She woke up with a hazy mind and a burning headache. It felt as if her head was in a vice-like grip, tormenting her and preventing her to focus. She was surrounded by mushy, meaty stuff, that kept her from moving and behind a transparent barrier she could make out the layout of a room, shrouded in twilight. She could feel it more than she could see it. It being something grand, living, with a beating pulse all around her. She would have loved to see that pulse diwndle into nothingness, as her brain throbbed with its beat, inflicting more pain on her. But she was so damn weak… A door opened and a creature joined her. It floated through the air, with a figure tender and fragile as a brittle twig, easily broken, and tentacles protruding from its face. As she stared on it bent down to a little elevated pool in the middle of the room. The source of the little light there was. When it came up again, it cradled something in the palm of its hand. The creature floated over to a pod, where she now noticed someone else squirming, but her eyes would not focus enough to see it clearly. When the transparent hull of the pod opened, she could hear the struggle of the other, see how the creature touched that others face to put something on it. The struggle became louder for a moment, fearful panting and grunting. Then there was silence again, because the pod closed. After that, the creature turned to the pool once again...and with a delicately closed fist came over to her. She, too, wanted to turn away, put up a fight, anything. But the grey-skinned thing reached out to her with its claws and forced her head straight through sheer will. Her body would not obey to her commands anymore and so she could now see first hand, what was done to the other person. The creature took a worm or larva from its other hand and put it close to her eye. As soon as it came close, it twisted and wriggled in anticipation, feeling her presence like a predator smelling prey. When the cold, wet worm touched her skin, a shiver went down her spine, but there was nothing to be done, as long as the tentacled one willed her helpless. Then, the worm slipped under her eyelid, squirming deeper. She thought she was in pain before, but now her world exploded in agony. The worm burrowed deeper into her skull with sharp, little teeth, each little bite piercing body and mind alike. Soon, she lost her consciousness again.
What she did not see was the living ship, carrying her on its way to Baldurs Gate. It was called a Nautiloid, a coiled shell with tentacles protruding forward, equal measures vessel, weapon and tool for the Mindflayers stearing it through the astral plane and many others. On this ship, many of the mindflayers had succumbed to death. For that reason, it was on its way to harvest new bodies to turn into tentacled aberrations. And what better hunting grounds than a teaming city like Baldurs Gate? The ship emerged earily silent in a shroud of dark fog and descended upon the city, only its shadow a forewarning for the citizens on the streets. But when the shadow touched the earth, it was already too late. The tentacles stretched in all directions at once, sweeping people off the ground, teleporting them into its belly, into captivity for either transformation into a mindflayer or to be used as sustenance for them. Only now the alarms sounded, horns blaring, bells ringing to defend the city against an enemy it knew nothing about, had never seen before. While the ship continued its course over the spires and roofs of the city, a portal opened, releasing a small swarm of red dragons, ridden by humanoid creatures with greenish skin called Githyanki in hot pursuit of the nautiloid. As soon as they closed in on the ship, they began to scorch it with their fiery breaths. They tore into it and ripped off its tentacles one by one. The nautiloid in turn was commandeered to attack the dragons and their riders, but it wasnt fast enough and only managed to knock them aside a few times. The dragons in turn used its sluggish, tired movements to land on it and rip into its sides, opening the inner chambers hidden in its shell. With fire, fangs and claws, they wounded it deeply, when the ships commander ordered a new destination. It emerged into a cold, grim environment, mountains looming over it, steering through canyons at a fast pace. The dragons arrived shortly thereafter. Such a hunt under these hostile circumstances would be tiring both of them very soon. The hot-blooded dragons could not stand these temperatures for very long, which might have been the intention of the mind flayer-commander. But the ship could not exist here for an extended amount of time, either. Soon it became apparent, that the ship was not fit for the terrain. Its big hull scraping the sides of the canyons at every turn, where the dragons could use their size and maneuverability to their full advantage. One dragon used a hole in the shell to blast a fire-breath into it, setting aflame the pool of worms under its nose. Just in this moment, the ship made a plane jump yet again, leaving the dragons behind and entering Avernus, the ninth Hell.
