They were invited to enter the grove, only to discover the tension between the tieflings refugees and the druids. Of course, they were asked to do something about it, and Mereana had agreed to help the refugees however she could reach Baldur's Gate. This had gained her another round of "the smirk of disapproval" as Shadowheart strongly protested her decision.
She could somehow understand her companions' reasoning : they needed a cure to get rid of the tadpole fast, and had no time to lose meddling with the quests and lives of every one they encountered. She actually agreed with this ; but she failed to see how having no ally, no money, no equipment and no healer was actually a good thing. This has led to another squabble within the group, and they had decided to split up for the morning. Lae'zel and Gale were going to look for rumors around the githyanki patrol that some tiefling pretended to have spotted ; hopefully this would lead them to a trail for the creche. Shadowheart was investigating the druid lead, trying to know more about this "Halsin" person and find out his apprentice. Astarion and Mereana had decided to tackle the very important task that was getting some real adventuring equipment.
She soon found out that what Astarion meant by "getting his hands on stuff" what literally looting everything that wasn't firmly attached or watched over by his owner. Her role was to keep the merchants busy and reckoning the most interesting stuff in their inventory while the elf snuck up in their store and stole everything of value.
They had worked their duo to a nice rhythm now.
" - This does not bother you ?" asked the elf, putting a wealthy-looking ring into his pocket that he just stole from a passerby.
" - No, why ?"
" - Well, you did say you were going to help the tieflings, and now we're robbing them blind, so I was wondering if there was any sort of cohesive thought in this pretty head of yours."
Mereana felt a bit taken aback. She hadn't stopped to give any thoughts to her moral compass. Did she even have one ? Most of the time, she just went with her feelings. And stealing did not feel wrong. She liked to have things. When she wanted something, back in Baldur's Gate, she would just ask for it and somebody would give it to her. Stuff just...appeared out of thin air into her room. She could have whims as a grown-up and no one questioned her attitude. She just led her life, knowing deeply inside of her that the rest of the world was hers for the taking and with the firm intuition that her will was enough to create the way.
" - When I want something, I like to take it," she replied smugly.
" - Good for you. It's something to think about, isn't it ? I find your attitude very inspiring. " Astarion delivered another one of his weird, half-upward smirk she could not decipher. He seemed to be thinking to himself quite a lot and she had no idea what was going on inside his head. He suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed to an old lady surrounded by potions :
" - Let's go see the demented old lady. I love demented people. "
" - Just remember to grab the potions on the way."
" - Of course. Who do you think I am ?"
As they entertained the old merchant lady, named Ethel, to their story - Astarion having decided that he would just deliver their whole tadpole problem to her to see how she would react - and after having robbed her store, they continued their looting and bantering adventures. It seemed, however, that their multiple thefts had intrigued the merchant community who had reunited together to look after the culprit. Mereana purposefully led them to believe that they spotted a thief running away towards the gate, and they commonly decided to call it a day and not push their chances farther.
Mereana sat on a pile of sacks laying around (this grove was awfully layered with empty boxes and sacks), watching over Gale and Lae'zel in the distance interrogating a tiefling. From this distance, she could not make out what they were saying, but she enjoyed the horrified expression on Gale's face as Lae'zel asserted her dominance over the unfortunate tiefling, who was bowing to her in an extremely awkward way. She thought about intervening over to stop the show before they attracted more attention, but she enjoyed the slight feeling of pleasure over seeing Gale trying to get control over the situation and failing. However smart you are, stupid handsome wizard, you're actually no better than me with these crazy companions. Eh.
Astarion was fidgeting around, like he mostly did, examining his loot for the day but something seemed to cross his mind as he walked to her.
" - Which one do you think suits my complexion better ? Red or green ?" he asked, handing her over two silver rings stolen this morning.
He looked at the pile of sacks with disdain, then sighed and carefully dusted them over with his hand before sitting down.
Mereana compared the rings, holding them to the feeble ray of light passing through the cave to give it a thought.
" - With your skintone, silver is always a good option. I find it a bit forgettable myself, but with your complexion, there's no other way around it. Of course, I'll go with gold myself. Some of us don't look completely anemic and sun-deprived."
He chuckled to himself and coughed a little before snatching the rings back. " - Tell me something I don't know, dear."
" - I think the green one's better. You should stick to cold tones."
Astarion winced. " - Green. Distasteful. It just makes me look sick. Plus, it has no personality to it." He put the ring back in his pocket and chose to put the red one on.
" - Why do you ask for my opinion if you don't care about it ?" replied Mereana with annoyance, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
" -. You don't exactly strike me as the sort of person to take fashion advice from. I mean, look at this. " He waved at her, not pointing to anything in particular, which was quite vexing. She sniffed and glared back at him angrily. He added quickly : " I do have an interest in your opinion at times. For example, I'd like to know how you would prefer getting killed ?"
" - What ?"
