Bodhi sat back in her bath of blood, trying to gain even an iota of calm... and failed.

The pain had returned. She found her bloodbath soothing but no more than that. Her cursed elven body was not even protected from the wrath of the Ellesime's curse in her vampiric state. At best, it only delayed the inevitable.

Her joints ached, her skin felt as if it was one fire and even the simplest of movements send searing pains through her entire body.

Over the past decades, she had gotten used to the pains, but they were now accompanied by fear as these spells of pain were slowly, but surely returning more frequently with increased intensity. Forcing the panic down, she lent back and closed her eyes, as if expecting to slip into elven reveree, but that was something taken from her long ago.

"Let me pass minion fledgeling!" the shout of an all too familiar female voice shot through Bodhi's lair. The should was followed by the loud crash and the smell of released Ozone, signifying that the barely week-old vampire had just been dusted.

Immediately, Bodhi knew who the woman was, and she felt a fear much deeper than her curse could ever bring her.

The woman tossed the double doors open and strolled inside. She was a tall, ancient vampire, with long, flowing ashen-grey hair. This was Hayaxi, Flame of Darkness to the Nightsinger. So ancient that her undead body radiated coldness, and actually drew life from those too close to her. A batch of sweet-smelling nightshade, which Bodhi had asked her servant to put there in the room to soothe her, wilted instantly as the ancient Sharran passed by.

"Do not bother dragging your tired bones out of bath," Hayaxi mocked, taking pleasure in watching the younger vampire winch.

"What do you want?" Bodhi dared to ask. Hayaxi, however, only responded with a raised eyebrow.

Bodhi sighed. "What do you want, mistress?" the younger vampire spat.

"Now, now, now," the ancient vampire replied and sat on the edge of the bath, dipping her finger into the bath and bringing it to her mouth for a taste. "Oh," she said. "Nymph? Delectable. In any case, I believe the phrase is... 'I was in the neighborhood'. So, I decided to check up on my... investment."

"Investment?" Bodhi snorted. "You never did anything for me! You let me struggle at any turn!"

"Struggle brings strength... Loss brings power," Hayaxi smiled. "I seem to recall a broken elven priestess, throwing herself at my feet, asking me to purposely infect her with vampirism... Utterly helpless and lost... How could a Sharran resist?"

Bodhi hissed at being reminded of the sheer humiliation which that memory meant for her. For years she had sought out the most powerful vampires to help her defeat her curse... and only Hayaxi was willing to help her. Mostly out of curiosity it seems, since elves rarely became vampires or even asked to become one.

"Too bad not even my powers could slow down your curse," Hayaxi said. "But that will probably offer you a more eager incentive to continue fulfilling your promise to me... How goes the war, so to speak?"

"Well enough..."

"Do not lie to me!" Hayaxi shouted and stood up. "All I asked was that you bring down the pathetic excuse for a ruling body Amn has and you have yet to make any progress. We must de-stabilize this region if we want to expand the worship of Shar. Selune's clergy has destroyed our gathered forces in Sembia, and we need a unified front... One we will get if we have a foothold across the Sword Coast from Athkatla to Calimport..."

"We are doing well enough," Bodhi snapped. "If we bring down the Shadow Thieves, the whole corrupted system will collapse like a house of cards, dragging the Cowled Wizards and the Council down with it in the chaos. That is the plan we agreed on!" she added, knowing the Sharran creed : To bring down order so that the hopelessness of anarchy would drive hordes of new worshippers to Shar.

"I fear you might be spending to much time on your 'project on the side'," Hayaxi sneered. "Unfortunately, the spy I sent to investigate never returned, but I urge you to stop this 'project' and concentrate on the matter at hand."

"We will..." Bodhi said, but Haxayi's patience was spent. The ancient vampire struck with the speed of lighting, grasping the lounging younger vampire by the neck and hoisted her out of the tub. Feeling the intense pressure on her neck, Bodhi clawed at Haxayi's iron grasp as blood dripped from her naked body. Bodhi felt sharp claws dig deep into her chest and could barely suppress a whimper.

"Not even all the power I granted you can save you," Hayaxi snarled, "if I tear your heart from your chest. Shar is an impatient goddess and a harsh mistress!"

Snarling, the ancient vampire threw Bodhi against the wall with such a force that Bodhi's elven form left a deep dent in the stone wall. Grimacing from the intense pain, Bodhi fell to the ground and lay prone.