She was awoken by bitter cold gusts of air, coming in through a hole in the fleshy looking walls of her prison. Her vision had cleared, but her body was not fully recovered, she noted. After a short struggle, she noticed that the room was swaying and something outside roared triumphantly. The living ship buckled, shuddered and jolted with her in it. She tried to remember how she came to be here, what or who she was, but only a name presented itself to her: Tsisk. A name, chosen as her adult name as a dragonborn, but she also knew that it held no more importance to her, lately. Still, a name nonetheless. The head of a red dragon appaered in the hole in the wall and before she could react, it breathed fire into the room, causing a small explosion from the larva-pool in the middle. The door of the pod broke, the barrier shattered to pieces and the flesh holding her relaxed. If she ever were to be free, it was to be now, she thought and fought her way out of it. In that moment, her stomach lurched forward, the cold air ceased to bite into her flesh and was replaced by an uncomfortably hot breeze. Her legs would not bear her weight right away, so she fell to her knees. The sudden movement made her puke out whatever was left in her stomach. It was not much,so she must have been here for quite some time. She wiped her mouth and continued on. A quick investigation told her that all other pods where either empty or home to corpses. Not much else could be found while she stumbled around. She found a door that looked like a heart valve, but much bigger...Why did she know that? She could not riddle her brain about it now, she had to move on.
The room behind the first was filled with a whisper: „We are here. Free us!" From a quick investigation, to ensure it was not all just in her broken, hazy-minded head, she found that it emanated from a corpse with an opened skull. It spoke to her again: „Remove us from this body. Set us free! Please!" Curious, she put her hands to the brain, which in turn answered: „Yes! Be careful and we will help you, beautiful!" But as soon as she touched the squishy, grey matter, her hands moved as if on their own, reaching deeper, to where she knew it would hurt most, then squeezing a little, a little bit more, until the screaming in her head seized and became blissful silence. Disgusted, she looked at her bloody, greasy hands. Why had she done that? She did not know. But that abomination should not have existed in the first place and so she let it rest.
The room further opened to a big, gaping gash in the side of the nautiloid and for the first time, she could see were they were headed. It flew over a vast, deserted landscape, ash-grey, the air heavy with smoke and soot, smelling like brimstone. Although the nautiloid could fly at full speed here, she could hear the roaring of the dragons, still. They could not be far behind. She cleared the gash, but halfway to the other side a figure dropped in front of her, threatening her with a sword to her throat. It was a Githyanki woman, green skinned with cat-like eyes and frog-like features, clad in an exotic looking bejeweled silver armor. „Abomination. This is your end." She declared. When her eyes locked with the Githyankis, her head started to throb again, her skin tingling and impressions buzzing past. For a single moment, she felt that other woman, took a peak through her eyes and her head at the same time. A very strange sensation of a purposeful and disciplined mind flooded her and went away again in an instance. The other woman looked just as bewildered as her when the sensation had passed.
„Tsk'va. You are no thrall. Vlaakith blesses me this day! Together we might survive. Imps block our path to the helm. We must reach it before we transform and become mindflayers ourselves. You must assist me!"
She was happy to have someone looking fit to help her. In truth, she did not believe she could do any more than look menacing, but maybe this was all what was needed right now and alone she stood no chance. So she just nodded aggreement. Together, they went into the next room. A pillar stood in the middle, surrounded by 4 unresponsive people, laying in a stupor and a ring of pods. The 4 gazed into nothingness, while something akin to bloodvessels pumped their life-force away from them, up into the ceiling.
The Githyanki took it all in and said: „Ghaik machinery, you better do not touch anything."
While she said that, they both heard a bumping noise. In one of the pods was a woman, hammering at the barrier with her fists and shouting. Her voice could not be heard over the noises of the ship itself, but their eyes met and she was overcome yet again with a dizzying array of impressions. This mind was devoted and dutyful. But right now, it was also trapped like a rabbit in a sling and only wanted out.
