Thank you for the support on the first chapter!
I'm really excited to develop this story, and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have been.
It just takes some time
Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride
Everything'll be just fine
Everything'll be alright
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
They were an eclectic group, these three.
Lae'zel was blunt and forward, speaking with no regard for social caution, something Karlach appreciated immensely. She was also prickly and rude, which Karlach appreciated. . . less.
Astarion oozed confidence and acted totally carefree. His attitude was as unruffled as his appearance. His eyes, though, were guarded and analyzing, and he fielded questions about himself with the practiced ease of someone with something to hide.
They were both so different. Which made it all the more surprising that both of them abdicated to Tav.
They grumbled about his orders, requests more than anything, more than once, but they never flouted him. Both seemed to quietly respect his awareness and direction. Karlach suspected neither considered themselves a follower by any stretch of the word. Yet they abided by Tav's words with trust reserved for a proven commander.
Tav, a quarter elf he had said, was something of an enigma. He had used basic healing magic to close the cut on her arm, humming a small tune to focus the direction of his magic, but he didn't present himself as a typical bard. He had no instrument that Karlach could see, only his weapons. He wore scale armor that was heavier than any she had seen bards wear, and he was built more like a fighter than a musician.
Karlach's experience with bards had taught her to expect a very hands-off approach. Generally, bards hung back and manipulated the battlefield with magic and music, focusing on sowing confusion and chaos through the opposing ranks. Tav didn't possess the same eccentric charm of other bards she had met. He was straightforward and candid, not unlike Karlach herself. He acted much more like a warrior than a spell slinger.
Not to say he didn't use magic.
As they stumbled across the first group of gnolls feasting on a few corpses, the bestial heads had whipped towards the party as the group's scent gave away their position. Immediately, Tav whistled a quick, piercing note, and the two monsters with bows fell to the ground and began to snore. His speed surprised Karlach: he had reacted before she was fully aware of the danger.
Karlach started forward drawing her weapon from its sheath as she moved, and an arrow—Astarion—whizzed over her head and buried itself in the shoulder of the closest gnoll. It shrieked in pain as she charged forward, bringing the greatsword over her head in a murderous arc. She took the injured gnoll between its neck and shoulder, the blade slicing deep into its torso, and the creature went limp with the whimper of a dying animal.
Karlach wrenched her blade free and turned, ready to dispose of the other gnolls, but found only their bodies on the ground. Lae'zel had darted forward to finish off the two that had been sleeping, while Tav had quickly disposed of the remaining gnoll with a series of quick slashes.
He knelt then, examining the body the gnolls had savaged.
Tav picked up a scrap of yellow leather from the ground and held it at an angle to show Karlach. The symbol was a winged serpent, a wyvern or a lindwyrm, she thought, against a black and gold field.
"The Zhentarim." Tav said, lifting the fabric up so the other two could see.
"Not the most common road for merchants." Astarion observed. "Though, I could likely venture a guess as to why." He gestured at the carnage around them, to at least a dozen corpses in various states of dismemberment.
As Tav stood, the sound of a howl came across the wind, and faintly below that, the sound of glass breaking and someone shouting. Tav looked at the three of them, and Astarion sighed.
"Don't tell me. You want to rescue some hapless idiots from the fangs of these barbaric puppy dogs," Astarion said, nudging the body of a gnoll with the toe of his boot.
Tav nodded. "I do. If there are survivors, they don't deserve… well, this." He glanced at the surrounding desecration.
Astarion rolled his eyes and Lae'zel grumbled about wasting time, but neither of them argued outright, and Tav turned to Karlach. She blinked, surprised at her inclusion in the decision making.
"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm definitely—I agree—I—yeah." Karlach stumbled over the words, unused to being asked for her opinion. She took a deep breath, starting over. "I'm with you, soldier." Behind her, she heard Lae'zel again mutter under her breath, something about 'another soft heart', but Tav nodded and stood.
