The Only Viable Solution To The Problem

 Who is "Draknar" anyway?

Draknar isn't really sure.

A few moments ago, he was. Then... the Certainty disappeared. With it, the fuzzy good feelings in his chest. It feels like he has spent the last few days in a daze, on a high, as if he smoked too much of the halflings' pipe weed. Draknar did try that once, after capturing a frightened couple and their children. Though it certainly made their execution more weird, it dulled the pleasure of watching them squirm, and made his thinking inexact and paranoid. He ended up also executing the executioners. By the time that was done, his mind was clear again and he saw the folly of it.

The Certainty was different. It felt much better. But Draknar does feel like he did when his mind came back, not so long ago. Which means that his mind was, at least partly, gone.

He taps his forehead and mutters, "what is going on in there?"

This wizard... he took, took, took and gave nothing. Flynx and Aarki seemed quite happy to help him out of the kindness of their heart, even though he was accompanied by an undead bodyguard and failed to warn them of dangers ahead, which nearly got Flynx turned into a lump of rock. They just trusted him. Just like that. He could have annihilated them the moment he regained his powers. He could have robbed them, enslaved them, burnt them to a crisp.

He didn't, but he could have. And they didn't see it, not even slightly.

Draknar may have lost his mind, but he is not certain that Flynx and Aarki have much of a mind to begin with.

Which brings back under examination this concept of "friendship". It came with the Certainty. Is it gone? Not entirely. There is a little bit more of some kind of special new ingredient in the way Draknar views his companions. They are not just tools. They are a little more. How much, and for how long, remains to be seen though. Aarki, in particular, seems almost hostile much of the time. Do friends come across like that? Is that something else?

Patience and observation will be required here. This new concept could be useful in some way. Got to give it time to mature. Or, if it turns out to be another illusion like the Certainty, eliminate it from the recesses of his mind.

What a mess. Now they need to get back to Ten Towns. And Torga might be out there, after them. He's less worried about her now though. She's just a merchant. By force of reason, her bodyguard must have been stronger than her. And the little band dispatched him handily. Unless she manages to ambush them, the group will make short work of her.

Which does beg the question, how to make sure not to be ambushed?

Well, there's only one reliable answer to this conundrum: she must be ambushed first.

And for that, the group needs to be convinced of the necessity of this course of action. With a sigh, Draknar wanders over to where Flynx is getting ready to rest.

"Hey, friend, how are you? You have completely recovered from the Basilisk's poison, yes? Good, good. Listen, there's something we need to talk about..."