„We must not waste time on Istik, we must go!", the Githyanki replied.
„But she is like us" Tsisk replied „If we help her, she might be of good use to us, even if only as cannon fodder." Upon that answer, the Gith looked at the other woman, reconsidering. She snarled „Then tell me how to get her out there, and be quick about it!"
Tsisk began searching for a mechanism, but the console on the side of the pod was a mystery to her, too. It would not react to anything she did. An indenture indicated, that something was missing. She kicked it, out of sheer frustration. Again, the woman in the pod pounded against her barrier. She looked up and saw the woman pointing to an adjacent room.
„Let's go over there and look in that room. If we find nothing, we will leave her here and go to the helm." „Go on then." The adjacent room only held a single pod with an unconscious woman in it and 2 bodies that were quickly ransacked. One of them held a rune that looked like it could be fitting the indenture of the console. On the way back, they could see the woman in her pod spasming, then the skin slouching off of her like a wet rag, revealing new, shiny wet grey skin beneath. Her mouth split open, new teeth growing and from within, tentacles appeared as a slimy, twisting mass, unfolding until they lay on her – its- bare chest. The newborn Mind flayer regarded them weak and dazed, not yet at the height of its senses.
„So fast! And we could be next." The Gith said with perceptible fear in her voice. Hurriedly, they ran over to the console, and luckily, the rune fit perfectly.
With a thrum, it sprang to life, feeding off the energy canalised in the room and waited for orders. Reluctant, she put her hand on it. And it answered. A simple request had to be made, but she did not know how. She felt a growing pressure in her head and a presence, that compelled her to open her mind. At first, she wanted to withstand its demand, but the more she tried, the bigger the pressure became. She could feel the impatient squirming of the worm in her head, poised to bite her, if need be. So she did as asked and opened up. Now, she could feel the console alongside her, a simple intelligence, that knew only a few states of existence, comparable to a plant maybe. So she pictured a flesh-eating plant, opening its leafy trap, to release the husk of its prey. And with a wet smack, the pod beside her opened as well.
The woman was short of breath and just like her, fell to her knees when she was released. Her long, dark hair was pulled into a braid, carefully intertwined with a chain that held everything in place. She wore a breastplate adorned with Shars symbols and chainmail underneath. „Thank you. I thought i was gonna die in there." She said. „Come now, time is running short. Keep the pace, or i will leave anyone who falls behind." The Gith replied. The other woman regarded her angrily, but stayed silent and pulled herself up. She took a small, faceted object from the pod, as well as shield and mace, then walked over to the next door with them.
There, they could see mindflayers and denizens of the hell fight for control over the ship. Imps swarmed and distracted them, while Cambions fought with blazing swords. The mind flayers, in turn, felled imps by the droves with their psionic powers and tried to ambush the Cambions whenever they could. Not many were left by now and the ground covered in bodies of both sides.
The mind flayer commander had noticed their entrance: „Thrall, connect the nerves of the transponder. We must escape."
As soon as they moved, a group of Imps turned to them and flew in their direction. All of the Cambions were bound in battle, as luck would have it. The Githyanki stormed into battle with a defiant roar and whenever her blade slashed at the Imps, one or more would fall. The other woman used her shield to deflect the oncharging imps and her mace to smash them down to the ground where they were no danger to them any more. Tsisk took all of it in and let her eyes sweap the battlefield. No one regarded her as a threat. If she could convince them of her harmlessness, she might just be able to walk to the transponder….
Leaving The Gith and the cleric behind, she carefully went over. Not too slow, but not fast, either. Both would draw attention. She also avoided eye-contact to not alert anyone of an unoccupied presence… That way, she almost – almost – reached her destination. But right in front of it, a hell-boar stopped and stared at her with blood-shot eyes, ready to impale her. Instincts took over when she saw its muscles clench, ready to charge. She herself began to run, towards it. Right before they would have clashed, she jumped in the air, straight over the boar and stumbled to a halt when she hit the console, hard.
