A/N: Heeey! Guess who finally finishned the game. Me! It was me. I'm in shambles. So here's a slightly longer chapter.
Also thanks to everyone who is enjoying this and took the time to leave a review, i cherish them all, I'm just not sure how to answer them individually, but i go andn reread them all the time lmao.
Their stay at the Blighted Village took a lot longer than Astarion thought it would. There was simply so much to see, so much to explore, so many old barrels full of garbage for Moss to loot and since the party had come to the unspoken agreement that the foolish elf was the one in charge, Moss had taken to delaying the journey as often as their whimsical fancies demanded.
"Do we have to look into every single destroyed building? Surely once you've seen one house with walls blown off you've seen them all."
"Don't be like that, Astarion! We do have to at least take a look at the big ones. What if we miss something?"
"Like what? Spiders? More goblins?"
"Treasure!"
Astarion suspected it was less that everyone thought Moss was the most capable one and more that nobody really wanted to lead. He certainly didn't, and if he was being honest, he was grateful it was Moss and not someone like Lae'zel with her soldier-like single mindedness or gods forbid, Wyll and his bleeding heart.
No, Moss was a good choice for him in particular. Someone easy to endear himself to, someone who found Astarion's snark funny rather than horrible. This suited him just fine, even though he did think the threat of ceremorphosis should worry Moss a little bit more.
In their defense, the group as a whole was apparently being protected by the relic Shadowheart carried, if the dream visitor they all saw was telling the truth. Astarion didn't know how much he believed them, it was a little too convenient, but then again, it had been several days since they've been infected and nobody seemed any closer to changing.
So maybe a little delay wouldn't be too bad. Not to mention, the delays annoyed Lae'ze to no end, which was endlessly entertaining to him. If he had to be stuck with this group of weirdos, it might as well be fun.
It came as a surprise to Astarion though, that with all the meandering they did, Moss did find something. A book, reeking of corrupted magic so strong even Astarion, with his limited knowledge in the arcane arts could feel. The book seemed to whisper promises of power even closed as it was, the amethysts on the cover seemed like eyes that could see into his very soul when he peered over Moss' shoulder.
"You're not going to open it, right?" Karlach said, keeping her distance. "Please don't open the creepy book."
"I don't think I can." Moss said curiously, running their hands over the ridges on the cover. They seemed transfixed by it. "It's sealed shut."
"Destroy it. No good can come from something like that." Wyll said in earnest. Like Karlach, he stood several steps away from Moss.
"If you want I can carry it for you." Astarion immediately said. What a waste of potential it would be to destroy it. Could they not feel the power? "I don't mind, I swear."
Astarion's request seemed to snap Moss' attention away from the book's gaze. "Hm? Oh. No need. I'll keep it for now. Maybe I'll sell it off if we can't open it."
"Or you can give it to me." He insisted a little more firmly "I can keep it safe and well cared for, I promise." Did Moss not know what they had found? He could not believe a sorcerer wouldn't feel the magic in the book. There was power there, something wicked, it could be used. If Astarion could control whatever was in that book, perhaps he could use it to control the tadpole, perhaps he could use it to destroy Cazador.
He wanted it. He needed the power.
Moss did not part with the book though, they shrugged "Maybe. I'll keep it for now" with that they shoved it into their overstuffed backpack and went back to looking around the old necromancer's lab.
Astarion wondered how hard it would be to grab the book from them. The backpack was so full of useless stuff that Moss surely wouldn't notice if it went missing, right?
Another day, another camp, this time surrounded by goblins. Moss had somehow convinced most of them to accept their party as one of their own. The group picked a far off spot to make their tents, just outside town, but even at that distance they could sometimes hear the occasional yelling of goblins arguing.
The familiar feeling of deep hunger had returned with vengeance and Astarion was seriously considering the pros and cons of biting one of the goblins. The issue was, all goblins seemed to stick close together in small groups, rarely wandering off on their own. You'd think nobody would miss a goblin, but for the little useless things that they were, they sure knew the meaning of strength in numbers.
Luck was not on his side for other prey either. He did find a rat that he promptly caught and drained, but that was a drop in the ocean of his hunger, the presence of the goblins made all other creatures avoid the area, leaving Astarion with less than slim pickings. He wanted more, needed more.
