[Butterfingers]

As the ship left the harbour, heading off to Brynlaw, Zach's thoughts drifted back to his comfortable lavish castle. Yes, he, the common human, a man only made special by his blood, had risen to become a Noble. A violent wave of dizziness over took him, this was going to be a long trip. He wished longingly for his night light back in his room at the Keep. The cabin was dark, musty, and smelled like pee.

The Keep towered before him, looking somewhat run down, battered, and less then the grand structure it had been. The walls had been bombarded with stones, probably from catapults, although his overactive imagination pictured an army of giants invading the castle. Nalia would be waiting for him and his crew.

They had made their way in through a secret passage. Nalia had been left outside, for her own safety. With out thinking about it, he had reached out and grabbed Keldorn's hand, and the big man had responded by snatching his hand away, slapping him in the back of the head, and telling him to grow a spine. It was dark, and, it was spooky, a combination that Zach disliked a great deal. There were cobwebs, a sure sign of his most feared of enemies, spiders. When Jaheira had placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him, he had nearly jumped out of his skin. Anomen was boasting about a time when he had invaded some castle, singlehandedly routing the invaders and slaying 40 ogres, or some such story. Zach was not impressed. By the looks of it, Anomen was just as terrified as he was, only he hid it much better.

After finding a rather helpful servant, slaying several trolls, and finding an old forge and a flail head for a powerful artifact, they had gone outside to try and open the gate. They had the unpleasant task of killing the dogs to make stew, so they could lure away the guardians under the Keep.

After opening the gate, several soldiers had rushed in to join the battle. Zach mostly stayed out of the way. More trolls and a scary looking snake man type creature had attacked. Zach knew the Keep was crawling with even more of these sorts of foes.

After stewing the dogmeat and taking a bit of a rest in the kitchen, they had made their way upstairs, and, after much fighting and fumbling, had found a key and the captain of the guard, who promptly attacked them. They rescued Nalia's Aunt, who Anomen claimed, was a real haughty pain in the ass. Also, they had found the final flail head, locked securely in a hidden room full of golems. Zach had had a brilliant idea of how to defeat them, one born of cowardice, that the group had agreed on. Don't fight them at all. Anomen had cast Sanctuary on himself, and, protected by his faith, he had gone in and recovered several impressive weapons.

Back downstairs, at the forge, the legendary Flail of Ages was reforged, and, prompty given to Anomen. Wielding the flail, and, another hammer called the Kneecapper, Anomen presented a grand sight. The short stocky man actually looked the part of the fierce warrior priest. While the group had been reforging the flail, Yoshimo had been nosing about and had returned with a dagger that he claimed had a rather highly enchanted nature, more so then his own personal katana, and, he stashed it away in his boot. Zach was not worried. His own dagger collection was impressive. He had seen it, it was enchanted judging by the slight glow, but, it was nothing special. His own dagger, Pixie Prick, was a mighty weapon indeed, putting many a foe down on the floor snoring with but merely a poke. Not that he poked many people of course, but, there were desperate times that called for desperate measures.

After finding their way deep into the Keep, they had killed a troll named Torgal. With the Keep freed, they had returned and reported the deed to Nalia.

Nalia had beaten around the bush a good bit, and Zach had guessed what she was getting at, and, mentioned it outloud. A marriage of sorts, to have him take over as the local lord. At the very mention of the words, Nalia had started stuttering and Jaheira had popped him a painful blow on the back of his head with her club. As it turned out, marriage was not needed, only for him to become a figurehead of sorts. Keldorn had snorted loudly, and, the others had laughed a good bit at the idea of Zach becoming Lord Zach. But as it turned out, it was a good thing.

Zach's total lack of bloodlust or violence had proven valuable. He was a fair Lord, already well loved by his subjects a few weeks later. The "Coward King" as he had been called at first, was replaced with the "Loved Lord". When one of his own guards had been brought before him, to be executed for some crime, Zach could not bear to see the man's blood spilled. He had questioned him why he would do such an act, he found the man's wife had been deathly ill. Zach reconsidered, and, found that he would have done the same thing. An unfair death had been avoided, and, two lives had been saved. Even Keldorn, stern noble Keldorn, had been impressed. Zach had promoted Anomen to his head Man at Arms, and, the young squire had spent much of his time when he was at the Keep training the many new guards.

However, it was the little things that had set him apart, and, brought many snickers and sideways looks from his servants. He had ordered that the Keep be well lit at all times, spare no expense on the oil. It was well known that their Lord was scared of his own shadow, and, even more terrified of the dark. He was the only Lord in the history of the Keep that demanded a night light for his personal room, always well stocked and lit, burning brightly by his bed. He had even brought two old retired guards back into the watch with full pay, their sole duty to go about stomping and squishing out any sign of an invasion of spiders or otherwise creepy crawly things. The old men, with out a doubt, were quite pleased to have such a job, for old age often meant slipping into poverty.

The Keep had prospered, and Nalia had stayed to act as an advisor along with Major Domo. It was she that ran much of the Keep's daily activities, and, at Zach's request, turned the Keep into a resource for the poor. A school had been opened, a cleric had even set up shop in exchange for healing those that had no coin to offer in payment. The dungeon had been turned into a rather impressive library. Zach had missed his childhood home a great deal. The population had exploded, as many moved to the area seeking a kind and gentle hand to aid them in their miserable lives. Word had spread quickly of a kind Lord who had gone so far as to buy out his peasants debts from a viscious trader and then handed the deeds to their own property back to them. Taxes were rather low, but, inspite of the lack of funds coming in, the Keep had prospered greatly with the huge influx of new people moving to the lands and setting up homesteads. Zach had achieved the common man's dream, he had rose to power and had proven to be a great Lord, with his common views guiding his kingdom, the common man had been looked out for, and, many were becoming wealthy from his rather bold and daring ventures. Life, no doubt, was shaping up and looking good.

Zach smiled, as he lay in his bunk, feeling rather pleased with himself. As Khalid had said so often, "Gorion would be proud of your actions!" All he needed now was his sister, Imoen, she, no doubt, would be proud as well and he longed to rescue her and bring her back to the safety of his Keep. He sincerely hoped after her rescue, he could retire from the adventuring life and put all this behind him.