A New Path
Disclaimer: I don't own Baldur's Gate 3 or Game of Thrones. Nuff said.
Summary: Fleeing the Githyanki, the Nautiloid makes an unscheduled stop in an undiscovered Realm, much to the horror of the natives. Now, new passengers, new paths and new fates lie in store for Jaime Lannister.
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the comments! Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter, Enjoy! ;D And don't forget to comment! :)
Chapter 7
They'd bought some bedrolls and were camping in the druid groove for the night. Tomorrow they'd set out to find Halsin.
Jaime sighed deeply as he finally stretched out on a bed roll on this day that felt it would never end. There was one thing that was certain, the magic that was practised here was a game changer.
Escaping from the Nautiloid, fighting bandits and the dead, and meeting that strange dead talkative creature. Tired and exhausted, the day had been far from over.
Leaving the ruined temple, they'd found Lae'zel.
Jamie snickered, the arrogant woman thing- Githyanki, seeing her trapped in a cage and her demanding to be released had been fun to watch. Jaena had made her squirm after talking to the two…Tieflings that had trapped her.
Tieflings…another species. This one with horns and tails and claws…and they came in so many colours!
If that wasn't enough, they'd run right into the middle of a small battle, in perfect position to flank them…and introducing him to a couple more species.
He paused mentally, Is that six or seven new species now? Or was it eight?
Goblins, beasts, things out of a wild bard's imagination.
Fuck.
The battle had been intense, if quick. Trapped between a group of local sellswords, the tieflings and Jaime's group…it had been more of a slaughter than a battle in his opinion.
But an eye opening one, a big tiefling had blown a giant horn and suddenly Jaime had felt re-energised and fresh. Then Shadowheart had cast some spell and suddenly he felt nigh invincible. Or at least more so than usual.
The first hulking man beast he'd faced had gone down with two blows, with an ease that even he had felt too easy. And it wasn't because Jaime was just that good.
This was another example of magic that he hadn't known about or expected.
The hidden grove held much, innocents fleeing from these goblins and this Absolute. Then he found himself in the middle of something very familiar. Something he had taken lengths to stay away from back home.
Politics.
Dissent in ranks of these druids. The tieflings begging for a safe haven. And the less said about that little shit Mol, the better. He'd rarely found children endearing, but that little thief was in a class of her own.
And in the middle of all that, he'd see a man change into giant fucking brown bear!
Because he was a druid and shape changing into animals is as normal as breathing for them!
All he knew was that the Mormonts would be down right envious, even if Jorah Mormont already had enough hair to pass for a bear, he thought snidely.
And the druid leader, this Kagha, was just as horrible as any northern tree lover- but so much worse. What happened between her serpent and that tiefling child turned his stomach something great. He was glad that Jaena managed to save the girl. For his part, part of Jaime looked into Kagha's eyes and saw Aerys there, but he refused to acknowledge that part.
Of course, they'd found yet another infected man. This one was practically mundane when compared to the others. An actual man, scarred and one eyed, but he seemed pretty damn normal. Though like everyone he had some magic to his name, and an apparently famous name; the Blade of Frontiers. A strange name though. And a quest to find and kill an evil demon that had escaped from Avernus.
On second thoughts, Wyll was as unusual as everyone else.
His musings were cut short as Gale came up to his bedroll.
The wizard stood by him and smiled apologetically, "Jaime, I'm sorry to interrupt your rest, do you have a moment to talk? I promise to be quick," he finished with a friendly smile.
"Sure, why not," he responded warmly.
Inside, he was surprised at his welcoming reaction.
It took him a moment to realise what felt different. Most people were either afraid of him or despised him. All having assumptions about who Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer really is.
This was one of the good things about being in this world. It had been a long time since no one had judged him based upon his reputation.
It was…strange…and welcome. The feeling of being treated with respect. Without Judgement. Or disdain.
"I realise that you are new to our world and soo much is new to you. I could probably spend the entire day just explaining about all the different races we have here," he said with a depreciating laugh.
Jaime snorted, "You're not wrong."
"Yes well, even if I did that, we probably won't get to everything that's relevant," Gale admitted, "perhaps every night when we make camp, I could perhaps make a small summary of relevant issues, a few warning of things to be careful about and maybe answer any pertinent questions that you might have?"
Jaime rolled the offer around in his head, considering the number of unknowns he'd encountered, what Gale was suggesting was the bare minimum that was sensible to do.
Too many unknowns would probably get him and them killed long before these parasites turned them into Mind Flayers.
He nodded, "That sounds reasonable."
"Most excellent," said Gale with a small clap, "then I will leave you to your rest."
More and more, Gale reminded him of his old lessons, but in a good way.
"Can I ask you one question?" Jaime asked quickly.
"But of course," replied Gale.
"All day people have been rather hostile to Jaena," Jaime stated in confusion, "And she's been rather accepting of it." Some of the people had spoken to her the way that the dornish spoke to westerlanders. Though no Lannister would have tolerated the situation for long.
