1.
Shadowheart comes running towards you with her shield and mace, tossing you the shield while she brandishes the mace, the both of you running towards the portal. Wyll joins Karlach and Lae'zel in the fight, you focus on getting protection onto him as well, no one is wearing armor. Gale blasts the Gith with magic as Astarion fires off arrows, finally felling the last of the invaders. You all run through the portal as the guardian continues pleading for help.
You emerge into the familiar scenery of the astral plane; vast and strangely beautiful, an impossibly gargantuan skull drifting amongst the floating islands and the voice beckoning you to get to the skull.
There's only two more Githyanki fighters blocking your way, but with everyone fighting together they stand no chance and are quickly killed. You continue running, leaping effortlessly from rock to rock, descending onto the skull. But once you arrive you find intellect devourers and a mind flayer fighting more Githyanki. The mind flayer gets knocked back, falling prone at the feet of Karlach and Lae'zel, the Gith who attacked it making a quick retreat when seeing it may be forced to face all of you. Everyone looks down at the monster as it holds out a hand and speaks,
"Before you do anything, I am your ally. We are in danger." The voice is different, but you recognize it all the same, it's the impossibly perfect guardian, showing its true form at last.
"Another tentacled freak? What in the hells is this?" Astarion shouts, disbelieving what it says.
"The Githyanki is the source of our protection against The Absolute." It points towards a bound Gith farther down the path, "I MUST subdue him, or everything we've worked towards is lost. Don't let my form deceive you. I am the one that's been protecting you. I am the one that came to you in your dreams. Help me. You must destroy the guard. They prevent me from subduing their master." It pleads from the ground as everyone looks on in confusion, disgust or mistrust.
"Aid an illithid against Githyanki? We cannot, we must not!" Lae'zel seethes with anger as she looks down upon it.
"Your blind loyalty will be your undoing, Lae'zel. Fight with me. For your own survival." You can hear an edge to its words, it has no time for explanations or coddling feelings.
"Come on, let's just do this! We'll figure it out later!" Karlach shouts as she runs passed the mind flayer and towards the Githyanki still fighting the devourers.
Lae'zel glares at it as she runs to catch up with Karlach, Wyll and Shadowheart following quickly behind. You stay back with Gale and Astarion, armed with only a shield you focus on healing and protecting while the boys provide supporting attacks and cover fire. Shadowheart does what she can to help with healing as she fights but can't keep up with the ferocity of these warriors. These Gith are more formidable than the ones you remember fighting at the creche; they're more agile, seemingly able to evade more than be struck by your friends' attacks. Astarion runs out of arrows and runs to join the fray.
The moment he's gone one of the Gith jumps up to where you and Gale stand, nearly defenseless. You stand between them and Gale, holding up your shield, hoping Gale can do something from behind you, but you're scared he will catch you in the crossfire at this range, and you cannot risk moving to the side, lest they attack him instead. The guardian mind flayer comes to your aid, launching a boulder at your attacker, knocking them far enough away that Gale can cast his magic. You don't want to thank the disgusting creature, so you just nod acknowledgment of their help.
Slowly you and Gale make your way closer as more of the Githyanki are defeated. You concentrate on healing as the last remaining Githyanki fighter falls at the feet of the captive Gith. That one's eyes glare menacingly at all of you, rage clearly the only thing he feels at seeing you killing his people and helping the illithid that now hovers beside him. The captive struggles briefly against his bonds before the mind flayer subdues him, his body going limp as his eyes roll back into his head.
You stand behind Astarion, clutching the back of his shirt, the adrenaline from battle wearing off and your body beginning to shake with exhaustion as you eye the monster with mild contempt. Everyone gathers around, looking intently at the mind flayer, waiting…
"Don't look at me like that. I am a mind flayer, yes. Without me you would all be slaves to The Absolute." The audacity of this thing to sound so indignant at everyone's stares.
"It's obscene. To owe my life to a damned ghaik." Lae'zel spits her words towards it, "No more lies. No more tricks. I will have answers!"
"Very well. I was someone once. Someone just like you," You roll your eyes at that but try listen anyway.