"I shall remain in the city for a short while," Hayaxi smiled, "In the meantime, I intend to hold a sermon for all the Sharrans operating in this area. I expect, Bodhi, that you shall make arrangements? I require a large, hidden room with a consecrated altar before the end of the month..."

That said, Hayaxi turned around, and left the room, leaving Bodhi to lie on the floor.

Shivering from pain, an intense anger flowed through her. 'Disgusting old mummy! she thought. 'When I am restored, we will SEE who is the more powerful vampire... Sanctimonious Sharran hag!'

"200 pounds?! He's mad! Raving! Out of his mind!" Jerlia, the ore merchant told the two elves standing in front of her. Waukeen's promenade offered Jerlia, the female forge-smith, a workspace. She was a strong human woman, muscular and tall, dressed in the clothes befitting her trade. She was a lovely woman, her brown hair tied in a tight bun, but, seeing the forge was quite hot, her tanned skin was covered with beads of sweat and smears of coal.

"Judging by your outburst," Viconia chuckled, "I take it you don't have it in stock?"

"Nope... Not a chance... No way... Uh-uh... Never ever..." Jerlia replied.

"That.... little wormish bugger!" Laska snarled. "Okay, I'm marching right back so I can punch Sarles in the face!"

"Hold it!" Viconia snarled. "Perhaps you could tell us why this ore is so rare in the first place... I have lived most of my life underground and I have never heard of this... illithium."

"That's because it's not native to this world," Jerlia smiled. "Some of my stock comes from tiefling traders, but illithium is mostly from stellar debris falling down from the sky."

"Falling down... from the sky?" Laska said, glancing up to the heavens with a tiny hint of fear in her eyes.

"You don't know what is involved in getting illithium," Jerlia spoke. "I've an agreement with a rather special source, but there's only so much I'm allowed to take. 50 pounds a season at most."

"Too long!" Viconia broke in. "I need 200 pounds!"

"Hold on, don't go crazy on me," Jerlia said as she detected the Drow's mounting anger. "It's difficult, but not impossible. There are two options to you. You can go to my source and try and ply the extra out of him, or you can use a... substitute. For all his pomp and balderdash, Sir Sarles wouldn't know quality materials if you beat him over the head with them. Now that's a fine image, eh?"

"I'll say," Laska grinned, and took a mental practise-shot.

"Anyway," Jerlia grinned, "I would wager that a derivative of illithium would serve just as well. Pure illithium is quite rare, but an alloy could be fashioned at a reasonable rate. I... I think I can trust you... Look for a man named Unger Hilldark. He stays in the Copper Coronet when he's in town. Don't get him mad, will you? He's at enough of a risk just coming here. He's... he's Duergar."

"Duergar?" Viconia grinned. "Oh, don't worry... I'll get information from him..."

"Try not to harm him," Jerlia stressed. "He's in disguise. His kind doesn't look all that different, and as long as he's left alone, he's fine. Not a bad guy, once you get to know him. You go talk to him. Tell him I sent you. Maybe he'll let you pull a little more illithium out of him than I can get. It won't be cheap though."

The two elves thanked Jerlia and went on their way.

"Why are we even doing this, Vico?" Laska said. "Dragging all over town for that blowhard?"

"We are not working for the blowhard," Viconia replied. "We are working for the temple of Lathander."

"Is it just me," Laska grinned, "or are you planning to switch religions again?"

"Worshipping a male god?" Viconia snorted. "The thought alone! I am a Sharran and I will remain a Sharran... No, I am doing this because the orphanage hasn't been getting much donations lately, and sister Lara is hoping an art gallery will draw rich nobles to donate. I have already agreed to lend them pieces from my... our own private collection. I must ask Rose to put up some of her work as well..."

"I'm not sure she'll agree to that," Laska said. "She's quite shy about her paintings..."

"I'm sure you can convince her," Viconia smirked. "Also, Sir Sarles may be an ass of magnitude, but his work does draw the crowds... I'm doing this for the children, Laska. As well as having all that great art in one place."

"Okay, then. For the kids, it is..."

"Ain't illegal to be a dwarf, last I heard!" Unger shouted as soon as Laska even approached him. "Now, just get lost, stupid elf!"

"What?!" Laska replied to the red haired, grumpy dwarf. "I haven't even opened my mouth yet!"

"Then do us all a favor and keep it shut!" he replied. "There were some blokes back there asking for an elven courtesan, so go bother them. Might make some money out of the deal too..."

"Look!" Laska said, getting angry... but a wry chuckle sounded from the shadows.