That night Astarion found it especially difficult to fall into his nightly trance as his stomach twisted on itself from the hunger pangs.
The blighted village was an awful, awful gift that kept giving.
First there was the gnome, strapped to a windmill, being bullied by a group of goblins. Astarion and Moss had laughed about it while Wyll and Karlach wanted to help, a split in attitude that in the end was solved by the goblins attacking them for being in their turf. It was a quick fight, with Moss burning the worgs to death while Karlach, Wyll and Astarion picked the goblins one by one.
"Aren't we getting the little guy down? We should help." Karlach said once the goblins were dead.
"Why?" Moss asked, and Astarion couldn't agree more.
It was just a gnome.
"It's the right thing to do. We're helping." Wyll left no room for arguments and went inside the windmill himself with Karlach following close behind, likely to find a way to turn it off.
Moss and Astarion stayed where they were, watching the gnome go round and round, still screaming for help. They briefly exchanged looks, Astarion one of impatience and Moss one of mild confusion mixed with amusement.
"We could leave them behind, you know? Team bleeding heart." Astarion suggested, waving towards where Wyll and Karlach had gone. "Do we really need those two?
Moss shrugged. "We could. But I like them." They shot Astarion the most disgustingly honest smile and he couldn't hold the eyeroll.
The wildmill stopped, and Moss took upon themself to untie the gnome, who seemed one shove away from emptying his stomach on Moss' shoes. There was barely a thanks and the gnome dismissively told them if they could find his backpack they could keep it as a reward, though he did not say where the backpack was before running off with barely a glance back.
Astarion did not understand these people's need to always play the hero. To help everyone they met. Did they not know how it was in people's nature to take advantage of others? Did they not know kindness was always punished? What did they gain by playing hero? A badly worded thanks? Empty words of gratitude? A stab on the back if they were specially lucky? None of it was worth the trouble.
Even Moss, who claimed they mostly helped because they liked to be rewarded, settled for scraps from those they helped. They all had tadpoles in their brains, they all saw how people treated each other for the slightest differences. How was it that Astarion was the only one to see how fucked up the world was?
It was disgusting. It made him so angry.
Unfortunately Astarion needed these people, he could not find a way to control the tadpole alone, so he kept his mouth shut and followed, until he had a better option he followed.
After the goblins came the spiders. A cave underneath the well, dank tunnels leading deep underground. Aggressive spiders that attacked when Moss got stuck on the spiderwebs one too many times.
They phased around the cave and Astarion did his best to keep up. Karlach did an excellent job at keeping them distracted long enough for Astarion to strike at their soft spots, while Wyll and Moss stayed back, picking them with their spells.
It was not an easy fight, but they managed, advancing deeper into the cave, past skeletons and remains wrapped in spiderweb. Astarion doubted they would find anything of value there.
"There's always something in these places, lost treasure from people who adventured in and never made out." Moss explained, walking ahead of them all with confidence they should not have for someone who didn't even wear armor.
"Adventurers like us, mate?" Karlach said with a laugh. She did not seem like she cared that much. Astarion supposed that after years of fighting devils, spiders wouldn't exactly invoke fear.
"Noooo! Not us. Never us. We're built different!" Moss waved a hand dismissively before they stumbled into another spiderweb "Gah! I don't know why the webs everywhere though."
"That would be the spiders, darling. And that's what we'll find further down. More spiders."
Astarion did not know how right he was. They reached a more open chamber with several pillars connected by more spiderwebs. There was skittering sounds from below, though Moss kept going forward fearlessly.
"Hold on a second, soldier." Karlach tried to warn them, but Moss waved their hand dismissively.
"Do you see that? What is that thing glowing down there?"
"Moss! Out of the way!" Wyll, tense as he was the whole time they had been fighting through spiders, pulled Moss behind him as a giant spider queen phased almost on top of them. He cast an eldritch blast at the last second, staggering the creature long enough for everyone to react.
The spell hit, pushing the spider several meters back, but two smaller ones were quickly advancing over them. Astarion jumped forward, using Wyll as a distraction to quickly stab one of the smaller spiders with his daggers while Karlach descended on them with her battleaxe and a scream of rage.
Moss couldn't have backed away quicker. They almost tripped over themself throwing a chromatic orb at the spider queen that exploded in a curtain fire . It wasn't enough to stop it from slashing at them, however, and Astarion could smell blood as it spilled over the stone and dirt.
