mickume/dnd_drow · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"Oh Aethelle," he groaned. He could not think, the only thing he could do was fuck her harder and harder. The words escaped breathlessly from his mouth: "Let me give you my everything."
Suddenly the warmth took over her, Aethelle’s body shaking against him. She groaned as she felt him spill into her, his length twitching wildly from inside her tensed body. Astarion moaned and grabbed her hip, keeping the two pressed firmly together while they rode out their climaxes. When their bodies calmed again, they lay still to the sound of rain falling around them.
"I have a question for you, Aethelle," murmured Astarion.
"Are you as happy as I am?"
The sorceress pulled the rogue closer to whisper into him.
"Yes. Infinitely so."
Ryn stood at the doors of the Elfsong Tavern, blood spattered against his ginger-brown hair and black armor, his sword and shield finally sheathed against his back. The Elfsong had clearly taken a beating in the fight against the impending illithid army, but it still stood, and was busier now than ever. A majority of the townspeople were now drunk, even though the night had just begun. But who could blame them, after the Elder Brain fell from the sky into the Chionthar and dissipated into a luminance that swelled through the city?
The paladin was exhausted after striking down so many mind-flayers. He could only imagine how his friend Aethelle felt, considering she was probably the one to kill the Elder Brain itself, along with her companions. He received her message from the sending stone not too much earlier: "Done. Elfsong. One hour." Ryn had chuckled at the sorceress’s succinct message after what was such a lengthy battle. He didn’t reply, as there was no need to. He had already promised her days before that he would be there when she called.
Ryn opened the double doors of the tavern he was oh so familiar with. It had been a long time since the Lord Faennawedd and Lady Veluthezara graced the establishment with their antics, and this night would surely go down in history.
Aethelle leapt from her chair at the long table in the middle of the tavern, and ran to the paladin.
"Ryn!" The sorceress laughed as he picked her up into a tight hug.
"There you are!" He laughed heartily at their long-awaited reunion. "I trust you’re all right?"
"I am. And one less tadpole for it!" Aethelle grinned, tapping her head. "And you?"
"I’m fine, but I need a drink, yesterday." The two elves laughed amongst the loud and rowdy customers.
"Come on, sit with us!" She forcefully dragged the paladin to the table, seating him next to her.
As Ryn sat to the right of Aethelle, the familiar vampire sat to her left. Across from Astarion sat Gale, and in front of Aethelle sat Shadowheart. Now seated in front of Ryn was only who he could assume was Halsin, the very large druid himself. There were two empty chairs at the ends of the table, but aside from that, their party seemed noticeably smaller from what Gale and Shadowheart had described to him.
"What of your githyanki friend? Or the Duke Ravengard’s own son?" inquired Ryn.
"Lae’zel went to go save her people, and then Wyll and Karlach went to go hunt down Zariel." Aethelle took a sip from her wine glass as she recounted the previous events. "Jaheira and Minsc will be here later, they went to go make sure Jaheira’s kids were okay."
"You must be the Ryndel I’ve heard so much about," smiled the druid, extending a hand across the table. "A pleasure. I am Halsin."
"Yes, I’ve heard much about you as well," smirked Ryn, shaking the druid’s hand. Aethelle kicked him from under the table.
"Good things, I hope?" asked Halsin, slightly confused at the antics around him.
"Exceptionally."
It was but a miracle that the remaining companions were not too drunk yet, otherwise they would have burst into laughter at the mere exchange.
"Oh thank the Winged Mother, it’s Alfira!" exclaimed Aethelle, looking for any sort of distraction from their conversation. The bard had just descended from the stairway, and immediately caught eyes with the excited sorceress through the crowded tavern. The tiefling ran over to their table, and the two women embraced.
"Are you all right? Where’s Lakrissa?" asked Aethelle frantically.
"I’m all right, I’m all right!" laughed Alfira. "Lakrissa’s around her somewhere, she’s certainly earning easy money with this crowd."
"That’s a relief," exhaled Aethelle.
"You’re not done yet, hero!" The bard pointed indignantly at the barkeep. "After today I think we deserve to hear whatever songs we want, not just the Elfsong! Go butter him up for me, and I’ll play all night." Alfira smiled, pulling the lute from her back.
"It’s a deal!" grinned the sorceress, who left for the bar without a second thought.
Astarion smiled faintly as he watched his fiancée dip through the crowd, before looking down into the glass of metallic red in his hand.
