text stringlengths 0 41.4k |
|---|
"But if you insist, why don't you get another two kits for us," he said to Shadowheart. |
"You don't have to do that, you know?" Lyra mumbled while the other two picked out the face painting kits. |
"My sweet, there are very few things I wouldn't gladly do to help you get back your bubbly personality." |
She stuck out her tongue at him as a response. |
"See? It's working already. Now come on," he took the two kits Shadowheart handed him, "Let's see if you can make me prettier than I already am." |
"I don't know if that's possible, little star." She could see how he tried to hide how that nickname affected him, especially since they were in public. In private, whenever she called him that he would melt into her arms as she gave him endless amounts of affection. |
"Well," it only took a second for him to regain his composure, "Aren't you a flatterer? Now, how about this, try your best to not make me look worse, please." |
They sat down, and Lyra started to dip the thin brush into the paint. She chose black to start out with and began painting curves under his eyes that swirled out onto the side of his face. She continued accentuating his features, swapping out the black for gold and then for purple. When she asked, he closed his eyes for her as she painted his eyelids. Finally, she added little stars across his cheek to finish the look. Leaning back from her handy work, she looked over his face. |
While he didn't look more beautiful, per say (it just wasn't possible), he did look more carefree, like he hadn't just killed his abusive master last tenday or so. She saw another world where they didn't have to worry about surviving until the next day, where they could just be and love each other. Her heart swelled, and then she reached in to kiss him passionately. |
He let out a presently surprised noise before returning the kiss. The broke apart for air, on Lyra's part, and he whispered, "And here I thought you said I wouldn't get more beautiful." |
She scoffed, "No, you dickhead. I just—ugh. I just love you so much." He smiled as she kissed him again. |
It was his turn to break them apart. "As much as I love kissing you, I think it's your turn." He grabbed a kit from beside them and started to open it. "And what would you like? Now, be mindful of the fact that I don't possess your artistic talent, darling." |
She thought for a moment and grinned while she said, "Make it look like I'm crying tears of blood." |
He sighed with fake exasperation, "As you wish, my darling." |
When they had finished, Karlach approached them. Shadowheart had decorated her face with bright, yellow flowers. "Hey, Lyra! You should come—oh. That's...an interesting choice in makeup?" |
"Damn it, I wish I thought of that," Shadowheart said. The cleric had a flock of black birds on one cheek and what looked like a night orchid on the other. |
Gale finally made it back to the group and took in all their faces. "It looks like I missed out on the fun," he said, not actually sounding sad about it. |
Karlach responded, "That's not true! You made it just in time for me to make Lyra and Astarion do a love test." |
"A what now?" the two elves said in unison. |
"It's what Karlach and I just did," Shadowheart said. |
"Yeah, this druid sent us to some place in our minds and asked us questions about each other, and when we answered them right, she told us our love would last. Isn't that cool?" |
"Well, it would be cool, if it didn't sound like a scam," Lyra said as she crossed her arms. |
But it didn't matter, because before she could protest more, Karlach grabbed her while Shadowheart grabbed Astarion, and the two dragged them to their doom. Gale followed with amusement. |
Once they reached the druid, she asked Karlach, "Well hello, are these the two friends of yours you were talking about?" Karlach gave a nod, and the druid continued, "How sweet. You're right: their love is no secret. It comes off of them in waves, especially this one's." The druid pointed at Lyra. No one else seemed to feel offput like Lyra did. The way the druid spoke, how she pointed at Lyra, and the words that followed, it all made warning sirens go off in Lyra's head. |
"Why don't you two lovebirds let me do the test, and we can really see how strong that love is?" |
Astarion was about to give a sassy reply, before Lyra grabbed his wrist firmly, and in a serious tone, said, "No." |
Her tone caught her companions off guard as they all stared at her, confused. They didn't protest as she started to back away, but the druid started to laugh. It might have been a different voice, but the insanity of it was the same. It was her. |
