Chapter 4: strap-on is just no-parts spelled backwards

"There's more to do and I still want to live."

— 7 —

Crowds are a superorganism. An individual can be hard to predict. They have individual thoughts and can feign intelligence. Yet when you stack bodies together, reaching into the tons of sheer carbon and calcium, they become something else. More akin to a liquid, trapped in the press of each other.

You can watch them flow, following the paths of least resistance. Given time, like water, their feet will brush away the stones and carve furrows in the hardest material. Their eyes are hollow and empty, lost in the push of bodies. On their ways to parts unknown to regain their independence and carry on with their meaningless lives.

Eddie watches the tieflings around the camp. The cause célèbre with Arabella is over and now they attempt to return to their business, mostly waiting around. Many of them cast her and Jack furtive looks. She can taste the anxiety in the air, thick like vaporized bone marrow. Part of her wants to flick her tongue like a snake to see if she'd catch it, as if the emotions are little more than snowflakes.

"Dragon's lair?" Jack asks someone. A red-skinned tiefling child hunched over, a dead look in his eyes, who was hiding up behind a few crates.

"Would you stop that?" Eddie says, shaking her head. "At least ask them about Zevlor before weirding them out with some stupid passphrase."

Instead, the dead-eyed boy looks up and stares through Jack. Before he starts swiping his hands through the dirt and rocks near the cave wall. Eddie watches as the boy reveals a dingy little hatch hidden in the stones.

Jack gives her a smug look. "Brute force is a perfectly valid solution to any problem, Eddie. Hey, kid, you're Doni, right? Is Molly down there?"

The boy's face is distant, as if Jack is terribly uninteresting to him. Not worth even a spark of life in those demonic tiefling eyes.

Jack shrugs and lifts the hatch. "Smells damp down there. Want me to go first?"

Eddie looks down the hatchway and the ladder descending deeper. A yearning maw seeking to swallow her whole and close its soggy jowls, digesting her in the darkness. There's a sound of distantly running water. "This is an obvious trap, boy."

"Are you telling me you don't trust a mysterious mute tiefling child?"

She sighs. "Pretty much."

"I'm going in." And he jumps in, grabbing onto rungs and sliding down.

Eddie eyes the child for a moment, who doesn't even seem to realize she's there. She feels chills as she follows after Jack. The boy stands above her as she climbs. "What?"

And he closes the hatch.

"Hey!" she shouts.

"Whatcha waiting for, Eddie?" Jack calls up.

Her hands are clammy. Enough that she doesn't trust them to grip the rungs as she climbs down. Her knees protest with an almost squeaky sound, worn cartilage rubbing against bones. Eddie squeezes her eyes shut tight, trusting rote motion to guide her down.

Until her new shoes touch the ground.

She peeks out with one eye. Before them stretches a dimly lit hole in the earth, with a waterfall languidly lurching down one of the walls. The red rocks reach up towards the ceiling like rusty buttresses. Torches fill the cave with the smell of burning oil, the smoke creeping up towards little holes in a wall that lead somewhere she can't see.

Jack sits on a ledge and lowers himself down with a grunt. Eddie follows after him.

"Need a hand?" he asks.

"No."

"Aight, bet," he says passively, watching her slide down the rocks. They scrape her chest through whatever's left of her clothes.

"You made it!" a squeaky little voice says. Jack turns to see Arabella in a dirty dress. "Mirkon said he told you about this place, but then you kept wandering around asking everyone, and I thought you wouldn't. Hi!"

Eddie rubs her hands together, trying to friction-burn the sweat away. "You're the girl we saved. What are you doing down here?"

"Helping Molly."

"Does that involve trying to steal the druid's idol?" Jack asks.

Arabella clasps her hands behind her back, eyes so wide and precious. "No. She didn't ask me to do that. You didn't see me here in case mum asks, okay?"

"Deal," Jack says. "If you help us find Molly."

The girl nods. "Yeah, okay! She's over there. Past those boxes and stuff. She hasn't been feeling very good but you're nice so maybe it'll be okay too."