It goes on to tell of its life before, how it was from Baldur's Gate, was taken and made into a mind flayer. How it was enslaved by the elder brain, The Absolute as you know it now, before gaining freedom from it. Living a life in the shadows, but meeting Duke Stelmane changed everything. It grew powerful in the underground of the city, even being called The Emperor, such was its influence. Then that life was destroyed by Gortash, and it became a thrall to The Absolute once more, until it was sent out to find the Astral Prism. Upon finding the prism the Emperor was freed from bondage due to what, or rather who was inside: the Githyanki price, Orpheus. At that Lae'zel scoffs, saying that Orpheus was slain long ago. But that is indeed who's there, for only he had the power to disrupt the hive mind control of elder brains. And that it was Vlaakith who imprisoned him here, she needed to keep him alive, keep his power in order to maintain her own.
It keeps talking, everyone asking questions, and you stand there silent as the grave. Your stomach feels queasy at the mention of Gortash. Your heart beats wildly, uncontrollably as the mind flayer beseeches everyone for aid in killing the other Chosen and destroying the elder brain. Your mind reels as you try to imagine yourself fighting these avatars of gods and The Absolute, a thing that may as well be a god, as the cultists believed, for how powerful it is. All you can think is how you'll only get in the way and end up getting everyone killed, yourself included. You're incapable of helping in this and you know it…
And then it says that in order to do anything of the sort you must all embrace the power and potential of your tadpoles… You must "evolve"… You must partially surrender your body to becoming part illithid… Astarion stiffens at that, his face growing cold and dark as he reaches back to grab your hand in a crushing grip; he's shaking. All you do now is look up at him, tears blurring your vision as you wait for him to take you away from this gods damned place.
He leads you out through the portal, back to camp and straight to your tent, growling out his words once you're inside,
"To think that we owe our lack of tentacles to one of the very same monsters! And now it offers us more power if we're willing to… evolve…" His back is to you, your hand still gripped in his as he falls silent.
"Astarion?" You meekly call out to him, but he doesn't hear you.
"I had thought to use these powers to my advantage against Cazador. And now, to find that that THING had been manipulating us, ME, into depending on those same abilities so that we'd be open to this next step? I'm not doing it. No matter what power it would bring." He's trembling, almost crying. He releases your hand to look at you, holding your arms, "I had nothing for so long… Not even my own body. I will not give it up, now that it's mine again."
"My love, no one is saying to listen to that thing." You reach up to hold his face, his hands still gripping your arms, "Why would you-" He shouts at you, cutting off your words, your hands freezing in the air as you flinch.
"Because I need every available advantage to kill Cazador!" His fingers dig into you, "Even without him being able to compel me he's near impossible to defeat!" He softens his hold on you taking several deep breaths, "I told you how it felt… how it hurt… when I turned into a vampire… I don't want to turn into anything else. I can't watch my body be taken over again. Not by Cazador and certainly not by this damned worm in my head."
You don't know what more you could say, so you do the only thing you can think of; you reach up over his shoulders and hug him close. You want him to know that you're here for him, that he never needs to fear you suggesting he do anything he doesn't want to. You only want him to be safe and happy, whatever it takes. He returns your embrace, burying his face in your neck and staying there a long moment, letting his rage and fear drain away. He calms himself and pulls back away from you to kiss you softly,
"Thank you, my sweet…" He leans his forehead against yours, "We should get some rest…"
"Of course, my love."
You release your holds on each other just enough to crawl into your bed roll where you curl up and drift away, locked tight in each other's arms.
2.
The camp bustles with everyone packing up and preparing to finally enter the city but you and Astarion are still abed holding tightly to one another. He still looks sad, dejected even, as he smooths your hair and stares at you. And then without a word he stands and begins to get dressed, you silently joining him. You emerge to see the Harpers already on the march, Jaheira speaking with Lae'zel and Wyll before she runs off to catch up to her people. Shadowheart sits by the fire with Halsin, waving you over, a bright smile on her face. You go to walk over, but Astarion stops you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders before walking you over to them.
"Shadowheart was telling me about what happened last night. Are you alright, little flower?" Halsin's ever gentle smile creases his face as he hands you a bowl of porridge drizzled with honey.
Astarion's grip tightens on you and before you can answer he does,
"We are just fine."
Shadowheart arches a brow at you, her eyes going between you and Astarion, Halsin looks like he wishes to say more so you smile warmly and nod in agreement, hungrily shoveling your breakfast into your mouth. Before either can ask more of you the others gather round, loudly discussing what the next step is. Each has their own worries to attend to, but you're only interested in helping Shadowheart and Astarion and getting home to tell Ana all about everything. For now, everyone will stay together until getting through Wyrm's Crossing and into the city proper. You've finished eating by the time the plan is settled and so you go back to your tent to pack up and head out.
