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"Lemon! Yes! They tasted like those." |
"Did that not curdle the cream?" Gale asked furrowing his brow. Lae’zel shook her head. "Fascinating, you don’t happen to remember the plane do you?" Gale said, slurping some more stew. Lae’zel shook her head again. |
"The outer planes blend together," Lae’zel said shrugging. |
"How do you all ever figure out what’s safe to eat when you’re traveling between planes like that?" asked Astarion. |
"We just watch and see what the natives eat. Then eat that," Lae’zel said gesturing towards the stew. "Most humans eat what’s edible." The group continued chatting amongst themselves over supper until the fire started to dwindle. Shadowheart was the first to tuck in for the night, and the rest followed soon afterwards. Rose was settling down into her bedroll, when Astarion ducked into her tent. |
"I hope you didn’t forget about our little chat the other night," he said, letting the flap close behind him as he entered. |
"I hadn’t," Rose sighed, "What is it you’re wanting out of this?" She asked, looking up at him. |
"Nothing too sordid I assure you. More a request, as a sort of experiment for myself really," Astarion said, sitting down cross legged next to her bedroll. "Something I’ve never actually tried myself but have always wanted to." Rose raised an eyebrow at him. |
"And it had to involve you coming into my tent?" she asked. |
"No actually, I’m just enjoying that I no longer have to ask to enter." |
"I mean it’s still considered courtesy to ask," Rose murmured. "Can you cut to the point of this? Some of us have exploring to do in the morning." |
"Right," Astarion laughed nervously. "I am a vampire spawn; there isn’t really an easy way to bring that up in conversation," he rubbed at his leg anxiously. Rose tilted her head. |
"Is that like a nationality or something?" Rose asked. Astarion laughed. |
"No, it’s more like a... condition I have. The way you eat food to sustain yourself? I have to drink blood. Now, normally, I consume from animals. But, there’s not exactly a lot around to catch right now, and I’m exhausted after all that ship crashing nonsense. I was hoping, perhaps, you would let me try some of yours, especially after the aid I was able to provide last night." |
"I won’t take a drop more than I need, I promise. Plus, human blood is more nutritious than what I normally consume. It would make it much easier for me to go out fighting with you all if I weren't so exhausted and hungry all the time," Astarion said, leaning back onto the palms of his hands. Rose pondered his words for a moment, then nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Would you mind laying back?" Rose sighed and laid down onto her bedroll. Astarion leaned over her, and placed two of his fingers against the dagger tattoo on her wrist. |
"Well then," he leaned in closer to her neck, "I do apologize if this hurts." With a sudden sharp piercing pain, Rose felt as his fangs slid into her neck. |
It felt as if ice shards were being shoved into her veins. She felt the coldness run the length of her body down into the soles of her feet. Rose shuddered from the shock of the sensation. It was followed by a warmth spreading up her legs resting across her hips. Her very core seemed to be turning to liquid in the heat of it. "Fuck," escaped from her as a sigh. She needed to get him off of her, but her limbs wouldn’t respond. Her body seemed perfectly content to just lie there, a treacherous thing. The warmth continued pooling between her thighs. It ebbed and flowed in sync with each pull of her blood Astarion took. Another sigh escaped her lips. "Hey Rose, are you still awake? There was something I was meaning to-," Gale stepped into the tent, staring down at the pair on the floor. There was a loud boom, and Astarion was flung off of her. She heard Astarion yelp as he hit the ground on the far side of the tent. "What in the HELLS are you doing," Gale moved to cross the tent towards Astarion, lightning crackling around his right hand. Rose sat up and held up her hand in a calming gesture. "I’m fine!" Rose said, panting lightly and holding her other hand to her neck. The warmth still pooled there between her legs. "I’m fine!" Astarion sat up against the back of the tent wiping his mouth. "Do you just attack people in their