Jack and Eddie walk, examining the junk strewn about this little cave. There's all kinds of miscellaneous goods here.

"Looks like they've been stealing a lot," Eddie says in a low voice. "See those clothes? Too big for children."

"I see a couple things might be useful, actually," he says. "Maybe Molly might be willing to compensate us for helping her friends."

"Assuming they are friends. Thieves make poor bedfellows."

A couple of other children poke their heads up, looking up from rocks and boxes. It looks like a hoarder's trashed warehouse, as if the children have been collecting any bit of garbage that struck their fancy. Offerings to some dragon of filth. She thinks she sees Mirkon, whose eyes light up as he waves. She feels like she's in the den of wolves. Like at any moment these children will turn feral and jump her for whatever meat is left on her bones.

There's a little fort of crates and a door that's not on any hinges at the edge of the cave, near where the little waterfall slides past. Jack picks the door up and places it to the side. It's meant for children. Eddie gets through easily enough. Jack needs to bend, crouch, and contort to slide his armored self through.

"I expected the ones who saved Mirkon and Arabella to be less dirty."

She's sitting on a box against the wall, a girl in her late teens or early twenties with skin that's almost person-like in tone. The shiftiest color possible for a tiefling; with just the right clothes to hide those little horns on her head, she can almost pass as a human. You might not even realize one of her kind was there until after she's picked your pockets. A band of cloth covers one eye, as if injured. The other has that deep red color born from the fires of infernal fiend's blood in her veins.

The young woman leans forwards, steepling her fingers. A calculating twinkle in her good eye. She's studying Eddie most of all.

Jack opens his mouth. Eddie holds up a finger to stop him. Mercifully, he doesn't argue.

"At least my expectations match reality," Eddie says, holding the girl's eyes. "I do so love when my prejudices are validated, looking at you. Molly, correct?"

"Moleeshka," the girl says, waving a gloved hand dismissively. Pretending to be civil.

"I don't think that's a real infernal name," Eddie says.

The girl shrugs. "Not my fault my parents were trying too hard. So it's Molly to my friends. Which begs the question about you, now doesn't it?"

"Moleeshka, then." The name leaves an acrid taste on Eddie's tongue harsh enough to drown out the taste of gruel. "We saved those kids, but I don't do things out of the good of my heart. You have information we need."

The tiefling spreads her hands. "It's never me they want, is it, luv? Sometimes I feel like a lady's bra: adjacent to good things, maybe even in consistent contact, but not what you want."

"And the sooner we get what we want, the sooner we can not want anything to do with you, if you'd like," Eddie says.

Molly crosses her legs and Eddie sees the boot knife she's poorly hiding. The girl speaks quickly. "That's usually what I'm here for. I've got stuff. I can sell stuff. If I don't have it, I can get it. You want a dog? I can also get you a dog. Any dog you want, dogs by the pound, alive or dead—if the price is right."

"Good for you. But the correct price is just what we're owed."

The tiefling sucks on her teeth as if injured. "Ooh, free. Awful word. Makes my skin break out into this nasty rash. I should stab you in the eyes for that."

"We helped those kids. They're hiding out here. It's a safe bet you care for them."

Molly gestures vaguely. "See, normally, that'd fly. Teensy problem, though. That boy has been telling literally everyone our password. We're a secret organization for a reason. What kind of super cool sneaky organization has its secret password out in the open?"

"One peopled entirely by small, impressionable children," Eddie says.

Molly snaps her fingers. "New deal! I don't gut you for spilling the password and you consider us even for helping the kids. You want something from me? I'm reasonable. Got all kinds of uses for someone like you."

Eddie takes a deep, steadying breath. "I don't think you appreciate the position you're in, Moleeshka. I don't negotiate with thieves and beggars. You're going to tell me where Zevlor is. And throw in any interesting ill-gotten gains you have while we're at it to compensate for that lip of yours. Then we'll be on our way."

The girl sneers, standing up sharply. She's only barely taller than Eddie. "Funny art of the deal you got there, luv. Or are you forgetting you're in my secret hideout where no one would ever find your body?"