"Typical Duergar behaviour," Viconia said as she emerged from the shadows. "Bullying elves because you know they won't gut you for a single insult... like my people do..."

Unger was instantly humbled. "D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-drow? H-here?"

"Nice trick," Laska chuckled. "Could you teach me that?"

"Sure, just gather as many of your elven kin as possible and exterminate great portions of the Duergar race," Viconia replied.

"Ah, that'll take a while, then?" Laska replied.

"Yes," Viconia added. "Now, we are in search of Illithium..."

"Many apologies, malla dark elf," Unger replied and twittered nervously. If the Drow decided to attack none of these seedy patrons would come to his aid. There weren't even many seedy patrons around at the moment. "But I have none, and I won't be getting any anytime soon..."

"Are you lying to me?" Viconia snarled.

"No, no!" Unger sighed. "You want illithium, you'll have to wait for it. We mine it deep in the earth, and it's dangerous going. It's rare enough when production is normal. This is all useless information though, because my latest shipment was stolen from under me! So there's no illithium for anyone for another season or more! Typical of this city. I'm just a poor businessman, but I'll be jailed just for my shadowed face. This bastard that robbed me looks like a hill dwarf, so he's welcomed with open arms."

"So what else is new?" Viconia sighed.

"His name was Neb... Last I heard he was holed up in the Bridge district. A derelict little place bought with my gold..."

"Thank you," Viconia said. "We'll leave you to your drink..."

"Yes, malla Drow..." the dwarf replied, grateful to see the Drow stepping out the door.

"Neb..." Laska said, seemingly deep in thought as she and Viconia stepped through the slums. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"A moot point," Viconia said. "Why don't you handle neb while I go and gather the alloy from Jerlia..."

"Hey, why do I have to do everything?"

"But you're such a big, strong elf!" Viconia mocked, allowing her voice to sound strangely girlish. "Anyway, I already handled Unger, it's your turn..."

"Figures," Laska replied.

"What?!" Viconia shouted as she stared into the smug face of Jerlia as she crossed her arms. On her table lay 200 pounds of Illithium alloy, in a large, irregular lump. Though the lump showed obvious imperfections, as well as a handprint and black smears of the forge, Viconia thought it was hauntingly beautiful. But for an outrageous price. "We had settled on two hundred gold before we left, Jerlia!"

"I know we had a deal, but the market has changed drastically in the last few hours. I have been approached by two other churches for illithium of their own. It seems they are courting Sarles as well," Jerlia said. "I'm afraid you are in competition with both the Temple of Helm and the Temple of Talos. They both seem very determined. You understand the pressures of the market, don't you? Well, I must ask for 500 gold instead of 200. It is still quite reasonable."

Viconia's snarl suddenly turning into a sadistic grin. Immediately, her hands shot out, releasing a deadly spell. Jerlia saw a red light encompassing her body... and suddenly she was locked into position, unable to move even her eyes.

"Now," the Drow said as she calmly strolled over to Jerlia, and took some time to untie her bun, letting the brown hair fall down, "don't you know it's incredibly dangerous to double-cross a Drow?" she said, while tapping her on the shoulder with a sharp dagger. "I'll write off your foolishness as inexperience, but know I could have done a lot more damage than making a tiny nick with this dagger. I admire your courage, though, so I will leave you 300 gold, and not a copper more..."

That said, the Drow counted the money and left the pouch and moved to take the alloy... and forgot it weighed over 200 pounds. Immediately, the weight became apparent as she stricken Drow was forced to back-paddle out of the store, trying to compensate for the weight she was barely able to hang on to... eventually, she reached the end of the line when she fell over backwards over the edge of the layer of the colosseum.

A loud clonk could be heard, accompanied by a splash of water...

Laska made her way through a few small houses at the back of the Bridge district. Mostly, they were slum-like buildings that should have been condemned ages ago. But the one that caught Laska's eye was the only building still in reasonable shape.

As she approached the building however, she felt a familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. There were undead inside that house... low-level undead, but undead nonetheless. So, approaching the small house, Laska decided to take a running start and surprise the thief by kicking in the door.

The wooden door relented as it flew from its hinges. Immediately as Laska stepped into the small, dark home, she was assaulted by the smell of death and decay. Glancing about, she didn't see any undead in this sparsely decorated house. She did however see, a dwarf... And she recognized this dwarf... she'd recognize that mad sneer and wild eyes everywhere...

"NEB!" Laska snarled. "I should have known! The child-killer!"

"So, my life does come back to haunt? Tee-hee!" the dwarf smiled gleefully. "Oh, dearrie, dearrie, dearrie! Think of the children!"

