[Butterfingers]

As Zach drifted off to sleep, he pondered the day's events.

They had gone to the Druid Grove, and, much to Jaheira's dismay, had found things less then ideal. Nature had been corrupted. An old aquaintance, Faldorn, a Shadow Druid, had somehow managed to find her way out of the Sword Coast area and spread her special brand of mayhem here. Trademeet had been brutally savaged by the animals of the wood. The land was wilted, the earth seemingly dead under his feet. It was summer, yet, the leaves on the trees in the Grove were already somewhat orange and faded. What ever Faldorn had done, Jaheira put an end to. She had challenged Faldorn in some pit seeking to put an end to what ever curse she had placed over the land. As it turned out, Faldorn was abusing nature in a way Zach could not understand, but, it seemed to upset Jaheira to no end.

Zach drifted off to sleep, still quite excited over watching two women having a cat fight, naked, in a pit.

Zach awoke, trying to clear the sleepy fuzz from his brain. It was just before dawn. He heard a strange voice saying "Don't move."

He opened his eyes and saw bandits, for what else could they be, standing around the camp. Minsc had fallen asleep at his post again no doubt. As he scanned, he saw something that totally unnerved him.

Jaheira stood, locked in the arms of one of the bandits. There was a small crude iron blade held to her throat. She struggled, only slightly, her eyes crossed and looking down. The others began to wake up.

Zach rose to his feet, holding his hands out. A most pecular feeling taking over.

"Take me instead." He offered. "I am the leader, and, worth a good bit more."

The bandits whispered among themselves, laughing, making crude jokes about the woman they held and what she was worth to them.

The others were fully awake now, the tension of the moment jolting them fully to their senses.

Zach agreed to do anything they wanted, offering himself, offering to put down his own weapons.

And suddenly the world turned gray.

Zach stared down in horror as an arrow protruded from his chest. An unfamiliar unknown rage began boiling inside of him. The average person would have died on the spot, and, Zach was the average sort of fellow in every way, except one. He was a Bhaalspawn. All eyes locked on to him, some in amazement, others in fear, some in complete horror.

The rage boiled over.

With a savage inhuman roar that would probably have scared him senseless under most circumstances, Zach leaped forward. The bandits began to scatter and Jaheira shook her way free. His companions watched in amazement as Zach slew the first he could reach, then the second, and, finally, a third. By then they had overcome their own surprise and moved into the fray.

In seconds, it was over. His rage still boiling, he reached up and yanked the arrow out of his own chest. He stared at the bloody point for a moment, his eyes burning with the most unusual glow. His rage slowly subsided, the world took on colour again.

As he stared at the point of the arrow, then down at the bodies, and, then at the blood on his own hands, a look of horror dawned on his own face. He gave a long pleading look at Jahiera, seeking some sort of comfort.

Things were fully back to normal when Zach fainted in horror.