Any comments, critiques would be welcome, especially since I'm the world's worst editor. 
He seemed to burn with a restless energy that came from within as he paced the confines of the room. Then he paused, frowned and tilted his head slightly, as if he was listening to something only he could hear and he didn't like the message.
"Patience my good man, you look ready to tear those doors apart yourself," Keldorn told him as he looked at the center of the room with interest.
Valygar sighed with frustration and glanced at the bounty hunter attempting to open the doors that lead out of the room. "I'm not your good man and I'd rather we found Lavok and end this once and for all."
"Valygar is cranky because he needs to pound the evil body thief into so much goo," Minsc observed. "Minsc and Boo will help since we can't let another ranger face evil all by himself. I still think he is lonely and needs a hamster of his own to tell him nice stories as he falls asleep."
The morose noble could only stare helplessly at the man. "Minsc, have you hit your head again?"
"Boo says no."
Viconia sneered in contempt at the group, but otherwise she said nothing. The dark elf held herself aloof from everyone, as if their presence was beneath her notice. She leaned over and casually looked upon the dominating feature of the room, which was a large crystalline sphere with glowing lights swirling in the depths. The pale blue light coming from the object in the center of the room lit up her face and gave her an unearthly appearance.
A soft rattling and a clink broke the near silence in the room, which was followed by a stream of curses questioning the sanity and probably ugliness of whomever designed the ship.
"Any luck opening those doors?" Andaire wondered.
Yoshimo shook his head as he briefly sucked his finger. Evidentially the bounty hunter had nicked the appendage, hence his stream of swearwords. Blackie had been watching the rogue work on the locks and was repeating some of the more colorful curses that the man came up with. This didn't please Andaire as the crow was developing a remarkably foul mouth, and she would be the one to hear all of his new words later.
"No, curse the maker of this place!" Yoshimo exclaimed. "These doors are sealed by something strong, probably magic."
"I should have known magic would be the cause," Valygar said darkly.
"In a ship of dreams and magic, one would expect to find more magic," Haer'Dalis observed. He was relaxing by leaning against a wall and looking far too amused by the current situation.
Valygar glared at the bard and then ignored him. He had learned by now from watching him and Anomen argue pretty much all the time that responding to statements like that only encouraged the Tiefling.
Andaire sighed with frustration. They had been in this room for a good half hour, maybe longer and they still couldn't get past the doors. She felt like there was something that she was missing and it was right in front of her. Damn, what was it?
"What is what, child?" Jaheira asked. "Speak your mind."
The half elf flushed for she didn't realize that she had spoken her frustrations out loud. "Er, it's nothing Jaheira, just me venting some frustration is all."
"Oh?"
"Uh, yes. I'm thinking the key to getting past those doors lies in this room but I just can't find it," Andaire admitted. "There has to be something here as Lavok wouldn't make it too difficult for Valygar to reach him."
Anomen looked around the room and said, "Mayhap the key is hidden and we have but to look to find the hiding place."
The actor lifted his head and seemed like he was about to say something in response, but he held his tongue. Viconia had no such qualms about giving her opinion. "A case of poor judgment, but what can you expect from a mere surfacer, and a male at that?"
"I need not hear what you say, for your notice is far beneath me," Anomen snapped.
"Hmm, you say you do not see me, yet I see your eyes fall upon me when you think I don't see. Like the soft curves of female flesh more than you care to admit? Or have you even tasted the delights a willing female can provide?"
"Foul creature, keep your impure thoughts to yourself," the knight snarled, suddenly aware that the woman had him trapped and nothing he could say would get him out of the verbal mess.
"Anomen, it is best if you pay no mind to that viper's tongue," Keldorn interjected.
The Drow smiled thinly and replied lazily, "Seems I see true, no? Unless, unless your female has found your performance in the bedchamber less than satisfactory and is seeking…"
"Viconia, enough!" Andaire warned angrily, her temper quickly rising to the surface. "Unless you have something useful to say, say nothing at all."