He shook his head, trying to focus on anything other than the hunger that urged him to feed, the promise of blood was like a luring song, difficult to ignore. It'd be so easy too, everyone was completely focused on the spiders.
The blood smelled like fine distilled wine, rich and alive, the hunger had never been more difficult to ignore.
His distraction was poorly timed, a smaller spider jumped at him, knocking him down before trying to pierce him with its fangs. Astarion rolled out of the way just in time. Before it could come at him again, Karlach rushed at it, cleaving the creature in half with a powerful swing of her axe. Spider bits landed on Astarion, and he tasted the sour liquid that passed for blood as it hit his face.
He shot her a quick nod in thanks.
There was a high pitched scream, Moss' scream, and Astarion turned just in time to see the spider queen phasing on top of them. Its fangs easily pierced through their fragile mage robes, more blood, enticingly strong and far too much of it and Astarion watched in horror as the spider threw Moss against the stone wall. The elf fell on the ground with a dull thud and that was where they stayed, eerily still.
It was hard to say if they were dead, Karlach took upon herself to stand over Moss protectively, bringing her axe down to sever one of the spider's legs as it tried to lunge again, Astarion shook himself from his bloodlust and focused on the smaller spider still standing, slashing at its legs to throw it off balance before he shoved it off the ledge. He still heard its screeching as it slammed on the rocks, but there was no time to contemplate if it was dead, as another one of the smaller spiders jumped at him from the spiderwebs.
In the meanwhile, Wyll and Karlach made short work of the spider queen together. Wyll blinded it with a well targeted spell, giving Karlach the opening she needed to bury her axe on its head.
Astarion felt his arm go numb as the last spider bit his arm, but it quickly let go as the force of Wyll's eldritch blast pushed it away, giving Astarion the opportunity to bury his daggers into its fragile belly to finish it off.
Bruised and tired, Astarion took a moment to catch his breath while Wyll crouched near Moss to see how bad their injuries were. They were unconscious, slowly bleeding out from a large bruise on their forehead and Karlach quickly passed a health potion to Wyll, who carefully forced Moss to drink it all down.
"They'll live" Wyll said after a moment, with a clear note of relief in his voice.
"I wish Shadowheart had come with us. This was way, way too close"
Now that the battle was over, Astarion found it increasingly difficult to ignore the smell of blood still covering Moss. It was strong, all encompassing, it lured him closer, daring him to give in, to take a bite, to finish off the prey the spider failed to kill. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but that was the worst thing for him to do as the scent of blood assaulted his senses even more.
He placed a hand over his nose and shifted in place, he wanted to run, to be anywhere else, he wanted to bite Moss and drain him dry. "We should leave." He managed to squeak out. "We should go back to camp."
Moss groaned, slowly coming back to themself. The potion did just enough for the worst of the injuries to heal, but they'd still be feeling sore for the next day or so.
"Astarion is right. You're in no condition to keep going." Wyll said, always the reasonable one.
"What?" Moss blinked at the dead spider queen a few meters from him "Oh, she's dead! Wait? Leave? Already? No! We can finish looking around before."
"You're insane! You almost died, mate. Don't be more stupid." Karlach snapped. It was very clearly out of worry though, if she gripped her axe a little tighter she might break the handle.
"But It's fine, I'm fine. You all took good care of me. The spiders are dead, I'm not. Thank you by the way! This is the last room, I think. Just a quick look around." Moss was already getting up, though they moved too quickly and winced as their injuries pulled. "Ow ow, maybe not so quick."
"I'm not staying!" Astarion said loudly, his tone sounding snappish and angry. "You can explore and see the wonders of the dead spiders all day if you want, darling. I've had enough."
He didn't wait for anyone to say anything else, he practically ran from the cave, the smell of blood was too much, like surrounding a starving man with an exquisite feast and telling him he could not partake. It was torturous and Astarion did not know if he'd be able to hold himself back.
He needed to get out of that cave. Immediately.
Astarion only slowed down once he was back at camp. He breathed deeply, taking in the smell of dirt, dust and goblin that permeated the air, ignoring the curious looks Gale was shooting his way.
He had to find something to ease his hunger and fast. Before he did something incredibly stupid.