"Let's go, then."
It had been many years since Karlach had felt like she was a part of a team. Her position in Zariel's inner circle didn't count. They had viewed her more like a pet or a mascot than an equal. Even when working as a bodyguard, she had never been anything more than a tool for her employer, Gortash. Her fellow guards had treated her well enough, but they had each acted more like separate groups rather than one entity.
Her commanders and sergeants would send her in the direction of the enemy, reclining back and letting underlings bear the weight of danger. She remembered one of her old bosses who had retreated from a fight because his shirt had been spattered with blood. Of course, he did not care that the source of the aforementioned blood had been from an ally who had been shot by an arrow.
Tav, however, led from the front. He had his bow, but seemed to prefer his blade, getting in close with the gnoll horde. During the skirmish with the bestial swarm, Karlach began to understand the how capable the members of this small party actually were.
In the initial chaos of the fight, they had been separated as a group, Karlach and Lae'zel to one side, Astarion and Tav further up the path and against a rock. Gnolls were scattered around the clearing, some using bows or slings, some swords and clubs, some claws and teeth. A handful hadn't even noticed the newcomers, distracted as they were with feasting on their previous victims.
Karlach was busy dealing with a gnoll and hyena duo who were circling her. If she turned to face one, the other would dart in and try to strike at her, but neither had landed any significant blows. Of course, she hadn't either, and she couldn't keep this dance up for long.
Lae'zel was too far away to help, going toe-to-toe with the massive gnoll that had acted as some sort of leader. Even as busy as Karlach was with her own problems, she had to appreciate the gith warriors' skill. Lae'zel was impressively quick, and the giant monster struggled to hem her in with its heavy mace.
The hyena took advantage of Karlach's momentary lapse in focus to close the gap and bite her on the thigh. She felt the fangs puncture her leather pants and the skin underneath. As she brought up her sword to lop off the beast's head, the gnoll stepped forward and checked her with its massive head, shoving her back against the rock wall and driving the wind from her lungs.
Time seemed to slow.
The sounds of the battle faded away, replaced with the quiet sound of her struggle to breathe. As she desperately tried to pull air into her lungs, she could feel the gears of her engine heart turning. The sound of her own blood in her ears became a rolling crash, like a wave hitting the shore.
Karlach's barbarian rage took over and her vision went red.
She gasped, and air filled her chest. Karlach leapt forward, plunging her sword into the chest of the gnoll, before yanking the blade free in time to smash the pommel down on the head of the hyena who had again attempted to latch onto her leg. She felt the skull of the animal cave and its legs buckled. Karlach turned, continuing to gulp as she recovered her breath.
Lae'zel was still locked in combat with the gnoll commander, but it wasn't going well. Lae'zel had a new cut on her forehead, and her right pauldron had been smashed. The sun glinted off the scrap where it had landed a few yards away. The gnoll had several new gashes as well, and there was a small fire smoldering in the fur on its chest, but it didn't look like the creature had even noticed the injuries.
Karlach dashed forward, her rage carrying her forward with new speed. Flames trickled behind her, the heat from her engine adding power to her stride. As she ran, she brought her weapon across the back of a gnoll sending arrows at Tav and Astarion, severing it from its lower two-thirds. The creature fell without a sound, its chest and head falling a second before the rest of it.
As she sprinted towards Lae'zel, Karlach glanced across the field, trying to determine the tide of battle, and how her new allies were faring.
Astarion was perched on a rock with a steep incline to its peak on one side and a sheer drop of about eight meters on the other. He was taking shots at the gnolls that were attempting to surround Tav, and using their distraction to land devastating hits in the chinks of their armor. Most of his targets didn't last longer than two or three arrows.
Tav stood at the bottom of the path to the elf, holding his slender blade aloft and ready. It gleamed red with blood and gore, flashing menacingly as he brought it down through the upraised arm of a gnoll. The bodies of three foes littered the ground at his feet, and a hyena was limping away, fleeing from the murderous arc Tav had cut for himself. He looked across the clearing and locked eyes with Karlach. His gaze flicked between her and Lae'zel, and his eyes flashed with understanding.