"And you forget we need but breathe one word of your den of thieves to the druids or anyone else out there and your entire scheme ends. So if you have any clean clothes in your trove, I'll take them. You point us to Zevlor and your secrets stay with us.

Molly grabs the hilt of a shortsword at her belt. "Presuming you still have a tongue when this is over."

Eddie laughs, a harsh, bitter sound. "Through what mechanism do you think you could stop me?" She snaps her fingers, letting the magefire light up the little room.

The girl stares, her eye bouncing between Jack and Eddie.

"Holy shit, both of you stop!" Jack says, stepping between Eddie and Molly. He holds his hands up as if to keep them apart. "Eddie, watching you talk to anyone is like watching a motherfucking hostage negotiation."

"Stand down, boy," Eddie snaps.

"Yeah!" Molly yells. "I'm having a dramatic confrontation with a wizard. I've been having a really shitty day and this is really doing it for me. You let me have this, damnit!"

"Look!" Jack stomps his boot. "We're friends here. I don't care whatever you've been doing here. That's your bidness. We're just looking for some information and some spare clothes, if you've got any. Nothing major."

Molly scowls. "Wait, the nature paladin isn't gonna tell me stealing is wrong?"

"Go out and sin all you want; I'm not really with the druids," he says, lowering his hands.

She looks like she's been slapped.

Jack steps towards Molly. "Look, we got off on the wrong foot because Eddie here has the social skills of a serial killer. What about we just—"

The boy freezes, eyes widening. Molly does the same thing, standing there, neck twitching and spasming. Eddie reaches for a spell to throw at the girl before her tadpole squirms. A cancerous lump of alien warmth in her gray matter, slurping up the slushed bits of her lizard brain. It's reaching out through Jack and chaining towards Molly on a psionic chain.

Her mind's eye fills with someone else's memories. Visions of ambition, dissatisfaction with life itself. A city trapped in Avernus itself. She sees the nautiloid falling to Toril, its tentacles flailing as it burns like a comet across the sky. A tiefling girl sneaks out alone at night to investigate, getting lost in a rotting, burning wound of meat.

She falls from something into a briney pool of alien bodily fluids. Leeches descend upon her as she thrashes and struggles. As something burrows in her eye.

Molly is sick. She pukes. Digs at her eyes. Stumbles out into the night alone. Covers her eyes and sits alone in this room, holding her head. Listens to the children tell her information about the druids, Arabella, and a paladin.

It's like Eddie's brain snaps in two. Suddenly she's standing there, trapped again in her own skin stretched over her bones. The tiefling girl is shaking violently, soaking with sweat.

"What the fuck?" Molly breathes, fingers digging into the edges of her face.

"You," Eddie croaks. "You're infected, too. You went into the nautiloid and the tadpole burrowed into you. That was our tadpoles talking to each other."

"Too?" Molly says desperately. "Too?"

Jack steps towards her, looming. Like he always does.

"Get away from me!" Molly says, pressing her back against the cave wall. "You have—have those things. One of those things is inside you, too!"

He leans forwards and grabs the cloth over her eyes and pulls it away. Molly has two eyes. One is normal, the other slightly puffy with irritation or mild infection.

"Put that back on before it crawls out and bites someone else!" she shouts, grabbing for the blindfold. Jack doesn't let go and she's not strong enough to break his grip.

"You weren't going to tell anyone, were you?" Eddie asks.

Molly keeps her back against the wall, breathing hard. "Tell them what? Some weird thing burrowed into my eye and now I'm all itchy but it's inside my body and I can't get it out?"

"Do you know what ceremorphosis is?" Eddie asks.

The tiefling shakes her head, her red hair sticking to her scalp.

"That's what that is. We were infected too. It's going to corrupt you, growing. Eating your brain and body and soul itself. New organs slither through the gaps in your skin, through every hole you have and make more where they fit. Hideously twisting you as your mind convulses, trapping you behind your own eyes as you become an illithid."

"That's… gods, could you maybe tell less truth next time?" Molly asks with a bitter chuckle. "Sugarcoat it at the very least."