The hit had knocked the wind from her lungs. Gasping for air, she grasped at the tendrils that could be joined together. Just in time to see a red dragon peek its head into the Helm of the ship and breath fire into it. It set the whole room aflame, including the space around the transponder. But it couldnt stop the ship from entering the Astral plane, ready to jump anywhere, if given a location.
Unfortunately, the nautiloids damage and exhaustion was so severe, that it lost its orientation and began to coast freely. Tsisk lost her footing and slid across the room, hitting objects and bodies on her way, until she was thrown against a wall. Slowly, the Nautiloid tipped over in the other direction, and as soon as it did, she slid back to where the transponder was… behind it a big opening into the vastness that was the astral plane. A floundering and screaming cambion and several of the corpses that littered the room just moments before, where catapulted out into the void. This time, she regained some control over the direction of her movement. But the more the Nautiled tipped, the faster she got and the more difficult it was to steer herself. As she slid past the transponder, she managed to grab ahold of it, barely, and heaved herself up enough to touch the tendrils and send the ship to a destination that was a fleeting moment in her unresponsive memory. A jump followed that sealed the living ships fate. It had overextended itself in this chase and now failed to go any further.
Tsisk could feel her stomach drop, as the ship rapidly lost height. Something from somewhere within crashed into her shoulder and she lost her grip again. The force of the blow threw her out of the ships helm, now tumbling to the ground which closed in on her at an alarming speed. But while the ship crashed to the ground all around her, she just stopped midair, then sank to the ground slowly.
Tsisk could feel sand in her fingers and see the body of the ship grimly illuminated by fires and the moon, which shone bright in the night sky. Her body, too, had taken a beating and overextended itself today. So it just ceased to work anymore. Her eyes closed against her will and she drifted away into a deep, dreamless sleep.
The sun shone on her when she awoke. Her whole body felt sore, but at last she had time to reflect on her situation. She riddled her brain about anything precursing the nautiloid, but found nothing but numbness. She felt a big loss, but did not know what for. As she closed her eyes and let her mind flow freely for a moment, she could feel her surroundings answering her. There was a connection to the world and all living things on it, but it was loose, unkempt and uncared for for a very long time. This made her feel so profoundly empty and alone, that for a moment despair snuck up on her. She would die here, a mind flayer eating her brain most likely. She felt weak and utterly alone. Without knowledge and beat up.
Instead, muscle memory set in and she pushed herself to her feet, moving mechanically. No point in staying at the wreck, there was nothing to gain here. So she slowly began to walk, in hope of finding something that could help her with her bleak outlook on the future. A short way ahead, a body lay at the beach, dull eyes staring back at her. They drew her in, just so that her gaze could wander further. She unwittingly smiled when she saw its wounds, the wreck of a body, created by the impact of the now burning ship with the beach. She drew in a heavy breath and tried to remember why the body steared her mind this way, but again could not find anything.
After a bit of contemplating, Tsisk followed the waterline and soon found the young dark haired woman from the ship, lying in the sand unconscious. She must have fallen out just like her. As she saw her there - helpless – prone to whatever she could think of doing she had to remind herself that she was alone in enemy territory. Better to have an ally than to die to one of the abominations that might just roam the wreck and its surroundings. Before the urge could overcome her again, she shook the woman violently to wake her, then took a quick step back.
The woman slowly stood up and said, wondering „We're alive. How is this possible?". Tsisk replied „I do not remember much, just the fight in the Helm, falling…then I woke up here. Do you know where we are?" The woman took in the scenery, then said „No, i dont recognise this place. But we need to be moving. There is no food, shelter and we could need a healer. I do not know how long we might have with those little monsters in our heads." Noticing her willingness to stay together, Tsisk held out a hand: „Then lets travel together, our chances might improve drastically this way."
Shadowheart took the hand presented to her. „Thats what I thought, too. What is your name, then?
