"Oh, I'm so exited!" Imoen said as she closed her eyes and raised her chin high to let the sun warm her cheeks. "Trees, grass, the open sky... There are so many miracles we take for granted."

"Och," Korgan grinned, "ye just be watchin' how I be makin' these tree tremble by flashin' me axe about!"

"Oh, yes," Imoen chuckled. "I just bet those trees will be mightily impressed if you keep swinging your little thing about."

"Aye!" Korgan roared. "Err... We be still takin' about me axe, right?"

"Maybe," Imoen winked. "Keldorn!" she said, directing her attention to the paladin trailing behind the group. "You've been moping ever since we left!"

"Do you blame me?" Keldorn sighed. "You three pulled me from my home right onto the streets because you 'were in a hurry'."

"Oh, come on, ye sissy!" Korgan chuckled.

"Need I remind you that I was taking a peaceful bath and I didn't have to grab a towel before I was hoisted through the front door?" Keldorn sighed.

"Yes, and we were all very impressed," Imoen said. "Next time please hurry up when we call you."

"There was all of three seconds between you three calling me and you three dragging me from my peaceful bath!" Keldorn all but snarled as he turned away from the chuckling Korgan.

"This is the part where you complain about your old bones, isn't it?" Imoen chuckled.

"My bones are old," Keldorn spoke in that deep voice of his, "and my bones will get even older if I don't get pneumonia from your little escapade."

"Keldorn, stop being so boring," Imoen said. "Come on, live a little! Do something crazy! Take a chance, do something nobody expects from you!"

"Like involuntary streaking?" the aged paladin raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, exactly!" Imoen replied. "Or cord-jumping!"

"Ey?" Korgan asked. "What be that?"

"Oh, you tie a ribbon on your legs, jump off a bridge and bounce around. It's supposed to be great fun, though there were plenty of deaths in the first years of that new sport," Imoen said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Keldorn said.

"No, no, no," Imoen said. "It's not what you think. Those who died all jumped alone... and couldn't get up anymore. I heard their brains exploded or something, so, let me tell you..."

Elsewhere, in front of the travelling fellowship, Rose was riding on the back of Laska's horse, having her arms wrapped around her lover's waist and her cheek buried in Laska's long, dark hair. The elf could feel Rose's warmth even through her cold armor as she calmly guided her horse over the trail.

"Thanks for letting me come along," Rose muttered into Laska's hair.

"Don't be getting any ideas, Rose," Laska said. "As soon as trouble comes along, I want you off the battlegrounds."

"Oh," Rose said, "I can hold my own. You said yourself I'm mean with a staff."

"Still, I want you to..."

"I know, I know," Rose smiled. "Get out of harm's way. I'll stay in Trademeet, sure. It's just nice to see you in action."

"Well," a sly grin crossed over Laska's face, "if you want to see me in action, we'll rent a room with a big bed and..."

"Gods, is that all you ever think about?" Rose smiled and playfully swatted Laska in the back of the head. "Not that I mind, really..." she added slyly.

"So... you've been to Trademeet before," Laska said, remembering the time her lover was away for a week to go to a 'management is fun'-course some time ago. "What kinda town is it?"

"It's nice, I suppose," Rose said, giving a hesitating appraisal. "Bit of a rich burg. Very, very gaudy. Big houses, few people, lotsa money, snootiness galore and only one tavern. You'll hate it."

The trail continued adjacent to a large lake for several miles. Eventually, the alabaster towers, with the gaudy gold-painted roofs could be seen from the distance, about half a mile from the lake. Indeed, it was a small town, but apparently, its inhabitants had an incredible amount of money, which could be seen from their architecture. Broad, two-storey houses, coated with aquamarine lime-stone were the absolute norm, it seemed. Even the defensive, yet low walls were adorned with intricate patterns, while marble statues could be seen on just about every corner. At the gate was a large square which turned out to be adorned with a beautiful mosaic of the goddess Waukeen.

Right now, however, that square was a place of carnage. With a snarl, a spotted cougar hurled itself on top of one of the fallen defenders of the town. The poor man screamed as claws dug into his flesh and rended him asunder. A huge black bear growled and raised itself to stand on its hind legs and kept two more defenders pinned against the wall, while a trio of spiders were assaulting a hapless mage.