Karlach watched as the man thrust the blade straight above his head and the weapon began to emit a horrifying squeal. The remaining gnolls around the field, save for the one dueling Lae'zel, turned to Tav, slavering and panting in their bloodlust. He brought his sword down and pointed it at the nearest of the beasts. He yelled something Karlach couldn't hear over the peal of his weapon, and the gnolls rushed forward, two of them sprinting past Karlach just to get to the man who would taunt them so foolishly.
Karlach saw Astarion yell something at Tav, and the man shouted back, but they were too far away to make out what they had said. The elf glared at Tav's back, but appeared more annoyed than anything else. He rolled his eyes and slipped another arrow onto the string. Then Karlach returned her focus to her initial target.
The immense being had driven Lae'zel to one knee. Her chest plate was dented, blood dripping from a gash along her left arm. The foe had raised its mace for a final, crushing strike, and Lae'zel held her sword up in a last-ditch attempt to ward off the blow. Even from her distance, Karlach could see it wouldn't be enough.
As she ran, desperate, Karlach pointed her sword at her new ally, trying to force the shielding magic of the blade to cover the woman. But her rage prevented her focus. The mace began to descend, and Karlach was not going to make it in time.
A whistle pierced the cacophony of battle. The note thrummed with a magic that even Karlach could recognize, rage or no. At the sound, the gnoll—a Flind, Karlach recognized—turned its head to Tav, and the movement caused the blow to miss Lae'zel by centimeters, and she slumped to the ground in exhaustion, her weapon falling to her side. That gave Karlach enough time to close the distance of the creature.
She had gone up against large foes before. You couldn't throw an imp in the Blood War without hitting something bigger than a house. On top of that, she had surprised the creature, and it was still recovering from whatever magic had enthralled it. But Flinds were tough. They were the older, stronger cousins to gnolls and were closely related to the demon Yeenoghu. They were more like fiends than anything else.
The Flind's thick hide kept her blade from biting too deep, and by the hells was it fast. It shook off the spell and was fully focused on her now. Its jaw dripped with blood and saliva, and she watched as a bead of magic ran along the haft of the weapon and into the creature's chest. After a moment, one of the smaller cuts on its chest began to close.
"Well," Karlach panted. "shit." She had to end this fast. If this thing could heal itself, she wasn't sure if she could outpace it.
They traded blows for a time. She focused her rage into each blow, adding strength to every strike, not giving any ground. Karlach had the advantage of reach, but the Flind had height, and its weapon was faster than hers.
She caught a swing against the flat of her blade, using the momentum of the creature to pull it off balance. Then, she dragged her sword back, catching the Flind under the chin with her hilt and forcing its head upwards. She lunged, trying to pierce the creature in the stomach, but she was a fraction of a second late, and she had to duck under another swing of the mace. She retreated a half step, again bringing her weapon to bear.
A movement behind the Flind caught her attention, and she was nearly brained during the distraction. Lae'zel had regained enough strength and had risen to one knee, bracing her sword behind the beast. She made eye contact with Karlach and jerked her head at the blade. It took a moment, but Karlach understood.
Knocking the mace aside once again, she drove her shoulder into the hybrid's chest. It stumbled backwards, arms whirling as it struggled to remain upright. Karlach again shoved the creature with all her might. It fell—right onto the point of Lae'zel's flaming sword. As it slid along the half of the weapon, an arrow zipped past Karlach's ear and punctured the eye of the creature, driving deep into its brain.
Between the arrow and the sword, the Flind couldn't continue. It died without a sound.
I have played about 300 hours of this game, and finished Act 1 like 40 times, and I never knew that "Flind" was not the name of the gnoll boss.
It's the name of the species, which I didn't realize until I was writing this chapter.