from behind a small barred opening in the cell-door. His eyes betrayed him as being a very angry soul, never even close to being broken by his capture. "Quickly," he said to the group of armored friends. "This is a magical lock! You must get the key from..." he tried to say, but then an elven female with a feral look on her tattooed features savagely kicked the door right next to the lock. The wood cracked, gave way and on a second kick, the door flew open.

"Magical lock, normal door," the elven female smiled.

"We are free brothers!" Hendak said, while for the first time in a long time, he was filled with joy. "Go and free the women!"

Then, the former slaves gathered up the weapons dropped by the guards, and an army of angry ex-slaves descended down the hallways.

"Burn in the abyss, fiend!" Hendak shouted as he stood over the body of Lethinan, who was still holding the leg of lamb in his dead fingers.

The 'revolution' had ended as swiftly as it began. Many of Lethinan's guards had fled, and there were minimum casualties on both sides. Behind Hendak, ex-slaves were happily crying and hugging each other. Their future was already provided for, since Hendak had decided to take over the inn and make sure everyone of his friends would be taken care off.

Further back, Jan and Minsc were looking on and laughing as some on the ex-slaves treated Madame Nin and the guards and nobles that couldn't get out in time to a portion of Tar and Feathers before being thrown out on the streets.

"We have done a good deed today, my friends," Keldorn said. "We have indeed struck a blow to slavery in Athkatla."

"And preceded inta makin' the Copper Coronet a far less fun place ta be!" Korgan chuckled.

"Hmmm, do a good deed and get a nice reward to boot," Viconia said, glancing over to Keldorn. "Perhaps the life of a hero is not a bad one."

"Yes, my friends. I thank you all but..." Hendak hesitated. "I wish I did not have to ask, but there is one more task that needs doing. The slavers remain at large within Athkatla, hidden at their base here in the slums. They have many children, yet, that they retain as slaves. I would ask of you to rid the city of this infestation once and for all."

"More slavers?" Laska said eagerly. "Let's go kill 'em!"

"Imprisoned children?!" Keldorn bellowed.

"I knew you would not let me down," Hendak smiled warmly. "The compound is not far from here...a dry-docked boat just across the way on the east side of the slums. There is a secret passage through an old sewer which connects their base with this Inn. Lethinan often had new slaves brought in this way..."

"Why does 'adventuring with Laska' always end up with 'taking Viconia through the sewers'?" Viconia complained as she stepped through the slimy, dirty and smelly catacombs, being careful to avoid stepping in the disgusting waste-filled water.

"Gee," Jan laughed. "I was thinking you'd be quite at home here. I just saw your cousin slithering away around the corner."

"That be a good one, gnome! HAR HAR!" Korgan laughed, which echoed through the entire tube.

"Do you know what we do to chatty males in the Underdark, gnome?" Viconia asked icily. "We cut out their tongues... But knowing you, it'll keep on talking for days afterwards..."

"Ah, I was just having some fun with you, Vicky," Jan said. "Here, have a turnip! It's good for the bones!"

"Thanks," Viconia said wryly, pretending to toss it in the water, but instead putting it in her pouch with lightning speed, saving it for later consumption.

As they rounded about the corner, sounds of combat in the distance could clearly be heard. Sharing a look, the party ran towards the sounds, throwing caution into the wind. The sounds led them towards a flight of stairs, which in turn led to a larger cavern filled with many plants, as well as several dead adventurers. A single minotaur was heaving his heavy axe in defence against a pair of unknown assailants dressed in totally black clothing and masks. The minotaur fell as Laska and her friends ran towards the assassins, who promply Dimension Doored out of the room.

"By the gods!" Keldorn lamented. "I know these adventurers. They wage, or rather, waged a crusade against slavery in the Realms!"

"All dead," the minotaur wheezed in pain and coughed up blood. "Ambush..."

Viconia examined the bodies and the minotaur and solumnly shook her head, acknowledging that she had not yet obtained the powers to save them.

Keldorn and Laska knelt down next to the dying minotaur and the aging paladin put a waterflask to the man-beast's mouth while supporting his head.

"I thank..." the minotaur said. "Ambush... Slaverlords... We had them... we finally found them..." That said, the Minotaur handed Laska a bloodied parchment and let out his last breath.

"A worthy death in battle," Keldorn said. "But this is not how their crusade should have ended. We must inform Hendak of the location of their bodies. The priests of Helm might be able to do something for them... What about the note?"

Laska, who was reading the note with wide-eyes and seemed even paler than normal. "Emmm, it mentions the slaverlords by name... per--perhaps we should look into it..." Laska stammered.

"Aye," Korgan sighed. "But one thing at a time, lassie..."

One by one, the adventurers left the makeshift grave, but Laska stopped Viconia before leaving.

"What is it?" Viconia asked with concern as she noticed Laska's distress.

Laska said nothing but handed her the note. As Viconia read the first line, her eyes grew wide with disbelief.

The note mentioned a request for a shipment of slaves to a place called Brynnlaw with the utmost urgency. But that was not what surprised Viconia... She recognized the delicate calligraphy and the wording. The signature at the end of the note confirmed that which was not possible...

The note was unmistakenly written by Dynaheir...