"I'm being honest with you. As it is, you're going to become a monster."

"Oh gods, I'm going to kill the kids, aren't I?" she asks, voice so small. "I kinda figured they'd die on a scheme or something. They're not too bright and, y'know, ya can't help everyone. But this is just wrong."

"Depends," Jack says. "Eddie and I got it, too. We're looking for a cure while we're still people. If we're fast, we can find one and get these tadpoles eighty-sixed. Every moment you hold us up makes it that much harder to defeat this thing."

Molly shakily steps away from the wall. She runs her fingers through her hair, tapping at her little devil's horns. Until her nails dig into her scalp. "Fuck!" she screams. "Hells, hells, hells too! I was just looking for anything to steal from that thing that crashed, y'know? I didn't meant for—fuck me!"

"Help us, Molly," Jack says, voice soft.

The girl looks up at Jack. She blinks. Blinks again, more confused. Until she looks at her hands, flexing her fingers. Molly cracks a laugh. It starts as something small. Before it turns into something more raucous.

"Holy shit that 'woe is us' voice does not work for you, boy," she says, holding her stomach. "I always thought I'd die with more drama. Something cool that the god Mask would be like 'damn, girl, you go.' This just plain sucks. But tell you what: does your plan for a cure involve Zevlor?"

"Yeah, I think so," Jack says. "I'm a mite bit fuzzy on the details. One thing's just sorta leading into another."

Molly slaps her hands on a crate. "You're taking me with you. You're going after a cure, I wanna be there for it. You don't get to run off with it and let me become a monster. Especially not if it involves Zevlor."

"Out of the question," Eddie says. "I prefer not watching out for my purse."

It's a kneejerk response, lacking finesse and guile. Putting her foot down and hoping that'll end it there. The only reason she wants Zevlor is because Archdruid Kagha wants the tieflings gone. Eddie doesn't believe this can be resolved peacefully. However this goes, it ends in fire and blood.

That means against people like Moleeshka.

She hopes Jack will pick up on this, at least. Be willing to stay quiet even if he doesn't fully grasp all the details of what they're doing. But he's got this puppet dog look in his eyes.

"Eddie, we're broke," Jack says.

"You're broke; I am merely a temporarily embarassed high net worth individual."

Molly puts her hands together before her face. "Or I just tell everyone you got a mind flayer inside you. I get the feeling that's signing your death warrant."

"Blackmail, really?" Eddie scoffs.

Molly shrugs innocently, with just the barest hint of teeth. "Blackmail is the root of any true friendship."

Jack shrugs. "Sure, I'll accept this into my worldview from now on."

"What?" Eddie asks.

"Can we keep her?" Jack says, gesturing at Molly. "Look at her naturally smug face. I think she'd be an asset."

Eddie throws her hands. "Are you really just going to trust some random infected girl like that? One who leads a band of thieving children?"

"Yes and without any reservations." Jack holds his arms, nodding. "She looks trustworthy."

"I am objectively not," Molly says happily. "Which is something you can trust."

"I accept this at face value."

That smile on Molly's face, Eddie could just smack it off. No, rather, she could firebolt it to ashes. "So let's all go on this adventure together. How bout it, luv?"

Eddie sighs. "Stop calling me that."

Molly shrugs. "Friendly nicknames. Want something more original? We can workshop yours on the road."

Eddie breathes. Letting the warm cave air infest her lungs, settling in, swelling the organs. Until it all comes out with a shuddering jiggle of the larynx. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation, Moleeshka. We're not doing this for fun. We have no choice. You aren't tagging along with that attitude."

The tiefling sidesteps Jack and gets closer to her. "Oh, I know. I'm going to die. Now, sure, I could just sulk. Go the woe-is-me route and wallow in despair. Or!" Molly puts her fingers together. "I realize how big this is. Die in some refugee camp or do something about a mind flayer parasite in my brain. Don't really seem like a choice. And when opportunity comes a-knockin', don't complain about the noise."

"And what about these kids you're watching out for?"