" - In case you entered the final stages of the tadpole transformation. If any one in our merry little group is about to turn into a mindflayer, I'd like to know how you would prefer to die. Poison, perhaps ? A good old stabbing to the heart ? Or something more inventive ? Enlighten me."
Mereana looked at her companion, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. It was an odd question, coming from someone who had tried to kill her recently. It dawned on her that Astarion was probably not the sanest person in the group. Well, she did like crazy, stupid questions, so she went with it (but noted to herself to keep her distance from the rogue, just in case.)
" - Oh, so it's like a "kill, marry, bang" game ? Played those a lot. So, I'd say...for myself, I think I'd rather get stabbed. Something quick and efficient."
Astarion seemed to approve. " - A classic. And still it makes for a good final scenography. It's a good choice."
" - How would you like getting killed ? Poison ? Stabbing as well ? Set on fire ? Pushed from the edge of a cliff ?"
The elf stroked his chin thoughtfully. "- I always thought decapitation was a good way to go. A good swing" he demonstrated the gesture " and there you go. It seems like a fitting end."
" - Oooo-kay", well, that wasn't what she had expected, but the rogue seemed happy with himself and glad of the conversation, so she decided to drop the subject of his mental health for now.
They waited for a while still, but were soon reunited with Lae'zel and Gale. Shadowheart was the latest to join them. Astarion went on his questioning with the rest of the group. Well, the results were that Lae'zel didn't like being posed stupid questions, Shadowheart refused to answer that, and Gale had winced and replied on a weirdly serious tone that it was in everyone's best interest for him not to die any time soon. The intensity of his tone had succeeded in making Astarion back away a little, and probably prevented Lae'zel from just punching him in the face.
They were starting to talk about their leads and ideas, when Mereana spotted the Blade in the distance, playing with a bunch of tieflings kids. Instantly, the chatter and bickering of the group melded in the background as she felt her heart rate beat a little bit faster. She stared at his athletic figure while he was busy trying to learn some sort of martial defense to a kid, her mind taking her to most pleasant places than a dusty old druid grove in the middle of nowhere. She did love men who rolled around in the dirt with muscles sweating. Well, there wasn't much rolling around in the dirt involved yet, but she bet there were muscles sweating.
" - Mereana, are you listening to us ?"
This came from Shadowheart, who had noticed her absent expression and squinted her eyes with discontent. Mereana's mind raced back to her as she quickly tried to remember whatever nonsense her companions had been uttering in the past minute. From the air of it, they had been busy debating something and Lae'zel and Shadowheart seemed the most displeased one, so she guessed that it had been about the creche.
" - I pick auntie Ethel's lead", she said, assuming that they were arguing about which lead to go after first. And, from the look of it, she had been right as Lae'zel cursed in her language with a very obvious tone of disappointment. She didn't need a translation to understand that she was appealing to their stupidity.
Mereana stood up and ignored the group's banter once again to walk towards the Blade, trying to put on her best looking-smile and adjusting her robe to get a little bit more cleavage. She spat in her hands quickly and brushed back her dark hair behind her ears.
She pretended to lay back innocently on the wall close to the Blade's training ground. She took on a pensive expression, hoping to get the "mysterious-effortless-dark-raven-beauty-look" she was aiming for, and watched over the fight.
Sune's be blessed, the man is charming as hell, she thought, and then looked down to the kid failing to parry his attack. You, kid, on the other hand, are ugly as fuck. What the heck is that bonnet on your head ? Which was probably not a very nice thing to think about, and she felt a pang of guilt over her own thoughts.
Just go there and talk to him, girl, but don't mention the kids at all.
Gathering her courage and years of seductive approach experience, she walked casually to the Blade and said, in her most suave voice :
" - Hey there, can I have a word ?" She instantly cringed over how stupidly over-the-top she sounded.
Ewwww. That was bad.
The Blade noticed her just as their minds started doing this weird connection thing it had done with Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale before. She suddenly saw something from the Blade's perspective, a scene which she knew was important but had no context to understand. She had felt the same thing with the others, and she had hated it. If there was one thing Mereana never wished for, it was to know what thoughts were racing through the other's brain. She wanted nothing to do with it. It was enough of a mess living with her own. And she hated the idea that they too had seen something in her head - but what ?
If these scenes were somehow representative of them, then she had no idea what kind of lives her companions had lived before but they were weird as hell. Why did the Blade had a rusty-looking creature with wings in his mind ?
Hers must have been pretty common though. Probably her companions had just felt very hungover for a second. Or they assisted to some sort of mundane ball held in her mansion. Perhaps both at the same time, this would not be impossible.
" - Hey. I'll be damned, you were on the ship as well ! And it was you who nearly died to a worg just this morning, trying to save those mercenaries" suddenly exclaimed the Blade, turning his attention to her.
He seemed oddly enthusiastic about meeting her. She pushed back the strange image of the creature she saw in his mind and tried to focus on their discussion.
" - Yup,it was me", she replied, stroking her temples with unease. Not my best line. Didn't I use to be better at this ?