In the middle of the carnage, directing the battle, was a single halfling barking orders... and that same halfling glowered when a large group of new combatants poured into the fight. The cougar left his kill and prepared to jump, but was met with a throwing dagger, which landed right between his feet. The cougar seemed to be assessing the situation and snarled in an intricate pattern of coherent sounding snarls. Immediately, the trio of spiders and the bear halted their attacked and brushed past the newly arrived party, running towards the forest.

"Well, that was easy," Laska said and picked up her dagger.

"Oh, no," the halfling sighed. "Not you again! Will I ever be rid of you?"

"Mazzy Fentan," Laska smiled. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Ah, and you have brought Sir Keldorn!" Mazzy smiled. "Well, now our situation might actually improve!"

"Mazzy, I," Keldorn blushed. "I... we will do our best, of course. Your confidence is inspiring."

"Speak with Lord Coprith," Mazzy said. "Excuse me while I gather my troops so we can treat our wounded." That said, the intrepid halfling was off.

"Well, she's just like I remember her," Laska muttered. "What do you say we scope out the place before we check out the town. Find out what's going on?"

"Goody!" Imoen chuckled. "Let's go shopping at that big market-place!"

"That's not what I meant when I said 'scoping out the place', Im," Laska grinned.

"I know, big-ears, I know," Imoen grinned. "Let me have the money for a while, okay? I, errr, just want to, ermmm, hold it, you know, like a kind of hobby!"

"Why do I always get paired up with you when we split up, Jan?" Viconia asked herself as she, Jan and Keldorn moved to the east side of town.

"It's fate, Vicky," Jan smiled. "We are destined to be together for all times!"

"Perish the thought," Viconia groaned. "I'd need a vacation from you every week."

"Look at this," Keldorn said as he looked at the gaudy buildings. "It's so obvious these people have too much money. Luckily, I haven't noticed any homeless or beggars around."

"Tymora takes good care of this town now that Waukeen is gone," Viconia said.

"On the subject of too much money," Jan chuckled. "I once had an uncle with too much money. Oh, yes, he had so much money. He was in the barrel and crate business, you see, so cash was always flowing in... He even had this big coin-pool which he skinny-dipped in all the time, mighty cold if you ask me. Five houses, five boats, five butlers, five tables, five giant turnips, five dogs, five cats, one wife... and five mistresses. Of course, none of them knew of each other's existance, which can be quite a stir when all ten pets met at once, and let alone the many wives! But, oh, what a lifestyle! He used to fire and hire the same people over and over again. I tell you, he was so rich he even had Lolth jumping out of his birthday-cake once!"

"I highly doubt that," Viconia said.

"Oh, Uncle Weber just offered Lolth some candy. She's a sucker for strawberry-flavored lollipops. Anyway, when his six wives found out about each other, they decided to do something about it. You know, the official cause of death was that he choked in a coin while swimming, but, actually, Weber found his pool was suddenly populated with about a dozen hungry griffins. The wives got all the money, and spend their days leading an alternative communal life-style on a deserted island, until it was hit by a meteor, but that is another story altogether."

"Are you going to remain silent now?" Keldorn asked.

"So, this meteor saw the six women from space and thought to himself 'hey, I want in on this party', without considering that he might be too big to join the party, so he crashed... and that is how the purple dragons all died out..."

"NO MORE STORIES!" Keldorn shouted.

"Oh, will you look at that travesty!" Viconia suddenly menaced when she saw an open tent on the edge of town. It was Calishite harem, many scantily clad veiled women surrounding a rather portly gaudily dressed man. "That's an outrage it is, a crime against nature, argh!"

"Didn't you once say that Drow matrons often keep harems too?" Jan winked.

"That's different," Viconia said. "Female Drow are noble beings and male Drow are just dumb, voiceless cattle."

"I wonder what they are doing so far north," Keldorn said. "Perhaps we should ask."

"We should also ask what the two invisible genies next to that blubbery man are doing?" Jan said. "Illusionist's eye," he said after Keldorn and Viconia gave him incredulous looks.

Apparently the dao realized that they had been found out. A flash of light followed and the three suddenly stood before the two genies in a dark subplane. They found themselves floating on air, seeing naught but darkness and each other.

"Greetings to you, wayfarer! I am Khan Zahraa of Calimsham, a Dao djinn, at your service!" the genie spoke in a pleasant voice.

"We don't like being ripped from reality!" Viconia snarled. "Take us back immediately!"

