[Galadria]

Have a good dinner, CD. [img]graemlins/wavey.gif[/img] Some more:

So it was that several weeks later, Bandicut found himself riding, heavily cowled, through the main entrance of the city of Baldur's Gate. He was impressed by the sheer size of the place, as well as the numerous crowd of citizens of various races and economic conditions. Here, beggars jostled fat merchants, gaudily-clad courtesans flaunted in front of sober housewives, and nobles with their retinues fought to get to meetings, shops, or parties. Bandicut saw mostly humans, but elves, dwarves, and gnomes all were in evidence. After a quick search, he found lodging at a middling inn called the Bear's Arms, and settled in.
He immediately began casting his location spells, at which he was so adept and were largely responsible for his reaching relatively high at such an early age. The object that he sought immediately became known to him as located to the northwest. Slowly, over the days, he narrowed his search and finally was convinced that the object that he sought was located in a moderately-sized stone house with a dome in the Ramparts section of the city. Cautious inquiry revealed that it was the dwelling of one Sir Attalus and his mage-wife, Galadria. Bandicut swore under his breath.

That night, Galadria, reading in her study late, as usual, was startled to see her drow chaplain at the door. "Mistress, I mean abbil," Chorania hissed urgently. Galadria had told her long ago to continue addressing her with that honorific, which in Drow meant "trusted friend," but, when stressed, she sometimes forgot. Galadria's answering look of amusement was wiped away by the next sentences. "I have had a dream of Helm. He warns us, there will be an attempt on Noemi. Be prepared," she said urgently.
The dark mage waved her hand to the couch opposite. "Cho, calm down," she replied reasonably. "What did Helm say, exactly? Try hard, you must recall and tell me."
Chorania sat rigidly on the indicated seat. She thought hard, and after a while, she said slowly, "In my dream, I was walking around in the dark. I was lost, like when I first came to the surface. Suddenly, I became afraid, and it started to storm. There was a flash of lightning, and Lord Helm appeared before me, just like He did downstairs." It had been in the basement laboratory that the Avatar of Helm had appeared, and saved her from an assault of the Drow Spider Goddess, Lolth.
"He turned his face on me, abbil," Chorania continued, "and spoke. He said, 'Hear me, O Chorania, my priestess. Thy prayers are now answered, and I tell you now that the woman that you have prayed so earnestly for is in danger. One from the west seeks her and her child. He is dangerous. Watch and ward ceaselessly.' Then, He disappeared. That is all, my deliverer. What are we to do?"
Galadria answered grimly, "Watch and ward, Helm said. That, we shall do. In his attempts to scale the wall of spells that we have woven, our enemy shall make himself known. Then, our stroke must be hard. Do not worry, Cho, but do be vigilant. We must leave no gap in our walls for this rat to creep through."