While she was making contact with the man, the rest of her group had followed her and they now gathered around the place. From their expression, they had felt the mind-connection as well.
The Blade introduced himself as Wyll (which was a bit of a letdown in Mereana's eyes) and they began sharing their stories. Unfortunately, Wyll wasn't much more advanced than they were in terms of finding a healer. But at least, he came with a plan :
" - We better find Halsin. He's a powerful healer, he could probably help us. Problem is, he's been nabbed by the goblins."
" - Great. We could probably find him together ?" suggested Mereana before any one of her companions could interject.
Wyll smiled warmly : " Excellent idea. But I have a condition."
The hero explained how he was planning to take down the goblin leaders, and said something about saving kids on the way. Ew, kids again. Boring. But I suppose saving their lives isn't all that bad. Truth is, Mereana didn't truly listen and would have accepted any condition of any kind just to have the chance of travelling with the hero. She was busy thinking about how she was going to make all of her friends in Baldur's Gate so completely jealous of her, and heartily agreed to kill the goblins. She didn't care much about them anyway, and they needed to find this healer druid, so it was all going more or less according to their initial plans.
Of course, Astarion and Shadowheart disagreed with her promise to kill the goblin leaders and help the tieflings.
" - We just don't have time", sighed the cleric. " Why can't you understand that ?"
" - You're right. We don't have much time", replied Mereana as an idea crossed her mind over. She glanced over the group. They were quite numerous now, a bit too much to keep on sneaking around discreetly.
" - I think that in order to gain us some time, and to stay efficient enough, we should split up between teams. A team of four and a team of two. This way we can cover more ground and some of us can investigate further away - I don't, read books about illithids, interrogate people or something. What do you think ?"
" - It's...actually a good idea. We have better chances with fewer people around", agreed Shadowheart with reluctance. Mereana instantly knew the cleric was just playing her act, but was actually hoping to get separated from Lae'zel.
" - As long as we don't stay in the camp, doing nothing. I don't want to waste any time." replied Gale. " - But we should still stay close to each other."
" - I have a map of the region", offered Wyll. " - We could agree every day on where to go and what to do, and on a meeting place at night."
It took them some time, but they finally agreed on this.
Mereana thought that agreeing on a team composition was going to be the hardest part, but it went actually really smoothly.
" - As Gale and I are both wizards, we should probably be on different teams", she offered.
This way, I won't seem replaceable, she thought. This would deprive her of the only person that seemed to enjoy her company and approve of her decisions, and also from a fine looking beard to look at, but Mereana had her ego and liked to feel unique in the band.
" - A sensible proposal. I agree", said Gale. " - So here comes the uncomfortable moment where we call out names to go with us, I suppose ?"
Well, yeah, I guess so. And there's no way I'm letting you have Wyll on your team.
Mereana took advantage of Gale's sense of decency and hesitation to impose himself as a de facto leader. Gale was intelligent, and he thought things through. He would try to flatter everyone's feelings in order to avoid making enemies or dissension between them, as they needed each other to find a cure for the tadpole. Mereana was much more direct and reckless, and she would pick the guy she wanted, and it didn't matter if she was going to offend her companions along the way. They kept disapproving everything she did anyway.
" - I wish to investigate Halsin's location and I take this goblin matter very seriously," she declared in a confident tone. She saw Astarion smirking to himself as he probably read through her poker face and glared daggers at him, hoping he would not ruin her moment. " - Wyll, could you accompany me ?" she asked, turning towards the hero and fluttering her blue eyes at him.
It worked like a charm, though she had no idea if it was due to the fluttering, or the mention of the goblin. Wyll seemed to like talking about goblins. Gale's face at her unshameful behavior was also priceless.
" - I'll go with Mereana", suddenly said Shadowheart. The half-elf didn't look very happy with her decision though, as she had shown before that she preferred the rational and prudent mind of Gale over Mereana's rash behavior.
Great ! I have the cleric on my team ! I have no idea why, but here we stand. Mereana smiled smugly to Gale.
" - Then Gale and I will work together and continue working the whereabouts of the creche", declared Lae'zel, not leaving any chance to the wizard to state his own decision. The warrior surely blessed the opportunity to get away from Shadowheart. " - We can part ways and meet tonight again."
" - You'll probably need Astarion with you then. His talents may prove useful to your exploration team", added Gale purposefully, looking over at the rogue who had watched the debate with great curiosity.
" - Flattering to be the last one on everyone's list", muttered the elf, seemingly vexed. " I could just go and take my chances alone, you know."
Obviously, they all thought that Astarion was useful, but the way the rogue kept inquiring about how they all wished to be assassinated probably rubbed everyone the wrong way.
Mereana tried to keep up a charming smile, so as not to show her true face to Wyll just yet, though she wanted to get back at Gale for dumping the most untrustworthy companion to her.
" - We'll definitely need you, Astarion. That's, if you want to ? ", she said prudently.
" - Fine, I'll go with it", said Astarion. He added with a half-smile : " - Your team looks more appetising anyway."