"Bite you tongue, mortal," Khan spoke. "Suffice it to say that we have come on a service, hunting a criminal of some repute from Calimshan... a rakshasa by the name of Ihtafeer. She has managed to elude us for about fifty years."

"What has that got to do with us?" Jan said. "We don't have any tiger-heads, you know?"

"No, but you can see through illusions, like you did ours," Khan spoke. "You might make our hunt easier."

"I take it you are offering us a job?" Keldorn spoke.

"Not a job, paladin, a quest," Khan grinned. "Ihtafeer is a foul necromancer. A noble warrior such as yourself would have no problems dealing with such creatures. We Dao grew tired of chasing this little rakshasa... one does not always have to do things the difficult way, after all."

"She was too strong for you defeat her, wasn't she?" Viconia grinned.

"Errrr, yes," Khan hung his head in shame. "The Dao wish you well on your hunt, then, and await eagerly the sight of Ihtafeer's head! She can be very everywhere in the area right now, but I wish you luck on your quest. You'll need it."

Suddenly, the three adventurers found themselves standing in the Inn, no sign of the Dao being apparent.

"Something was odd about this encounter," Keldorn spoke. "Somehow, I don't think those Dao were telling us the whole story."

"I'll say," Jan said. "Smoke-boy didn't even realize I picked his pockets! Come on, lets share the loot."

"A goddess approves of your deeds, young ranger," the mysterious Kveroslava, the mother and heart of the Rom family staying outside of Trademeet said as she read the palm of Minsc. "Continue on your path to greatness."

"Oh, this is exciting, isn't it Boo?"

"More exiting than the 'tall dark stranger' I will meet in the future," Dynaheir chuckled.

"Ah, it is so nice to meet a friendly face in town," Kveroslava smiled. "We came here to flee from the animal-attacks but the people here have become so paranoid. For some reason, they've got it in their heads that we Rom are werewolves."

"Me! Me!" Imoen giggled as she hopped on her seat. "I want a reading, come on!"

"Alright," Kveroslava chuckled. "Cross my palm with silver."

Like a flash, Imoen rubbed her coin across Kveroslava's hand and laid her own hand in her palm.

"I..." Kveroslava said, but suddenly fell silent.

"What?!" Imoen asked. "What do you see? Come on, tell me."

"This... isn't possible," Kveroslava told Imoen. "I... I don't see anything. There's always something but... it's as if you're not here."

"Just some tents, nothing more it seems," Laska said, having exchanged her armor for her casual wear to make a less threatening impression as she, Korgan and Rose passed a simple multicolored tent. So far, their investigation had fielded nothing.

A tall human woman emerged from the multi-colored tent, a veritable wave of perfume emanating from her person. She was blonde, buxom and wore an expensive thin dress which left very little to the imagination. Expensive earrings and jewelry adorned her person. "Rose?" she asked as her sultry green eyes grew wide with recognition.

"Annalynn?" There was a happiness in Rose's voice as she spoke.

Soon enough, Korgan and Laska both grinned as both women shrieked in their happiness and flew into each other's arms.

"Hey, how've you been?" Annalynn asked.

"I quit," Rose said as the two women released. "I thought you would too."

"Don't look at me like that. I want to work here, I love my job," Annalynn said, "I just don't like the clientele at the bridge section. In Trademeet, all employees are treated fairly... that's Waukeen's rule: fair trade. It's good coin for an independent woman, you know."

"So is tending bar," Rose smiled.

"Really, I'm happy for you," Annalynn said. "But, ironically, working in a tent has given me an enormous house. Oh, and, who's this, then?" she said while pointing at the elf standing behind Rose.

"Laska Leafwalker," the elf spoke, hugged Rose from behind and kissed her on the top of the head, all the while shooting a 'Don't even think about it : she's MINE!'-look at Annalynn. "I kill things for a living..."

"Laska, please," Rose blushed.

"Oh my," Annalynn grinned. "An elf! Congrats, girl. Elves are hard to find and even harder too hook." Annalynn gave Laska a brief look-over. "And I can see why you picked her."

Rose, who noticed Annalynn's eyes were centered at Laska's breasts when she made that statement, flushed bright red.

"Oh, yeah," Annalynn continued. "Tall, long legs, tight abs, long soft hair, slim body, lovely silver-gray skin, fierce tattoos, nice cleavage..."