„I think it might be Tsisk, but I am not entirely sure."
„You think?"
„I cant remember properly, everything before the ship is just a blur."
„Seems you might need a healer in more than one way, then. My name is Shadowheart, by the way."
As she said that, Shadowheart searched the ground for something and after a little prodding in the sand drew the same little artifact from it that she had with her in the pod on the nautiloid. It seemed to be important to her. And the way she handled it, turning away from her, putting her body in between the two of them and being a little bit too fast about it, she wanted to keep it a secret, Tsisk noticed.
They investigated the beach for a bit, before they decided to take a path through the ships crushed hull to get to the top of the cliffs it had crashed into, so that they could take a look from above and possibly gain more insight into where they were. Or at least were to head to next.
In the ship they found a small group of intellect devourers, which they disposed of quickly as a team. But one room over, a deeply injured mind flayer awaited them, the former captain of the ship. First, they didnt notice the huddled figure in a corner, but a whisper drew them over towards it. As they came closer, what looked like a lifeless body put out a hand in the same gesture, that Tsisk knew from the mindflayer that had forced her head when implanting the tadpole in her. It tried to incite pity, sympathy or even love in her – and utterly failed.
There was nothing to be found in her head to sway her in such a way. But it seemed to work on her companion just fine. Shadowheart knelt down dangerously close and made a soothing gesture just like anyone would do when helping another, wounded one. And the captain fixated his eyes on her, ushering her closer, eagerly waving and stretching his tentacles towards her head. At that sight Tsisk moved swiftly and buried her claws in his throat, squeezing it shut to break its concentration on Shadowheart.
A wave of bloodlust washed over her and her claws started tearing and rending through the body of the mindflayer, until she heard Shadowheart say „I think hes dead. You made very sure of that….Thank you, but he is out of my head now."
Looking down upon her bloodied hands, Tsisk wasnt too sure if she did this to protect Shadowheart. But she certainly would not tell her this. On the far side of the room, another hole in the ships shell was illuminated by sunlight and so they made their way over. It opened to the top of the cliffs, as they had hoped. A beautiful scenery was set before them: gently swaying trees in a landscape of lush greenery, a small meadow of flowers to their left. From where they stood, they could look down upon the riverbanks of a wide, calmy flowing stream, glistening in the sun. It betrayed the carnage they had just left behind.
For a moment, it felt peaceful...until a scream cut through the air: „Help, I need some help!" Shadowheart answered it with an outcry of her own „Another survivor!" And both of them ran over to find a pale elf pointing into the bushes. He waved his hands to draw them in closer. „I've got one of those brain-things cornered. You can kill it, can't you? There, in the grass!"
Tsisk slowly moved closer, scanning the grass for a devourer. A rustle drew her attention, but it was only a wild boar fleeing her approaching self. What she didnt see coming was the cold steel of a dagger held against her neck. Shadowheart stood frozen, with a hand on her weapon, but too far away to be of help, should he decide to cut her throat.
A growl bubbled up from deep within Tsisk's chest.
„I just need information. I saw you on that ship. You're in league with them, arent you?" The elf interrogated her. He made the mistake of circling in front of her, to have a good look at her face. Normally, that would be a good move to glean some information by closely watching the opposers expression. But now, she just deliberately locked eyes and hoped, that he would be infected, too.
He got surprised by the sudden influx of information, while Tsisk could catch a glimpse of prowling dark, busy streets, hunger…and fear…. For a moment the urge took her over, imagining him squirming in her grip, blood flowing from his impossibly white skin, blooming beautifully from a thousand cuts. She had to turn her eyes away from him to regain control over herself.
Flustered, he asked „What was that, whats going on?" and took his weapon down.
She replied „ That was the worm, it connected us."
Pensive, the elf uttered „Of course, the worm. That explains things. Somewhat." and more cheerful „and to think I was ready to decorate the grounds with your innards. Apologies. My name's Astarion, I was snatched by those beasts in Baldurs Gate. You dont happen to know anything about these worms?"