Molly suppresses a scoff. "Them? More of a hobby, really. Needed to keep myself busy after we got thrown out of Elturel. No better way to refine your craft than to teach it, eh? Trust me, you'll want me out there. Or would all high and haughty you like me to provide references? You look like the kind of person who likes 'the help' to have references."

Eddie tries to make a noise. Some protest. Some sound of offense. It comes out as some aborted, spittle-filled grunt from the base of her throat.

"I have an idea," Jack says. Everyone looks at him like he's unwanted. "Eddie can be angry and say no while Molly just platonically stalks us from no further than five feet away and makes no effort to hide. That way everybody loses and it's a good compromise."

Molly claps her hands. "It's settled then! Let's deal with some brain-eaters in our brains and make it big out there, yeah?"

Eddie just hopes they'll get the upper hand if and when they betray Moleeshka and the tieflings.

— 8 —

When opportunity comes a-knockin', don't complain about the noise.

Moleeshka is going to die. And it's the best thing that's ever happened to her.

You see, she believes in concepts. Ideals, you might say. Justice. Honor. Heroism. Incredibly powerful words that had the ability to make Molly break out into hives.

The only worthwhile ideal you can have is seizing every opportunity that comes along. Rolling the dice and hoping they don't come up snake eyes. There's a reason there's a big if in the middle of your life. Death is just part of the process.

She's going to die.

Then two people show up who aren't just following Zevlor and the others. They have ideas. They have plans. And they've the same mortal condition Molly has. She had the freedom to make the only choice she realistically had.

Sure, sure, she had to pretend to be all heartbroken and distraught. Play up the sympathy. The poor wittle girl from a rough background just trying to survive. Which she is, but, y'know, she has pride. It's not like she can openly admit that she's been basically eating drywall for the past three years and that time her home was literally trapped in the upper layer of hell was probably one of the highlights of her existence.

So, by comparison, this is the best thing that's happened to her in a long time. She isn't just haunting bad neighborhoods or following Zevlor because he's the only person willing to tolerate her presence. No, she's going places.

With these two weirdos.

"But what about us?" Mattis asks her. His job was mostly to find junk and try to pawn it off.

Molly pats his head. "Good idea. You're in charge now. I'll be back. Probably. At some point. If you're not rich by then, then you're dead to me. Now git goin', sport!"

He frowns, looking at the other kids in the hideout. Most of them, the ones who aren't terribly shy—the 'work in progress' kids, really—are crowding around the paladin, Jack. He picks Mirkon up and puts him and Arabella both on his shoulders. Molly had given him some water and cloth to clean his armor of all the grime so he doesn't look like a flesh golem.

Jack cleans up nicely, Molly decides. She isn't sure what kind of paladin goes around lying about his oath and god, but Molly can respect a fellow hustler when she sees one. She's content to let the human keep his secrets. Besides, his hands look very firm. Strangler's hands. Can probably crush her throat.

Besides, he makes Molly's skin stop itching. It's the weirdest thing. It'd been like that since the parasite dug into her. Then she'd felt her brain buzzing with mind magic or whatever, connecting to him. Suddenly her skin just felt fine. A sign from the gods that Jack was her ticket to better things. A good luck charm, even.

That half-elf mage, though?

"Alright, let's go," Eddie says, stepping out from Molly's little fort room.

She's slender. The kind of physique you only get from skipping meals because walking up the stairs to your wizard tower's kitchen knocks the wind out of you too hard. Cute is the wrong word. She looks incredibly severe, like she's trying to be as fierce and judgemental as possible and it just isn't doing her any favors. Probably looks elegant in the right dress and eye shadow. Dark roots are growing it from the top of her otherwise very fair hair, fraying at the edges already.

Girl has the stink of money about her. The kind where you reflexively grab for a dagger and try to shank them and see what comes out.

"What are you wearing?" Jack asks, putting the children down.

Eddie looks like a vagabond. It's all she could cobble together from the junk the children had gathered up in this little grotto. It barely counted as armor, and that belt is the only thing holding those pants up. Very frowzy. There's a shield strapped across her back and some old rapier at her hip.