"Yeah," Rose continued blushing.

"Does that mean," Laska asked her lover, "that when we first met, you were only interested in my body?"

"Errr," Rose blushed, impossible as it was, even a deeper shade of red. "Sorry..."

Laska thought for a moment. "I can live with that," she grinned.

"There you go!" Annalynn smiled, but suddenly, her smile faded. "Oh, geez, it's Wilfred. Come on, let's get inside the tent!"

Looking over her shoulder when Annalynn let them in, Laska noticed a greasy man with strange puffy pants headed towards the tent, but the flap closed before she could make out any details.

Korgan finally said something, who had been fiddling with his beard ever since the women started talking. "Oy," he grinned, "could I be stayin' 'ere for a tad? HAR!"

The tent's common outside appearance belied the luxury that was inside. Grass turned into luxurious red carpet, and scented golden braziers spread a cinnamon smell through the tent. Around a waterpipe, on a ring a of pillows, a group of three scantily clad women was sitting, chatting and laughing. In the back-section were small private areas, and next to the entrance was a small desk where a friendly-smiling older women welcomed her guests.

Unfortunately, they couldn't enjoy their quiet rest much longer. The greasy man jumped through the entrance-flap and put an arms around both Laska and Rose's shoulder. "NEW GIRLS!" he shouted in their sensitive elven ears, "I can't wait to try you out! I'll be taking these two to the back, Madame Jeanne!"

"Because you're so visibly addled," Laska snarled, "I'll allow you to withdraw your greasy hand from under my vest without breaking every bone in your body, including the three teensy ones in your middle ear!"

"We," Rose sighed harshly, "are not on the menu."

"Oops, sorry," Wilfred grinned. "But, hey, at least I got a free feel-up out of the deal and..."

Whack! Suddenly, Wilfred was sent flying through the tent and ended up like a heap on the floor under the loud cheers and applause by all the gathered women.

"You said you wouldn't..." Wilfred muttered meekly while rubbing his painful eye.

"A girl's got a right to change her mind, hasn't she?" Laska snarled.

"Well, in that case," he gave Annalynn the look-over. "Lynna, my dear, you have such lovely, er, eyes," he said, despite the face that it was obvious that his own eyes were drifting a bit lower than that.

"Oh, what do you keep picking on me for?!" Annalynn sighed.

"Gather around girls!" Wilfred announced while all the girls groaned and plotted any possible escapes from this dreadful tale they had heard dozens of times before. "While I tell you the tale of my heroic encounter with a foul beast of sheer depraved violence! You are looking at one of the finest adventurers ever to hail from the city of Luskan, my friend! I am just recently come from a fine exploit that has left me considerably richer! So, anyway, there I was travelling through the Troll Hills, right? I come across this large cavern, warm steam coming out of it and the forbidding smell of brimstone and such... A dragon, I think to myself. And being Wilfred the Red the great adventurer, I walk in and challenge the dread beast to hand-to-hand combat!"

"A... fist-fight with a dragon?" Laska asked.

"Thirty feet high he was, with a wingspan easily three times that! Red as blood and eviller than a cockatrice in Alturiak!" Wilfred started to foam at the mouth! "I slew the beast, naturally, after a valiant struggle. A few minor scorch-marks were all I suffered for felling the beast, and its horde was mine! More gold than you could possibly imagine!"

"Ye be sure o'that?" Korgan said. "I can be imaginin' a lot! HAR!"

"Too bad I was by myself at the time. I could only gather as much gold as I could carry. Still, it was enough to make me plenty wealthy. Plus, it was a good deed, which is my forte," Wilfred grinned.

"Why don't you do a good deed and leave me alone for a day," Annalynn tried.

"Hey, no can do, babe," Wilfred grinned, "a hero has his needs."

Laska gave Wilfred a look-over. Beer-belly, bald-spot, non-existent muscle-mass, puffy leisure pants... She deemed it impossible that this man had slain a dragon unless the dragon in question was senile and blind. But Korgan beat her to the punch. "Ey!" he shouted. "Ye look ye cannay even swat a fly. Ye look ye be made from sticks, lard and cowdung. The only way ye could be defeatin' a dragon, be if ye bore it to death or if the smell o' yer mouth reaches 'is nostrils!"

"He said what we all were thinking!" Annalynn smiled!