The paladin slid into the now empty seat next to him, and spoke to the vampire beneath the clammer around them.
"Are you alright?" asked Ryn,
Astarion sighed as he took a sip of the blood. "It seems, now that these tadpoles are gone, that my time in the sunlight is over."
To the vampire’s surprise, Ryn placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You know as well I do, she will not give up," whispered the paladin. "You should not either."
Astarion’s eyes grew wide and nodded at Ryn, who took the hand from the rogue’s shoulder and downed Aethelle’s wine. Astarion couldn’t help but laugh.
"Where did our dear sorceress go?" asked Gale, blinking as he searched through the crowd. He was perhaps the most intoxicated of all of the party thus far.
"Oh, Alfira asked her to go convince the barkeep to let her play whatever she wanted," replied Shadowheart nonchalantly, taking a sip of wine. "She’s up at the bar seducing the man now."
"What?" the four men asked in unison.
"Are you all really that dull?" asked Shadowheart. "Just look." The cleric turned around in her chair and pointed to the bar.
The men looked over to see the sorceress leaned over at the bar, smiling rather fondly at the man serving drinks behind the counter. The dyed-black Wavemother’s Robe certainly helped her appearance, as the mage’s outfit was rather scantily clad compared to most. Ryn frowned and looked away, not wanting to see his practically-sister engage in such actions.
Aethelle laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear, giggling with the man at the counter. He handed her a shot of a clear liquid, which she promptly downed, before placing a few coins on the counter. As they continued to chat, Ryn noticed Halsin look away from the spectacle, his cheeks a faint pink. Gale somehow still did not see the sorceress across the room. Astarion rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Oh gods, what am I going to do with her?" mumbled Astarion.
Aethelle soon found her way back over to the table. Ryn began to move over back into his empty seat, but she shook her head, and instead placed herself into Astarion’s lap. The sorceress placed a tray of shots on the table, as well as a new bottle of wine.
"Oh, hello love," growled Astarion.
"Hello," smiled the sorceress warmly, her face pink.
Alfira ran up to Aethelle, having been keeping an eye on her ever since she walked towards the bar.
"Well?" asked Alfira excitedly.
"The stage is yours," grinned the sorceress. "Seems they make exceptions for the damn near end of the city."
"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" The tiefling eagerly ran to the side room containing the small wooden stage, and the bard began plucking an upbeat tune.
"Do tell me what you said to him," asked Shadowheart.
"Oh, nothing special. He was easy to break," began Aethelle, refilling her suspiciously empty wine glass. "Smile, bat your eyelashes, laugh at his unfunny joke, ask him a question you already know the answer to, then ask for what you want." The sorceress took a sip of her wine. "Works every time."
"An inspiration to women everywhere," nodded Shadowheart, drinking her wine.
Ryn rubbed the bridge of his nose. Gale was positively dumbstruck. Halsin’s face was now redder. Astarion look up at his lover on top of him in shock.
"What?" asked the vampire in disbelief.
Aethelle sipped her wine, averting his gaze.
"We should do the shots now."
"Hang on a second—"
"Wait, did you get free drinks out of the man too?" asked Ryn, interrupting Astarion.
Aethelle continued to sip her wine.
Gale eagerly took one of the shots into his hand and held it up. "To finally getting these godsforsaken worms out of our heads!"
"And to killing that abomination of a brain!" exclaimed Halsin, grabbing a shot from the table.
"And that damned manipulative mind flayer!" added Aethelle, eagerly downing the shot, along with her companions.
"Gods, we really have down a lot of killing lately, haven’t we?" mulled Shadowheart, her face unperplexed by her revelation, but rather grimacing at the slight burn of the vodka.
Astarion had opted to take the vodka shot, following it by downing the rest of his goblet. He opened his personal bottle of "wine’ from the table, refilling his glass with one hand, the other wrapped around the sorceress’s waist.
"My dear," he murmured under his breath, so only Aethelle could hear, as he filled his cup. "Am I going to have to kill the bartender?"
"Now that I would like to see," she said quietly as she sipped her wine. "At least your jokes are funny."
Astarion chuckled gently. "So what question did you ask me, that you already knew the answer to?"
"I didn’t," whispered Aethelle. "You told me the answer without me ever even having to ask."
"That you were a vampire." She took a long sip of her wine.
