The next morning, they all woke up without tentacles and no one died in their sleep, so that was a good start for the day.
Mereana stretched herself, finding her body had new sore muscles that she never suspected even existed. She caught a glimpse of her sleeping neighbour, Shadowheart, weighing an empty box she had looted on her way.
" - Exercising ?" she asked.
" - I don't need to. What I need is toileting. This should contain enough water do to just that." She smirked at her. " - But you, you clearly need both."
" - Wow. Touché", Mereana pretended to lay her hand on her heart, but went on her investigation : " - Any luck I can borrow your homemade water barrel after you're done ?"
After debating the terms of contract and use of the barrel, Shadowheart eclipsed herself.
Mereana approached the fire camp where Lae'zel and Gale were busy discussing. From what she could gather, they were having a conversation about githyanki culture. It wasn't really a surprise that Gale managed to make the warrior open up a little. Nerds. Astarion walked up to them not soon after. No one really noticed he was absent until now.
She sat down by the now ashes and gazed unhappily into the horizon.
One hour later, they were all ready to go to the grove. According to Gale, the place wasn't far away, maybe one walking hour away.
The wizard and Lae'zel took the lead, Astarion behind them, while she and Shadowheart closed the formation. Towards the end of the hour, they did hear some noises in the background - the noises being screams and agitation.
Lae'zel came to a halt and they all gathered around her. " - We should be careful from now on", she stated, which obviously everyone agreed with. Astarion offered to do some recon, and Shadowheart proposed her help. They both came back a few minutes later.
" - We saw what looked like human mercenaries running towards a wooden door in the cliff. They were three of them, I believe", said the cleric.
" - They were pursued by half a dozen goblins and two worgs, I think", added Astarion. " - It won't be long until they clash together."
" - Then we should hurry", said Gale.
" - Hurry to what ?" asked Astarion.
" - To their rescue !"
" - To rescue the goblins ?" asked Lae'zel, frowning down on the wizard.
" - What ? No. To rescue the humans." Gale glanced at the rest of the group as if seeing them for the first time. No one seemed particularly inclined to hurry up and save the day.
" - He's right", intervened Mereana, feeling a strung of pity for Gale's leadership failure. Shadowheart scowled with disapproval. " - Come on, think about it. The goblins are not going to evaporate themselves into thin air. Let's fight them while we may have some back up with us. I mean, surely the mercenaries are going to fight them anyway, we might as well jump in !"
" - We want to make sure we flank them, then", commented Astarion. " We saw an elevation in the ground, by the gate. If you prove discreet enough, we could sneak around them and flank them from above." He deployed his hands with a charming smile. " - We could...rescue...the humans, and also take no risk during the fight."
Lae'zel rolled her yellow alien eyes, which was a weird thing to see. Mereana kept looking at her face for a few seconds after that, a bit traumatized by what she had witnessed.
" - What are you looking at ?" the gith asked abruptly.
" - Your eyes. You're so...unusual."
Lae'zel stood a little taller, staring at Mereana. " - I expect I am your first."
Mereana wasn't a very prude person, so she controlled the urge to blush, but still blurted out : " - Hardly so, but thanks for the offer."
Gale sighed. " - I don't think that she meant it like that, Mereana", he said.
Shadowheart looked at them both incredulously, and ushered : " - What are you two even - haven't we got something else to do ?"
" - Hush, hush !" intervened Astarion. " - I want to see that."
Lae'zel looked very disconcerted and skeptical, as she ran over Mereana's silhouette, probably not understanding the innuendo. " - If you had met my kind before, they would have cut you from navel to neck. Your kind is very alien to me as well. Your fleshy nose looks like a mistake." She gestured to their faces, which led to various reactions in the group.
" - Hmpf", said Shadowheart, not willing to discuss the subject furthermore.
" - Really ? I always thought it was one of my best traits", uttered Gale, absent-mindedly caressing his nose.
" - Well, I would not have put it that bluntly but you do have something wrong with your nose going on, Mereana", commented Astarion with his usual eloquent phrasé.
" - What the - what " she glared daggers at the elf, and then back to Lae'zel. "- As if your upturned bat snout is any better. And that goes for you too, Astarion."
" - Mine is economical. Disciplined. Yours is just a waste of..."
However alluring their bickering might be, the group snapped out of it when they heard the screamings pitched louder. From their position, it was difficult to make out exactly what was going on, but they scampered along Astarion as he led them to the flanking ambushing site he had reckoned before.
They climbed up the pile of rocks without getting seen by either the runaways or the attackers. From what they had gathered, the humans were demanding that the gate be opened to them, but the people guarding the fort were not so inclined as they accused them of leading the enemy to them. The time they lost arguing between each other was all the time the goblins needed to catch up with them.
The group had taken position on top of the rocks, on a small cairn, hidden by some bushes. Shadowheart and Astarion had switched to their bows, while Gale and Mereana began incanting a few simple cantrips. Lae'zel was fidgeting around with a bulb they had found in the ruins of the nautiloid, which could act like a bomb if needed.
