Ipsiya almost screamed in protest as the dainty moonblade carved straight through the dirty neck of one of the hobgoblins that had the audacity to attack them. In total, there were eight. One priest, one mage, the rest of them warriors.

Just before Ipsiya could shout out to the hobgoblins to take more baths, she found herself impaled through the stomach of another hobgoblin... one who had apparently just been eating rat-stew.

Certainly, Ipsiya liked Laska, but she had seen more use in the last two months that she had in her previous owner's entire professional career. Laska simply didn't understand that a lady needed her rest.

Unfortunately, instead of getting a rest, the moonblade got very close and personal with the grey matter or a third hobgoblin. She sighed and resigned to her fate. At least Laska cleaned her often enough, used her well and gave her a reasonable amount of privacy in her own umbrella-stand back home at Laska's mansion. Glancing around, for as sword can actually glance around, Ipsiya noticed there was only a single hobgoblin left alive, and that the other six had been charred, slaughtered, torn apart or otherwise clumsily vivisected in a multitude of places. Poor fellows never stood a chance... Of the gigantic Neo-Orog that initiated the assault, there was no sign...

"Start talking," Laska snarled as he sheathed her other sword, Namarra, and took Ipsiya in both hands. The bloodied Moonblade, glowed an angry blue, more at Laska than at the frightened hobgoblin. The tip of Ipsiya pressed into his chest, with just enough force to draw blood.

"No know, no know," the hobgoblin cried. "Just hired. I no want to die... Just hired, no nothing..."

The crying hobgoblin, currently in the process of soiling himself, was suddenly hoisted up by the arm and violently tossed towards the exit of the ruins. "Sod off," the tattooed elf shouted. "Next time I see your ugly mug, I'll skewer you with my sword..."

*"Oh, goody,"* Ipsiya sighed.

"Wha!? Ye be lettin' the bugger go? But, I be lookin' forward to treat me axe to some of 'is inner organs?" Korgan moaned in disappointment.

"Any more blood in this corridor and we'll start slipping on it," Viconia said in disgust. "At least the rituals of Lolth kept the blood from of your clothes..."

"That's only because thou art not in thine clothing during most of those rituals," Dynaheir smirked.

"Details, details," Viconia chuckled.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Keldorn muttered.

"What?" Jan replied. "Things getting too hot under your collar, paladino? Reminds of the time the Order sent five knights to the nether-lying land of the chocolate-covered promiscuous nymphs to, ahum, pacify the nether regions, so to speak..."

"The Order never had such a campaign!" Keldorn retorted angrily.

"Ever wonder why those knights... male knights never returned?" Jan winked.

"I hate to break into this stimulating conversation, but, well..." Laska said, nodding her head in the direction leading deeper into the complex.

"Wait a moment," Viconia said sternly and pulled out the statue of Khittix. "If you would have given me the time to prepare before entering this cavern, we might have been forewarned of this attack..." Throwing her incriminations in the air, Viconia summoned Khittix to the scene. The giant spider, eager to serve his mistress and friends, chirped happily, rose his forward front leg in some form of salute and started sniffing at the hallways. After running around in circles for a while, he pointed one of his legs in the direction of the deeper hallways.

"Several ogrillions, a Rakshasa and some kobolds," Viconia said. "Nothing to be concerned about."

They came across a gigantic cavern, almost as high as the very mountain. Viconia examined the rocks and mainly the end of the tunnel. Sharing her conclusions, she told the party that this cavern was created, hewn out from the original ruins and barely less than two years old, which was, coincidentally, as long as Lord Firkraag had been taking up residence here. That the cavern was in everyday-use was signified by the fact that magical torches had been placed on either side of the walls.

The ogrillions were dealt with before they even came into fighting range, all falling to Jan's newly invented 'bolt-thrower'. Deeper in the caverns, they came across a small underground lake, explaining why this whole cavern was so damp, cold and wet. Even an experienced cave dweller like Viconia had problems with the humidity, and was more than a little vocal about it.

Khittix's chirping alerted the party to the proverbial end of the road, which was, this time, a gigantic dark hole giving access to a straight plummet down.

"Can you see anything?" Laska asked as she, Viconia and Korgan stood at the edge of the gaping black maw.

"Sorry," Viconia replied, not even her powerful elven sight being able to penetrate the darkness.

"I wonder how deep this is," Laska muttered.

"Let's find out," Viconia grinned. "Jan?" she called. "Could you come here for a second?"

"What is it, my dusky little petunia?" the gnome greeted cheerfully as he approached the Drow. "Have you considered taking me up on my offer?"

"What be that? Somethin' naughty? HAR HAR!" Korgan roared.

"No, no," Jan said, "that'll come later. I wanted her to become the official spokesmodel for JansenTurnipSlice. There's not really much to do for that job, just smile pretty and lie on top of a cart of freshly unearthed turnips in a skimpy bikini and be paraded across town. Pays great too..."

"That's not important now," Viconia said. "I want you to find out what's down that hole," she added with a grin, edging the gnome closer to the crevasse.