Astarion holds your hand the entire walk to the village, Rivington, a place you had only been to once before when you first came to Baldur's Gate. You remember almost nothing of it, you had never left the city once you moved here, so there was never a need to come back to this quaint place. The road leading down gives a marvelous view of the twisting paths bustling with so many people. Odd, you don't remember it being this populated, it almost looks like low town on festival days, but there's no sounds of revelry, no stalls of overpriced trinkets, no food vendors smelling of exotic delights… it's just…
You're pulled from your thoughts by the small voice of a little girl on the side of the road,
"Erm. 'Scuse me." You stop and look over at her, your hand held in Astarion's stopping him as well, and she continues, "I can't find my mum."
"Oh… I'm sorry…" You're unsure what to say to the little girl, but looking at her reminds you of yourself when you were maybe ten years old; this girl also being red of hair with freckles and mismatched eyes.
As you go to say more Halsin and Karlach walk up to the three of you, Scratch sniffing the air tentatively around the little girl and the fluffy ginger cat cowering behind her.
"Well, Let's see if we can help you, kiddo. How about we start with a name, yeah?" Karlach gives the girl a sweet, concerned look.
The little girl's face lights up as she excitedly begins to talk,
"Yenna! And my cat is Grub. He's shy. I'm not. My mum is called Emery." But after saying her mother's name her voice gets lower, and her face looks worried, sad, "She went to go get some herbs for her spots. She was sick. And she was supposed to come back the same day. That was last tenday though." She grips the bottom of her shirt, pulling on it anxiously.
"You poor thing." Karlach looks around and then shakes her head, "Here, take this," She grabs a leather pouch and drops it into the girl's hand.
"And this, child." Halsin kneels down to be eye level with the girl and holds out an open sack with fruits and vegetables inside, "This should see you through the next few days or so."
"Oh wow! Thank you!" She beams at both of them, "Mum loved food like this. 'Simple is best,' she always said. I'll, erm, I'll look for her. I think she'll probably come soon. Thanks again." She clutches the bags close to her chest and walks down the path, the little cat close behind.
"Poor thing." Karlach looks out towards the village and frowns, "I don't know what's going on, but that's a lot of people just standing around,"
You continue down the path and see makeshift tents scattered about the village's edge, each having several distraught people huddled around them; they're all refugees… Not much further in and you hear the grumblings of the residents about how the city isn't taking care of these 'vagrants' and that the crossing has been closed, no one is being let into the city. Lae'zel stops abruptly at the fork in the main road and grumbles,
"This is a problem. I must get inside."
"So must we all, Lae'zel, each for our own reasons. But you are right, this is a problem." Gale points out the obvious.
"What is even going on here? This isn't how the city should be handling this situation." Wyll shakes his head, dismayed by all the forlorn people he sees crowded into the village.
"Maybe we should split up and see what we can find out? I need to look around here first anyway." Shadowheart looks over to you smiling knowingly, "I'm hoping someone will recognize me and tell me what I need to know."
"I call Shadowheart's group!" You shuffle over to her side, pulling Astarion along with you.
You stay close to her while everyone figures which group to be in and which way each will go. Gale will be joining the three of you while the rest will take the little menagerie of four-legged friends. Shadowheart veers off to the right, down the hill and into what looks like more refugees while the others head left towards the main road shops. You will all meet back up by sundown over where the little girl had stopped you on the road.
You don't get far before a dark-haired man catches Shadowheart's eye, he signals her over. She shakes her head when you move to follow her, she wants everyone to stay back a little ways, the man may not be forthcoming if there's an audience. You wait anxiously for her to finish, Gale seemingly just as impatient as you for he stands with his arms crossed, huffing loudly every few breaths.
She returns, a grim look on her face as she tells you of what he said; she is now seen as an enemy, a traitor, her way will be barred, but if she chooses to continue this fool's errand, then she's welcome to go to the cloister and face the Mother Superior to free her parents. Shadowheart looks at you and Gale with pleading, fearful eyes, she knows it's a lot to ask of you both, but there's nothing you wouldn't do for your friend, and you reassure her you will be there with her, every step of the way. Gale echoing your sentiments, hugging her close as he does.