Right before their eyes, the druid changed into Orin, and Lyra reacted as quick as she could. Still holding his wrist, she yanked Astarion behind her and pulled out her sword to slash at Bhaal's chosen. Her sword was stopped with Orin's bloody dagger. Nobody moved, afraid of what was to come next. Lyra's sword shook slightly as she continued pressing into the dagger. |
She should have let go of Astarion, so she would have both hands on her sword. But she couldn't. Her fear and protectiveness were on overdrive. |
"And here I thought you would have learned your lesson from last time. Yet, I can't complain; you've just made this so much more fun," Orin said has she disappeared into red mist. |
"What the fuck just happened?" Karlach exclaimed, expressing everyone's sentiment. They all started to talk amongst each other worriedly, while Lyra stayed still. Her grip on Astarion's wrist did not loosen as she stared where Orin had just been. |
"Um, Lyra?" Astarion asked cautiously, "What's going on in that head of yours?" |
Images of Aerin's lifeless body, ripped to pieces, flashed through Lyra's mind. Her grip tightened. |
"Ow—Hey, love, I know you don't mean to, but that kind of hurts—" |
"And here I thought you would have learned your lesson from last time." |
"Hey—ow—Lyra! Don't make Shadowheart have to heal a broken wrist!" |
"You've just made this so much more fun." |
"LYRA!" His shout brought her back from her thoughts, and she quickly let him go as she spun around to face him. |
"You're in danger," she whispered, almost frantic. |
He looked at her, confused, as he rubbed his aching wrist. |
"She—" she took a shaky breath, "She's going to use you to get to me. She'll—" Lyra couldn't finish the sentence as the words got caught in her throat. Blinking tears out of her scar-free, left eye, she grabbed Astarion by the shoulders, her eyes wide and desperate. "You will not leave my sight. Do you understand?" Lyra urged. |
"Lyra, what—" |
She shook him with a jolt, "Do you understand?!" She hated the tone she was using, but she needed him to understand, to understand how severe the situation was. |
He looked at her, eyes slightly widened with both concern and a little fear. She tried to not let it bother her too much. |
Not wanting to speak, he simply nodded. |
Lyra sighed and let her intensity fade. "Thank you. I...I'm sorry," she apologized as she brought his injured wrist to her lips. After she gave a gentle kiss, she healed the bruise away with a simple healing spell. |
He didn't say anything. He just continued to look at her with an expression she couldn't quite place. The others had gathered around them and hadn't said anything during Lyra's outburst, afraid to make it worse. But now, Shadowheart broke the silence, "How do you know he's the one she'll target?" |
"Because she wants to break me before she kills me," anxiety made her usually confident voice waver, "Now, she knows how. It's why she had you bring us over." |
Lyra raised her hand up to stop the two from apologizing. "It's not your fault. She's...she's a twisted monster." She spit out the word like it was rotten. "She knows just how to get you into her trap. But it will end tonight. Tonight—tonight, we will kill her." |
The companions walked back to the tavern with urgency in each quick step they took. Astarion kept his promise and stayed on Lyra's left side where she kept a hand wrapped around his, never planning to let go. |
Well, until a body slammed into her. |
The stench of alcohol and body odor made Lyra wrinkle her nose as she tried to push the drunk off of her. Of course, they just had to walk in the middle of a street brawl. The others involved crowded around Lyra has they tried to punch the man on top of her, ignoring her existence completely. |
Before Lyra could set every single one of them on fire, Karlach started pulling them up and shoving them away. "Fuck off, you fucking losers," the barbarian threatened. |
Gale reached a hand down after they left to help Lyra stand. "Are you alright?" he asked, with Shadowheart at the ready with a healing spell. |
The druid dusted herself off and nodded. "I'm fine. Just even more irritated than I was before," she said grumpily before realizing with a start that she couldn't see Astarion anymore. She whipped her head around to spot him and was relieved to see him standing a few feet away. |
But...he didn't say anything. Not a "That was fun to watch" or even a "Are you okay?" He just stood there, looking at her with a slight sneer. Was he mad at her? She knew she had been a little over the top earlier, but usually he was understanding of how hard it was to keep your cool when the demons of your past came back to haunt you. |
Deciding not to comment on it, Lyra walked up to him to take his hand into hers again. His hand reluctantly let her fingers intertwine with his. Something felt off about the whole thing, but Lyra decided against saying anything. He might have been angry with her, but at least he was safe. They were almost to the tavern anyways, maybe she could have a conversation with him there. |
Once they reached their destination, the group ran up the stairs after wading through the crowd of people on the first floor. After running into the lounge where the rest of the group was, they had a lot of explaining to do. |
Lyra was sharpening her blades in their bedroom, preparing for battle like the rest of her companions. Her and Astarion had yet to speak as much as a word to each other. This was different than any bump they've had before, and it made her feel uneasy. He could be grumpy, annoyed, on edge, all the emotions that would make him snap and be overly harsh. But he never seemed to mean it with her. She would play along, make some sarcastic retorts back, and he would calm down and apologize. |
"Do you really think that's going to make a difference?" His voice brought her out of her thoughts and sent a chill down her spine. Why did he sound so wrong, so cold? |
"She'll be able to snap your bones, one by one, before you can even get a cut on her." |
Lyra stared at him in shock, not knowing how to respond. All she wanted to do was cry. Why was he saying all of this to her? trying to break her determination? |
Before she could yell at him for being such an asshole, his hands had wrapped around her throat and pinned her to the wall. She dropped her swords in the rush, so she flailed uselessly against him, trying to tear his hands away with her own. In her struggle to breathe, the smell of ash and old blood filled her nose. Her heart lurched in her chest. This wasn't Astarion. |
Since it wasn't actually her love, she felt no remorse as she slammed her knee as hard as she could into his dick, making the hold on her loosen. She used the opportunity to shove the changeling away, sprinting out of the room towards the lounge. She heard it chase after her. |
"Come back here you filth; I'm not done," it snarled. |
Her companions looked up from what they were doing as she ran into the room, coughing as she tried to catch her breath. Lyra didn't have enough time to warn them before her attacker walked into the room, grabbing the closest person it could find. Unfortunately, it was Shadowheart. |
"What the—Let me—!" she was caught off with a gasp as a familiar blood-stained dagger was put against her throat. |
"Astarion?! What are you..." Karlach trailed off when what looked to be their vampire friend shifted into Orin. "...Oh, fuck." |
Lyra couldn't say anything. Her throat was still recovering from the attempted strangulation, and the sobs that were building up in her chest didn't help. She knew what this meant, and it made her heart feel like it had been drenched in an unforgiving poison. |
Halsin spoke for her, "What have you done with Astarion?" |
"It was so sweet. You," she nodded to Lyra, "Got pushed down by some worthless flesh in the streets, taking your little lover with you. He was quick to get up to try and rush to your side, but it was so easy to have my fellow Bhaalspawn wrap their hands around his mouth, stuffing a rag filled with my favorite poison underneath his little fangs. None of you were paying attention, and I easily took his place." |
Tears ran down Lyra's cheek. "Where—is—he?" Lyra said between angry sobs. |
"He's in my lair laying so still, ready to be slain. Now, if only there was some way for you to save him..." |
"Spit it out, you wretch," Wyll demanded. |
"I want Gortash's heart ripped out of him and his netherstone brought to me. Sound easy enough?" |
The group stayed silent besides Lyra's gasps for air. |
"And if you step into my domain without it," Orin continued, "You can permanently say goodbye to your favorite spawn." Once again, she vanished into thin air. |
Lyra fell to her knees with a furious, pathetic scream. Her voice cracked and cut off, still incredibly sore. She slammed her fist into the ground hard enough that a flame of numbness spread up her arm. Then, she started to take deep breaths through her nose, getting her resolve back. It wouldn't do Astarion any good for her to be like this. |
