Disclaimer: Not mine. Characters and plot of BGII belong to Black Isle, Bioware and a buch of other people.
Gods, what did I do yesterday? I haven’t had a headache like this since the time Imoen and I raided the wine cellars at Candlekeep when we were kids. Ashrien sat up and looked around. He was in a cage in some sort of underground dungeon. There were several other cages, but only two seemed to be occupied, as he could hear two sets of footsteps somewhere behind him. He wished his infravision worked properly, but it seemed to have been affected by whatever had hit him. It worked well enough to tell him that he badly needed a bath, he noticed as he looked at his hair. He prided himself on his hair, and what had once been a luscious mane of copper curls was now a single matted tangle. Sighing, he started to think about ways to get out of the cage. It was not possible for him to pick the lock from the inside of the cage, so he had to think of something else. He was about to attempt to kick the door open when he heard someone approach.
“Wake up, Ashrien! Please, wake up. We have to get out of here,” The speaker was a young woman with pink hair, and Ashrien recognized her, even in the shadowed room. “Imoen? What’s happening?” He asked, looking at the girl he regarded as his little sister. Whoever was behind his capture had obviously gotten Imoen as well. She looked as exhausted as he felt, with dark rings under her blue eyes and dirt in her hair. “He’s been messing with your mind, too, huh?” Imoen asked, biting her lip. She looked like she was trying to hide the fact that she was close to breaking down. Ashrien nodded. He couldn’t remember ever having a headache like this before. “I feel like someone attempted to ram a red hot nail through my temples,” he said, unconsciously touching his hand to his temple. He wasn’t really surprised when it came away bloody. “A little headache has never stopped me before, though.”
“It isn’t like a normal pain, Ashrien. It’s inside of me, as if he got to the core of me. It hurts so badly. Can’t you feel it? There was a fight…assassins came after our captor, I think. There are people dead all over and the fighting is still going on. I could hear it.” Imoen sounded truly pained. “Are you going to get moving or do I leave without you?” Ashrien decided that they could talk about their captivity at a later date. Right now, he wanted out of here. Imoen looked relieved to hear that. She gave him a small smile. “Right! We should look in that room to the west first, west and just a bit north. I think I saw some weapons in there. It’s a room off the corner of this one. I don’t think it’s our gear. They probably sold our best stuff, but anything is better than nothing. Now let’s go!”
Ashrien nodded again, and followed Imoen into the small room. There was a golem standing by the door. He instantly went into a defensive stance, but the golem didn’t seem hostile. “I guess our captor hadn’t expected us to get loose,” Imoen said, looking around in the room. “So it hasn’t been ordered to detain us.” Ashrien looked through the gear on the table. “That seems likely,” he said, grinning as he pulled a katana out of the heap of weapons. He’d always loved the elegant Kara-Turan blades. He picked up another few blades, among them a long sword he decided to wield in his left hand, and a quarterstaff. There was also a key, which he pocketed, before moving to the chest, which turned out to hold several pieces of armor. Two of them were leather, which Imoen and he could both wear, as well as two nice chain mails he brought along, in case he would need them later. He wanted to see who were in the cages behind his.
“I want to look around a little,” he said, turning to see Imoen removing a dagger and some bottles of potions from a safe behind one of the paintings. He grinned. Only Imoen. “Sure,” she said, and took the suit of armor Ashrien had given her. “This dagger is magical,” she noted. She tossed it into the air and caught in again with practiced fingers. Obviously, she hadn’t lost her touch. Ashrien smiled and walked out of the room, in the direction of the cages.
There were two cages. One, which had a locked door, held a woman dressed in greens. She obviously had elven blood, but she was taller and more muscular than an elf. Her brown hair and blue eyes were easily recognizable, as were her accent when she spoke. “Quickly, we must get out of here before whoever did this return. I swear, traveling with you is never dull.” Ashrien smiled slightly. “Jaheira,” he said in greeting, fishing the key he’d found earlier out of his pocket, and unlocked the door, before stepping aside to let her pass him, knowing that her leg were probably just as cramped as his from standing still so long. Jaheira walked out of the cage and stretched. “Where is Khalid?” Ashrien asked her, watching her stretch. Khalid and Jaheira had been invaluable allies to Imoen and him during their hunt for Sarevok, and he’d never seen them apart. They seemed to be two sides of the same coin. Jaheira’s face took on a worried expression. “I don’t know where he is, and it worries me.” She looked at Ashrien, who was at eye level with her, and could see the concerned look in her eyes. Ashrien frowned. He’d never seen Jaheira like this before. “We’ll find him,” he said, just hoping that they’d find him alive. Jaheira nodded, and Ashrien turned his attention to the second cage.
This cage had been welded shut, probably to permanently imprison the big man who was locked inside it. The man was a giant of a human, tall and broad, with a bald head and a strange purple tattoo on his face. As he saw them approaching, he grabbed the bars of his cage and rattled them, causing them to creak suspiciously. “AHHHH!! Minsc will be free!! These bonds will not hold my wrath! Butts will be liberally kicked in good measure!!” Ashrien smiled slightly. He’d always liked Minsc. The man was an excellent warrior and a wonderful ally, and always a riot to have around. He’d never been able to stomach the wychlaran Minsc traveled with, though. She had far too much of a “holier than thou” attitude. Dynaheir didn’t seem to be around, though. “Minsc? Is Dynaheir trapped here, too?” A strangely sad look appeared on Minsc’s face, very much out of character for the usually so optimistic ranger. He looked down at the ground. “Trapped?! Only by my failure. They killed her in front of my eyes! I couldn’t do a thing.”
Ashrien reached in between the bars of the cage and rested his hand on Minsc’s shoulder, and Imoen offered him her sympathy. They all knew how much the spell caster had meant to Minsc. Minsc looked up, his dark eyes sad, yet determined. “I won’t cry for the dead! I will redeem myself. Let us travel together again, Ashrien, and Evil will hide from the collective wrath of Minsc, Boo and Ashrien!” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ashrien had to smile a little. Minsc was an unstoppable force. “Right you are, Minsc,” he said, and examined the cage holding the ranger. With no lock, neither Imoen nor his thieving skills would do much good. He chewed on his lip as he considered the situation. “Minsc,” he finally said, looking up at the much taller human, “I heard that our captor plan on killing every innocent animal he comes across, to use their life-force for evil.” He could see Minsc shake with rage at his words, and he stepped quickly back as the ranger grabbed the bars of the cage and rattled them. “Minsc will not allow such villainy. I will not let innocent animals be sacrificed by evil. My boot shall be planted firmly up Evil’s backside for even trying. I will… ...I…” The cage creaked and fell open, as Minsc got angrier and angrier. Ashrien carefully placed a hand on one of Minsc’s arms. “Calm down, Minsc. If evil tries anything, we’ll stop him,” he assured his friend.
Minsc calmed visibly, and they all relaxed. “Minsc is free, and so are you, and together, we will make all evil in our path quake with fear. Fear of Minsc and Boo, and of Ashrien and his friends!” Boo scuttled up onto Minsc’s shoulder during this speech, squeaking in what appeared to be agreement. Ashrien smiled. It didn’t surprise him that Minsc had managed to keep Boo with him. “Glad to see both you and Boo, Minsc,” he said, starting to walk back to the room with the golem. “Let’s get you and Jaheira equipped, shall we?”