"I will..." Laska snarled. "You slipped away before I could kill you the last time... Looks like I'll get a second chance..."

"So be it, though I shall miss the children so. Ah yes, the children..." the disgusting dwarf smiled. Behind him, four crying spectral children appeared behind him... they were small, glowing faceless shadows... Fighting the nausea from undead near, Laska snarled and thought of Risa and Becky, two small children full of life and laughter... but these poor creatures would never know life and laughter again... they were enslaved undead...

Laska felt an unimaginable rage well up, from the very depths of her elven spirit. Anger like she had never felt before coursed through her veins... If her friends had been there, they would have told her that her eyes were glowing bright red. Tossing inconvenient feelings like her nausea out the window, she jumped at the dwarf... and missed completely as the dwarf blinked out of existence. Jumping on the table to avoid the advancing child-spirits, she closed her eyes and let her excellent elven senses do the job for her... for Neb was only invisible and could not hide the sounds he was making...

With a snarl, Laska threw a throwing dagger at the invisible Neb, impaling his hand to the wall. Neb's hiss of pain was enough to let Laska know she had hit her mark. Immediately, Neb's invisibility failed and the elf, ignoring the advancing children, jumped and somersaulted over the furniture towards Neb, grabbing the disgusting dwarf by the nape of his neck. Retrieving her dagger, Laska prepared to end the dwarf's life with a single stroke across the neck.

"The children,TEE-HEE!" the dwarf giggled, as if his mind was far away from this place. Something in Laska... snapped.

"No," the tattooed elf snarled ferally, slamming the dwarf on the table and wrapping her hands around Neb's neck. "A sweet slow and painful death for you," she hissed... and started squeezing with all her strength, instantly crushing the dwarf's Larynx to bits.

The child-spirits stopped dead in their tracks, apparently looking upon the spectacle with fascination. Laska squeezed, and squeezed while the dwarf gurgled and wheezed, his eyes bulging as his face went red.

With a last gurgle, Neb was finally sent screaming to the Abyss, no doubt into the pincers of eager Glabrezus.

Laska stood over the corpse of Neb, his entire neck having been more than crushed. Breathing sharply, Laska's rage was still not diminished. Not even the cries and grateful giggles of the freed child-spirits, as they were gathered to their rewarded afterlife could lift her spirits...

Trying to tame her rage, the elf smashed several sets of furniture to bits... but it did not help. Then, she glanced at the body of Neb. Seeing she was wearing her casual vest and leather pants, the only weapons she was carrying was a concealed set of throwing daggers. But then, she noticed a decorative Short Sword hanging from the wall... and smiled ferally.

Lieutenant Aegisfield was at his desk at the Government building, doing some paperwork and filling out some forms to process some of the latest sentenced criminals... until he heard the gasps of some of the bureaucrats outside. Several noblewoman screamed and stepped aside as an elf waded through the startled bureaucrats... and was headed straight towards him.

Aegisfield recognized the elf immediately as the one who had helped him solved the foul murders at the bridge-district... but her clothes, and a great part of her exposed skin were covered with blood.

She approached him with deadly calm and tossed a bloodied bag on his desk. Aegisfield took the bag, which turned out to be very light. Expecting to find a head, Aegisfield looked inside... and almost vomited.

"I've tried to keep the face intact," the elf said calmly, her seriousness evident on her face. "But I haven't really succeeded. Tell the parents that their children's spirits are freed from his domination, and that their deaths have been avenged..." That said, the elf turned tail and walked out of the office...

"Laska, wait!" Aegisfield said. "There's a reward..."

"Do me a favor," Laska said, stopping in her tracks but not looking back. "And donate it to the orphanage... Oh, and the people you send to clean out Neb's home better have strong stomachs."

The elf stepped out of the office now, leaving a puzzled Aegisfield behind.

"Garbage! Tripe! Kitsch!" Sir Sarles snarled as he regarded the lump of ore. "Illithium holds no oil or grime! A handprint on illithium is an impossibility! I cannot work with this..."

"You were pleased a moment ago!" the dripping Drow told Sarles, pushing the artist in the chest so that the fop flew backwards and crashed into the coffee-table. "I'm starting to wonder if you are indeed the fine artist everybody claims you are! In fact, I wonder if it was you that made those sculptures in the first place!"

"That... that is vicious slender!"

"I believe," Viconia grinned, "that the word you a looking for is 'slander'..."

