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"Remarkable concentration," scoffed Davoren.

"Belt up, and give the little one a chance," Taslin shot back.

Slip continued undaunted. "Thus… thus!"

Liet thought the brainless halfling should get a third chance. "Thus?" he prodded.

"We all have different dirt upon our boots!" the halfling said excitedly.

The others rolled their eyes and Liet sighed. Twilight gestured to the floor.

Slip looked down at her bare feet. "Oh."

"You twit," growled the warlock. "It means we have come to this foul place by means of twisted Art. Someone is interfering with our portals, likely." His eyes fell on Twilight venomously. "I recall that the leader of my band led us through just such a conveying path, without regard to the consequences, of course."

Liet looked at Twilight as well, but the elFs face was blank. Her eyes, though, shifted back and forth uneasily. That struck Liet as odd. He felt perfectly calm, the thrill of combat fled. Hadn't the battle ended?

"So some force has drawn us here," said Taslin, standing amongst the group, "bringing us through various portals, all to the same place. The question is why."

Gargan said something then, in his strange goliath tongue. Deep and rough, yet noble. He had no idea what the words meant, but he could see the impact they left on Taslin, who could understand somehow, and Twilight, who seemed to have a sense of such things.

"You did not come through a portal," Twilight said softly.

"Eh? Wait a breath-" Slip started.

Gargan said something, and Taslin nodded her head.

"It seems he came upon a cavern while hunting a troll that had been spotted in the area," she said. "He followed the beast in and-"

"And there must be more of them," said Twilight.

"Why must-?" Liet asked. He was so confused.

"Goliaths are social creatures, even more so than humans," she said. She looked at Gargan sharply. "Where are the other goliaths?"

It took Gargan a breath to understand her question. He shook his head and spoke.

"He is an exile from his people," said Taslin. "Called… hmm. The closest word in the Common tongue is 'dispossessed.' "

Gargan nodded. "Dispossessed," he repeated.

"I see," Twilight said. "Second time I've heard such a name. The first wasn't so pleasant, as I recall."

Liet looked at her, expecting more, but she left it at that. He wondered if that was true-and what it all meant. She resumed pacing about the room.

Gargan continued speaking to Taslin, who translated for the others. Liet assumed it was magic of some kind. "The troll he was tracking-Tlork-ambushed him in the cave, and they fought. Blackwyrm, his acid-weeping sword-the one he carries now-was key, but the creature defeated him. When he awakened, he was in the dark cell."

"This begins to make sense," Twilight said. "The master of these depths-"

"The Mad Sharn," hissed Davoren.

"We don't know that for sure," said Twilight. "This labyrinth…"

"Whatever he calls it," Slip said. "Midden's more like it. A foul pit!"

Gargan eyed her curiously, but Twilight didn't know why. "It's not so foul, as dungeons go," the shadowdancer said. "I've seen-"

"Stranger?" filled in Liet.

"Fouler," Twilight corrected matter-of-factly. She turned to Gargan. "What land have you come from? Where do these caverns lie?"

Gargan looked away, something like sadness falling across his stony face.

With a shiver, Twilight understood somehow. "What awaits us above?"

"Death," said Gargan.

Taslin let out a hiss, her eyes narrowing. Her voice sounded upset, eager, and her face gleamed in frustration. "Death?" she asked. "Can you not be more specif-?"

Then a long cord slithered down from the ceiling, curled about Taslin's throat, and drew the priestess into the air with a quick jerk.

Twilight was too shocked to do anything more than stare at the ceiling, from which hung the struggling Taslin and her attacker. The creature was vaguely humanoid, if twice the height of a man, fashioned out of slithering, whipping ropes of black silk. Two white orbs blazed where its face should be.

She ignored the sinking in her chest and yanked Betrayal free of its scabbard.