sleep?" Gale fumed. "He wasn’t attacking me, Gale," Rose said, "I told him that it was alright." "You told him it was alright?!" Gale spun back on his heel to face her. "You willingly let a vampire bite you. Are you out of your mind?" "Spawn," Astarion chimed in. Gale looked towards him. "I am only a vampire spawn. I wasn’t trying to turn her or anything just-" "Hungry." Gale finished. Astarion nodded. "How were you able to walk in the sun?" "It’s a result of the tadpole I think. I’m no longer bound to my master’s commands, I don’t have to ask to enter buildings, and I am able to stand in the sun for the first time in nearly two hundred years. It’s warmer than I remembered," Astarion said, picking at some lint on his shirt. "And, like Rose said, I asked her if I could drink from her. I wouldn’t attack someone, they tend to fight back." "You are a vampire spawn, who can walk in the sun, and you didn’t even think to tell me?" Gale asked. "Didn’t think that’s the least bit fascinating?" "No, I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. It’s not the sort of thing one goes around flaunting," Astarion said. Gale nodded thoughtfully. "Did you really need to wake the whole camp by the way? You couldn’t have just shoved him off of me?" Rose asked. "Oh, these tents are all woven to be soundproof. That’s why I insisted we get these, I’ve been told my snoring could wake the dead and might’ve on one occasion," Gale said gesturing to a faintly glowing rune on the inside of the tent flap. "No one heard that besides the three of us. I apologize if I hurt you Astarion but to be fair, I did think you were trying to rip her throat out." "Understandable," Astarion grinned, her blood still smeared across his fangs. "She did taste rather pleasant." "Don’t assume you’re going to try me next ," Gale said sternly. Astarion shook his head. "Not you, you smell rotten from here. Are you sick with something?" Astarion asked, tilting his head slightly. "I’ve not smelt blood sickness like that before though." "That would actually be what I was going to discuss with Rose," Gale said, turning to her. "What’s wrong?" Rose asked. "I have this condition," Gale started, "It’s nothing to be concerned about, I can keep it under control, it just requires me to consume the weave in an artifact every so often. Easy to do when you live in a major city, not so easy when you’re out exploring." Astarion and Rose stared at him for a moment, before Rose moved to stand up. "Alright, we fou-" the room swam before her and she collapsed onto the ground. |
Rose came to a few moments later to find herself propped up in a chair, Astarion standing beside her, a slight expression of concern on his face, and she heard Gale re-enter the tent. "Ah good. You’re conscious. Look, I’m not going to try to tell either of you how to do whatever arrangement you’ve set up here, but, I am going to ask that you at least take care of yourself Rose," Gale said, handing her a scroll. "This will help for tonight. Lesser Restoration should help you recuperate. You haven’t forgotten how to read, have you?" Gale furrowed his brow. Rose snorted and shook her head. "I can still read," Rose said flatly. "Not that it’s a requisite for my magic." "Glad to see the hit to the head there didn’t do any more damage," Gale said. "You should be able to learn that spell soon enough with all the fighting and exploring we’re likely to do. What Circle were you again?" "Spores," Rose replied, not sure where the answer came from. Gale grimaced. "Your spells might be more useful in battle than they would be for medical. And well, after the medical caster fails. Astarion, can you cast?" Gale asked. "Barely," Astarion replied. "But, if Rose is willing to," he gestured towards his neck, "I suppose it’s only fair I at least heal her afterwards. Aftercare and all that." "We’ll talk with Withers in the morning and get you sorted. Are you any good with a bow by chance?" Gale asked. Astarion nodded. "Excellent. We can chat more about my objects in the future when the need arises. So far, I’ve been alright. I will be heading to bed now. See you both in the morning," Gale nodded to them, and headed out of the tent. Rose opened the scroll and cast the spell on herself, immediately feeling back to her full strength. "Much better," she said to herself. "I hope that didn’t hurt you