The half elf adjusts her collar. "That's the point. Anyone with half a brain goes for the mage first in a fight. Only idiots or Elminster wear robes and a pointy hat, and he only pulls it off because he can arbitrarily decide that you should cease to be and then you don't. You won't know I can make you explode until they're already focusing on the big guy charging them with a sword."

"I…" Jack looks lost. "That's kinda smart."

She folds her arms uncomfortably and clears her throat. "At last you recognize my genius."

Molly examines the scene before her as she hoists her backpack. "So are we gonna get Zevlor or what?"

"Let's," Eddie says, rubbing her hands together.

"Alright, see you around, kids!" Molly calls us, grabbing the ladder to escape the hideout. "If you get hungry, make sure cannibalism is at least only your third option. Ta-ta!"

The sunlight feels good on her skin as she looks over the grove below the hollow in the cliffs. Down at that stupid idol of Silvanus Arabella couldn't get her hands on. It's no matter anymore. She's leaving her old life behind for whatever it is she's currently doing now that there's a psionic parasite in her brain.

Honestly, if not for the fact Eddie told her mind flayers lost their minds and become aberrations, everything would be pretty good. Molly could think of a few handy uses for some tentacles. Oh, and mind control powers too, she supposes.

Jack offers to help Eddie to her feet. She ignores him, crawling out of the hatch onto her knees.

"Zevlor told me where he was going," Molly says. "C'mon, let's go."

"Why's he told you anything?" Jack asks.

Molly shrugs. "In times of need he knows I can get a message out to everyone quick. About a week ago it was me and the kids who got everyone on page about a bandit ambush. Wasn't for us, we woulda been caught flatfooted."

Eddie scowls. "So he told you so you could tell everyone, and you have told no one."

"Yeah, now you're getting it!" Molly says happily.

"Why?" Eddie demands, voice getting tinny.

Molly juts her hip to the side, examining her nails. "Power move."

"That sounds pretty powerful, Eddie, you gotta admit," Jack says. "We've truly made a valuable ally."

Eddie has this sour look on her face. One Molly is wondering might just be how her face looks.

There's a trader near the entrance to the hollow, some halfing whose name Molly never bothered with. One of the druids, he is. He and some prospective buying are tersely haggling potion prices with a tiefling.

It doesn't seem like anything to Molly. Until she realizes she mindlessly grabbed some of the health potions off the table while they were distracted.

Jack is watching her. She smiles up at him, remembering he's a paladin.

"Y'know, ownership is a funny, fluid concept," she says, and he just stares at her. "No one really knows how it works. Who knows these went from his goods to my possession? I'm just cursed to put my hands on everything. Mysterious, huh?"

The paladin doesn't really reply.

Molly buys his silence by offering him the potions.

"Thanks, bro," he says conversationally. "Always wanted one of these."

Well, whatever. Paladin can do as the paladin wants. It's no bother to her.

The hollow leads out into the open sky again. Down the way's the gate, which the tieflings have taken to manning now that all the druids are all sulky-sulky. Molly calls out for them to open the gate for her, waving her arms.

"Where exactly are we going?" Eddie asks.

"Out of town a bit," Molly says. "Now play it cool with me here, kay?"

"Moleeshka?" the woman atop the gate, Arka, says. "Where do you think you're going, girl?"

This is gonna be good. Molly cracks her knuckles, already picturing how she's going to talk circles around Arka and the guards. Show herself a master of her craft and get through this hostile audience with dancing words and artful negotiations.

"Outside. I roam where I please." She puts hands on hips. "Now open the gates and let me out."

Perfect. Confident. Foolproof.

The woman reaches for her bow. Not taking it out, just drawing attention to it. "You cheated last time we played cards. You're not going anywhere till you give the money back."

Molly rolls her eyes, gesturing to the two with her. "I have friends now. Allies. Look at them. They're menacing. You're being menaced."

The die is cast.

Eddie is making that face she always makes, like she's better than all of us. At least the paladin is folding his arms and glaring. Good boy.

"I don't think so," Arka says.