"Sorry, Vicky," Jan said, "I don't have my parachute handy. And when my aunt tried it out last time, someone had replaced the turnip-shell canvas with an anvil. My auntie ended up as flat as a pancake, but she doesn't mind because now she can finally fit in her bathing suit for the first in ten years."

"Och, we just be usin' the time-honored dwarven way of determining depth, then," Korgan smiled and puffed up his cheeks, only to spit out a gigantic loogie that soared over the black pit and shot straight down.

"Ey, nothin'," Korgan muttered after waiting to hear the splat. "Well, that be classifyin' the pit as 'bloody buggery deep'. We ain't be goin' down that way," he said and withdrew from the pit.

But Laska's and Viconia's sensitive elven ears did pick up something.

"Tell me I didn't hear that," Laska frowned as she edged away from the pit.

"I sounded much like a... disgusted snort," Viconia acknowledged.

In any case, they decided not to stick around.

"Look, there!" Laska whispered as the two elves and Khittix decided to scout ahead, them being to hear each other's whispers while even dogs could not hear their near-silent voices.

"Four Kobolds and a Rakshasa," Viconia said as the two elves hid behind a few rocks. "Be careful, those felinoids can sense us in the dark. Let's creep back to the others and discuss our strategy. Don't mind the Kobolds, we have to find a way to get the drop on that Rakshasa."

"HEY, SEE ANYTHING YET?!" the shrill voice of a certain gnome echoed through the entire cavern, making the two elves and the spider cringe in annoyance. Apparently, the kobolds and rakshasa had noticed as well. Picking up Khittix around the thorax, Laska and Viconia sped back towards the rest of the party, where an angry Keldorn was already lifting Jan off the ground by the nape of his neck.

Taking up defensive positions, they waited for the enemies to arrive, but when a single Kobold hopped around the bend, Korgan bellylaughed and cockily decided to slice the lone Kobold into ribbons. Korgan rose his axe high and slammed it down while letting out a powerful roar... which was completely downed out by the fiery explosion. Korgan was simply staring at the charred pieces of kobold raining down, his face covered with black soot while wisps of smoke emanated from his armor and hair.

"Dammit!" Laska shouted as three more of the magically mutated kobolds hopped into sight... and headed straight for them.

Acting quickly, Dynaheir swung her staff into position, swatting the Kobold away and into the air before it could reach her. The Kobold flew through the air and exploded when it collided with the cavern wall. Jan could swear he heard the Kobold yell out 'WEEEEEEE!' until the very last moment. But Jan had his hand full at the moment. He managed to pick off the second Kobold with his crossbow, but could not get to the third on time... no one could. It jumped straight forward until it landed right in the middle of the group and exploded, bringing no serious harm but confusing them enough to be taken by surprise by the Rakshasa, who had launched a magical attack.

Before they knew what was happening, they were all caught in a magical sandstorm which was slowly draining every drop of moisture out of their bodies. Laska tried to open her eyes to find the Rakshasa, but immediately, the magical sand hitting her eyes caused her indescribable pain. The party's cleric, however, had an answer ready. Her spell cast, a soft autumn light emanated from her hands, banishing the sandstorm into nothingness. Laska could swear she smelled the scent of pinetrees and could hear the sounds of tweeting birds.

Noticing his cover was blown, the Rakshasa, now standing dangerously close to the party, launch a second offensive of fireballs, but though several fireballs were launched, the Rakshasa fell to an overpowering amount of blades.

The door deeper into the complex was found, but it was disheartening for them to know they had been caught off guard and had been severely wounded before they had even made a breach in the wall.

Korgan in the meantime, was still standing in the middle of the room, silently muttering about doing very ugly things to Kobolds with his axe.

"Does this remind you of anything?" Laska said, more a statement than a question, as they walked through a long, broad and dark tunnel.

"Yes," Viconia nodded, "Durlag's Tower..."

"It shows very little resemblance," Dynaheir remarked.

"It's mostly the smell... That same stale air, moist air... The smell of decay and ruin..." Laska said. "So common in dungeons..."

"The smell of dirty shoes!" Minsc said, holding his nose with one hand while holding Boo's with the other. "Oh, no, Minsc did not like that smell at Durlag, and does not like it now..."

"Too bad nobody bothered to clean up," Viconia said. "There's dirt and pieces everywhere. At least Durlag's Tower had its clean spots but, this... It's like nobody bothered. And we've seen enough inhabitants already."

Viconia was right. This dungeon was very poorly taken care of. The formerly decorated plastered walls showed obvious decay, cracks and holes. Some parts of the tunnel looked to be on the verge of collapse. Pieces of weapons, equipment, empty containers, rotting wood and the remains of previous visitors and inhabitants lay haphazardly scattered all over the dungeon floor. In some places, jets of water trinkled down the walls, adding to the musty atmosphere.

"End of the road," Jan said and pulled out his lockpick-set as he approached a sturdy looking door, which was newer than the rest of the dungeon.

