Author note: heya my readers! So, for those of you who are interested in knowing more of my OCs, I posted on Archiveofourown a collection titled "The book of my OCs for the Baldur's Gate saga" under the nickname Goddess_of_the_arena (that's what I'm known as on Ao3). It contains their original portraits made by me, their basic info (sex, race, hair and eye color, single/married, class, the chapter they were introduced in), plus their background and personality. ᴥ^
oxoxoxoxoxo
The fight seemed destined to drag on as more and more enemies swarmed out of the buildings like angry ants ready to defend their anthill, but suddenly, the bridge collapsed under their weight, the explosions and numerous fireballs having weakened it to the point that it crumbled to pieces, sending half of the Drow forces down to their death. Incidentally, it also prevented both parties to reach each other with short-ranged weapons, though the archers and mages still kept on attacking with all they had until a thick mist spread between the two armies, so that it was impossible for the Drow to see Meg's group and Lothar's men disappearing bit by bit as she transported them to the Pocket Plane to rest and revive their dead.
"Okay, let's bring them to the first room", she instructed in a brisk tone, "The rest of you, go to the second room, get your wounds healed and then get some rest. If you need food, ask Cespenar to cook you something", she added, turning on her heels and moving to the first room. Minsc and eleven other men followed her, the Rashemi carrying Aerie's body and the others carrying each one of their fallen companions. When they arrived next to the lapislazuli discs, the Ilmatari nodded, "Minsc, place Aerie down on the disc", she ordered, hiding her worry: sure, she knew what the disc was supposed to do, but this was the first time actually trying its power.
What if it didn't work? What if it needed a sort of triggering word to activate? What if…
To her relief, as soon as the Avariel's corpse touched its polished surface, the stone glowed with a soft blue light and the familiar outline of a blooming rose appeared, only to vanish after a moment. Aerie slowly opened her eyes and sat up, blinking in confusion, "Meg? What…Where are we?". "Oh, joy, our witch is fine!", Minsc cheered, taking her in a huge hug, "See, Boo? She's fine! We haven't lost our witch again!". "Nice to see you back, Aerie", the Painbearer smiled warmly at her friend, then gestured towards the mercenaries, "Your turn". Eleven more resurrections later, they small group rejoined the rest in the common room for a meal, then they all retired to their rooms for a bath and a nap to regain their strength and refresh their spells.
When they all woke up, they gathered in the common room to try and find a way to get past the abyss, preferably without getting anyone of their number killed again. "I could summon vines, but they won't be sturdy enough to hold the weight of so many people", Jaheira said with a frown. Daniel hummed, "What if all of us druids summoned vines at the same time? We could create a bridge wide and sturdy enough for our needs", he proposed and everyone agreed that it was a good idea. "There's still the matter of not getting killed though", Imoen piped up. "We could get invisible again", one of Lothar's mages, Alby, suggested.
"I'd rather not waste it so soon", Meg shook her head, "What about that mist that hid us when I brought you here?". "Ah, that was me", another mercenary, a six-and-a-half feet tall man with short black hair, tanned skin and amazing muscles, raised his hand, "I'm actually a swordsman, not a mage, but I learnt that little trick from my father when I was a kid. It's nothing big, but it can come in useful". "I'd say!", she smiled, "So…". "Honos". "Nice to meet you and can you do that again, if I get you there before the others?". "Sure, no problem". "Good, drink this then", she tossed him a potion of invisibility before drinking one herself, "Take my hand and let's go".
oxoxoxoxoxo
The plan worked as expected, hiding the bridge made of vines and giving them the advantage of a surprise attack, which allowed them to take down a good number of enemies before they could have a chance to retaliate. And by that time, only a handful of Drow remained standing and were no match against an entire army. "I don't sense anyone left in the buildings", one of Lothar's man said, his eyes tightly shut as he focused on his spell, an odd sort of magic that made him capable of sensing the presence of people through their life-force, "The coast is clear".
"Good job", his general praised him with a proud smile, patting his back, "We can move forward then". "We should search the buildings first", Yoshimo said, "There could be something useful in there, maybe even some hint to where Sendai is hiding. It would be a shame to ignore a possible lead, ne?", he added, turning to Meg, who smiled at him and nodded. "You're right, sensei: since we're here, we can as well loot the place. Drow are well-known for their ability in creating magic items, maybe we'll be lucky and find some treasure to use against Sendai".