"What are you gonna do, shoot me?" Molly scoffs.

"Last words from the girl I'm going to shoot, yeah!"

"We're looking for Zevlor!" Eddie calls out.

Something cold and uncomfortably moist snaps through Molly. It's just that they can't be asking people about Zevlor unless it's her. For perfectly valid non-selfish reasons, of course. Clearly no one is an expert in finding exactly where he is, not even the soldiers and guards who answered to him, no one but her.

That's why she's so useful and awesome and going with Jack and Eddie.

"As if those idiots know anything!" Molly says, both very loud and very casually, folding her arms.

"What kind of bullshit have you been feeding…" Arka looks like she's answered her own question, shaking her head. "Actually, who the hell are you people?"

"Just people. They're from a different town. You wouldn't know them."

Arka rolls her eyes. "Yeah, that's why I'm asking. I don't remember them coming to the gate and they don't look like druids."

"They probably came in during your break. You gonna let us through or not? The answer is yes, you are. We're not debating. It's been settled."

"You and what army?"

Molly spreads her hands, gesturing to the people with her. "Them. Like, I already introduced them. Why aren't you on the same page about how intimidated you should be?"

Arka sighs. It's like tiredness is replacing the fight in her. "Look, Molly—"

"Oh for the gods' sakes," Eddie says. "I've had it up to here with inane distractions. My patience is only so saintly. Let the grown-ups through and do it post-haste."

That snaps Arka back to attention. "Don't threaten me!"

Molly tries not to smile. Her master plan worked. No one is talking about Zevlor and tensions are rising. Exactly what to do with the tensions, she'll figure that out in the next couple of words.

Eddie holds out a hand. A little twitching of fingers, some gesture that makes Molly's hair stand on end. "I'm done with you now," she says, flicking her wrist to Arka as if throwing a rock.

Arka's eyes bulge. Her body goes tight, then limps, and she's on the ground screaming and convulsing. Body shaking as spittle flies everywhere. Her voice so loud and harsh Molly can almost see the bites of throat she's screaming up, until it's little more than a harsh, wet whine.

Even from this far away, the sheer pain going through Arka is enough to make Molly wince in on herself. The paladin just watches the scene with mild interest.

"Holy shit, Arka!" one of the men shouts, sliding to the ground to help her.

"This is your cue to open the gates," Eddie says helpfully. "Be a dear devil and play your part."

"Fine, fine, just stop! Stop hurting her!"

Arka keeps whining and coughing, her mouth foaming.

Eddie doesn't move. "Clock is ticking."

He looks up in a panic, then screams for others on the watch to help him. They grab the wheels and turn it, lifting the gates open.

Eddie's hand drops. Arka gasps for breath, twitching. Sniffling and holding her face. Sobbing into her hands.

The mage says nothing, just casually strolling out the gates.

Molly jogs after her as they emerge into the open space on the outside of the druid's camp. "What the fuck was that? I said play it cool!" she says, looking up at the tiefling watching them leave, weapons in hand.

Eddie looks up at the guards, arching an eyebrow. They flinch back as she holds out her hand. And the little bitch has a smirk as the guards suddenly pretend she's not there. "That's you in the next ten seconds until you tell me exactly where we're going, Moleeshka."

Molly looks to the paladin for help, but he's not even watching them. He's looking around the area, up the rocks, down the path into the forest. His gaze settles down a path that would lead down to the river and where that squid ship crashed. It's like he's confused about something and can't spare the brainpower to concentrate on the girls.

"Hey, hey, hey, we're all friends here," Molly says, holding up her hands.

"Seven seconds left."

"Zevlor went out with a recon party just doing cool adventurer leadership stuff," she says quickly.

"Four seconds," Eddie says, holding up the appropriate number fingers.

"Look, hold on, hold on!" Molly says, dropping to the ground. She takes a map of the area out of her backpack. It's a very adventure-y backpack that makes her look like a professional adventurer, too! "See, this is us. Zevlor's around here-ish, I think. Yeah? Okay? We good?"