But, suddenly, Khittix, who had been taking point as usual, became very agitated. "Eep, Eep, Eeeeeeep!" he shouted as he bounced up and down on all eights.

"What's with him?" Laska asked.

"Maybe he wants to ask you to dance, Vicky!" Jan chuckled. "Like my auntie Irky, who loved to dance with her horse. She was the only one enthusiastic about it too. You should see what a Clydesdale can leave on the dancefloor, and considers gnomes are very short, well... poor uncle Arthur never saw it coming... What a way to go..."

"GET DOWN!" Viconia suddenly shouted while she dropped to the floor. Immediately, a rain of crossbow-bolts flew over their heads from both sides. An illusion had hidden a cadre of orcish crossbowmen who were shooting through small rectangular holes in the wall.

"I'm really starting to hate this Firkraag!" Laska sighed. "When I get to him, I'll break every bone in his body! YOU HEAR ME, FIRKRAAG?!" she shouted in anger.

In the meantime, Laska's friends were sitting ducks. Pulling up what little they could find to keep themselves from being turned into porcupines, they still had little hope of surviving this unless someone could stop the barrage. Another swooshing rain of bolts of later, it was Jan of all people who came up with a plan.

After whispering something in Dynaheir's ears, the gnome and the mage nodded... Two seconds later, Jan twisted the top of his ring, and both of them disappeared from sight. The orcs paused their barrage for a moment, but soon continued their assault. Unfortunately, the Orcs were not prepared for Dynaheir and Jan suddenly appearing right next to the walls. The moment they appeared in sight, they both dropped two fireballs into the small openings. The Orcs could be heard trying to clamber away, but all went down screaming in the flames.

"I'm starting to feel like a rat in a maze," Keldorn muttered as he picked himself up.

"My thought exactly," Dynaheir said.

"Little help," Laska asked, her face contorted in agony. On the left side of her upper thigh, the tail of a steel bolt was protruding. "Get this thing out, please," she gasped. "Damn thing went straight through my greaves..."

Immediately, Viconia was on the case. Her experienced eye told her that the bolt had been stopped by the bone, but not by much. She cast a simple spell, disintegrating the bolt upon touch. Now that the pressure the bolt had caused was gone, blood started to flow freely from the now open wound. Viconia chanted a few words of power and a blue light descended upon the tattooed elf's leg, healing muscle-tissue and skin instantly.

"There you go," Viconia smirked. "Good as new," she added, patting the former wound slightly.

"AAW!" Laska hissed.

"The pain should subside in a few seconds," Viconia smirked.

"Thank you," Laska half-snarled and got up, albeit a little stiffly. "You did that on purpose..."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Will you two children please be silent," Keldorn sighed as they entered a large room passed the long tunnel. Suddenly, the ground shook.

"What's going on?"

"It nay be an earthquake," Korgan muttered.

A huge door in the back of the room opened to reveal... a huge, towering man made from metal. The silver hue reflected even in the dark, and the emotionless eyes locked on. The towering fifteen foot hulk moved far too quickly for everyone's liking, and waded towards the party with grim determination.

"What the bloody hell be that monstrosity?!" Korgan shouted.

"Golem!" Dynaheir replied. "Powerful magical construct."

"Oy, it be dead now!" Korgan snarled and slammed his axe against the leg of the silver creature, not even making a dent, and only succeeding in severely shaking himself up.

The construct waded through swords, flails and other assorted weapons unharmed, until it came to Keldorn. Letting out an artificial snarl, the construct picked up the aged Inquisitor in a hulking hand. Under loud protest, the struggling paladin tried to break free but was not able to. Hurling language more colorful than the party was used to (at least from Keldorn), the paladin banged at the golem with bare hands as the construct returned to from where it came.

Quick as a flash, they were upon the door after the golem passed, but not even the combined strength of Laska, Minsc and Korgan could keep it from closing.

What happened next happened so fast no one could act upon it. A narrow wall sudden rose up from the floor without warning, cutting the party in two, while two other doors opened on either side of the room.

"I can't believe I'm stuck here with you two!" Viconia told Korgan and Jan, who were looking for way to get around the wall.

"Och, be quiet fer a while. Yer yappin' ain't helpin' much. Look, this wall be a solid block..."

"No trap mechanisms either," Jan sighed. "We're stuck here..."

"I'll say," Viconia said, and while Jan and Korgan turned around, they noticed a large armored force being led by a blonde woman in full plate was heading towards them.

Khittix make sad keening noises as he scratched with his fore-legs at the wall keeping him from his mistress.

Dynaheir had lit a torch with her magic while Laska and Minsc were still trying to break through the wall.

In the meantime, Dynaheir stared intently at the newly opened door. From the darkness beyond at least a dozen shadowy figures slowly emerged. Fear gripped at the Rashemani's throat as she slowly back into the wall.

Suddenly getting a headache, Laska rubbed her head. "I'm starting to feel a little queasy," Laska muttered.

"Vampires," Dynaheir said, while the first pale-faced creature emerged. "And they've been starved..."