Edwin's eyes shone with anticipation at those words, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to work! (My time is too precious to waste it with useless babbling!)". "Calm down, the thieves will go first and take care of every trap that could be there waiting for us", she said sternly and he grumbled. "Fine". Her gaze softened, "I'm trying to keep you all safe, you know this, right? I care for you", she said honestly and he shot her a side glance, his bad mood lifting. "I know".
The search proved to be quite fruitful: not only did they find the warding stone to open the doors that led to the next level of the lair, but also a hundred gold coins, plenty of fire and acid arrows and crossbow bolts and a score of antidotes against poison. "Okay, now we have to choose which tunnel to take: north or south?", Meg asked, looking at her companions. "I'd say south", one of Lothar's mercs, a rough-featured man in his mid-thirties with short black hair and a scar running down the left side of his face, said, "My gut tells me to go that way and so far, it's never steered me wrong". She smiled, "South it is, then. Let's go".
Using the warding stone, she opened the door to the tunnel and they filed in…Only to stop and grimace in disgust and in some cases, also in horror: the tunnel was filled to the brim with spiders. And not only the regular giant spiders they were used to, oh no: there were also Sword Spiders, Wraith Spiders which could teleport from one point to the other in a blink, making it hard as hell to hit them and to top it all off, there were around fifty monstrosities that seemed like a mixture between a bloated spider, a cow and a cobra.
"What in Helm's name are these abominations?!", Anomen exclaimed as he found himself face to…Whatever it was that passed for a face with one of those things, which dodged a blow from his flail and moved to bite him. But before it could, a shot of lightning hit it straight in one of its many eyes, causing it to recoil with a screech of pain. "They're an affront to Mother Nature!", Jaheira seethed, coming to stand beside her son-in-law with a furious look on her face, "Sendai will pay for this!", she promised, shooting another burst of lightning at the creature before thrusting her spear in its belly when the mutated spider rose on its hind legs. It let out a final screech before falling back, its legs twitching for a moment in the last throes of death.
"Thank you", the young man shot her a quick smile and she snorted. "Don't thank me yet, the fight is far from over", she snapped, her focus shifting to the left, where a Wraith Spider had suddenly appeared. The fight against the eight-legged beasts was not an easy one, the close quarters preventing them from using fireballs and explosives for fear of hurting one of their own by accident, yet the mages did not stand idle: they cast paralyzing spells to try to stop, or at the very least, slow down the teleporting spiders and one of Lothar's men even managed to turn some parts of the ground into muddy puddles that trapped the monsters and slowly dragged them down like quicksand, taking out of the picture a good dozen of them.
Even so, the rest of the spiders were more than enough to wound and in a couple of cases, kill the members of the army, while others were suffering from the effect of the deadly poison and when the last enemy fell, five men, including Daniel, fell too, their skin already turning a sickly green with black veins pulsing under it. "Holy shit…", the druid wheezed, coughing up blood, "The protective spell must have worn off". "Aerie, Jae, Anomen, take care of the poisoned ones. Immy, give the wounded ones the potions we found in the cabin and if necessary, also the water from the healing pools", Meg ordered briskly as she knelt beside her brother and chanted a spell to cure him from the poison.
"What of our dead?", one of the mercenaries, a young archer named Bernie, asked with a frown. "Give me a second", she replied, her eyes not straying from Daniel's sweaty face until she saw the skin returning to its normal slightly tanned peach hue and the black fading from his veins, "Okay, where are they?", she asked the archer. He led her to the corpses of his companions, one of whom had no doubt been hit by the swipe of a Sword spider as he had a deep gash in his neck that left the still intact vertebrae bare, "You can save them both, right? I mean, yeah, Axel here kinda lost his head, but that's not a big deal, right?", he asked anxiously, hoping against hope that she would give him the answer he wanted to hear.
"I…", she sighed and bit her lower lip, "I'm not sure", she answered honestly, "First of all, I'll bring back your other friend, okay? And then I'll see what I can do for this one". Bernie's face fell, but he nodded, "Okay". She knelt between the bodies and focused on the intact one first, the by now familiar outline of a blooming rose appearing before he opened his eyes and sat up, alive and well. "What happened?", the man asked, revealing a scratchy voice. "She had to drag your sorry ass back from the dead, that's what, Derek", Lothar answered with a small smile, "Nice to have you back, by the way". "Thanks general", Derek smiled back and stood, stretching as if he'd just taken a long nap, "And thank to you too, ma'am".