The further down the path you go the more squalid the encampments become. The ground is slick with mud and littered with waste, the smell becoming almost unbearable. Astarion stops you, saying to let them go snooping in the gutters if they wish. You shrug at Shadowheart as she shakes her head and continues around the bend, you're mildly thankful to not be going down there so you whisper a thank you to your love and he kisses your hand.
They return with news; they saw the Tieflings from the grove here, well, at least what's left of them. They were at least able to tell why the crossing is closed, there's to be a grand ceremony for something and in order to keep the peace the city has stopped allowing anyone through until it's over; the citizens having been in an uproar about the number of refugees flooding in and causing problems. There's even some new kind of machine helping the guards at the bridge. Gale is intrigued and wishes to go look at it, Astarion wonders why you cannot simply bribe your way inside, that's always worked before…
You approach the bridge from the side road and see why you won't be bribing your way inside; that metal monstrosity is why. Walking a little closer only confirms it, there's no way passed that thing. You watch in terror as another group of people try to get in but are unceremoniously turned away, one of them not taking kindly to that, turns and makes a run for it only for the metal guard to raise its arm, a terribly large sword grasped in its hand. It holds for a moment shouting for the man to halt, but when he doesn't that sword smashes down on him, ending his attempt. And then the thing goes right back to standing guard as though there wasn't a bloody mess beside it, the helmet on top slowly surveying it's surroundings. As the helm looks in your direction your stomach clenches and you feel sick,
"Does anyone else feel like that thing is looking right at them? Because I do… I don't like this. Please, can we go?" You clutch at Astarion and start to back away.
"Yeah… Come one, let's get out of here. I don't like the look of it any more than you do," Shadowheart scrunches up her face and recoils back, "We should inform the others… if they haven't already seen this frightening automaton for themselves."
You hurry back the way you came, too scared to risk walking passed that thing to get to the main road. You continue to shake, something about that thing truly set your teeth on edge and even Astarion's arm around you does nothing to calm you. Once back at the rendezvous you sit on a toppled log and bury your face in Astarion's chest while Shadowheart and Gale talk quietly.
"What's wrong? Why has that thing frightened you so?" He smooths down your hair as you calm down enough to just sit, leaning against him, holding his hand.
"I don't know… There was just something about it… I can't explain... It just felt… wrong."
The others return before dusk. Halsin comes over to you and sets the animals free while he starts a fire. Astarion stands to join Shadowheart and Gale in discussion with the others. You need to walk, breath, something to get your mind to clear, to get your heart to stop racing. You tell Astarion you'll be just at the edge of the forest, you won't go far, he tells you to bring Scratch or Us with you. You smile and shake your head at his concern and call for Scratch, Us is busily scurrying down the path doing… something, you don't know what. What do intellect devourers do with no hive mind controlling them? You shrug and walk away with Scratch at your side, your hand resting on the top of his soft head.
You toss a sick for him to fetch. The repetitive motion and happy barks and pants lighten your mood and calm your nerves. You take a break, crouching down to give his head proper petting when he suddenly barks and moves behind you. You stand, turning to look and see the girl from before,
"Erm. Hi. It's me. Yenna. You remember me, right?"
"Yes, of course. Hi, Yenna." Scratch stays beside you, sniffing the air.
"Erm…" She looks nervously down at her feet, gripping her shirt and pulling it down before finally looking back up at you, "You guys were all really nice to me before. And erm. My mum hasn't come back yet. She might come back later…" Her eyes go all teary, you can tell she's trying desperately to be brave and to not cry, "I don't think she's coming. Could we maybe stay here?"
"Of course," You step closer to her, putting your hand on her shoulder, peering into her face, smiling warmly at this poor lost girl, "Of course, you can stay."
"YES! You've got a fire and everything. And I can cook really good!" Her face lights up, giving you the biggest of excited grins.
"Can you, now? Well, I like the sounds of that." You stand back up, smiling even wider now.
"Whatever you want, I can make it! Oh! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Scratch, introduce out new helper to Halsin. I think he'll be glad of an extra pair of hands to help with all the cooking he does."
Scratch stomps his paws excitedly, circling the girl and her cat once before rushing off with them back to the camp.
"That was unexpected of you, my sweet." His voice catches you by surprise.
"Oh! Well… how could I turn her away after she offered to cook?" You walk over to him and bring your arms up over his shoulders so you can have a quick kiss, "How long were you lurking there watching me?"
"Long enough." He returns the kiss, "And why did you send your little escort away?"