Shadowheart had by now come over and told him „Yes, unfortunately. They'll turn us into mind flayers."
When Tsisk looked over now, he looked horrified for a brief moment, then began to laugh out loud. „Turn us into...Ha! Aahaha...Of course it'll turn me into a monster. What else did I expect?"
„We were on our way to look for a healer that could rid us of them." Tsisk interjected. „You could come with us. Together our chances stand better."
„You know, I was ready to go this alone, but maybe sticking with the herd isnt such a bad idea. And you two seem like useful people to know." And with a little bow, he welcomed them. Tsisk thought aloud „Maybe we should quickly scour the ships remains for other survivors or helpful loot. You are the third and we might just find someone else that could be useful on or journey."
Astarion said „That makes sense. Lead on, then."
As planned, they made their way up the steep shore to find a good vantage point, working their way around the Nautiloid, looking for survivors. On a particularly rocky part they took a break, because all of them were worn down by the most recent events and the strenuous hike up. Tsisk used it to take a long look at her companions. Shadowheart was all clad in Shars regalia, marking her as a novice cleric. In fact, she was completely decked in them, more than what was to be expected. She surely was one of the devoutest in her order. On her right hand, a small dark mark could be seen, a wound with scabby edges. It looked as if it did not heal right, far too old to have been caused by the shipwreck. She carried herself with confidence and quiet dediaction.
Astarion on the other hand looked nervous. His clothes were well put together, but worn out on second glance, and repaired often. He was white as a sheet with artfully tousled hair, pointy ears and a reddish glint in his eyes if they got hit by the sun. If she had not been targeted earlier by his dagger, she would have thought him to be just a helpless, impoverished nobleman or maybe a citizen. She would not make that mistake again, though.
Not much later, when they rounded a rock, they could see two things: a magical glow, erratic and flittering with sparks in the cliffside, and the ruins of a temple a bit farther into the distance. As they closed in on the magical fireworks display, they could hear a voice emanating from it.
„A hand? Anyone?" and a hand appeared from a small void within.
Tsisk flinched back, since her very first thought upon seeing a helpless person was violence. In her mind, she pictured herself mutilating that limb, ripping it from its bearer, who couldnt do a thing about it… With her hungry gaze fixed on the waving hand, she asked Shadowheart „Can't you do something about it?"
„Sure, let me see…" Shadowheart said a prayer to Shar and the erratic sputtering ceased.
The voice from within told her „Whatever you do, keep it going."
Shadowheart reached for the hand and gave it a good tug. A man followed, clad in battered blue robes, with a short beard and shoulder-length brown hair. After he had dusted himself off, he took her hand and shook it
„Hello. I'm Gale of Waterdeep. It's a relief and a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Say, but I know you, don't I? You were on the Nautiloid as well."
Tsisk nodded slowly. This one liked to hear himself talk, it seemed. And just like that, he started to speak again.
„ When the ship broke into pieces I suddenly found myself freefalling, plummeting to cetain death. I spied a glimmer, quite near where I estimated my body to impact with less than savoury propulsion. Recognizing this glimmer to be magical in nature, I reached out to it witha weaving of words and found myself on the other side, as it were. How about you, how did you survive the fall?"
The three of them looked at each other somewhat sheepishly, until Tsisk said „I don't know. I fell, then I slowed down just like that and was let to the ground slowly, where I fell unconscious for a while."
Shadowheart watched her from the side and tipped her head in agreement. „For me, much the same. But Tsisk here actually woke me up."
„Fair enough. But even so, I have the unfortunate suspicion your survival is still very much in jeopardy. Back on the ship, you too were on the receiving end of a rather unwelcome insertion in the ocular region, were you not?" Gale proceeded. „Are you aware that this parasite will turn us into mind flayers after a period of excrutiating gestation? It is a process known as ceremorphosis, and let me assure you: it is to be avoided."
Astarion chimed up: „Yes, now get to the point! Do you know how to control that thing?"