Eddie stands above Molly, her hands together in a way that wound look more ominous were the mage wearing robes. Her eyes go over the map, studying its detail. "It doesn't give elevation. Barely marks the roads. It's a terrible map."

"It's what I got. Bite me!"

The woman frowns, studying the map. He lips moving wordlessly as if reciting some incantation to herself. Molly waits for the other shoe to drop.

Instead, Eddie points and asks, "What's that near the center?"

"Was a town, I think. Iunno. More ruins."

"What's its name?" Eddie asks.

There's something there. Something in the question Molly can't rightly put her finger on. It's more than a casual question. Eddie wants to know this, and it's something Molly can use.

Molly thinks quickly.

Then a little slower.

She's sure she can make use of this. For sure.

It'll come to her.

She's smarter than this uppity wizard.

Jack almost lazily steps between Eddie and herself, hunkering down before her. Big hero paladin moment? Yeah, that's it! She was waiting to turn this group against each other and make use of this big dumb muscle for her own ends. The plan's coming together.

Oh gods he's getting really close to her, never mind. Him and those strangler's hands. Bad, bad, this is bad!

Jack grabs the map and just walks off with it.

Molly blinks, watching him go. She exchanges a glance with Eddie, whose winds had utterly left her sails. A couple of the people atop the gate and watching the exchange groan now that it doesn't look like Molly is going to die.

It takes Eddie a moment to follow him. Molly gives the guards a rude gesture before jogging after the two around a bend in the rocks and into the woodline. There's an old druid path here, equal parts road and overtrodden animal trail.

"What are you doing?" Eddie asks him.

He holds up the map. "I had a thought."

"You want to take a break, maybe slow down there, Jack?" she asks dubiously. "I hear the first time's always the hardest."

"Oh, shut up," he says mildly, turning the map in his hands.

Eddie bristles. Dangerously. "Would you like to rephrase that?"

Jack eyes her, unimpressed. "No one's forcing you to roll with us. If it's really so offensive, there's the metaphorical door. Enjoy having no one but the tadpole for the company. Y'know, that thing we're all trying to remove. Be offended and prickly all you want, Eddie, but that ain't finna help us square this parasite away. You follow?"

Eddie twitches, exhaling slowly. Fingers extending and curling. Until she closes her eyes and sags slightly. It seems to take her a lot of effort to smooth over her ruffled feathers. But she just sucks on her lips and actually shuts up. It's a miracle.

He watches her until satisfied he's won. Then he holds the map out to Molly. "You pointed here, right? It got something to do with that missing Archdruid, Halsin?"

"Who?" Eddie asks.

"Kagha's just filling a temp job. That nice old lady, Ethel, helped me figure the local politics out."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Jack shrugs. "You never asked."

She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Okay, new policy. If you learn relevant facts, you relay them to me. Since we're all very much so one team here. Are we clear?"

"See? Ain't that hard being a team player, Eddie. It's a deal." Jack rolls the map up and hands it to Molly. "Take us to where Zevlor told you he'd be."

There's a brief moment where their hands touch. His grip on the map tightens and he stares at her. For a second she thinks there's some tadpole-y psychic link. Then she realizes it's just her instincts. Her normal organ-filled guts at work.

It's like Jack doesn't believe a thing Molly says save in the broadest strokes. Does she know where Zevlor is? Vaguely. Is she the only one? Not really but they don't have to know that. Except Jack… it's like he knows she's lying her tail off, but doesn't want to poke holes in the story like Eddie would.

Jack's giving her the chance. Pushing her ahead. Defanging the wizard with the prissy haircut. And, indirectly, offering her a place on the team that he's just going to pretend like he needs.

If this eventually comes down to some epic adventurer-y betrayal type thing, she promises to stab him in the back last. Least she can do.

Molly takes the map. "Sure, yep. That's the plan. Was always the plan. Just follow me. I know the way. You'd be lost without me."

She scampers off, then looks over her shoulder and gestures for them to follow her.

Eddie makes an Eddie-type face.

Jack shrugs, hand on the hilt of his sword, and follows after Molly. Eddie isn't far behind.

And Molly has gotten away with everything!