The dark elf grinned mercilessly and for a second the half elf thought she wouldn't listen. Thankfully, Viconia kept what she was about to say to herself. "You want useful, I shall give you useful, abbil. Look on the floor and tell me what you see."
"What has that got to do…?" Nalia began though everyone ignored her.
Andaire did as Viconia suggested and stared at the floor. The room was tiled of course, though the maker of the sphere had chosen a dark triangular tile instead of the more popular square ones. It shone with a dull luster and the half elf thought it was rather pretty. Then she saw how the tiles had been carefully arranged so that they pointed more or less towards the center of the room. The pattern was only broken in about four places where four distinct runes had been inset in the floor in a translucent white stone.
The half elf ran a hand through her hair and said, "I don't see what's…" Then she paused and finally noticed what the Drow had seen. Those four runes were a pattern and more specifically, they were numbers. Maybe if they were activated in their natural sequence then that would do something. Without bothering to explain herself, Andaire jogged to the number one rune, stepped on it and pronounced the number in an arcane tongue. The rune glowed softly and the lithe mage grinned in satisfaction before going to the next rune in the sequence.
"What are you doing?" Valygar demanded, a frown creasing his brow. "You shouldn't play with magic that way."
"I agree, you're not looking at things with the proper caution," Jaheira muttered as she stole a dark glance at the smirking Viconia.
Two, must get to three now. Andaire went to the third rune and answered, "I'm opening the doors. The key is hidden in the room alright, but it's in plain sight on the floor itself." Three. There, that's done and now for the final one.
Nalia fidgeted and unable to stay still any longer, she stepped on the final symbol. After she had done that the sphere in the middle of the room flashed briefly, and then there was a clanking sound and a whoosh as both previously locked doors opened on their own. The group tensed, then relaxed, as no enemies or nasty surprises appeared. That didn't mean that the let down their guard, however.
"Nice," Yoshimo commented. "So fearless leader, which path shall we take?"
There were indeed two paths just as there had been two doors, and only one of them lead to Lavok, Andaire reasoned. The doorway near Haer'Dalis sloped downwards into a dimly lit hallway. The stairs were made of metal and were soon lost to the darkness, so the half elf thought the party would need to use their torches to see past that gloom. Meanwhile, the other door opened up into a roughly circular room and Andaire could see a short flight of stairs that led to another door. She sighed and hoped that one was unlocked.
"We are going through both doors Yoshimo, but not all at once. We need to cover a lot of ground quickly so I'm spitting us into two groups," the priestess said. "I'll lead the group that's going upstairs and Jaheira; can you see what's downstairs?"
The druid gave her former ward a long stare and nodded. "Very well, but who is going with you and who is going with me?"
Andaire paused and bit her lip, thinking of the best way to divide everyone up. "Yoshimo, Nalia, Anomen and Minsc, you four go with Jaheira and see what's downstairs and Blackie, get over here. Wait, on second thought you had better go with them Viconia. Everyone else comes with me."
The crow had been peeking into the room that led upstairs when his mistress had summoned him and for once he obeyed immediately without question. He tilted his head and for some reason known only to himself, he decided to stare at Valygar.
Reminded of her odd dream with the paintings by her familiar's behavior, Andaire said to the ranger, "If we are the group that finds Lavok, don't go rushing to face him. If you fight him alone you will die, Valygar. Trust me on this, I've seen it. Lavok is a strong necromancer and will defeat you without a second thought. Let us help, that's what we're here for anyway."
Valygar's gaze bore into her own and for a second Andaire feared he might not listen. His eyes were like two lumps of coal and the expression on his face was unreadable. "Fine," he said at last, "if that's the way you want it. Once we find that evil ancestor of mine, we must defeat him and return home, if we can."
Jaheira lead her group down the darkened flight of stairs. It wasn't so dark that her or Viconia couldn't see the individual stairs and the door at the bottom of them, but the humans in the party didn't have the advantage of elfin sight and were forced to move slower least they stumble in the gloom.