„I had rather hoped you to be of help here. You don't happen to be a cleric by any chance, do you? A doctor? Surgeon, uncannily adroit with a knitting needle? No? I guess few enough are able to do this. It's not exactly a common affliction. But how about we lend each other a helping hand once more and look for a healer together?".
Tsisk sighed. „As it happens, we are well on our way. And we hoped to better see from over there by the ruins. There seems to be a terrace in front of it with a good view of the river and its surroundings. We hoped to see a path or settlement."
To that, Gale exclaimed „Most excellent! Oh, but before you think you're about to embark on a journey with most ill-mannered a man: thank you for pulling me out of that stone. It was an act of foresighted kindness, I assure you, for I have the feeling ample opportunities will present themselves to return the favor."
As a group of four, they approached the ruins. Four other people had put up camp there. But to Tsisks amusement, no one had thought to put up a guard watching the cliffs. She motioned the others to stay and went up to the two closest to her, staying hidden behind a wall. They were so loud that she didnt even feel the need to sneak. The two strangers talked about the crashed ship, how they intended to loot it after they had ransacked the crypt. Other names were said and she learned that more marauders were inside, trying to break into it and plunder its riches. Apparently, they were working on it for days and the people outside got antsy about it. While she listened to them, they very nearly picked a quarrel with each other. Clearly, they were unhappy about the situation.
With that knowledge, she returned to the group. „Let me do the talking, I don't think these are the friendly kind of people. But I might be able to shoo them away." Together, they marched over. Surprised but defiant, the bandits stood against them. It was good, then, that she had brought the others, or they would have attacked her right away.
„Hey, what are you doing here! That's our ship."
Tsisk deliberately shrunk together a bit and gave herself a desperate demeanor. „We just came from down there." Pointing the way to the ships hull. „I have never in my life seen so many dead people and monsters everywhere. Whenever I turn my back to the ship I feel hounded. As if they are following me. Can you help us, please?."
The bandits looked taken aback. „Monsters, you say? No point in dying here, then." And louder, to the two further back in the ruins „Lets move, now! I'll be damned if they get us." They quickly packed everything and went their way.
Tsisk called after them „But what about us?" with a quivering voice. But they were gone already.
Astarion quipped „Oooh, how deceptive...I like that."
„I gathered there are more bandits in the ruins below. They must have some supplies with them. I think we should relieve them of it." Tsisk informed the others.
„That sounds like a plan. The sun is setting already and I am famished." said Gale.
The only hindrance to that plan was the locked door that lead into the ruins. Tsisk had not excpected that and stood there befuddled, latch in her hand.
Astarion came over and asked „May I? I know a thing or two, too."
While he said that, he picked at the lock with curious looking tools and had it unlocked before he could finish the sentence. But when he opened it with a flourish of his hands, he didnt see the surprised guard by the door because he was occupied with the grand display of his skill.
Before the guard could react and shout out, Tsisk lunged past Astarion, grappling the man and trying for a choke-hold. Immediately, she could feel him slip out of her grasp again, but her maneuver opened his cover, as he was flailing his hands at her to free himself. Shadowheart followed suit and put him out with a quick blow to his temple with her pommel.
In the following silence, they could hear voices from a nearby door. They were arguing about something. The door was left cracked open and the four of them tiptoed over to sneak a glance. Five people stood in the hallway disputing loot that was nowhere to be seen. What could be seen, however, was lots of easily combustible material, stacked neatly alongside one wall. Most notably were several barrels of Fire-wine. They probably put it in the corridor to keep it cool.
Tsisk whispered to Gale „Can you light those barrels up? That stuff delivers nasty burns. They will be incapacitated." The urge sparked up and delivered joy over the prospect of badly burned corpses, but Tsisk stuffed it away for now. She needed to concentrate. Gale responded by nodding and began to incantate a spell, whispering it under his breath. A small flame sparked up in his hands, tangibly hot. When he finished the spell, it sprang from his hands and over to the barrels. For a brief period of time nothing happened, besides the bandits throwing insults and accusations at each other.
