Chapter Text
She wished she could say that had been her rudest awakening, but there were other mornings that blew this one out of the water. Still, it hadn’t been the way she wanted to awaken – though she in no way was complaining about Astarion’s presence. Ignoring everything that had come to light, he always entertained her, and this proved no different.
“How do you feel?”
His question brought her attention back to him now that her laughter had calmed.
“I’ve felt worse,” she said with a shrug. “I’m fine, for the most part. Still a bit woozy but nothing that should interfere with scheming and killing. How do you feel?”
He chuckled. “It’ll pass,” he assured her. “I feel positively wonderful, darling, and that’s all thanks to you.”
She found herself smirking at his entire demeanor. He was even more energetic than she’d seen him before; it was nice to see him so happy.
She finally stood up and stretched to crack her back. “Did you need anything else? I need to switch tunics.”
His brow quirked devilishly, lips curled up on both corners – enough so that the tips of his fangs were visible. She really should have realized sooner.
“Well, no, but I wouldn’t mind staying around for the show.”
She threw a teasing glare his way and pointed toward the door of her tent. “Out, Astarion.”
He chuckled, expression still the same, only there was something more hidden in his eyes. “As you wish, my dear. Perhaps next time.”
He was gone after that, leaving her to stand there staring after him. He was very flirtatious in general, but the way he’d looked at her… She couldn’t help but wonder if the moment they’d had last night had shifted their paradigm entirely.
She changed into a different tunic as she’d said then pulled her usual armor over the top. It was the usual druid robes with leather shorts underneath.
When she left her tent, she looked around for any signs of chaos. Honestly, she half expected the air to be much more tense than it actually was. Her four companions were seated around the fire, talking about potential methods of taking out the goblin leaders as if the scene in her tent had never happened.
She joined them with ease, snagging the last of the food to munch on while offering her own suggestions of how to handle their mission.
Astarion’s ability to fade into darkness was really handy – and now knowing the truth about it, it made a lot more sense, too. Better than that, he brought up a good point that now that they knew what he was, he had more to offer them. She gave permission for him to feed on their enemies at this point, but only if they were already going to die by their hands. He had been very pleased by this.
She made a mental note to talk to him later about other methods of keeping his hunger under control, as she knew that feeding on their foes was probably not going to be enough.
The rest of them would follow from above, using the various rafters to give them the advantage.
They were as prepared as they could be, though nothing could have readied them for the worst part about all of this.
Goblin camps reeked.
She hadn’t been expecting to smell roses, but this was far worse than anything she could have imagined.
“I am going to need at least ten baths after this,” Gale said, voice soft so only the group would hear him.
She chuckled a little and gave a small nod in agreement. “Or twenty,” she replied.
Karlach snickered in amusement though said nothing as she was too focused on their surroundings to continue the conversation.
“Whispering? How cute. They will not be offended - I do not believe ‘bath’ is part of a goblin’s vocabulary.”
It took all she had not to laugh at Astarion’s words. Words that, thankfully, were still hushed as he at least knew better than to risk angering the goblins on their own territory.
That is, without meaning to. They had every intention of stirring up trouble soon enough, but on their own terms.
Right now, they were simply sneaking about the camp as she’d yet again used her charm to get them inside. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to fight – it was quite the contrary, really. She was ready to knock their skulls in, but she’d learned early on that strategy was important. With them being trusted to wander without any suspicion, it allowed them the chance to size the place up and determine where they’d start with their ‘eliminations’.
They kept close together, seeming as though they were simply there to join in with their celebrations. From what they’d gathered, they’d successfully accomplished a raid and were enjoying the benefits of that. It created the perfect opportunity for them as many were drunk off their asses and wouldn’t even know what hit them.
“That ogre guarding the doors… I do think he poses our first real threat here,” Eirlya noted as she watched the tall creature rambling on about a chicken.
“Agreed,” Shadowheart said. “Perhaps we ought to look higher up for an alternative entrance?”
She grinned at the suggestion and started toward the wall where she’d noticed thick vines growing. They’d be perfect for scaling the stone to reach the higher part of the courtyard. The others followed her lead, and she did her best to hide how much that unsettled her.
She had never really been a leader, which was why she couldn’t understand how she – out of all of them – had become their group’s forerunner.
Perhaps it was better she didn’t question it. Why worry about something that seemed to be working?
“There.” Shadowheart pointed toward a crack in the masonry. “If we hit that a few times I think we can make a space big enough for us to get through.”
Eirlya glanced around at the sleeping goblins and rolled her shoulders. “Good idea, but it’s going to be loud.” She turned back toward the goblins. “We need to make sure they stay asleep.”
Gale, picking up on what she was hinting at, crept closer to the few slumbering close by. Astarion moved toward the wall, eyes watching her every move. This wasn’t the first time she’d caught him studying her - how long had he been doing that for? Long enough to notice the way Gale looked at her based on their discussion the other night.
The goblins were asleep enough that they wouldn’t even realize Gale had charmed them into an even deeper slumber. The enchantment left his lips moments later, cascading around the creatures as they continued to rest.
She watched with bated breath, relief flooding through her when Gale gave the all-clear.
Good. It had worked.