too badly," Astarion said. Rose felt her cheeks flush. The warmth she had felt earlier thrummed back into her. "It...wasn’t so bad after the initial shock of it. A bit difficult to suppress the urge to fight you off but I seemed to have managed it," she smiled. "So, am I alright to-" "Yes you can feed on me again," Rose said. "I was going to ask if I was alright to head out but thank you for offering. If I didn’t know better I’d think you enjoyed yourself," Astarion smirked. Rose said nothing in response and instead chose to find her fingernails incredibly fascinating. "Thank you, by the way," Astarion said as he ducked out of her tent. Rose carefully made her way back to her bedroll and laid down for her rest. |
Rose woke the next morning to a wonderful smell floating through the air. She headed out of her tent to find Shadowheart tending to the camp stove. |
"That smells heavenly," said Rose, crossing towards the center of camp. |
"I decided to give Elminster’s Toast a try, Gale happened to have the instructions on him," Shadowheart said excitedly, "Plus, Karlach had some cinnamon in her pack, and there was a traveling merchant who had some vanilla beans and eggs on him." Shadowheart scooped a slice of the thick bread and some eggs onto a plate for Rose, and Rose took her seat near the fire. Rose saw Gale making his way across the clearing from where Withers usually rested. |
"Astarion’s be sorted by the way," Gale said taking a seat next to Rose. "We figured he would be better off as a ranger. Now if I can just get Shadowheart here to-" |
"I’m not converting to serving Selune. Stop asking," snapped Shadowheart as she sat across from them. Gale frowned. |
"But it-" Gale started. |
"Don’t care. Before you ask it again, I would ask why you think it wise to aggravate the one most likely to save your life," Shadowheart said coldly before biting into her eggs. Gale shrugged and began eating as well. |
The rest of the camp made their way over and the group chatted before divvying up duties for the day. To everyone’s surprise, Astarion was eager to head out exploring for the day. Shadowheart proclaimed she had to see how that went and agreed to tag along as well. Gale needed to spend the day copying over spell scrolls, and Lae’zel was eager to try to send a letter out . That left Karlach and Rose to venture out as well for the day. |
Soon enough, the group headed out for the day. They decided to try to double back to the Nautiloid crash and see if they’d missed any other routes that could lead towards the Githyanki Creche. They walked for some time chatting idly, before they came across a clearing and heard shouting up ahead. |
As they rounded the clearing, a band of goblins and bugbears appeared to be attacking a group of merchants. Before Rose had time to register the scene before her, an arrow flew over her shoulder, piercing through the eye of one of the goblins. Their tiny form fell to the dirt unmoving. |
"Nice shot Astarion!" whooped Karlach as she charged forward into the crowd with her ax at the ready. Rose and Shadowheart began flinging spells into the fray. The fight continued on for several moments, until Rose saw a fury of motion coming down the cliffside and heading straight for Karlach. Rose charged towards her friend, but as she took a step something in her shifted. Her foot extended and she fell forward onto all fours sprinting and charged against the figure swatting it down beneath her paw. Rose growled down at the human beneath her paw. He wriggled underneath. Karlach turned, pulling her ax from the stomach of a goblin that crumpled to the ground. Her eyes lit with panic at the sight of the man under Rose’s paw. |
"Oh Hells, not now," Karlach groaned as she swung her axe towards the next bugbear. |
"Get off of me, beast! Can you not see the fiend?" The male struggled under the weight of her claws. For a moment, Rose imagined popping his head like a grape. She raised her other claw to do just that before Karlach called back. |
"Rose don’t hurt him just...keep him down," Karlach said, knocking the head off the bugbear. Rose attempted to frown, however her new lips couldn’t seem to manage it. She instead settled for baring her teeth at the man and growling. |