Then, a crackling sound could be heard that grew louder and louder, accompanied by a dancing orange glow from the barrels' direction. That caught the bandits attention, but it was too late. It got followed by a deafening Boom and hot wine spraying everywhere. The bandits panicked, slapping at the flames that covered them., screaming in agony from the burns they had suffered. Tsisk felt that sickly joy rise again, it felt sweet and sticky and it remembered her of the stuff fly-traps where made of.
Shadowheart, Tsisk and Astarion rushed in and easily finished what the fire had not. A brief examination of the corridor showed them that they were now alone.
But Gale found a library and immediately started to leaf through the old and dusty books. All the others found themselves back in the first room, where the bandits had left the remnants of a meal for them. Tsisk and Shadowheart wolfed down what was on offer, starved as they were while Astarion looked on in fascination, only so much as nibbling on his portion.
„Aren't you hungry, Astarion?" Shadowheart asked him.
„Don't you worry darling, I've had better than this in Baldurs Gate, just before i got picked up by our ride."
But after his answer, he turned his gaze someplace else, staring off into a distance only he could see.
When they went to sleep, Tsisk turned around and around in her newly acquired bedroll, unable to find rest. She knew her mind was affected differently than the others. No one seemed to get her horrible visions of violence and death, and obviously she was the only one suffering from complete memory loss. Even now, her mind felt drawn to the blanketed figures around the fireplace, demanding to utilize their helplessness in the moment, to draw blood and inflict death.
The urge got more overwhelming the longer she lay awake and before long, she made her way out of the temple and into the moonlit night. Her blood rushed through her, her heart pounding, her body demanding the hunt. From the corner of her eye, she saw a critter weaseling its way through the brush. There was her way out. A prey she could hunt without hurting her chance of survival. And as her mind dissolved to that of a hunter, her body reacted in kind. Becoming the devourer of innocent little souls, the destroyer of generations, ender of many a life. Today, she would hunt, and she would play with her victims until their bodies gave up on them and then she would hunt some more.
She came back to the temple before dawn and lay down in her bedroll. Her little excursion had barely helped her enough to contain her urges and all she could do was stay awake, shivering, sweating and listening to her own heartbeat.
She must have fallen asleep for some time, because everyone was bustling about when she opened her eyes again. Tsisk felt weak and jittery. She did not want the others to see her like this and left for the outdoors again. But she had not paid attention, it seemed.
On the ledge of the terrace, Astarion sat in the morning sun with a relaxed smile on his face. He must have heard her, because he turned hs head to look at her. As soon as he did, his smile vanished and was replaced with another one: more teeth, less sincere. He looked at her, ready to say something, then took a second, closer look. „You look rabid...pained...sick, even. You're spasming and twitching… you poor thing."
As little as that was, she could feel that compassion had not been in her life for a very long time. For a brief moment, her guard dropped and before she knew, she told him about her nights dreams. When she caught what she had told him right now, she looked at him in shock, watching closely what he would say about it.
„Now, now. Nothing has happened yet. But do make sure to keep it under control. I wouldn't want to not wake up one day, especially a day as fine as this." His face stayed controlled, with his transfixed, unwavering smile until he turned it back into the sun with his eyes closed.
Back in the temple, she found Gale and Shadowheart discussing quite vividly. Gale waved with a book and told Shadowheart
„But it's a temple of Jergal. When can you walk in the remains of a dead gods abandoned shrine? I would love to get to know more about it."
„But we have got no time for dead deities! We must seek a cure, soon."
Both of them turned to Tsisk for guidance. Behind her, Astarion entered the temple, too. Gale saw him and immediately blurted out „The book also talks of great treasures, sacrifices, brought to Jergal. And judging by that closed door over in the corridor, it is not yet stolen."
Astarions face lit up „A treasure! Here? Let's go find it!"
Shadowheart sighed in defeat. „I will not waste more than a half day on this."