"Oh… Uh… Sorry… I didn't mean to; I wasn't going to be gone much longer."
"I really do need to keep a closer eye on you. You have a penchant for wandering off…"
"I wasn't wandering off. I told you where I was going."
"Not good enough," He leans down, kissing your neck before biting, drinking just a little, "Let's get you back, I believe your dinner is ready."
You walk back hand in hand and sit by the fire. Yenna is already hard at work, handing out plates of food and fussing at the animals' dinner, her little ginger cat underfoot the entire time. It's a wonder that cat doesn't get stepped on, but both must be accustomed to this way of moving around. Drinks and food are shared as everyone gets to know the newest member of the group. Before you finish and head to bed Karlach ambushes you, standing tall over your still sitting self and makes a demand,
"Tomorrow, you, me and grumpy over here are going out together." She gestures at you, herself and Lae'zel with her head and thumb, a giant grin plastered on her face.
"I am not grumpy." Lae'zel's only contribution to this conversation.
"Sure, you're not." She laughs over her shoulder then looks back down at you, "So, you're coming, right?"
"Where are we going? And what are we doing?"
"Uh… It's a surprise. And, uh, it's a surprise." All she does in nod exaggeratedly.
"That's not helpful!" Her mirth is contagious, and you begin to giggle with her.
"Who else will be going?" Astarion looks up at her as though he had plans, but he hadn't said anything to you as of yet.
"Just us three. Wyll's roped Shadowheart into investigating that murder over at the temple, Halsin will be doing whatever it is that he does all day here in camp,"
"I heard that!" He laughs heartily, "I don't just sit around you know. Don't listen to them, Yenna. Being the one in charge of the food is an important and integral part of any traveling group." He winks and she giggles.
"And that just leaves you and the bookworm to entertain yourselves while we take take her out."
"I do have some good books to get back to. A day of respite and reading sounds glorious after all that we've been through." Gale sighs, almost dreamily at the prospect of being allowed to relax for once.
"I suppose I can spare your company for one day, my sweet." He gives you an indulgent smile while you shake your head at him and nudge him with your shoulder.
"OK, I'm excited! What kind of surprise is it?" You clap your hands like a giddy fool, your mind filling with possibilities.
"I said it's a surprise! So let it be a surprise, will ya?!" Her booming cackle echos in the forest as you laugh with her.
3.
You wake with the sun, eager to find out what your surprise will be, but when you try to wriggle out of Astarion's arms he holds you tighter,
"They won't be up yet, my sweet. Stay."
"But I'm too excited to just lay here."
"Who said you just have to lay here?" His lips spread into a wolfish grin as he rolls on top of you, pinning your wrists above your head and kissing you fiercely.
You immediately give in to his touch and let him drink deeply while he has his way with you. It isn't until you can smell breakfast that he releases you from his tortuous grasp. He gets up, leaving you a panting mess on the bedroll, trying in vain to collect yourself enough to function. He chuckles softly, teasing you that all the food will be gone if you don't get moving. That is motivation enough, you roll over and push yourself up and throw on your tunic dress and boots, leaving your hair down, but brushing it so it shimmers and shines in the sunlight. Astarion runs his fingers through it as you make your way to the fire.
Little Yenna has made good on her promise and has made a feast for everyone, with Halsin's help, she's never cooked for some many. There're eggs with warm bread, from the bakery, sausages and bacon, even slices of apples and sweet berries in cream. Your mouth waters as Karlach elbows passed you to get to it all first, you're tempted to grab her by the tail to stop her, but you know she'd only drag you along. You eat and laugh with everyone. Shadowheart and Wyll are the first to leave on their self-imposed mission. Gale stands to fetch his books and some fine wine he procured yesterday, offering Astarion a place with him by the trees for a spot of reading and drinking; he accepts, kissing you before rising and walking away with Gale. That leaves you with the ladies and their surprise. Karlach just giggles while Lae'zel stands, saying it's time to go.
You follow them into the village, down the main road and into a shop you never thought you would have need of, a weapon and armor shop. You've don't recall ever even setting foot inside one before. You look at them confused, Karlach laughs as Lae'zel explains,
"We thought it best you be properly armed and armored for what is to come. You have more than proven yourself a not incapable fighter," She pauses to smirk at you, "and an invaluable healer. We wished to show you that by bringing you here." She gives the warmest smile you've ever seen from her.