Gale looked pained, "Ah that. That is a very long story with many different aspects that will probably bore you to death. Suffice it to say. If you see a Drow with red eyes. You should probably run in the other direction. The average Drow will slit your throat simply because they can."
"What?" Jaime asked in surprise, sitting up and giving Gale his full attention.
"The Drow- those that don't follow Eilistraee; in particular the Lolthites, are in their own way as dangerous and feared as the Mind Flayers," Gale admitted, his tone grave and serious.
Jaime blinked. What the fuck?!
"It's late, I would be glad to explain everything in more detail at another time," Gale yawned before continuing, "But even powerful wizards like myself need their beauty sleep."
Jaime nodded silently, still coming to terms with what Gale had said about the Drow.
Gale left him alone and Jaime laid back down. Jaena was an excellent fighter and very reasonable to him. He thought about what Gale had said.
It was a long while before he was finally able to sleep.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
The next day started with more confusion.
At least until Jaena cast her Languages spell again. While that cleared up a lot, it had Gale promising to sit down with him every night to teach him what they called the common language.
And again Jaime had flashes of being a child and taught by maester Creylen in Casterly Rock. Though to give Gale credit, he seemed much more adept at keeping Jaime interested. He grimaced mentally, it would probably be just as fun as he remembered despite Gale's more enjoyable demeanour.
It was time to put their plan into motion. The plan was to go after the goblins and find this Halsin. From what everyone had said, he seemed much more friendly than that nutcase Kagha.
One encounter with a pair of witless and moronic siblings and another disturbing one with one of the parasites…and now suddenly they were going to investigate a cave that had absolutely nothing to do with their search for Halsin. And instead they were entering a cave to kill something called an owlbear.
A ridiculous name for some new species of bear, he thought in dersion.
They walked cautiously, avoiding making noise, trying to sneak up on this thing. Astarion was in the lead, each step was silent, the annoying elf was much more proficient at sneaking than Jaime had expected.
The cave reeked of carcasses, but much worse than any bear cave he'd entered before. What the hell was this thing eating?
Did this thing need all this caution? They were seven of them now in the group. He'd hunted and killed bears before, a degree of caution is needed, but this much? Especially considering all the magic they had between them?
He held his sword at the ready as they continued creeping into the cave, despite how unwieldy a greatsword and potentially problematic it could be in a cave.
A few more steps and he heard heavy breathing and a couple of low chirps.
He frowned, chirps?
They reached a wide open part of the cave and spread out. Deeper in the cave he could see the bear, it had its back to us. It was big. Definitely bigger than bears in Westeros. So maybe a greater degree of caution was needed.
He took another step forward…which was when he accidentally kicked a rock.
The beast whirled around, faster than Jaime expected. He froze.
Owlbear.
The name now just made a lot more sense. The damn bear had the head and face of an owl!
Seven Hells!
It looked around and saw them in an instant and let out a screeching roar that reverberated in the cave, nearly deafening him. It started to run towards them.
He readied his blade, thankful for the extra reach the greatsword gave him today.
And then the bear jumped. Arms spread, almost like wings...
Jaime froze and stared up in disbelief as the bear-like creature soared like a bird through the air above them. His sword came down in disbelief. He remained frozen in place, staring up in disbelief, until it was too late…
The bear slammed down on top of him, knocking him flat on his back with the bear on top of him. He felt something crack in his back and he lost the feeling in his legs. The beast screeched like an owl in his face and reared back on two legs before slamming back down on his chest with both its arms with a tremendous smash. His armour dented and broke, he coughed and a river of blood spurted from his mouth and he knew his end was at hand.
He tried to use what little strength he had left, punching and pushing at the bear, but to no avail.
The bear lowered its head and pain erupted in his face. He screamed in rage and eyesight turned red, the entire world became tinged in red.
The bear reared up again on its hindlegs and then came crashing down on him again.
Pain and blackness overcame him…and the world was lost to him.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
The blackness subsided, the pain disappeared and Jaime found himself standing and looking at a massive city spread out in front of him.
He stood at the outskirts of a city. The city stretched out as far as he could see, massive beyond anything that he had ever imagined. It made King's Landing and Lannisport seem like small villages in comparison. In the distance, a crystal tower that dwarfed the Hightower in size and majesty rose into the heavens, dominating the landscape of the city.
Jaime blinked and stood there just trying to understand. One minute he was fighting that bear thing…the next he was here.
He didn't know how long he stood there in confusion.
A man approached him as he stood there staring. He was skeletal, and just…looked unnatural, in a large billowing tattered robe.
The ghastly apparition looked at him with surprisingly human eyes and spoke gravely, "Welcome to the City of the Dead, where all souls come to be judged…"
"Fuck…"
Author's Notes: he he. So that happened. And to all the people that were saying there shouldn't be any hand holding for Jaime- this is what happens when his hand isn't held. So in the next chapter, his class will be revealed! So hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :) Don't forget the comment! :)