Astarion blinked. He thought back to their first few days after the nautiloid crash. Once, while they were exploring a crypt, they had found a teal canvas book called "The Curse of the Vampyr'. The sorceress dismissed it as urban legend before handing it specifically to Astarion. Another time, Aethelle had accidentally cut her hand rather deeply while slicing vegetables at their camp, and now he realized she had feigned concern whilst keeping a watchful eye on his discomfort. The last instance Astarion could think of was the boar they stumbled upon the trail, that he had drank dry the previous night. Aethelle had asked Astarion what kind of creature could have made those marks, and he replied: a vampire. All at once, he realized she had known the answer to the question she asked, and the answer to the question she didn’t need to ask. She had known of his secret since the day they met on the beach. Aethelle didn’t pry, but waited until Astarion had told her, or rather, waited to find a vampire’s fangs at her throat.
After all, why did Astarion choose Aethelle specifically to bite, and not another person in the camp? He had originally thought that her blood was the most alluring, and that she would be the easiest to subdue, should she awaken. And she did. But perhaps the sorceress purposefully brushed up against him as they walked through the Emerald Grove, perhaps she purposefully stood a little too close to the bandits’ blades in the crypt, and perhaps she purposefully put her hair up into her bun and bared her neck.
Astarion couldn’t help but chuckle into his wine glass. He had spent so long trying to seduce her in the beginning, that he had been completely oblivious that she had her own tricks up her sleeve.
Aethelle noticed her lover deep in thought, and his revelation as he drank the metallic red.
"I wasn’t sure, at first," murmured the sorceress, still speaking so only they could hear. The others at the table were now entirely enthralled with Halsin and Ryn, as the two propped their elbows on the table, and clasped their hands together. Gale and Shadowheart laughed and cheered as the two men arm wrestled each other.
"The whole "walking in sunlight’ thing threw me off," continued Aethelle. "But I was fairly sure of my discovery."
"Why did you let me join you, then?" asked Astarion quietly. "Did you want me to bite you?"
"I’ll let you think about it," smiled Aethelle.
Before Astarion could speak again, Halsin slammed Ryn’s arm down on the table, ending their lengthy battle. Gale pointed and laughed at the paladin, who held his head in his hands in shame. Shadowheart could also barely contain herself, patting Gale’s shoulder as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"I don’t know what you expected, Ryndel," commented Aethelle.
"Aethelflaed, I will kill you."
"Seems to me that someone has to buy the next round," laughed Halsin heartily.
"Come on Ryn, I’ll go with you. The barkeep will give you a discount, I’m sure, if I come too." Aethelle stood up slowly to balance herself, and pulled at the paladin’s arm, dragging him back to the bar.
"Well, you look rather out of sorts," slurred Gale as he took another drink. "What’s on your mind, Astarion?"
"I... When did you realize I was a vampire?" asked Astarion.
"The same as everyone else, I presume. The morning Aethelle woke up with bite marks on her neck," laughed the wizard.
Astarion turned to Shadowheart. "And you?"
"This may come as a surprise to you, Astarion, but I don’t pay much attention to you," dripped the cleric’s sarcasm. Halsin chuckled at her wit as he drank from his goblet.
Astarion’s face was bewildered, slightly from his increasing inebriation, but mostly at his confusion.
"Why do you ask, Astarion?" inquired the druid. "Most surely haven’t noticed a vampire in their midst. You are the first I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, let alone meeting."
The vampire narrowed his eyes at the two elves at the bar. Ryn was pulling out coins from his pocket with a scowl on his face, while Aethelle laughed at the bartender and patted the paladin’s shoulder.
"I think she knew before then," said Astarion. "But how?"
"Aethelle was very perceptive about us all, from the start," commented Shadowheart. "I wouldn’t be surprised if she had figured out your affliction earlier than us."
"Indeed," affirmed the wizard, rubbing his chin. "I assume she probably had some prior knowledge to figure it out that quickly, considering the rarity of your kind," gestured Gale to Astarion.
"Or prior experience," added Halsin.
The three others looked at the druid in astonishment.
"What?!" exclaimed the vampire, clearly in disarray.
The two patriars walked back to the table, more shots in hand, and two more wine bottles to boot. Ryn took his original seat, and Aethelle sat between the paladin and the rogue once more.
"My gods Aethelflaed, never do that again," muttered the paladin.
"What? We got free shots, did we not?" laughed the sorceress, her face very pink, and her stature quite wobbly.