Slowly coming to a stand, she felt Karlach's warm fiery hand touch her shoulder for comfort. "We will get him back," she said with a fierce determination, "And we'll make sure Orin will forever regret taking him from us." |
Shadowheart walked up to Lyra and wrapped her in a hug. She still seemed shaken, but otherwise unharmed. "He's a survivor," the cleric whispered, "He'll survive this." Lyra knew that wasn't necessarily true, but she let it comfort her anyways. |
When they pulled away, Halsin came into view. "What's the plan? Whatever you say, we will all follow." Taking a look around, they all nodded in agreement. |
"I will kill Orin, no matter what. But, if we kill both Gortash and Orin, getting to the elder brain will be so much harder, and there's no point if we all end up turning into mind flayers after all this. Besides, I can’t trust her word. Nothing will stop her from killing Astarion anyway. No. We're going straight to her." |
"We'll have to move quickly once we get there," Gale said. |
"We should definitely avoid it at all costs, but can you not just resurrect him if she does kill him? Lyra hoards those scrolls like no one's business," Wyll said. |
"I'm not taking any chances," Lyra said firmly, "We don't know what tricks she has up her sleeve thanks to Bhaal." |
"Who's going to take his place?" Wyll asked. |
Right. The original party that was going to help Lyra take on Orin was Gale, Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach. They couldn't leave their camp in the tavern barren and vulnerable. But now Astarion wasn't here. Lae'zel would probably be the best bet, since, like Astarion, could easily take out multiple enemies in one swift movement. It wouldn't be the same—his ability to hide in plain sight made a good defense as he slowly killed them one by one—but it would have to do. |
The trek through the sewers was long and treacherous. They cut through waves of monsters after monsters, but they finally reached the temple. Lyra was immensely glad the necklace from Bhaal had come in handy on their way. |
Her pace sped up as she pushed through the doors leading to Orin, old memories bubbling up under her skin. She let her strides become confident, powerful. It would end differently this time; it had to. |
She ran down the stairs leaving the others. They stayed on the steps to use the height to their advantage when it would come down to it. It took every fiber in her being to resist running to Astarion's side when she caught sight of him. His body laid on the slab of stone, deathly still. Some kind of curse, maybe it was the poison, had been placed on him to keep him that way. |
Orin stood behind him with her blade in front of her, pointing at Lyra. "Where is his netherstone, you infernal brat?" |
"Let him go, and I'll give it to you." Lyra hovered her hand cautiously over her sword, just in case. |
Orin's bone-chilling laugh echoed through the temple. "I am Bhaal's favorite, and you still think I'll fall for your little tricks?" She made her way over to Astarion, holding her knife in the air. "I would say your goodbyes; your little scrolls are useless against Bhaal's blessing." She laughed again before starting to swing her knife down. But before it could hit his flesh, Gale shot magic missiles at her hand, causing her to drop the knife. |
Lyra sprung into action. She leaped over Astarion's body as she threw herself on top of Orin, sending the pair flying backwards. The others made their way down the steps to do their part. |
Shadowheart made her way to the unconscious elf to try and relieve him from whatever curse he was under. Karlach and Lae'zel started to take out the other Bhaal followers while Gale stayed on the stairs. His magic rained down on the battle. Orin was Lyra's to kill. So, the druid started summoning the powers of the wild onto her enemy. Lightning, fire, ice, vines—all of it. |
However, she realized that some kind of barrier kept most of the damage from hurting Orin. |
"Gale!" she mentally shouted through the tadpole connection, "Why is she hardly taking any damage?" |
A moment passed before he responded, "It looks like she has an unstoppable boon from Bhaal. I'll send something her way to get through, just a second." |
While she waited, Lyra had to leap to the side to dodge Orin's attack. Then, she heard Shadowheart speak behind her. |
"Whatever curse or poison this is, it's a strong one! I don't know if I can get rid of it while we're here." |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.