The druid stopped at the bottom of the stairs and waited for the others to catch up. She knew that if they should find Lavok then it would be a tough battle. Nature though had provided her with numerous advantages and she would use them. Why not use the aid of the natural world if it was right at her fingertips?
This wait is maddening, but it's better to be careful in one's approach instead of sorry, Jaheira thought. Speaking of being careful, I'm not so sure I should have let Andaire take that actor with her. My instincts tell me not to trust him with her. Anomen appears to feel the same way, though I think that boy's concern is not the concern of one friend to another. There's something more there, something happened between him and Andaire the other night, I'm sure of it. I swear if I find out he's harmed a single hair on her head, then let nature's wrath take him!
Finally everyone reached their destination and Yoshimo inspected the door briefly before he announced that it was safe and unlocked. He grinned at Jaheira and announced, "Ladies first, 'o beauteous creature of the forest."
The druid glared at him, a tactic she found usually worked wonders. She didn't understand why people were intimidated by a mere look, but intimidated they were. However it had only a moderate effect on the Kara-Turan before her. She remarked, "You speak with a slippery tongue. Take care that tongue does not lead you into trouble."
"But of course," Yoshimo replied after a second. "I shall follow your motherly advice, no?"
Jaheira glared harder at him and he fell silent. She walked through the door and led the group into a fairly large and rather empty round room. This place was brightly lit by the same kind of unnatural lighting they had found throughout the sphere and was surprisingly clean. Three doors were found spaced more or less evenly apart in the curved wall on the far side of the room. Which door should she chose?
"Oh no, more doors!" Nalia lamented. "I'm so sick of finding more doors everywhere we go."
"Oh, cease your prattle, you pathetic creature," Viconia growled. "You have an advantage being female and I suggest you live up to that lofty ideal instead of playing a helpless damsel in distress."
"At least I'm not a cold hearted, evil person like yourself!" the noble hotly declared even as her cat poked her head of her backpack to see what the fuss was all about. "No wonder people can't stand being around you."
Instead of being offended, the Drow actually looked pleased at the verbal assault. "A bit better than your usual mewling, but you have a long way to go before you can curse properly. Keep that up and you might win an argument one of these days."
"Cease the pointless bickering and let's get on with it," Jaheira warned everyone. "We have a task to accomplish and little time to do it. Anomen, Minsc and Yoshimo, see what's behind each one of those doors and by Silvanus's grace be careful about it. I don't want to have to spend too much energy patching you up. Oh, don't worry; we'll be coming with you in case you find something unfriendly."
Anomen looked at her, flushed a little and went to the door on the left with Viconia close behind him. Yoshimo and Nalia went to look at the door on the right, which meant that she would be accompanied by Minsc as they went to see what was behind the middle door.
"Minsc and Boo are glad that the nice druid lady is here, though she looks lonely," the ranger began without preamble. "We are also pleased that you are looking after little Andaire though between you and I, we think the knight wants to look after Andaire too."
Jaheira had been reaching for the door, but at the Rashemie's comment she stopped. She peered over her shoulder and told him, "Sometimes I wonder about you. At times I think you see more than you let on. Keep quiet though least everyone hears what you say."
Minsc nodded solemnly and replied, "If you want Minsc to be quiet, then I shall say not too much though I think Jaheira is lonely even though she is watching Andaire closely. But Boo thinks Jaheira is still sad she's lonely but she won't be sad forever."
For some reason the ranger's words caused an old memory of Khalid to surface in Jaheira's mind. It was a discussion the two of them had when they were camping out in the Cloakwood forest in their search for a mine being run by the Iron Throne so many months ago. Earlier in that day her husband had punched an elf in the face and sent him splashing into the river after he had gotten too fresh with Andaire. Jaheira hadn't liked Coran at all, and Khalid even less so, and the bridge incident was the culmination of that distrust.