She gave a nod to Karlach who gave a swing of her axe and hit the wall with ease. The stones began tumbling down with a loud crash, revealing a larger hole for them to enter through. None of the goblins below had any inkling to what was going on above them and the ones that she’d spelled were still sound asleep.
“Ah, teamwork makes the dream work, as they say,” Astarion commented with a grin.
“Is your contribution your witty remarks?” Gale asked.
“Here I thought it was my good looks,” Astarion responded with an over-the-top flip of his curls.
She found herself unable to hide the smirk at their exchange, though said nothing as she jumped up to the crack and pulled herself over.
Once inside, she did another survey of the area then turned back to her cohorts.
“This may be one of those situations where we have to come back a few times,” she huffed. “I just feel it deep in my bones.”
Karlach shook her head. “Don’t jinx us, Lya. The less time we have to spend here the better.”
“Agreed.” It was Gale and Astarion who spoke at the same time resulting in a glare leveled each other’s way. They had an odd relationship, to say the least, but it amused her all the same.
It took a bit of asking around as tactfully as they could, but they managed to glean a little more information about the location of the druid. Along the way they’d ended up saving the strange bard from the Grove – Volo. He’d claimed to have a reward they’d want so they gave him directions back to their camp to wait.
As they came down to the worg pens, she knew their ‘friendliness’ was at an end.
Trapped in a cell was a large beast, suffering through rocks being thrown its way. Clearly, the goblins had never heard the phrase ‘don’t poke the bear’.
The bear’s gaze met hers and she knew immediately that they’d found their mark.
“Help me,” he pleaded. It was clear as day to her, though to anyone else it would be nothing more than a roar.
She turned toward the others now and spoke quietly under her breath. “That’s Halsin.”
The group didn’t question her. Even if she weren’t a druid herself, they tended to put a lot of faith in her anyways.
“How do we want to do this?” Gale asked as they huddled at the top of the stairs, looking down at their objective.
“Astarion, do you want to do your sneaky thing and take out as many as you can until we’re noticed?” she asked with a tilt of her head.
“That sounds heavenly,” he agreed with a dangerous smirk.
“I’ll spot you,” Shadow said as she readied her mace.
He took off without any hesitation, disappearing into the shadows. The only sign that he was still there was the occasional whir of an arrow and the piercing squelch it made when it hit its target. He managed to down three before the others got wise.
“And here we go.” Eirlya jumped up onto her feet and moved toward the edge of the stairs to keep higher ground.
She braced herself for the first attack, but found the goblins distracted when the bear let out a mighty roar and crashed through the iron bars of his prison.
She took the opportunity to summon a patch of thorns under the goblins, causing them to become trapped in a tangle of vines. Her entire being felt invigorated by the magic and she found herself questioning how she had ever tried to use a bow for most of her life. It had never felt as right as spells did.
Gale managed a spell of his own – one of the electric variety - and killed a few more before they could open the gates to release the worgs. Astarion, still hidden somewhere, loosed a few more arrows to kill the worgs despite their containment – a decision she wholly agreed with as she didn’t want to risk any further dangers in there.
Their battle was fairly one-sided and ended as quickly as it started. To their relief, it was quietly contained, and no others rushed in to their allies’ aid.
“Ah, fighting – ever the rush!” Gale’s cheerful baritone called over to the others.
They all reconvened in the center of the room by the bear just as his form began to shift. In his place stood a wood elf looking far better than she expected after being held against his will.
“Halsin, I take it?” Shadowheart asked.
“Yes, that would be me,” he answered. “You have my sincerest thanks for your assistance.”
Eirlya shrugged and stepped forward. “Yes, well, I must admit that it’s for selfish reasons. We have a problem that we were hoping you might be able to provide some insight into. We need a healer.”
The druid studied her for a moment. “Are you not versed in the ways of healing yourself?” he asked, noting her attire.
“I am, but this goes above my capability. We’ve managed to find ourselves… Infected.”
She launched into an explanation of their predicament, a little more involved than she’d done for others. He seemed to be their first real lead, after all.
All he could manage was to stare at her and the others. “Tadpoles… But you’ve not yet undergone ceremorphisis. Strange.”
“Yes, yes, strange indeed,” Astarion said with a wave of his hand. “We are all aware of that. What we need are some real answers, such as how to control it.”
Shadowheart and Gale turned toward him with raised brows.
“Control it? You mean remove it.” Shadowheart’s tone was one of ice and disapproval.
“Oh, of course, that too,” the high elf agreed with a half-shrug.
Eirlya sighed and turned back toward Halsin. “Do you think you can help us? All we keep getting met with is discussions of something called the Absolute.”
He hesitated. “…Perhaps. But I need more information, more answers. It would be best to find your way to the Moonrise Towers, especially if this has links to the Absolute. I would even be happy to accompany you, but I’d need something in return first.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. He wanted more from them?
“The Grove is in danger, as I’m sure you know. We have a plethora of Tiefling refugees and with the goblin problem growing… If you could just take out the leaders they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. It would help us greatly.”
Somehow she knew they’d find themselves in the middle of the struggle, though she wasn’t too upset. The prospect of being able to help others made up for that.
“Alright,” she agreed. “But mostly because we really need your help.”
She had jinxed them – they were going to have to spend more time at the hideout after they planned their next move. She gave Karlach an apologetic grin and the woman simply shrugged with a smirk of her own.