"But, well, I, Let me tell you!" Wilfred said, but was suddenly silenced by a loud, earth-shaking crash, followed by a shadow blocking the sun over the tent. Then, a loud booming voice sounded from outside the tent, deep and draconic. "Fe Fi Fo Fum! I smell the blood of a lousy bum!" it shouted.

Suddenly, a huge red draconic head pushed through the entrance-flap of the tent and darted it eyes from back to forth while sniffing loudly.

"S-s-sir," Mistress Jeanne gulped. "W-w-w-we're n-n-not r-r-really s-s-set up for c-c-c-customers of your h-h-hight..."

Laska positioned herself between the dragon and the trembling girls at the back end of the tent, noting with satisfaction that a wet patch was spreading in Wilfred's pants.

"There's the bum!" the dragon snarled. "You're the one who took my gold! I can smell it on you!"

"No, no violence! Please! I... I'm no great warrior! There! I admit it! Please don't hurt me!" Wilfred yelled and sank to his knees, while pleading for his life in front of the dragon. "I was... traveling through the Troll Hills with my caravan and I, uh, got separated from them when I responded to a, uh, call of nature... I was lost and when I thought I heard them close by, I ran to catch up. I, er, stumbled and fell into a cave of sorts. There was a dragon, there... this one ... and he was, uh, sleeping."

"THIEF!" the dragon snarled.

"So I... helped myself to some of its gold. And I, er, got out as quickly as I could," Wilfred moaned. "Now please don't kill me, please don't kill me! I'll do anything but please DON'T KILL ME!"

"I'll be taking my hoard back!" the dragon roared.

"No, you won't!" Annalynn suddenly shouted at the dragon. "We worked hard for that money! Do know how long we had to listen to his verbal diarrhoea and endured his feeble pawings?! As you might have noticed, he's not exactly a tiger in the sack! We earned that money fair and square."

"Give me my coin or I'll huff and puff and blow your tent down!" the dragon roared.

"You've been reading too many stories," Laska told the dragon.

"Wait, wait!" Rose suddenly spoke up. "Can't we work something out? I mean, dragons are always on the lookout for more cash, right? So, why don't you apply for a job here? I mean, with the coin this place rakes in, you could turn a profit at the end of week, even."

"Yes!" Madame Jeanne smiled. "We've been looking for a good bouncer to keep the bad clientele like Wilfred here out. I'll give you a good pay and an even better dental plan."

"A dental plan, ey?" the dragon said. "Now that I can use."

"Yes, I can smell that from here," Laska muttered.

Suddenly, Wilfred screamed as he found himself inside the dragon's maw. In an instant, the dragon withdrew from the tent. The sounds of a forceful spitting sounded, followed by Wilfred's screams of terror disappearing into the distance.

"Well, now that that's settled," Laska said. "Perhaps we should get back to the inn to see what the others have dug up."

"Err, well," Korgan said while Annalynn was playing with his beard. "We ye mind if I be stayin' 'ere fer a moment?"

"Nah," Laska said. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"You know," Rose said and winked at Laska, "you've just pretty much given him free reign."

"I know," Laska grinned.

"Long day," Laska muttered as she removed her vest and tossed it on the chair in the back of the room at the inn which she shared with Rose. It was an expensive and large room, well carpeted and warm, but, much to Laska's satisfaction, there was a huge bed. Rose was already lying under the covers when Laska removed her boots and started to unbuckle her belt.

"Don't mind me," Rose said. "Just admiring the view."

"Oh?" Laska grinned while untying her braid and shaking her head about to loosen up her hair. After blowing out the candle, the removed her pants and crawled under the blankets.

"You know," Rose said while she cuddled up to her lover. "All my relationships have turned out in disaster."

"How comforting to know," Laska said.

"Hey," Rose swatter her lover against the arm. "I'm trying to be sensitive here! I wanted to say how much this relationship means to me and how much I love you, but if you keep talking through it..."

"Well," Laska said. "None of my relationships... many relationships lasted longer than a romp, except this one and," the elf sighed as she laid her head down on Rose's chest while her lover stroked her hair, "I'm happy you're in my life... It's so nice to share the fun, and the bad times, with someone else."

Rose smiled and kissed her lover on the top of the head.

"Now," Laska grinned while Rose felt her lover leading a trail of brief kisses towards the nape of her neck, "let's see if I can make you happy too..."