It all seemed like a situation completely under control until a real hero decided to show up.
" - Here comes the Blade of the Frontier ! Make way !"
A tall, handsome-looking man clad in leather and waving a rapier around jumped down the fort fearlessly, a spell softening his landing. Mereana would have recognized this one-eyed man anywhere, because she had already seen him around a lot at mundane events in Baldur's Gate. Her mother had invited the famed hero Wyll the Blade once or twice in their mansion, mainly to boring caritative events. The oozing charisma of the hero was the only reason Mereana had agreed to assist to these two events. She had tried to sleep with him, obviously, but had always been met with a kind but firm rebukal. This had only served to further her weird teenage-like admiration for the hero her whole social circle loved.
" - By Sune's ass ! Guys, that's the Blade !" she cried out, excitedly.
As Astarion lunged past the tree to aim an arrow at one of the goblin, he commented : " - We'll be talking about him in past tense really fast if he stays in the thick of the fight, surrounded by goblins."
Gale sneaked past his bush to have a look at the scene, and scampered back just in time to avoid an arrow in his face. " - We have to do something", he said. " - But the goblins aren't stupid. They put themselves out of reach of my spells. I can offer a strategy….- "
"- I'm not letting the guy die on me ! I'll just jump down there and cast them all to sleep real fast…"
" - No, don't -" started Gale, but it was too late.
Not knowing exactly what she was doing, but filled with adrenaline and her head buzzing with excitement, Mereana ran out of her hiding spot, aimed for a lower level on the hill, and...fell on her knees on impact, as she crashed down just in front of a worg trying to climb to them. The few seconds it took her to come back to her senses were the seconds she knew she was going to regret her rash decision sorely.
" - Oh, shit."
The risk I took was calculated, but gods, am I bad at maths, she thought. Her head was still buzzing, but now it was due to the blood loss and the creeping fear. She was still on her knees, trying to get up, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the worg coming at her. The beast seized her leg in his monstrous mouth and its teeth sank in as it dragged her down with it. She screamed out in pain as her bone clicked out of its articulation and broke between the teeth of the worg. Never had she before lived anything as horrifying as this.
She suddenly felt the bite on her leg softened up as the worg suddenly flinched, an arrow piercing through its back. She managed to pull her leg away just in time before the beast fell back towards her. Mereana crawled a little to get away from the corpse, and glanced at her situation. She had not helped the Blade at all, aside from serving as a distraction to his enemies, since the goblins were now coming at her instead. So...not really what she had wanted to do, but somehow it did save the man's life, though he would probably not even notice her noble and completely unwilling sacrifice. Her entrance seemed to have make an impression though, as the Blade took a stand and jumped in front of one of her aggressors :
" - Fear not, fair lady, I'll protect you !"
Mereana cried out in pain and humiliation. She thought she was done for as the goblins drew in, but Gale and Shadowheart emerged from the bushes ; Gale just in time to cast a shocking wave spell, repelling the enemies, while the cleric launched herself towards her and hastily helped her get back up.
" - The next time you do something as stupid as that, I won't bother to revive you", she said harshly, patching her up as best as she could.
The healing magic helped Mereana focus back on the fight, as it tended to her flesh and bones, mending her wounds.
Ignoring the cleric's harsh tone, she fought back the urge to embrace her in her arms and only managed a little nod and smile at her. " - Thanks. I thought I was done for."
" - Really ?"
She was finally in a good position to cast her sleeping spell, which grantly facilitated the execution of the goblin leader by the hands of Astarion. Lae'zel, on her side, managed to kill the remaining worg and the Blade remained thankfully alive. However, he dashed out as soon as the battle was over, not even a "thank you" on his lips as he left them to deal with the people holding the gate.
" - Are you, by any chance, crazy ?"
This was from Gale, crossing his arms, and looming over her with exasperation.
" - I am not crazy." She puffed her chest out and held his gaze. " - I think. Yet. Come to think of it, people call me crazy all the time."
" - Early dementia, then. Careful not to turn into one of those cyricist's bastards, on top of risking to turn into a mindflayer." His expression softened up a little after that, as he helped her get to her feet and pick up her equipment. " - It was brave. Your heart is in a good place. Let's hope you come to more senses over time."
Any second now, he was going to pat her head or something awkward like that. Mereana cringed. Fortunately, Astarion came by and thankfully stopped their conversation :
" - Oh, yes, please keep jumping just in front of our enemies next time we plan an ambush. For what ? To save a nobody's life ?" He stopped for a second, considering the situation. " - I will admit that he was good-looking, at least. And that it was refreshing to watch."
A quick glance around her made Mereana realized that Lae'zel, Astarion and Shadowheart were all scolding at her with disapproval written on their faces. The only one seemingly inclined to salute her sacrifice was Gale, and he had no idea that she had just completely fumbled around her plan.
I have a feeling I should get used to the "scowl of disapproval" with those guys around.