Later that night they sat by the fire and talked about what happened. Khalid, sweet gentle Khalid, had been very put out by that incident. He acted like a protective older brother towards the tiny half elf Gorion had raised and he decided right then and there to extract a promise form his wife should they ever become separated.
"Dear J-Jaheira, I think we should c-come to an agreement," Khalid said.
The druid raised an eyebrow at her spouse and asked, "What do you speak of? You dealt well enough with that thief and though I think you went too far, Andaire practically worships the ground you walk on for that. I doubt she would have been pleased if I had handled the situation. I do believe she thinks I scold her too much."
He stared in the depths of the flames and stirred the fire with a stick he had handy. He stretched his legs out and said at length, "Andaire loves you my dear. She looks up to you and would do anything for you."
"Perhaps."
"Definitely my d-dear. We both know wh-what she is and how people will try to take advantage of her," Khalid said, his expression turning dark. "B-because we made a promise to Gorion and we c-can't break it, p-please p-promise you'll look after and guide Andaire should I die before you."
"Khalid, how can you say that?" Jaheira cried, aghast, not knowing that Dynaheir was stirring in her sleep because of the discussion. "Enough gloomy talk, let's try to find out where the Iron Throne is hiding in these woods."
"Promise me!" Khalid insisted. "Also, don't morn me forever, I don't want you to spend the rest of your life alone should it come to p-pass. I love you t-too much to see you su-suffer."
Jaheira looked longingly at her husband and thought it fortunate that she had found him. "My Khalid, we will not be separated though should that happen; I will keep your promise."
"G-Good, I-I'm glad Jaheira," Khalid said, his face reddening from either the fire or something else. "N-now it's time for someone else to take watch, s-so if you don't mind we can wake them up and go to our t-tent and s-spend the night t-together."
"My Khalid… "
All this flashed through her mind in an instant and Jaheira shook her head to clear herself of the memories. If she had known at the time that she would lose her husband, maybe she wouldn't have scolded him so much and appreciated him more. She missed him, more than she cared to admit, although she vowed she would at least keep the promise of looking after the half elf who was leading the group. How much Minsc knew she wasn't certain, but now was not really the time to find that out.
"Minsc, enough of this. We'll open this door and…"
Jaheira's voice trailed off as she took a look to see how everyone else was doing. Everyone it seemed was having a discussion about how to open their respective doors and now the sounds of the arguments filled the room.
"This door feels warm, I wonder why," Nalia' said. "Think it's trapped?"
"No, just open it up and see young pretty," Yoshimo replied as he slid hid katana out of its sheath.
"There is probably nothing behind this door, it's merely cold" Anomen announced. "And if there is I can certainly deal with it easily enough."
"Stupid male, there is something there, I'm telling you," Viconia responded. "Though if you wish to die then I won't stop you. It should be interesting to see you get squished."
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion at that point. Jaheira had no opportunity to make sure everyone was careful opening those doors before they were flung wide open. Frothy clouds of cold vapor came pouring out of the room that Anomen and Viconia were standing in front of. The newly opened room was dominated by a strange piece of frost covered machinery and ice lined the floors and walls in spikes and clumps. A snow covered lump lay on the ground near the door, though the trouble might have ended there if that was the only thing in the room. However, the room was occupied by an assortment of cold loving creatures such as ice mephitis, ice trolls, an air elemental and several small lizard-like creatures that hopped along the ground on two legs. The monsters stared at the intruders and then they were racing out of the room.
At the same moment Nalia and Yoshimo opened the door to their room and stepped back from the heat that came blasting out of there. In this room there was also a piece of strange machinery that gave off waves of warmth. Huddled around that contraption was an efreet, a fire elemental and quite a few fire mephitis. The creatures didn't appreciate their sanctuary being violated so suddenly and they came roaring and running after the people responsible.
"Run you fools, run to the stairs!" Jaheira barked as she followed her own advice. No one else needed further prompting and they too ran for the dubious safety of the stairs with an assortment of creatures behind them.