"Do you speak Common?" the man asked, looking up at Rose curiously. "Please get off of me, I’ve been hunting that fiend for days she’s a threat to us all." Rose attempted a laugh but it just came out of her snout as hot air. The man continued struggling under her claw as her companions made quick work of the attacking goblins. Karlach headed back over to the pair of him. |
"I didn’t know you could wildshape Rose," Karlach said. Neither did Rose. |
"Rose? Please get off of me," said the man. Rose growled in response. Astarion and Shadowheart made their way over shortly. |
"Look, Wyll? Right? I’m not sure what they told you but I’m not a fiend, I’m just a tiefling," Karlach sighed, crossing her arms. The man, Wyll, snorted. |
"Don’t try to lie to me," he sneered. |
"Wyll?" A male voice called from the backside of the clearing. "Please tell me you don’t think that girl is a fiend. She’s just a tiefling, same as we are." Wyll looked back and forth between the source of the voice, the carnage on the ground, and Karlach, and sighed in resignation. |
"You aren’t a fiend?" Wyll asked Karlach. |
"Hells no," Karlach replied, "I was forcibly enlisted in Zariel’s army. I don’t know who sent you after me, but you’re intels wrong, mate. I could show you easily enough but-" Rose felt the parasite thrum behind her eye. Images of chaotic battlefields filled her mind. To Rose’s surprise, she felt a new mind connected to hers, and realized the man under her claw was also responding to the parasites. The visions ended, and Wyll turned back to look up at Rose. |
"You can get off of me now. I won’t harm her," he said quietly. Rose looked at Karlach, who nodded to her. She removed her claw from the man and let him get to his feet. |
"Rose, you can dismiss that shape any time now," Astarion said. Rose blinked at him. "You can dismiss that, can’t you?" Rose shook her head. "You forgot how to change back didn’t you?" Rose nodded firmly. Astarion sighed. |
"Well, luckily for you Ms Rose the Badger, there happens to be a druidic grove nearby," said Wyll. Rose tilted her head. "You can all come with me." Wyll made his way to the backside of the clearing, where to Rose’s surprise the cliff wall began to rise, giving way to a passage underneath. Rose trotted along after him, and the rest of the group followed behind her. |
They came into a small settlement in what appeared to be a large cavern, and Wyll led them straight through towards the back and down a flight of steps. Arguing ahead of them echoed back, but by the time they reached the end the arguing paused. Ahead of them stood two druids and a bear. "Apologies for interrupting, however, my companion here seems to have forgotten how to transform back out of her wildshape," Wyll said, gesturing to Rose. "We were hoping you all would be able to assist her?" Rose raised her claw awkwardly in an attempt at a wave. |
"You’ve forgotten how to turn back sister?" the bear asked her. "To be fair, I also can’t recall having done this previously," Rose replied meekly. The bear nodded empathetically. |
"I got stuck as a cat for two days the first time. Come with me, Nettie’s better at explaining this than I am," the bear said, turning towards a nearby building. Rose turned to her companions, gestured towards the door with her head, and followed after the bear. |
"Do you want us to follow?" called Shadowheart after them. Rose turned back and shook her head, before continuing on after the bear. |
Rose and the bear made their way into the building. There was shouting ahead, but Rose paused, noticing a snake making its way along the ground before her. Rose reached out her paw and scooped it up, and bit into the creature’s head. It tasted fantastic, and she continued trotting along after the bear, finishing up the little snack. Rose and the bear passed a woman scolding a tiefling child, and headed further back into the enclave. |
"Hey Nettie, we have a new one here. Hasn’t shapeshifted before, can’t figure out how to get back," the bear said to a dwarven woman. Nettie nodded. Rose blinked at her. |
"Hello there," Nettie smiled, "So this part is easy enough once you get the hang of it. Focus on something that makes you feel human, some piece of you that’s distinctly human. For me, I think about my ma holding me after my pa passed. It doesn’t have to be a sad memory, just something that makes you feel grounded in yourself. Something only a person is capable of feeling, not rage, not hunger, nothing about survival. For me, grief works." |