"Oh Aethelle," he groaned. He could not think, the only thing he could do was fuck her harder and harder. The words escaped breathlessly from his mouth: "Let me give you my everything."

Suddenly the warmth took over her, Aethelle’s body shaking against him. She groaned as she felt him spill into her, his length twitching wildly from inside her tensed body. Astarion moaned and grabbed her hip, keeping the two pressed firmly together while they rode out their climaxes. When their bodies calmed again, they lay still to the sound of rain falling around them.

"I have a question for you, Aethelle," murmured Astarion.

"Are you as happy as I am?"

The sorceress pulled the rogue closer to whisper into him.

"Yes. Infinitely so."

Ryn stood at the doors of the Elfsong Tavern, blood spattered against his ginger-brown hair and black armor, his sword and shield finally sheathed against his back. The Elfsong had clearly taken a beating in the fight against the impending illithid army, but it still stood, and was busier now than ever. A majority of the townspeople were now drunk, even though the night had just begun. But who could blame them, after the Elder Brain fell from the sky into the Chionthar and dissipated into a luminance that swelled through the city?

The paladin was exhausted after striking down so many mind-flayers. He could only imagine how his friend Aethelle felt, considering she was probably the one to kill the Elder Brain itself, along with her companions. He received her message from the sending stone not too much earlier: "Done. Elfsong. One hour." Ryn had chuckled at the sorceress’s succinct message after what was such a lengthy battle. He didn’t reply, as there was no need to. He had already promised her days before that he would be there when she called.

Ryn opened the double doors of the tavern he was oh so familiar with. It had been a long time since the Lord Faennawedd and Lady Veluthezara graced the establishment with their antics, and this night would surely go down in history.

Aethelle leapt from her chair at the long table in the middle of the tavern, and ran to the paladin.

"Ryn!" The sorceress laughed as he picked her up into a tight hug.

"There you are!" He laughed heartily at their long-awaited reunion. "I trust you’re all right?"

"I am. And one less tadpole for it!" Aethelle grinned, tapping her head. "And you?"

"I’m fine, but I need a drink, yesterday." The two elves laughed amongst the loud and rowdy customers.

"Come on, sit with us!" She forcefully dragged the paladin to the table, seating him next to her.

As Ryn sat to the right of Aethelle, the familiar vampire sat to her left. Across from Astarion sat Gale, and in front of Aethelle sat Shadowheart. Now seated in front of Ryn was only who he could assume was Halsin, the very large druid himself. There were two empty chairs at the ends of the table, but aside from that, their party seemed noticeably smaller from what Gale and Shadowheart had described to him.

"What of your githyanki friend? Or the Duke Ravengard’s own son?" inquired Ryn.

"Lae’zel went to go save her people, and then Wyll and Karlach went to go hunt down Zariel." Aethelle took a sip from her wine glass as she recounted the previous events. "Jaheira and Minsc will be here later, they went to go make sure Jaheira’s kids were okay."

"You must be the Ryndel I’ve heard so much about," smiled the druid, extending a hand across the table. "A pleasure. I am Halsin."

"Yes, I’ve heard much about you as well," smirked Ryn, shaking the druid’s hand. Aethelle kicked him from under the table.

"Good things, I hope?" asked Halsin, slightly confused at the antics around him.

"Exceptionally."

It was but a miracle that the remaining companions were not too drunk yet, otherwise they would have burst into laughter at the mere exchange.

"Oh thank the Winged Mother, it’s Alfira!" exclaimed Aethelle, looking for any sort of distraction from their conversation. The bard had just descended from the stairway, and immediately caught eyes with the excited sorceress through the crowded tavern. The tiefling ran over to their table, and the two women embraced.

"Are you all right? Where’s Lakrissa?" asked Aethelle frantically.

"I’m all right, I’m all right!" laughed Alfira. "Lakrissa’s around her somewhere, she’s certainly earning easy money with this crowd."

"That’s a relief," exhaled Aethelle.

"You’re not done yet, hero!" The bard pointed indignantly at the barkeep. "After today I think we deserve to hear whatever songs we want, not just the Elfsong! Go butter him up for me, and I’ll play all night." Alfira smiled, pulling the lute from her back.

"It’s a deal!" grinned the sorceress, who left for the bar without a second thought.

Astarion smiled faintly as he watched his fiancée dip through the crowd, before looking down into the glass of metallic red in his hand.

The paladin slid into the now empty seat next to him, and spoke to the vampire beneath the clammer around them.

"Are you alright?" asked Ryn,

Astarion sighed as he took a sip of the blood. "It seems, now that these tadpoles are gone, that my time in the sunlight is over."

To the vampire’s surprise, