Baldur's Gate 2 SoA: Shadows Within Ch9 part 2

Baldur's Gate 2 SoA: Shadows Within
Chapter 13: Imprisonment & Slavery part 2

Still in the market of the Docks District, Ralis and the others were planning on returning to the Five Flagons Inn at the Guards District to deliver the strange gem that Haer'Dalis tried to take from an evil wizard. Ralis is still trying to figure out why Althirion is questioning Yoshimo's unusually friendly behavior. Haer'Dalis noticed Althir walking into the crowd and saw him turn to look at him and signal with his finger to follow him.
Haer'Dalis followed Althir into the crowd without hesitation.

"What troubles you, my phoenix?" He asked Althirion once they were blended in among the crowd away from Ralis and the others who were still trying to get their bearings.

"I have... concerns about our bounty hunter friend, Yoshimo," he said.

"The parrot? Aye, this sparrow knows too well what gives you ill feelings of dread and discomfort like oblivion looming upon thee," Haer'Dalis said sullenly, sensing that the half-elf doesn't trust Yoshimo as much as he does.

Althir was a bit surprised, he thought he was the only one who found Yoshimo's behavior suspicious. "You sense it too?"

"Aye, my phoenix, I do. I do not know what it is, but this sparrow can surely sense it," Haer'Dalis said with a serious frown.

"We should keep an eye on him at all times,  We have a drow, a vampire and blackguard in our party, but it is him that I am most suspicious of right now," Althirion said.

Haer'Dalis nodded in agreement then they returned back to Ralis and the others, who have decided to move on through the crowds of people. The few who caught sight of Dorn in the party moved away out of fear.

Yoshimo noticed Althirion and Haer'Dalis returning to walk within the group once more. His eyes fixed on Althir, he couldn't help wondering what happened to Althir's left eye, so he decided to ask.

"So, Althirion, the half-elf in gray with few words and many actions, tell me how is it you obtained that eye patch? I am merely curious," he said.

Althirion glanced at him. "I don't normally disclose personal information about my past, Yoshimo," he replied coldly.

Yoshimo nodded. "Yes, of course, I understand. I don't mean to pry, it's just that you are an enigma to me, my friend. I know nothing about you, and since we will be traveling together, I feel that we should get to know each other, so there will be no distrust between each other, yes?" Yoshimo said apologetically.

Althir pulled his hood further over his head. "...I understand and respect your reasons for trying to start a conversation with me, but understand I don't trust easily, and I am not sure you can be trusted yet. You are an enigma to me as much as I am to you."

"I am but a simple bounty hunter, Althir. You will find that I am one of the few trustworthy thieves you will ever meet in these lands," Yoshimo said with a sincere tone and smile to Althirion even though he wasn't looking at him.

"We shall see... Actions speak louder than words. Surely even you know this..." Althirion responded once more, even though his eyes were focused on what is ahead of him.

Yoshimo then turned his attention to Haer'Dalis, walking next to him to his left. The tiefling, like Althirion, for some reason, wore a troubled frown on his face, and Yoshimo felt that it is his obligation to cheer the tiefling up.

"Haer'Dalis, why the long face? Did some trouble befall you?" Yoshimo asked him.

He slowly nodded, furrowing his eyebrows. "Aye, parrot, something is troubling this sparrow. Although I cannot directly weed out the source, I can feel it, and I cannot ignore it-- it is like a needle burrowing deep into my skull," he replied sullenly, shutting his eyes in deep thought.

Yoshimo shook his head, chuckling, then he placed his right arm around Haer'Dalis, causing him to momentarily widen his eyes in surprise because he didn't expect Yoshimo to do this.

"Haer'Dalis, Haer'Dalis, you think too much and smile too little. Come, my bullywug! Come, my puss n' boots! We are in Athkatla, the city of a million smiling faces!" Yoshimo exclaimed in an upbeat tone to break Haer'Dalis's grim mood as he gestured his left arm at the crowds of people around them and the merchants trying to sell their foods and goods, shouting offers like:

"You won't find a diamond as genuine as this! Buy it now for 200 gold and 100 silver!"

"Fresh fruit! Buy some fresh fruit right here for 5 copper!"

Abdel frowned, looking back at Yoshimo when he called the tiefling a bullywug because he knows what they are. Bullywugs are flesh eating bipedal frog creatures, and they are most definitely not known to be friendly to humans or any other race, so Abdel found Yoshimo calling Haer'Dalis a bullywug to be a terrible compliment, if it is one.

Haer'Dalis nodded slowly, still in his lethargic state of mind. "Aye, parrot, aye... 'Tis because they're all trying to sell me something!" He stated in an unamused, bored tone.

Yoshimo couldn't help but continue grinning. "I have seen your fingers, and they are as fast as your tongue! What you don't want to buy, you can always steal!" He replied cheerfully, recalling how quick and deft the tiefling's hands are in combat back at Mae'Var's hideout.

Haer'Dalis pulled Yoshimo's right arm off around his neck, looking into his cheerful face. "And what you don't want to steal? I trust not your boundless glee, my parrot, for something in it jingles with the sound of silver," he said inquisitively.

Yoshimo frowned in confusion but still had the cheerful smirk on his lips. "Silver? Or gold? We pluck it from every corpse we find and steal it from every chest we encounter! You are right, bard, I am twice rewarded: Once because I am richer in Ralis's care. And twice because I am richer here than rotting in some prison of the damned."

Haer'Dalis narrowed his eyes at the bounty hunter. "Aye, you are twice rewarded, but you have no more been a prisoner than I have been a king... Consider yourself forewarned, thief. My trust does not come easy, and you have not won it yet."

Yoshimo stopped walking and watched as Althirion and Haer'Dalis move on, and Hexxat, Viconia, Dorn, Neera, Edwin and the others move past him as he felt somewhat crestfallen. He couldn't understand why Althir and Haer'Dalis are so leery of his motives. He shook the doubts out his mind and continued following them. He quietly vowed to himself that he will prove them wrong.

When Yoshimo caught up to Edwin, he immediately took notice of the bounty hunter and started conversing with him, when he noticed the puzzled look etched on Yoshimo's face.

"Yoshimo, every man has his flaws, follies and mistakes. In your case, those are the most entertaining and trustworthy attributes you posses," Edwin said to him. "(You are shiftier than me, and I don't trust myself,)" Edwin added, whispering to himself.

Yoshimo couldn't help but offer Edwin a flattered smile. "Edwin, you've a manner that makes each of us feel beautiful and appreciated," he said.

"Not me. I feel ugly and unappreciated just being near him. ... Wait. That didn't come out right at all," Neera interjected.

"Somewhere in you, something terrible gathers and grows," Edwin said, choosing to ignore Neera's remark. "(Can I spot kindred, or can I spot kindred?)" He gloated.

"That's only love, warmth, and candor for you and your red-robed ilk, Edwin," Yoshimo replied.

Edwin nodded. "As you make you make your pilgrimage, Yoshimo, there will be ruin and cruel intention. Of this I am certain," Edwin declared.

Hearing this, Althir warily looked back at Edwin and Yoshimo having their conversation. Yoshimo shrugged, not knowing what Edwin is talking about.

"Well, all pilgrimages must start somewhere, no? I look forward to the ruin... Will be a delightful change from your company, Red Wizard," Yoshimo said then moved on ahead past Edwin.

Neera kept her eyes on Edwin walking in front of her. She still hated the idea of letting him join the group, but she had to respect Ralis' wishes even if she doesn't agree with them. Edwin could instinctively sense that Neera is eyeing him behind his back with suspicious distrust as they moved with the group through the crowds of people who are trying to by what the merchants around them are selling.

"You should watch yourself, Edwin. Ralis wants us to work together, so I won't accidentally kill you. But it'd be an awful shame if I accidentally surged and you got turned into a sandwich," Neera warned him.

Edwin shifted his eyes to the right but never turned his head to look back at Neera, not even for a second.

"Your bluster might be amusing were it not so pathetic," he replied.

"Don't try me, Red Wizard. I've had more than enough of your kind in my life," Neera poked him in the back with her staff.

Edwin's body bristled in annoyance. "You say I should not try your patience? Do not try mine, freak. I could end your miserable existence in the blink of an eye," he frowned sharply.

Neera scoffed skeptically then started blinking her eyes, saying "Blink blink blink. Blinky blink blink blink" every time she blinked. "Still here. You're all talk, Edwin," she taunted him after blinking 7 times.

"You're still here because Ralis wishes it. Pray that does not change," Edwin said.

As for Hexxat, wearing Dragomir's Cloak to protect her beautiful yet sensitive chocolate brown undead skin from the sunlight, she couldn't take her eyes off Viconia walking beside her to her left. She has never seen a drow up close and personal before, so seeing a drow woman up close is a brand new experience for the vampire woman. To her, Viconia's beauty is a sight to behold even though she is fully clothed to avoid exposing her dark gray skin and wore a hood over her head to hide her face and white hair.

"You carry yourself well, Viconia," Hexxat said to her.

"I have to," Viconia glanced at the vampire for a second.

"A woman must work doubly hard to prove herself in this world," Hexxat said firmly.

"And a drow triply so," Viconia responded.

"But you do so, with grace and poise," Hexxat said in mild admiration, remembering that she overheard Viconia telling her story to Ralis about the farmers who betrayed her, how she clawed her way out of the wooden casket and through the soil up to the surface of the earth.

"You don't do so badly yourself," Viconia praised Hexxat, recalling how graceful and lethal she is in battle, both with her sword, shortbow and fangs.

"When it comes to battle, my skills are passable. There are other places where I positively excel. Perhaps I could show you some time," Hexxat said with a small smile forming on the right corner of her lips.

Viconia raised an eyebrow curiously. "What are you suggesting, precisely...?" She asked.

Hexxat decided to let the cat out the bag.

"Sometimes a woman needs the company of another woman. The feel of another woman's flesh upon her own. Is that clear enough for you?"

Viconia understood what Hexxat meant, but the thought of cuddling in bed with a cold-blooded, undead creature just didn't appeal very well to the drow woman at all. She reached out at Hexxat, moved her hand under the fold of Dragomir's cloak and touched Hexxat's arm, feeling no warmth of blood at all.

"It is a shame your flesh is so cold, or for a moment, I might have been tempted," Viconia said, rejecting Hexxat's advances in the most polite way, so as not to hurt the vampire's feelings.

"Consider the possibilities, Viconia. You'd have no regrets come the morning, I promise you," Hexxat assured her.

"I have heard such promises before. None have proved accurate," Viconia brushed Hexxat away.

Before Hexxat could make another attempt at flirting with Viconia, Dorn came up bedside her.

"Tell me, Hexxat. Is it true what I have heard about vampires and stamina?" He asked her.

"It is," Hexxat nodded.

"And appetite?" A smile creased Dorn's lips.

Hexxat didn't know what he's suggesting.

"Get to the point, Dorn," she urged him.

"Perhaps you and I could come to an... arrangement. Forget consorting with the drow. Half-orc men provide more pleasure than your mind can possibly fathom."

Viconia laughed at Dorn's remark after he said that because he has no idea how skilled dark elf women are in... intimate activities. Dorn then tried to put his right arm around her, but Hexxat ducked away.

"No," she said firmly.

Dorn frowned. "You would deny me?"

"I think I just did," Hexxat glared defiantly at him.

"You don't know what you're missing," Dorn said callously.

"Somehow, I shall find the strength to carry on," Hexxat said.

"(Interesting. So the depraved half-orc brute has been rejected by the dark skinned banshee. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, half-orc breeds are repugnant in many ways,)" Edwin whispered to himself.

"Wh... why do you talk to yourself, Edwin?" Aerie asked him meekly.

Edwin gasped in shock, surprised to hear Aerie's voice so near him. He glanced over at Aerie who happened to be walking beside him to his right a few seconds ago when he didn't notice.

"What? Oh, ah ha... why, hello, Aerie. I, ah... don't do anything of the sort," he stammered, feeling flustered and unable to maintain eye contact with Aerie. He turned his head away from her. "(No, now is not the time to make arguments,)" he whispered to himself. "Why do you ask?" He turned to face Aerie again just when Ralis and the group were nearing the end of the street which will take them out of the marketplace just several yards ahead of them.

"I-I was just wondering when do I get to meet him," Aerie replied.

She assumed that Edwin has a friend that only he can see and hear. Edwin frowned.

"(There's no one to meet,)" he said quietly at first, through gritted teeth. "There's no one to meet!" He shouted vehemently. "Get away from me! You'll make me crazy, you will, and I'll not have two pieces of it!" he yelled, scaring Aerie into running past Viconia, Dorn, Hexxat, Althir, Haer'Dalis and Abdel and staying next to Minsc for safety.

"Actually, you have three pieces of it," Neera chimed in.

"Silence, pink haired freak!" Edwin snapped.

-----

Hours passed as Ralis and his group tirelessly traveled the streets of the slums to reach the Bridge District of Athkatla, and no conversations arose in the group around those times, until when they were only 3 miles away from the Bridge District, Aerie felt a little bored and tired. She hated the feeling of her legs aching during a long walk. Things would be so much easier if she had her wings. As hard as it was, she decided not to dwell on the loss of her wings for right now and instead think of something else. She noticed that Haer'Dalis is walking beside her, and she also noticed that strapped behind his back there is some kind of musical instrument that resembles a harp.

"Do you play music, Haer'Dalis?" She asked him.

He looked at her and smiled. "Why yes, I do, my dove. As an actor, I must be well versed in the many forms of entertainment," he replied casually.

"Do you... do you think you could... play a song one day?" Aerie stuttered.

"I would be glad to, my dove," Haer'Dalis smiled.

"How did you become an actor, anyway?" Abdel asked him.

"How does one become an actor, my blood hawk?" Haer'Dalis threw the question back at him.

"...Uh, auditioning for plays? Agh, forget it. Never mind I asked," Abdel grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

He didn't feel like answering riddles right now. After all, trying to understand something that doesn't involve fighting gives him a headache.

"Did I leave your mind muddled with questions you can't answer, my blood hawk?" the tiefling asked Abdel with a wry smile.

"Oh no, you didn't. I just got a simple headache," Abdel protested.

"'Twas a very simple question this sparrow asked you, and you're suddenly beset with a headache? 'Tis rather strange, don't you think?" Haer'Dalis pressed.

"Stop! No more talking! Just... leave me alone," Abdel whined.

"As you wish," Haer'Dalis shrugged.

It didn't take long for him to see the destination on the other side of the road.

"Ah, the playhouse! It has not changed one bit," Haer'Dalis exhaled in relief when he saw the Five Flagons inn up ahead.

"The what?" Ralis looked at the tiefling puzzled.

"That is what I have called this place for years. Come, we must not keep Miss Raelis waiting," Haer'Dalis replied.

A minute later, Ralis, Haer'dalis and Aerie went backstage to meet with the tiefling's fellow actors while the rest of the group sat in the empty chairs waiting for them to return.

"Ah! The errant dark actor doth returns to us once more!" Raelis smiled with glee, approaching Haer'Dalis and giving him a heartwarming hug.

"'Tis good to be back, Miss Raelis," He said.

After 5 seconds of hugging, Raelis released the tiefling and focused her eyes on Ralis and Aerie standing behind him.

"To be honest, I thought that Merkrath enslaved you too." She said.

"He won't be bothering anyone anymore. I made sure of that," Ralis assured her.

"So that means the wizard is dead? Amazing..." Biff gasped in awe.

Raelis smiled. "I am sure you can be very... persuasive. Here is your gold, like I promised," she reached into her purse and handed him the amount of gold she promised to pay, 300 gold.

"So, have you brought the gem as well?" she asked Ralis, expecting him to have it.

He handed it over to her. Her yellow eyes widened as she gazed at the gem in her hands.

"Ah, Mekrath's prize! It shall be our salvation yet," she said in an awed tone.

She reached into her purse again, pulling out a handful of more gold and handing it to Ralis. "Here be 700 gold for your hard work."

Ralis counted the gold in his hand and added it with the gold he already had. 3,613 gold is the total in addition to the silver and copper he has.

"Aerie, your friend is amazing," Raelis told her.

"Ralis is a good man," Aerie agreed.

"Stop it, you're making me blush, Aerie," Ralis averted his gaze, trying not to smile out of flattery.

"And how can a single gem be your salvation? Got a debt that needs to be paid off?" he asked Raelis cluelessly.

She glanced at him for a seconds, smiled, then turned to face Haer'Dalis.

"Haer'Dalis, tell them what we are about while I prepare for the summoning of the conduit," she instructed him.

Summoning? Conduit? Ralis had the feeling that something big will happen.

"Yes, Miss Raelis..."

Raelis, Kirinaldo and Lunisia went to one of the dressing rooms and shut the door, leaving Haer'Dalis alone with Aerie and Ralis. Haer'Dalis took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, spreading his arms wide as he done so.

"Ah, my raven and dove, there be a tale between us that is long overdue. Forgive me if I led you to believe that the gem was just a worthless bauble for the stage."

"Actually, you didn't lead us to believe anything," Ralis replied.

"In truth, it be far more interesting a planar jewel, a nexus between the Astral and the Prime Material planes," Haer'Dalis explained.

Ralis and Aerie frowned in confusion, looking at each other for a second, then looked at Haer'Dalis.

"Few of you Primes would sense its presence, but Mekrath did and so it was that I fell into his keeping. Luckily, he had not rid himself of it before your timely rescue," he added.

"... Okay, I get the gist of this. What is Raelis trying to summon exactly?" Ralis asked.

"A young conduit," Haer'Dalis answered.

"Huh?" Ralis scratched his head.

"W... why would she d-do that?" Aerie tilted her head to the right, puzzled.

"To travel between planes, we birds of flight can pass through what are called young conduits, whipping snake-like tubes that writhe within the Astral Plane, their heads and tails clinging to different pieces of the multiverse. The planar stone acts like a charmer's pipe upon these conduits, bringing them to us that we might enter and pass through."

"Miss Raelis is playing the stone as we speak, that our company might slip through our hunter's grasp and find another stage. The play must go on, you know." Haer'Dalis smiled.

"You're leaving us?" Aerie felt disappointed-- she really enjoyed Haer'Dalis's company in the group, but she knew that his place is with his fellow actors.

"Who is hunting Miss Raelis?" Ralis asked.

Before Haer'Dalis could reply, he only managed to open his mouth before he heard the door behind him creak open. He turned around to see Raelis, Kirinaldo, Lunisia and Biff stepping out.

"Haer'Dalis, everyone, gather round. The stone is ready to begin the summoning," Raelis declared with an excited grin, holding the glowing gem in her right hand.

Ralis noticed that the gem is glowing a bright green.

-----

Minutes later, Ralis and his companions sat on the front row seats of the play as they watched Haer'Dalis, Kirinaldo, Lunisia and Raelis stand in front of the entrance of a large cardboard castle on the stage. Biff stayed back because he is not a tiefling. Raelis placed the gem in the entrance of the cardboard castle and stepped away a few inches as the gem's bright glow grew more and more brighter, its blinding light too painful for the eyes to directly look at.

"Ready, everyone?" Raelis glanced back at her fellow actors.

"Yep!" Kirinaldo nodded.

"Ready, Miss, Raelis," Haer'Dalis nodded.

"Let's do it!" Lunisia agreed.

"Then follow my lead," Raelis instructed.

She began waving her arms at the gem as if she is trying to cast a spell, and Haer'Dalis and the others began to do the same. The gem grew brighter and brighter then exploded into a swirling bright blue vortex in the cardboard castle's entrance hole! Ralis and his companions watched in awe as Raelis and her actors made the young conduit open up. No one knows what lies on the other side, but as far as she is concerned, if she and her actors stay in the Prime Material plane for too long, the person hunting for them will find them eventually, so they must be on the move.

Before Raelis could request Ralis to make sure that no hostile creatures could come through the gate, a small group of bounty hunters, 4 of them, suddenly emerged from the young conduit, startling Biff so much, he lost his footing and landed on his backside hard. As far as Ralis could tell, the bounty hunters looked like humans with long, elvish ears, but he knew that they are not, they are tieflings. Their intrusion interrupted Raelis' ritual, but the portal remained open. The lead bounty hunter, Aawill, stepped forward a few steps and bowed courteously at Raelis. He wore a dome shaped steel helmet that covered his head, but left his face revealed, and he wore chainmail armor with darts attached to his belt and a longsword.

"Good day, Miss Raelis. Would you permit me to stop this madness?" He asked politely.

Raelis and her actors stopped moving their arms and the pulsing, humming noise from the gem that kept the conduit open grew quiet and the room fell into silence.

"Thank you," Aawill said.

"Who are you and what business do you have with us?" Raelis asked curiously, as she did not recognize the tiefling or his companions at all.

He smiled. "Oh, just an employee of an old acquaintance of yours in Sigil. Duke... what was his name? Darkwood?" He wondered aloud as he scratched his chin.

"Yes, Duke Darkwood, that was it, wasn't it? You really oughtn't have done that play, you know..." Aawill concluded.

Raelis's eyes grew wide. She never expected Darkwood to be so desperate as to hire bounty hunters. Although Sigil is hardly a peaceful place, there were rumors going around that Duke Darkwood has been making shady deals with the denizens of The Hive Ward behind the backs of his fellow government officials, the area where the scum and rogues of Sigil dwell.

"We were set up," Raelis explained to Aawill, her heart racing. "We performed it under the assumption that it was fiction. The playwright never told us otherwise."

T'rael, one of Aawill's fellow bounty hunters chuckled. "Ah yes, the infamous anonymous playwright. Now who was he, anyway, we never did learn."

"Neither did we... he wore a mask and met with us in the alleyways," Raelis admitted in dismay.

"It doesn't matter... Come, my bards. It appears 'tis time to make our reckoning, Haer'Dalis?"

Ralis stood up and headed towards the stage. He had no intention of letting these bounty hunters kill or capture Haer'Dalis and his fellow actors. Aawill then finally noticed Ralis and his companions nearby.

"What of these others?" He asked Raelis then noticed Ralis approaching, walking up the stairs on the left side of the stage.

"Who are you human? surely Raelis did not hire you in the hope that you would save her?" Aawill questioned him.

"She hired me for different reasons, but if you want these people, you'll have to get through me," Ralis replied defiantly, unsheathing Kondar and Albruin.

The lead bounty hunter scowled at him. "Fool! I don't need to involve you. Already I have the souls of these ones attuned. Let it begin!" Aawill exclaimed.

His fellow bounty hunters stretched their hands out at Raelis, Haer'Dalis, Lunisia, Kirinaldo, trapping them in an invisible barrier so they cannot escape. Then, manipulating the barrier they are trapped in, the bounty hunters, dragged the helpless troupe of actors towards the conduit and they disappeared into the wormhole. Biff ran off, frightened.

"Wait!" Ralis shouted, stretching his right hand at Aawill as if attempting to grab him.

"We got what we came for. Don't follow us," Aawill warned the young human before he stepped into the conduit after his fellow bounty hunters.

After he disappeared, Ralis noticed that the conduit hole is collapsing, getting smaller and smaller. If he doesn't do something, the conduit will close up, and there will be no hope in rescuing Raelis and her actors!

"Help! The conduit is closing!" He yelled to his companions.

Aerie, Jaheira, Nalia and Neera, being experts in magic jumped forward, climbed up on stage and stretched their arms at the conduit, hoping they knew what they were doing. Anomen, Jan and Yoshimo climbed up to the stage as Ralis prepared to jump in the conduit.

"Ready?! Now!" Ralis yelled, not bothering to count to three.

Just as he made the run towards it, Anomen, Jan and Yoshimo followed him, and at the last minute, Aerie jumped in too without a second thought. Then they found themselves falling down a bright teal colored tunnel.

"Whoaa-a-a-a-a--!!" everyone yelled as they fell down the winding bright tunnel that sometimes twisted and turned almost like a corkscrew and seemed to go on for 2 minutes.

-----

They landed on solid ground... sort of. Aerie landed on Ralis' back, Yoshimo landed on his feet, and Anomen hit the floor facing up at the ceiling and Jan landed in his head, practically sitting on his forehead, prompting Anomen to shove him off his face.

"Guh! Get off!" Anomen spat in disgust.

Jan got up on his feet and dusted himself off. "That was not the best landing I've ever had... It reminded me of that defective trampoline my distant relative Filburt invented. Felt like landing on concrete. I'm surprised that I never broke my legs back then, otherwise I would need to build myself some mechanical crutches... No, he invented and patented that too. But still--"

"Gnome, be quiet for a moment," Anomen grunted.

Aerie noticed that she is sitting on Ralis. "Oh! I-I-I'm sorry." Aerie jumped to her feet and apologized.

"No need for apologies," Ralis said as he climbed to his feet.

Yoshimo looked around. "Where are we...?" He wondered aloud.

The room they are in is mostly made of finely polished silver marble, There are no candles or torches in the room, but strangely enough, the room is bright enough for Ralis and the others to see every detail of the room. There is only one way out of the small room, but there is no way of knowing what or who they might run into.

Meanwhile, several rooms northwest from where Ralis and the others are, Aawill and his two bounty hunters were dragging Raelis, Haer'dalis, Lunisia, and Kirinaldo to the warden of this planar prison. Raelis and the others were paralyzed by the stasis magic, and T'rael, who is the only bounty hunter in the group who knows how to use a few magic spells was using a levitation spell to carry the actors across the air without using their hands. They passed by a few rooms that have small holes of flesh that continually open and close-- those holes are the "jail cells" of the planar prison-- once you fall inside, you'll  find yourself in a small pit and there's little to no hope of getting back out.

Aawill and his bounty hunters found their way into the cambion's room after 2 minutes of walking through room after room. The cambion, the warden of the planer prison is, like other cambions, the offspring of a devil and a mortal woman. He wore full plate mail armor that is pitch black in color, covering most of his red-skinned body except his head-- he wore no helmet, and he wore spiked black gauntlets, and although his body build is nearly slender, he still radiated immense strength, and his wings folded behind his back enhanced his intimidating appearance, including his eyes which glowed bright yellowish red like hot coals.

"So this is the bounty you've been tasked to hunt, I take it?" The cambion smiled, standing up from behind his desk and approached the bounty hunters.

"They were no challenge to hunt or capture, but Duke Darkwood paid us a large sum to get these actors alive," Aawill gloated.  

"Given the circumstances, I'd say that he wants to have a word with them before he tortures them or whatever," T'rael said.

The warden dug into one of the pockets on his belt, pulling out a small bag bulging with gold and silver coins, even a few copper coins too. "Here's your payment for a job well done," the warden said.

Aawill grinned, looking down at the bag in his hand. The warden turned his back on the bounty hunters, made a gesture with his right hand, and Raelis and her actors, still paralyzed by magic and levitating a couple feet in the air were whisked away to a room to the west from the cambion's room, and they fell into one of the flesh holes in the small room, where they will wait until they are ready to be transported to Duke Darkwood.

"I have another job for you three. That is, if you're interested in earning more gold," the warden inquired, his back still turned on the bounty hunters and his hands clasped behind his back, though his folded wings obscured his hands from view.

Aawill and the other hunters' eyebrows perked up-- they've never been tasked two jobs in one day, this is a golden opportunity!

"Heheh, to be honest, our schedule is pretty open right now. What's the job?" Aawill asked curiously, adjusting his gauntlets.

"Well..." The warden began, rubbing his pointy chin. "As you already know, this is the planar prison, and its prisoners are treated like slaves here. Until someone bails them out, they are subjected to work as slaves. They cannot resist enslavement, because each prisoner wears a special collar around their neck to keep them in check... But lately, it has come to my attention that one of the slaves has removed his collar. I want you to investigate this and put this unruly prisoner back in his place before he removes the collars of other slaves and starts a rebellion," The warden explained.

"That's it? Just hunt some rebellious prisoners, find out how they removed their collars, and get them to put it back on. Got it," Aawill said.

"Another easy job..." The third bounty hunter, Von'ith muttered.

----

A few minutes later elsewhere in the planar prison, Ralis, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen and Jan were aimlessly walking across a bridge made of the same marble-like material as their surroundings. The bridge hung over a bottomless violet and black colored void with what seemed like bright white stars glittering in the void. It was a beautiful yet unsettling view.

"What is this place?" Anomen muttered as he cautiously moved across the bridge with his companions.

"I am not sure, but as far as I can tell, we are not in Faerun anymore," Yoshimo responded.

"This place looks like something out of a dream... or a nightmare... or both," Jan commented after he touched one of the protruding small pillars of marble lined up on both sides of the stone bridge.

When they crossed the other side, they found themselves in a room where a group of all kinds of demihumans from minotaurs to githzerai were using multiple kinds of machinery Ralis has never seen before, mining all kinds of ores and minerals not commonly found on Faerun. Aerie's eyes widened in both confusion and bewilderment as she stood close to Ralis for safety.

"What... what are they doing...?" Aerie whispered.

Ralis shook his head in confusion as he tried to think of the most accurate answer possible. "I don't know... I'm guessing they are planar miners or something. Maybe they have debts to pay and in order to pay their debts they are forced to mine ores and minerals in this... planar prison," he said.

Anomen squinted his eyes trying to get a clearer visual focus on a male djinn carrying a large bag full of minerals. He suspected that he saw something odd around the djinn's neck and he tried to strain the limits of his vision to see it more clearly. After the djinn passed by a human who also wore a some strange collar around his neck, Anomen finally got a clear look at the collar.

"Comrades," he called to his allies. "I believe that every miner in this forsaken place is wearing an enchanted collar around their necks."

"You know... I think you're right," Ralis agreed with him when he too noticed the collars on every miner that passed by.

"They don't seem to notice us either. They are so focused on their work," Yoshimo pointed out.

"D-d... do you think someone is controlling them, Yoshimo?" Aerie asked the bounty hunter.

"That is the most sensible guess I can come up with, my dear elf," he replied politely.

"I have a gut feeling that Raelis, Haer'Dalis and the others will be among the miners, wearing those strange collars. Keep a sharp eye out for them," Ralis instructed his companions as they ventured deeper into the slave workplace.

Several minutes later, they found themselves in a room where there is this large, bottomless pit that is 9 feet wide with jagged stones like sharp spikes lining the dark violet walls of the pit. Before Ralis or any of his companions could make any comments, they heard a voice nearby. Looking ahead, on the other side of the pit, Ralis saw four familiar bounty hunters harassing a gnome man. One of the bounty hunters, Aawill, grabbed the gnome by the shirt and lifted him up off his feet.

"Listen, you little maggot! I want to know how you got your collar off, right now... or you'll find there are far worse things than being a slave!" He hissed, his tail twitching angrily.

The gnome was clearly scared, and he looked like he wanted to tell Aawill his secrets just to end the interrogation, but he shook his head as if he is trying not to let fear overcome him.

"N-no! No! I don't care what you say! I w-won't be a slave any more!" The gnome exclaimed defiantly.

"Be reasonable now, Tagget, don't let this get ugly..." T'rael urged the halfling.

"Well, if that's the way you want it..." Aawill clenched his free hand, his left hand into a fist and prepared to give Tagget a black eye or two.

But before Aawill could swing his first punch, Tal'jani noticed Ralis and the others on the other side of the pit.

"Aawill! Hold! It's them!" He exclaimed, pointing at them.

Aawill opened his right hand, allowing Tagget to drop to the floor.

"What? Who?" He looked across the pit and immediately recognized Ralis.

"Ah... the primes. How foolish of you to have follow your actor friends here," Aawill grinned.

"You guys must be either really brave, or really stupid to follow us through the portal," Von'ith remarked.

Aawill chuckled. "Do you have any idea at all where you are, primes?" Aawill asked them.

"Where I am doesn't matter. I'm here to rescue my friends. Hand them over and I might be merciful," Ralis replied.

Tal'jani, T'rael and Von'ith laughed. Tagget took the opportunity to crawl away to a safe spot. Aawill smiled.

"How touching, truly. Your actor friends are already imprisoned and at the whim of the cambion until they're transported to the Duke. You are far too late to help them. This place is one of the finest prisons in the planes. There is no way out of here... except at the whim of the cambion. The only thing in your future now is being a new thrall here in this prison. What fools you must be to come here of your own volition," he said.

Aerie stepped a couple steps ahead of Ralis. "We... we have no ill will against you. All we w-want is our friends back. So... give them back to us... please?" She pleaded softly.

"And risk angering the cambion and Duke Darkwood? Sorry, sweetheart, but gold, silver and copper are the only things that matter to me. Besides, I expect you five will bring a grand price from the cambion as new thralls. Hunters... get them!"

Aawill drew his longsword, Von'ith drew his heavy mace and followed Aawill charging at Ralis and the others counter-clockwise around the pit. Tal'jani, armed with two short war axes and T'rael armed with a quarterstaff came at Ralis and his companions clockwise around the pit. T'rael, being the only magic caster in Aawill's group stopped running after taking 8 steps away from where he once stood and began chanting words and moving his arms, summoning arcane magic. Yoshimo rushed to intercept Tal'jani, and Ralis and Anomen proceeded to intercept Aawill and Von'ith. Aerie recognized the words T'rael is chanting and realized that he is trying to chant a spell that would either enhance the strength or speed of his allies. Thinking quick and fast, Aerie casted a single magic missile ball at the tiefling mage. The bright red ball of arcane energy flew over the mouth of the pit and struck T'rael in the chest, knocking him off his feet.

"Nice shot, Aerie," Jan complimented her.

Yoshimo engaged Tal'jani in combat and the tiefling came at Yoshimo with quick, furious swings with his war axes. Yoshimo didn't even bother parrying the strikes with his katana-- strong swings like those are likely to break the blade of a sword, or at least feeling the impact of the parried blow would make the hands of the user sting painfully. Backing away with small steps while ducking and dodging Tal'jani's furious swings after 5 seconds, Yoshimo attempted to swing his katana at Tal'jani's legs, but he missed because his opponent jumped, and before Yoshimo could react, Tal'jani kicked him in the head, sending Yoshimo falling on his back.

Meanwhile T'rael slowly stood up, injured but alive at least... for the moment. Because at that moment, Jan is aiming his Flasher Launcher at the tiefling's chest, and he had no idea that Jan is taking aim at him. He casted a magical shield around himself, expecting another attack from Aerie, but he didn't prepare for the possibility of getting shot by an arrow or crossbow bolt.

Jan pulled the trigger and the bolt flew over the pit and buried itself into T'rael's heart before he could even attempt to cast Protection From Normal Missiles spell on himself, the impact of getting shot caused him to spin around as if he is trying to dance, then collapsed. Yoshimo recovered quickly from the unexpected attack as Tal'jani prepared to bring the war axe in his right hand down towards Yoshimo's head. Yoshimo parried the curved blade with his katana. Sparks flew when the blades made contact and Yoshimo was glad that his katana didn't break. Before Tal'jani could react, Yoshimo kicked him in the abdomen, causing him to stagger back, then he leaped to his feet and came at the tiefling, putting him on the defensive this time.

Aawill's longsword clashed with Kondar above his head and his opponent's. Ralis attempted to slash at Aawill with Albruin but Aawill jumped back since he already noticed that his opponent is armed with two swords. Ralis came at him again with quick slashes alternating from Kondar to Albruin as Aawill swiftly parried each blow, amazingly matching the speed of how fast Ralis swung his swords. Anomen engaged Von'ith, who began the fight by swinging his heavy flail at Anomen's head. Anomen dodged the spiked metal ball connected by a small chain, and he was forced to duck again when Von'ith attempted to strike him again with the flail's spiked ball harmlessly sailing over his head again, then Von'ith kicked Anomen in the chest, knocking him down to the floor.

Yoshimo at this moment defeated Tal'jani by taking advantage of a weak spot that Tal'jani left open. Frustrated at being put on the defensive, he attempted to strike Yoshimo with both axes with great swinging force that when Yoshimo dodged the attack, Tal'jani couldn't pull his arms back in time to parry Yoshimo's swords, and as a result, Yoshimo sliced into Tal'jani's back, damaging his armor and cutting his spinal column horizontally. Tal'jani, being near the edge of the pit collapsed dead, falling down the bottomless pit. Then Yoshimo rushed to Anomen's assistance while Aerie tried to remember a spell she recently learned that would help buff Ralis and the others. Jan wanted to shoot Aawill, but he was worried that he might hit Ralis by mistake.

Aawill attempted to slash at Ralis' feet and the young human jumped to avoid the strike, and before his feet landed on the ground, Aawill attempted to stab at him, and Ralis immediately dropped both Kondar and Albruin, and grabbed Aawill's blade as his feet landed. Aawill's eyes widened in surprise-- he wasn't expecting a move like this. Ralis spun his body around, still gripping his enemy's blade in his hands even though he could feel the blade opening a wounds in his hand and warm blood on them, twisting Aawill's blade out of his hands, then he kicked Aawill into the pit, and he fell a long way down as the pit's walls became more and more narrow, and the jagged teeth shaped stones protruding from the walls scratched and slashed his body to death. Von'ith didn't last long with Yoshimo and Anomen ganging up on him. He eventually fell at Anomen's mace. First Anomen broke his shoulder, right arm, then head.

"Gaah, that was really stupid of me," Ralis hissed in pain looking down at his bloodied hands.

But in a matter of seconds, the wounds on the palm of his hands quickly closed up and the pain disappeared too.

Anomen and the others saw what had happened.

"Is this the work of your Bhaalspawn blood?" Anomen asked him.

"I still can't figure out how, but I believe so," Ralis nodded.

He showed his companions his recently healed hands.

"Hmmm..." Jan stroked his beard in amusement.

At that moment, the gnome, Tagget, who is standing behind Ralis suddenly said: "I... I thank you, my Lord, for your timely rescue."

Ralis turned around once he heard the gnome.

"I am afraid I did not give much thought as to what I would do after I removed my collar. It was foolish of me, I suppose, but I would rather be dead than remain enslaved to the cambion forever. There has to be a way out somewhere!" Tagget exclaimed.

"Why do all the slaves here wear collars?" Ralis asked the gnome.

Tagget sighed, looking up at Ralis with fearful eyes. "The warden keeps a large number of slaves here... prisoners that have been turned into thralls by a magical collar that they wear that control them. There are next to impossible to remove."

"How did you manage to remove your collar?" Anomen asked the fellow gnome.

"Mine had a small flaw in it, and I was able to squirm out of it not long ago... only to find that there was almost nowhere for me to go, and danger down every corridor," Tagget replied.

"What was this cambion you mentioned?" Yoshimo questioned the gnome next.

"The cambion? The cambion, here, is the warden of this prison. I know not his true name, but he is a cruel and evil master who delights in the suffering of his thralls. He is a powerful demon, as well. You may have defeated his bounty hunters, but if I were you, I would find a way out of here and avoid him entirely," Tagget warned him.

"You said there was no way out of here? Surely that is incorrect," Ralis interjected.

Tagget shrugged. "The only way out of this planar prison is through the dark magic of the cambion, himself. But I doubt he would transport anyone out of here willingly. There be no physical evil that I know of. There are portals that lead only to other rooms within the prison, and there are no doors or windows... if, indeed, there is even an outside to speak of, here. No, the only way one can leave is through the use of magic. Powerful magic that only a few might have, to attract a conduit to this dim and forsaken place," he said in dismay.

"By the way, have you seen a tiefling with long blue hair and strange markings on his face accompanied with three other tieflings?" Ralis aksed the gnome.

"You are friends of the actors? Ahhh... then you may as well begin mourning them, my Lord. They are in the warden's cells, awaiting transport to Duke Rowan Darkwood's tower, I am told," Tagget replied.

"Damn it!" Ralis cursed.

"We... we have to get them out of there somehow!" Aerie exclaimed.

"But we need a plan. Only a fool rushes to face a dragon alone," Yoshimo said.

"But a smart fool would make preparations for such a battle," Anomen smirked at Yoshimo, and Yoshimo smiled back.

Tagget overheard the conversation. "The warden is powerful by himself, true, but he is also protected by the many thralls under his control through the collars they wear. In the eastern areas of the prison, there is the chambers of the Master of Thralls... a lesser ta'anari who holds a device that I know allows him to control the collars. Destroy that device and the thralls are freed. The warden is vulnerable... and I will be able to contact my newly freed friends. some of them are mages who will teleport us away."

"You make it sound all so... simple. It sounds as if you believe that we can do the impossible," Ralis raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I... I would not offer this chance, my Lord, if I did not think you might have a chance against the warden himself. I can think of no other way for either of us to escape this place, truly."

"There's one thing I can't wrap my head around. Why can't we simply free your friends and have them teleport us away? Why must we fight the warden?" Ralis asked.

Tagget stepped a few feet away, looking up at the ceiling.

"There are many old and powerful magics in this prison, my Lord. We might get away briefly, but the prison's magic would track us... and the warden would send powerful hunters very quickly. But the prison's magic dies with the warden. It is the only way," he said.

"Very well. We will find this Master of Thralls and do as you suggest," Ralis agreed with the plan.

Tagget smiled at him and shook his hand. "Most excellent, my Lord. Luck is smiling on me, truly, that the mere chance for true escape arrived with your arrival. I wish you every success," he said hopefully.

Ralis bent over and picked up his swords, sheathing them.

-----

As the hour passed, they aimlessly wandered the eastern areas of the planar prison hunting for the Master of Thralls, but mostly they ended up encountering armed thralls who exclaimed that they are loose prisoners and immediately attacked them. At those moments it occurred to Ralis that the thralls in the prison are not only used as slaves, but also as soldiers and guards. He couldn't also help but wonder if the Master of Thralls can sense whether his or her thralls are alive or dead, considering that he and his companions have killed 8 thralls that tried to attack them so far ever since they met the gnome Tagget. A couple minutes later they crossed a marble bridge 10 times longer than the one they crossed before they met and saved Tagget from the cambion's bounty hunters, and when they reached the other side, they found themselves in a large room full of pits that seemed to be made of flesh that constantly open and close.

"Oh no... This brings back memories I want to forget..." Ralis groaned, trying not to think back at the time of his visit in the Pit of the Faithless. He turned to face his companions behind him. "Whatever you guys do... please don't fall into these holes," he warned them.

They carefully walked around the holes of flesh trying to reach the exit on the other side of the room. What Tagget forgot to tell Ralis is that these holes are where they keep the most dangerous prisoners captive. They eventually passed by a room that held an enormous glowing brazier Ralis had no idea what this object is, or what it does, so he and his companions ignored it and moved on.

A couple minutes later Ralis and the others found themselves in a large den that is lit by a strange perch in the northeastern corner of the room, and in the middle of the room is a young adult wyvern, being fed fresh meat by three thralls who are tasked to feed it. What he didn't know is that the meat the wyvern is being fed are the flesh of former thralls that the cambion warden deemed unworthy to continue using as slaves, but instead be used as food for his pet, which is this wyvern. A human woman who is one of the thralls was about to leave to get something but she stood her ground in surprise when she spotted Ralis and his companions standing near the entrance.

"What is this? What is this? Are the prisoners escaping?!" She exclaimed, grabbing the attention of the wyvern and the other two thralls who also spotted Ralis and the others.

"It looks like we're in trouble..." Jan whispered.

"We must protect the warden's pet!" The second thrall, a male githzerai exclaimed, drawing his bastard sword for battle.

"Yes! He will get angry if anything happens to his favorite!" The third thrall, a male ogre mage exclaimed.

"What do we have here?" A new voice said.

To the surprise of Ralis, Aerie, Yoshimo, Jan and Anomen, the voice came from the wyvern. The wyvern peered at them curiously. Ralis was in shock-- he never knew that wyverns are capable of speaking. The truth is, wyverns are not known for being able to speak at all, only dragons. Ralis assumed that since the wyvern is the cambion warden's pet, he must have trained it to speak Common. It must have taken many years for the wyvern to speak so fluently.

"Hmmm... vermin, I see. Come, my petty thralls. These are no escaped prisoners. These are invaders!" The wyvern told the three thralls, wagging his scorpion-like tail.

"What?!" The human woman thrall was surprised to learn this.

"We must destroy them for my master!" The wyvern said.  

"It's now or never, guys!" Ralis exclaimed as he drew his swords for battle, and his companions did the same except for Aerie, who has a quarterstaff but regardless of that fact tries to avoid melee combat with enemies.

The ogre mage chanted a spell that enabled him to create a +3 enchanted greatsword then he engaged Ralis. The other two thralls double teamed Yoshimo while Anomen, Jan and Aerie were left to defend themselves against the wyvern. Anomen looked up at the wyvern as it approached and swallowed hard.

"(Its just a wyvern. How hard could this be?)" He whispered to himself, trying not to show fear to the creature.

A split second later the wyvern's tail lashed out at Anomen, missing him, but the sudden attack made him flinch and he fell back. Jan quickly pressed some buttons and turned a few knobs on his Flasher Launcher weapon to change the launcher from crossbow bolt shooting mode to Flasher Master Bruiser Mate shooting mode. The wyvern attempted to bite Anomen who had been caught off guard by the wyvern's opening attack, but Anomen rolled to the left, away from the wyvern's snapping jaws. Aerie casted the Fireshield (Red) spell on herself believing that wyverns can breathe fire, and a wall of fire surrounded Aerie. Jan was standing a little too close to Aerie and he nearly got burned, fortunately he moved away at the last second only for his pants to catch a spark of fire, but he brushed it off.

Parrying the strikes of the ogre mage's enchanted greatsword made Ralis' swords vibrate, and the vibrations made his arms sting with pain. He couldn't domuch about it but dodge and try to swing at the ogre mage whenever he found an opening to do so, but so far Ralis hasn't been able to score any damage. Yoshimo deflected the swords form both the human woman and the githzerai-- although he was a little outnumbered, he handled his opponents just fine, even though the githzerai managed to nick Yoshimo's leather armor once. Jan aimed at the wyvern and fired his Flasher Master Bruiser Mate at the creature. The bomb exploded on the wyvern's head before it could try to bite helpless Anomen again. Blinded by the intense, painful flashes of light, the wyvern roared in pain. Anomen grabbed his mace lying on the floor next to him on his right then charged at the disabled wyvern, swinging with all his might at one of the wyvern's legs.

He got rewarded with a sickening crunch of steel cracking hard bones upon impact. This crippled the wyvern and made it cry out even more. It lashed its scorpion tail wildly, and since Yoshimo and the human and githzerai thralls were fighting near it, they found out at the last minute that they need to move away from the striking range of the wyvern's tail. Yoshimo yelped as he fell back, nearly getting struck by the wyvern's venomous stinger. The stinger lashed at their direction again, and the sharp end of the stinger struck the back of the githzerai, causing him to scream out in pain as he felt hot, searing pain and in addition the pain of the poison entering his bloodstream.

Aerie noticed that Ralis is having trouble fighting the ogre mage, so she casted the Dispel Magic spell on the ogre mage so that he will lose his enchanted sword. It worked, the sword disappeared into thin air. The ogre looked into his empty hands in shock and confusion. Then Ralis cut through the ogre's torso without any hesitation. The wyvern tried to flap its wings to get airborne now that it is too crippled to stand on the ground, but Jan, who switched his weapon back to crossbow shooting mode fired at the wyvern's wings, damaging them and causing the wyvern to collapse back to the ground, and at that moment, Yoshimo cut the human woman thrall's head off when she fell for Yoshimo's feint, and as for the githzerai, he laid on the floor, shivering, slowly dying from the poison. Anomen approached the whining wyvern.

"Mercy..." The wyvern whimpered. "Please show... mercy..." it croaked, looking up at Anomen.

"Hah. Funny, I don't believe a beast like you know the meaning of the word," Anomen said.

The last thing the wyvern saw before everything went dark was Anomen swinging his mace down towards its head.

It didn't take long for Ralis and the others to find the chambers of the Master of Thralls, which has also has a bottomless pit in the middle of the room, but it is a little smaller than the other one. As Ralis suspected, the room is filled with magical collars meant ot keep slaves in check. They found the master of thralls-- who happens to be an alu-fiend, the female version of cambions, a creature produced by a succubus who has mated with a human man. Alu-fiends are very attractive demons with teeth sharp as needles, and they are known to have a high degree of sexual proclivity. This alu-fiend, who happens to control all thralls in the planar prison looks similar in physical appearance to the cambion warden, the only differences is her body is much more slender and obviously voluptuous, wearing robes that have been cut to expose her midriff and bright red legs. She held some kind of strange looking staff in her hands and she seemed to be under some kind of meditation, but she sensed that the intruders were nearby already.

"You!" She pointed at Ralis and the others, baring her teeth. "You are the ones who have brought such disruption to this prison and my thralls, eh? Well, this will be the end of that!" She began to chant a spell, and Aerie barely recognized the spell as a summoning spell to summon some kind of elemental, but she had no clue whether it might be fire, earth, water or air.

She got her answer in the next 5 seconds-- the alu-fiend summoned an air elemental.

Air elementals usually appear as an amorphous, shifting cloud. They may not look like much, but they are dangerous, especially when they find the opportunity to form a whirlwind.

"Attack them!" The master of thralls commanded her air elemental.

The shifting transparent cloud charged at them. Ralis and Yoshimo charged at the alu-fiend. Aerie fired a magic missile at the air elemental, hurting it. Anomen, not sure if the elemental can be harmed by weapons like his, charged at the elemental and swung at it with his mace. The mace struck the elemental's vaporous body, doing no damage at all. Then the elemental shoved Anomen away with great force using a blast of air. Anomen was knocked off his feet and he struck the wall unconscious.

"Anomen!" Aerie exclaimed, then fired another magic missile at the elemental.

Jan fired one of his special flash bombs at the air elemental and it passed through the air elemental and struck the wall, exploding in bright white light. The alu-fiend tried her best to parry the attacks from both humans, but she got overwhelmed eventually by Ralis and Yoshimo and they cut her down, and Aeire managed to destroy the air elemental with another magic missile after it attempted to hit Jan with a burst of air.

"Okay, we defeated the master of the thralls. Now what?" Yoshimo asked Ralis.

"I... I don't know..." Ralis shook his head.

"I think I can answer that," a familiar voice said.

Ralis and the others turned around to see Tagget. "You!" Ralis gasped in surprise.

"There is an orb she keeps here. Take it and place it in the brazier. In this way, all thralls in this forsaken place will be free," Tagget explained.

Ralis looked to his right and noticed that on a bookshelf, surrounded by old, dusty books is a small ball made of glass, glowing dark green. He approached the bookshelf and cautiously grabbed the orb into his hands. Then Tagget took them back to where they last saw the enormous brazier.

"Go on. Put it in," Tagget said with an excited grin.

Ralis exhaled somewhat nervously, then slowly placed the orb into the brazier. The brazier suddenly shone brightly!

"Ah!" Everyone yelped, shielding their eyes with their arms from the brightness, and meanwhile, everywhere around the planar prison, every thrall that is still alive felt the controlling magic of their collars fade away.

They were confused at first, but when they realized that they were no longer forced to do what was telepathically commanded to them, they cheered. It wasn't long before they organized a rebellion against the warden. It didn't take long for the cambion to figure out what is going on, he sensed through his magic spells that something is seriously amiss.

And then, in a surprise attack, demihumans of all races charged at him with their weapons drawn, shouting angrily. His eyes widened in shock for a second and he drew his sword for battle, using his magic to make fire appear on his blade. He cut down almost every attacker that approached him, but some former thralls managed to scratch his armor a few times before they got cut down. The cambion knew that with his immense power, he wouldn't be able to last long against all the freed slaves of his prison. Afte he killed the first wave of freed slaves, Ralis and his companions entered his room with the second wave of former thralls.

"Ah... You must be the fools from the prime material plane who have come to cause me so much trouble." the cambion grinned.

"Call it a stroke of bad luck, especially since you took my friends, the actors," Ralis sneered.

The cambion growled a low growl. "I am going to enjoy watching all of you die."

The next wave of freed slaves of all races charged at the warden.

More casualties were made, but the warden suffered many injures, and when the third wave came, Ralis, Yoshimo and Anomen joined the battle. It is tough for the cambion to fight so many enemies by himself, but he had no intention of surrendering to lesser species. He never fought so many opponents at the same time before.

"I... will... not... YIELD!!!" The cambion screamed before flying into a frenzy.

He headbutted a githyanki then he got stabbed in the back by a halfling. He flung the halfling off his back, grabbed him in midair with his right hand and threw him at two dwarfs.

Then he ran his blade through the muscular torso of an umber hulk, then pulled it out. Ralis tried to strike him with both Kondar and Albruin, but the attack failed, the cambion parried the blow with his sword, then punched him hard with his spiked gauntlet, the blades on his gauntlet cut through a couple layers of flesh on Ralis's left cheek. He stumbled to the ground and the cambion jumped on top of him in a rage, prepared to punch his face into a pulp.

"And you! You killed my pet wyvern, didn't you?!" He snarled, but Ralis only replied with a groan.

The cambion's anger subsided when he saw the scratches on Ralis's face quickly heal up.

"What the--urrrgh--!!" The cambion's surprise was cut short when he felt someone run a blade right through his body.

It was Yoshimo who dealt the fatal blow, running his enchanted katana through the cambion. He pulled his sword out and the cambion collapsed dead on top of unconscious Ralis, who quickly regained consciousness after the wounds on his face healed and pushed the warden's corpse off of him. The injured or surviving freed thralls then cheered, and Ralis sighed in relief.

"Yoshimo?" He called.

"What do you need, Ralis?" Yoshimo replied.

"The next time we go out to drink some ale, you're buying," Ralis grinned, too tired to stand up on his feet on his own.

Yoshimo chuckled, reached out at him, and Ralis took his hand and Yoshimo helped him stand up, then Aerie ran up to Ralis and hugged him.

"We did it!" She happily exclaimed.

"Yes, we did. Teamwork was all it took," Ralis said.

"And the help of a noble knight," Anomen butted in, looking a bit jealous.

"Give it a rest, will you?" Ralis frowned at him.

"I am only stating the obvious," Anomen said almost grudgingly.

Tagget walked in, surprised at the number of dead corpses around the cambion's large room, but what surprised him even mroe is the cambion's body lying near the feet of Ralis and his companions.

"You... you have defeated the warden and freed us all. I wish I had some better way to thank you, my Lord, but I have little doubt you will find a way home on your own," Tagget said.

"Freedom is reward enough, for us, for you, for all of you," Ralis said.

"Wise words spoken, my friend. Free will is the best gift anyone can receive," Yoshimo noted.

Tears filled Tagget's eyes, especially when he paused to look around and see how happy all the former thralls are. "Please... accept my most heart-felt thanks. The thralls who were once imprisoned here shall always remember you," Tagget said.

A minute later, Ralis and the others freed Raelis and her actors from their prison cell. Raelis was shocked beyond belief to see Ralis and some of his companions once more.

"You have known us for so short a time yet you have bought our freedom with blood. My child, my friend, it is a debt I can never repay," Raelis said as she hugged Ralis.

"It's a debt that never needs repaying," he told her.

"We must go before the Duke marshals his forces. I will use what powers I have left to open another conduit. Ready?"

Unlike his fellow actors, Haer'Dalis is very reluctant to say yes.

"Miss Raelis... I- I cannot come with you. Not this time." He admitted slowly.

Raelis was confused. "No? No more plays, Haer'Dalis? No more theater?" She asked him.

Haer'Dalis placed a comforting hand on Raelis's shoulders as he looked into her eyes with genuine sadness, especially for a talented actor like him.

"I wish I could, Raelis, but I am just another moth come too close to your flame. To love you is to smother that flame in my own death. I shall not do it," he said forlornly.

"Don't be a fool. There was no mystery writer of our play! I wrote "A Comedy of Terrors", it was mine! I brought this upon us!" Raelis admitted.

"What?!" Ralis and Aerie exclaimed in shock.

"I know, Miss Raelis. You'll have my heart forever, but I must do as I must. The Prime beckons this sparrow, regardless," Haer'Dalis said, moving away form his friend and fellow actors and standing beside Ralis, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen and Jan.

"Then go, my lovely Haer'Dalis... remember us fondly in your musings. And you, Ralis, go with my thanks and take yon lovely moth with you," she said before using some of her remaining magic to teleport Ralis and the others out of the planar prison, then she teleported herself and her actors out, everyone else teleported away too, and the prison became desolate and empty.