Rose deflated. Of course, the way back would require memories. She searched the black static of her brain. There was still nothing there to pull from. She only had her last few days traveling with her companions to think about. She thought fondly of chatting around the fire with everyone the night before, teasing and laughing with each other, at ease. It was a pleasant thought, and a smile formed across her lips. Rose blinked, before reaching her hand up to touch her face. Nettie clapped excitedly. |
"Very good! Nettie cheered. The bear roared in approval. |
"Thank you miss! I best get back to my companions. We’re supposed to be looking for a group that can heal us, we’ve picked up these awful parasites on the road and we’re anxious to be free of them," Rose said, turning to leave. "They wouldn’t happen to be mindflayer parasites, would they?" Nettie asked cautiously. Rose paused and turned back towards her. |
"How did you-" Rose started. |
"We’ve been seeing a lot of them around here lately, but they’re taking much longer to mature than your normal course of the ... disease. Master Halsin went out to try to figure out what’s causing this, but he hasn’t returned yet. "I’m sorry, he was closer to figuring out a cure for it," Nettie sighed. |
"Do you know where he’s gone?" Rose asked. Nettie shook her head. |
"They were headed to a goblin camp nearby, but I couldn’t tell you where. Those merchants that took him might be able to." Nettie rattled off a description of the merchants they’d saved earlier at the gate. Rose nodded to herself. |
"Thank you, I’ll see if my companions are up to finding him," Rose said. "I wish you the best in that," Nettie replied. Rose turned to leave again, and was greeted by the woman who had been yelling at the child earlier. "Have either of you seen Teela? My snake?" the woman asked concernedly. Rose shook her head, and had to restrain herself from running out of the building. She kept what she hoped was an unsuspicious pace, until she made her way back outside and into the grove proper. She saw her companions still waiting by the stairs and made her way over to them. |
"Well I’m back to just two legs," Rose laughed. "Roslyn? Roslyn Rithrethror? As I live and breathe, how long has it been?" Wyll asked smiling, staring directly at her. Rose stared back at him. |
"You....you know me?" she asked. |
"Of course," Wyll said, smiling. "You’re a hard one to forget. Seriously, how long has it been?" |
"I honestly couldn’t tell you," Rose sighed. "The tadpole seems to have devoured everything really before the ship. This is the first I’ve even heard of "Roslyn Rithrethror’. I just knew my name was Rose." Wyll’s smile fell and he nodded to himself. |
"Well, perhaps I can catch you up later. I’ve a few things I’d like Roslyn to answer for, but Rose it’s a pleasure to meet you.," Wyll remarked. She couldn’t pick out if the tone in his voice was sadness or relief. Shadowheart came down the stairs to join the pair. |
"Wyll, we all have these tadpoles in our heads. We’re working together to try and find a cure, " Shadowheart prompted. "Perhaps, you’d like to journey with us? We’ve a camp not too far from here." Wyll looked between Shadowheart and Rose, before nodding again. Shadowheart showed him where they’d made camp on his map. |
"Sure thing, I will meet you all back there tonight," Wyll smiled and headed off. |
"The others have been busy chattering with the refugees, come on, we should go find them," Shadowheart said to Rose. The pair began making their way up the staircase and back towards the center of the settlement. Rose spotted Karlach chatting with a tiefling man who looked to be a blacksmith of some sort, she nudged Shadowheart and headed over in that direction. |
"Hey! Rose!" Karlach called as she waved them over. "This here’s Dammon. He’s an infernal mechanic." Dammon nodded his head in response. "Tell her what you told me Dammon!" Karlach sounded almost like she might burst with excitement. Rose noticed the engine where her heart should be glowing brighter from it. |
"Right, Karlach’s engine seems to be running hotter than it should, I think I should be able to create the part to fix it, but I’ll need some infernal iron first. And also she’ll need to install it once it’s ready." Dammon explained, giving some additional details about what made the iron uniquely infernal.. Rose nodded, then rifled through her bag. |