"Thank you… I…"
"Aww, grumpy, you're gonna make her cry."
"Shut up!" you say in unison and laugh.
Your commotion catches the attention of the shopkeeper, a lovely golden Dragonborn, who's more than happy to chat your ear off about all the wares and the blacksmith who crafts them. You admit to having no real idea what you're looking for and leave most of it up to Lae'zel and Karlach to explain what you're looking for. Lae'zel starts getting very detail oriented so you and Karlach drift over to a display, admiring the fine intricate details on a shield.
"Excuse me, my Lady," You hear someone talking behind you but assume they're speaking to some other customer, and you continue to browse.
"Hey," Karlach elbows you gently, when you look at her, she tilts her head to a man standing behind you, "You know this guy?"
You turn to look at him; you've never seen him before. You're about to shake your head when he speaks again,
"Please, my Lady, your presence has been requested by Lord Gortash. If you would come with me back to Wyrm's Rock," He bows slightly before gesturing with his arm to walk ahead of him.
"I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else. I'm no Lady." You shake your head, stepping back as you feel Lae'zel come up to your other side.
"There's no confusion, I assure you, Lady Talia. I have been sent to fetch you to my Lord Gortash." He looks over at Karlach and Lae'zel, "Of course your attendants may accompany you."
"What the fuck does 'Lord' Gortash want with her?" Karlach tips her head back, gesturing at you as she looms over the man, "Since when is he a 'Lord' anyway?"
"It is not my place to question His orders, simply to carry them out. Now, please, come with me," He's unbothered by Karlach's imposing stance, and just calmly walks over to the door where you see one of those metal things waiting outside, "We need not make a scene."
You look to your friends, their faces reflecting your own confusion. It's probably best to follow the man, though Karlach and Lae'zel are dressed for battle, you are not, and you fear what that thing outside is capable of; they didn't see what you saw yesterday. They were told of it surely, but would they risk it? You decide to simply do as he asked and follow him outside; your friends close behind as they whisper to each other.
He leads you down the road, across the bridge, passed the other guards and into the fortress. The place is full of patriars, attendants, soldiers and so very many more of those metal monstrosities. You follow him up the stairs to the grand audience chamber, passed the gawking faces of onlookers, up more stairs onto the ramparts and finally to Lord Gortash's private rooms, where there's more of those metal guards standing on either side of every door. It's here that the man tells you to wait while he goes to announce your arrival. And so, you wait in tense silence, too nervous to sit and too scared to move. You chew viciously on the inside of your mouth while your friends stand beside you, anxiously eyeing the automatons by the doors. Just when you feel like you're about to chew through your lip you hear footsteps coming closer with a loud and commanding voice, echoing in the room as he speaks,
"Ah, my consort, you have arrived at last." His dark eyes focus on you, a small smile curling the corners of his cruel mouth.
Your brows furrow as you look at him, your stomach beginning to knot in on itself. Karlach looks from you to him,
"What the fuck are you on about?"
"I wasn't addressing you, Karlach." He points at her with a gauntleted hand, a familiar stone shimmering on it, his eyes never leaving you, "But, in the interest of being cordial, your companion here is to whom I'm referring." He waves that same hand at you, gesturing to the whole of your body.
"Yeah, no, what Karlach said. What the fuck are you talking about?" You take a step back from him, your heart starting to thunder in your chest.
"How very vexing. You weren't informed earlier it seems. No matter, come with me, there's much to discuss." He turns to the side, still holding out that mailed hand towards you expectantly.
"No!" You recoil further, wanting desperately to leave this place.
"Your Lord commands it…" His voice grows low, impatient and threatening.
You stomach lurches as the world starts tilting. There's a competing compulsion and revulsion to obeying his command, a sickly, malformed imitation of the pull you feel towards Astarion, a perversion of everything that draws you to Astarion is in this man standing before you.
"I said NO!" It takes every ounce of your will power to force those words out.
"I'm going to fucking kill him!" Karlach hunches down as if ready to tackle him.
"Hold your bloodlust Karlach! We'd never make it if we were to fight our way out of here," She holds a hand out in front of her to stopping her.
"It seems we're at an impasse. I require you to follow me and you will not listen. You clearly need to be told of your purpose in this life. Of your divinely ordained destiny at my side," He is utterly unfazed by Karlach and Lae'zel, and you stare at him, trembling at his words, "Go then to your Truescar. Learn from her as to whom you truly belong."