[Aqua-chan]

Once inside the massive transportation device the group unconsciously adopted a sort of protective stance around their mage and bounty hunter: Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen and Valygar encircled Kilyannamaia and Yoshimo with weapons at the ready, prepared to intercept whatever might come bounding at them out of nowhere. But the first room was hopelessly devoid of life: a simple antechamber with not a sign of man or beast, three doors stood before them though none gave an indication of just what lay behind each. Valygar haplessly looked to the others for support.

"Hey, this is your quest. You pick the door," Kilyannamaia told him.

Jaheira was inspecting a number of peculiar runes that had been etched into the wall. They were totally incomprehensible. "For the sake of our confidence if you must resort to eenie-meenie-miny-mo, please don't allow us to see you do it."

Each door was particularly dusty, so "do it" was a matter of blind faith for the ranger. Knowing if one was to do "eenie-meenie-miny-mo" with three options you would simply land upon the one you began with, Valyar pointed to the door farthest to the left. "That way."

Yoshimo examined the doorway curiously, checking it over for whatever dangers lay within its hinges. The thorough inspection revealed a hair-thin wire, which led to an intricate spike trap not unlike the mechanisms the bounty hunter himself sometimes used. Familiar with the workings of the device, Yoshimo easily disarmed it.

He ventured in first, scouring for whatever traps may have been placed on the walkway. No monsters seemed to be occupying the small chamber, leading everyone to feel the great strain from their stomachs being loosened. The reprieve didn't last: the floor started to subtly quake beneath them, and with due worry everyone donned their weapons of choice defensively.

The walls shook, rattling various pieces of machine equipment that had been carelessly stored within. The vibration turned urgent, encouraging the party to resume their naturally protective formation around Kilyannamaia and Yoshimo, though there was no indication of an attack coming from any particular direction.

The rumbling slowly subsided, fading away until it was a near-silent growl. Then silence.

"Anyone else have that feeling?" Yoshimo asked open-endedly.

Anomen, like the other warriors of the group, had his back turned and was keeping a guarded perimeter. "You mean the sense of imminent peril?"

"That's the one."

Jaheira confirmed with, "Absolutely."

The stillness lingered on for seconds, and eternity to them, but survived for painfully long ticks of the oblivious, wall-mounted clock. Then the eerie calm was thunderously shattered.

None of the six party members could possibly hope to point out the origin of the fiery explosion. It had happened too suddenly and ruthlessly that all were quickly overcome with the heat, and it wasn't until she was on the floor, automatically curled into a protective ball, that Kilyannamaia realized what was going on.

The wave of hot air washed over her quickly, but it did nowhere near the amount of damage it would have had she not been wearing robes enchanted to resist fire. All that really suffered were her hands, but the elf's thoughts were too scattered to take notice. As soon as it was safe she sat up, trying to account for the other five members of her team.

Like herself, everyone had moved to duck and cover (or had been simply pushed down by the blast), and they were all scattered haphazardly around. Those who had been standing to Kilyannamaia's left had been hit the hardest: Valygar, Anomen, Yoshimo. Each was on the ground, varying degrees of injury marring their bodies; Valygar himself was the only one mercilessly conscious, having to bear the agony of small fires as they ate at his clothing and licked shiny patches onto his flesh. He rolled, trying to extinguish them.

Kilyannamaia had just gotten to her knees when Jaheira ran past, the first to take control of the chaos as always. Eyes on the druid, Kilyannamaia jumped when a pair of massive hands began gently pulling her to her feet.

"I'm fine, Minsc! Go; go help with the others!"

Jaheira was at Anomen's side, having done a post-healing examination and concluding he was the worst of the lot, by far. Minsc was assisting Valygar with the minor matter of removing his armor, which contained many metal pieces that burned to the touch. Since Yoshimo had been left out of the rescue mission Kilyannamaia felt a need to make use of herself and crawled on all fours over to him. The smell of burnt leather, flesh and hair overpowered her senses for a moment, making her eyes water. She pulled the collar of her robe up above her nose and quickly turned the rogue over.

Yoshimo was burned, badly. But with some dramatic irony he was spared the agony of the wounds by having been knocked out when he hit the floor. Kilyannamaia made a short prayer to whatever Seldarine had granted him this favor in disguise and tried to gently lift his head so that it would lay in her lap. Strands of his charred hair crackled and broke with every little movement.

The change in venue must have been enough to stir him from the state of rest; Kilyannamaia noticed the bounty hunter's face contort with the slow realization of pain, and quickly it accelerated from a simple to grimace to low moans in the back of his throat. The elven mage, hands shaking, reached for the potions on her belt. In immediate reach was a simple brew, and she had to search about for a concoction with the adequate strength.

Kilyannamaia felt her ward suddenly struggle against her, and his moan endured the transition to being a pained cry. Unsure of just what to do - a look up revealed Jaheira to still be working frantically with the other two - she cautiously tried to pin Yoshimo down. Surely having the man thrash around would do him no good, and being mindful of his injuries Kilyannamaia tried to hold him down with the flat of one arm while attempting to uncork the healing potion.

"It's alright. It's alright," she soothed, trying to figure out how she was going to coax him into drinking the potion through clenched teeth. "Please, just relax Yoshimo. Settle down; you have to drink this."

The stopple removed, all Kilyannamaia had to do was get him to consume the liquid. What could be done but make the half-aware man feel safe? So she leaned down and cradled Yoshimo in her arms, and made shushing sounds to set him at ease. With this method did Kilyannamaia finally coax Yoshimo into taking mild sips from the blue vial. With each drink Yoshimo seemed to regain some sense, and getting him to finish off the rest wasn't unduly difficult.

The experience had taken a lot of energy from the group, and Kilyannamaia found herself leaning against a wall and drifting near sleep. Yoshimo's head was still rested on her thigh, though his breathing was far less labored than before. A full ten hours of sleep would be necessary before he would even have hope of continuing on, so Kilyannamaia decided, by lack of other choice, that it was time to stop.

The sight of Jaheira roused the mage from her half-sleep. "How are the others?"

The Harper sighed, exhausted, and toppled into a sitting position near her ward. "Valygar now suffers only from a few sensitive patches: Anomen was standing in the path of the blast, shielding him from most of the damage. The Helmite himself is still burned and is unconscious, but I simply cannot summon anymore energy. Minsc is slipping him potions now."

"Gods," Kilyannamaia murmured is disgust. "It could have easily been fatal - to all of us, not just the warriors."

"It could have been."

"Everyone was caught completely off guard."

Again Jaheira simply agreed. "Yes, we were."

"We have to be more focused. We have to learn to work with each other if we're going to keep from encountering any number of gruesome deaths. We have to learn to open our eyes to everything." Kilyannamaia looked down at Yoshimo, feeling mostly responsible for his present condition. He was trained to disarm traps: she should have been looking for the magical means of the Sphere's defense.

There was a heavy sigh. "I understand that pessimism will not help us advance into the bowels of this pit," Jaheira started, "but I think I'm due to say that this task may be above our level of skill."

The mage nodded, admitting the fact to herself, but Kilyannamaia was nowhere near ready to openly say she may have put the lives of her companions in way of a danger they might not be able to stop.