"Is this what you need?" Rose asked, producing the scrap metal from her bag. |
"Yes, actually. Where did you find this?" Dammon asked, reaching for the metal. Rose placed it in his palm. |
"Found it in some abandoned basement while we were out exploring," Rose replied. |
"Let me get to work on this then, it’ll take a couple minutes," Dammon said, turning to his forge. The trio took this as their queue to leave him to it, and headed back towards the front of the settlement. |
"Can I ask, did anyone else think he had the most striking blue eyes they’ve ever seen?" Shadowheart gushed. Karlach nodded enthusiastically. |
"Right?! At least my mechanic is handsome this time. Last one was an imp," Karlach shuddered. Shadowheart and Rose laughed. |
"I hope you all aren’t having too much fun without me," Astarion said walking over with a new bow slung across his back. "What are we ridiculing this time?" |
"Not ridicule, these ladies have a new crush. Dammon, the mechanic," Rose answered. |
"Oh the blacksmith fellow? He is rather striking," Astarion nodded, "Not your preferred flavor Rose?" |
"I....don’t know for certain that I’m single," Rose said flatly. |
"That Wyll fellow your ex-lover or something, Roslyn?" Shadowheart asked. Karlach and Astarion exchanged confused glances. |
"I honestly have no idea. He said we could chat about it later, but he seemed melancholy about it. I’m not sure what to make of it. He did tell me my full name though. "Roslyn Rithrethror’, whoever she was," Rose grumbled. |
"I mean you’d have deniability if there’s anyone waiting for you back home. Not knowing they existed it would be entirely understandable," Astarion smirked. Rose considered this for a moment, then sighed. |
"You really are the devil on my shoulder you know," Rose said. |
"I do," chimed Astarion, "May as well have fun if these are our final days." |
"If we’re thinking like that, I call dibs on the mechanic," Karlach laughed. |
"Can you even-" Shadowheart started. |
"No, but dibs are dibs," Karlach said firmly, crossing her arms. Shadowheart nodded thoughtfully. |
"OH by the way, the druid that helped me mentioned their top healer was looking into these tadpoles specifically. He might be able to help us but she said he’s currently in a goblin camp," Rose rattled off to the group. "Completely slipped my mind." Shadowheart glared at her. |
"Completely slipped your mind?!" demanded Shadowheart. |
"Yes," Rose said. Shadowheart shook her head. |
"We can discuss at the camp later with the others, Lae’zel seems dead set on finding the Creche but honestly walking into a Githyanki nest sounds ...awful. If there’s an alternative, I’m open to pursuing it.," Shadowheart said. The other two remained silent. |
"I think Dammon is trying to wave us back over," Karlach squinted before making her way back across the clearing. The rest followed after her. |
"Should be all set to install," Dammon said, handing the unit off to her. |
"Thank you!!" Karlach beamed, taking in eagerly. Rose watched as Karlach shoved the small mechanism through the port in her chest. "Ahhh," Karlach sighed happily. "Much better." |
"If you find any more of that iron let me know, there’s still some other improvements we should be able to make so it doesn’t run too hot again," Dammon said. |
"I’ll keep my eyes peeled. I’d hug you but I’m still afraid I’d melt your face off from it. And what a waste that would be," Karlach beamed. Dammon’s face flushed. |
"It really was no trouble, I’ll see you all around," he said, turning back to his forge. |
The group made their way back out of the settlement, and spent the rest of their afternoon exploring the forests nearby. When the sun began to set, they made their way back to camp. Gale had taken cooking duty for the day, and they found Lae’zel and Wyll making conversation by the fire. The pair turned to greet them as they arrived. |
"Ah, Rose, shall we chat now?" Wyll asked. Rose nodded. |
"Let’s walk, I’d prefer to discuss privately if that’s alright?" Rose asked, gesturing towards the nearby river. |
"Of course," Wyll said. Together, they made their way out of the clearing. They walked in silence for several moments, before Rose spoke up. |
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