"My pleasure. Now let's see if I can save your friend too". "Uh, I was a surgeon before joining this army", one of the men raised his hand and walked up to her, "If I sew his neck closed, can he be resurrected?". "I don't know, honestly. I've never tried such a practice with a body so gravely wounded, but it's worth a shot. Get to work…". "Dannar". "Do your best and I'll do mine", she smiled, but deep down she was terrified: as far as she knew, this had never been tried before. The body had to be as intact as possible to allow the soul to inhabit it again, but this man, this Axel, had his head nearly cut off completely. What if the operation was not enough?
Or worse, it could be enough to let the soul return, but the body would bleed out and he would be in horrible pain for the few moments he would have to live again. Maybe it would be better to just…"Let them try, Maggie", Sarevok whispered in her ear, easily guessing her trail of thought, "They need this hope". "Yes, but what if…". "Not buts or what ifs", he replied in a stern tone, "Do all you can and have no regrets. I don't want you to live plagued by guilt again for not trying". The Painbearer hesitated, but she knew he was right, so she nodded, "Okay. Thank you, big brother". "Anytime, little sister", he smiled and kissed her temple, then settled on the ground at her side as he watched Dannar sewing the blood vessels, muscles, throat, tendons and skin back with the practiced ease of one who has been doing it for more than twenty years.
"Done!", the surgeon announced, looking up at Meg with a mixture of anticipation and fear, "Your turn". She nodded and placed her hands on the dead man's chest, closing her eyes and intoning the resurrection spell, all her focus centered on bringing him back as she pushed every other thought aside. The blooming rose appeared and she wasted no time in chanting her most powerful healing spell to close his wounds and fix the damage that still remained, the tissues mending flawlessly until he was once more in full health.
"Oooowwww…", Axel sat up and brought a hand to his forehead, still a little dizzy, "What in the Nine Hells happened here? Why do I have a hangover? I don't remember going out to drink last night", he grumbled, looking around. "Brother!", Bernie tackled him in a hug, tears of joy running down his face, "I thought you were gone for good! Don't you scare me like that again, got it?". "Uh…Bernie?", the older man returned his hug with a smirk, "Oi, softie, let go or you'll squeeze me to death". "Yeah, joke around, you idiot!", the archer slapped him on the back of the head in a way very, very similar to Jaheira's, "You nearly died! If it wasn't for Dannar and this lady here, you'd be six feet under!".
"Dead?", Axel arched an eyebrow and looked at his old friend, "Well, thanks Dannar. Next time we stop at a tavern, first round is on me", he said, shaking hands with the surgeon, then he turned to Meg, "And thanks to you too. Same offer, by the way". The Ilmatari laughed, "I appreciate it, but I don't drink alcohol. You being okay is payment enough for me". He blinked, then noticed her Holy Symbol of Ilmater and smirked again, "Ah, of course: you're one of those selfless priests who roam the land saving everyone's ass and ask for nothing in exchange", he said and her companions laughed.
"You can't deny that the description fits you like a glove, Meg", Edwin commented with an amused grin, "(I don't know if I should be relieved or depressed that her hopeless goody-two-shoes tendencies are not a trait exclusive to her, but common to all those of her faith)". "Yep, he got her spot on!", Imoen agreed, nodding. "Ha ha, very funny, guys", the Painbearer deadpanned as she stood, "So, what shall we do? Press on now, or go back to the Pocket Plane to rest first?". They all sobered and exchanged glances, unsure.
"We could eat here", Lothar spoke up, "And there is certainly room enough to sleep as well, but I don't feel at ease at relaxing while in enemy territory, not when we have an alternative. Not to mention, our mages, druids and clerics have used up most of their spells, you included, Margaret Dawn". Anomen frowned, "Bringing all of us back there is quite taxing for my wife", he snapped, "And this wouldn't be our first time sleeping while in enemy territory anyway". "We would risk being ambushed while we're tired and out of spells", the general replied, eyes narrowing. "We've done this several times in the past and we're all still here". "But if any of us died, we may have to go back anyway to revive them, or use the Wand of Resurrection, which has limited charges".
The tension between the two men was so thick it could be cut with a knife as they glared at each other, until Minsc spoke up, surprising everyone. "Boo says we should not sleep here. He sniffs something really bad behind the door, so if we lower our guard, we will make it easier for it to kick our butts and that wouldn't be good: we are the ones who must give righteous buttkicking! Minsc says we go back to the Pocket Plane of little Meg". "But…", the Helmite started to say, only for Meg to cut him off gently. "He's right, beloved. Tiring as it is, it's our greatest asset and it would be selfish of me to refuse to use it only to save me the trouble", she said with a smile, "Come on, link hands, you know the drill".