"Such an insult! These hands have created works of art that would make your heart stop with joy! They will work many more wonders, but not here!" Sarles snarled. "My muse... my muse has left me! I must go elsewhere..."

"You aren't going anywhere!" Laska snarled as she entered the room. "And... what happened to you?" she asked Viconia, whom was still dripping wet.

"I fell in the horse-pen," Viconia snapped, her hair had lost her volume and she was now looking a bit like a wet cat. "Luckily enough, one of Jan's cousins was kind enough to lend me a cart so that I could move this lovely lump of ore."

"Oh," Laska said, looking at the ore. "It's pretty..."

"And what about you?" Viconia chuckled as she regarded the blood-soaked elf.

"Y-y-y-yes..." Sarles muttered. "A... are you a criminal?"

"Nope," Laska said, "but the one I killed was," she added, somehow making Sarles gulp.

"Anyhow, here's your Illithium," Laska said, taking several chunks of ore from her bag of holding. "All 200 pounds of it. You can get to work now..."

"All 200?! But... but... that's impossible... I can't... I..." Sarles stammered. "I am... I can't work here! My muse has been shattered. I'm not in the mood..."

"Look!" Laska snarled and grasped Sarles by the neck, pushing him into the wall. "I've been traipsing all over town for this stuff, so I suggest you GET IN THE MOOD!"

"Noooooo," Sarles wailed as this confrontation with a blood-soaked elf created an expanding wet patch in the seat of his pants. "Don't kill me please! I... I can't! I'm not an artist, I'm not! I can't even draw! I just found the illithium sculptures in an old dwarven tomb!"

"I see," Viconia chuckled. "I should have known a sniveling weasel like yourself could not create fine sculptures like that..."

"So," Laska chuckled. "You've been swindling nobles and playing games with the temples of Lathander, Talos and Helm... Planning to leave at the last moment, eh? Well, I'm afraid that they won't like that..."

"I..." Sarles cried. "I've gotta go. They'll kill me!"

"Nope," Laska chuckled. "I'm going to do something a friend of ours suggested."

That said, Laska picked up the lump of ore as if it was feather and connected it against Sarles' head.

And that's how the representatives of the temples of Helm and Talos found him : Lying unconscious in the Jyystev decorative pool, with a stone fish spitting water over his head.

"I can't believe it," Sister Lara sighed as Viconia stood in front of her, dragging the lump of ore behind her on a small cart. "Sir Sarles a fraud?"

"I'm afraid so," Viconia chuckled. "When my friend Laska and I delivered the ore, he admitted he could not sculpt, and that, in fact, he had stolen the sculptures from a dwarven tomb..."

"Unbelievable," Lara spat. "And we were about to invest greatly in his stolen art. But... what is that lump here..."

"Oh, that was..." Viconia said, "supposed to be the artwork. But I rather like it on its own..."

"Are you kidding? This new piece is a welcome understatement. Looks as though it represents the shadows receding from the dawn. Fine work," Lara said.

"Well, the artist," Viconia chuckled, "Is Jerlia. A local blacksmith and ore-merchant..."

"It shall be the centre of our gallery!" Lara smiled.

"...so," Viconia said as she was telling Laska what had happened when the evening had fallen. The elf had taken a long bath and was currently wearing a two-piece swimsuit and was impatiently glancing back and forth to the staircase, "Jerlia is currently the 'hot' new artist around town and she's taken well to the job. She's getting orders from almost all the noble houses in Athkatla. I've sold her the Illithium so she can make more art, and in return, she'll keep 10 pounds aside and will have a friend construct a Mace of Disruption for us. A powerful weapon against undead..."

"Speaking of art," Laska smiled. "I've a new tattoo to celebrate my newly found elven nature. Wanna see?" she said and pointed at the side of her upper right leg. A long leaved creeping vine which ran from her upper thigh to the snake-tattoo around her knee, was proudly displayed.

"Lovely," Viconia muttered. "Have you managed to convince Rose to allow us to show some of her painting in our gallery?"

"Well," Laska smirked. "She's waiting for me in the pool upstairs and I was about to ask her. I think I can 'persuade' Rosie to allow you to use them."

"By all means," Viconia returned a knowing grin. "Persuade her..."

Laska didn't hesitate, jumped from her chair and ran up the stairs. Listening intently, Viconia heard a loud splash, followed by giggles and smaller splashes. But when the giggles and splashes made way for sounds of gentle kisses, Viconia decided to leave the lovers to their privacy. Instead, she went about to come up with the particulars of her gallery...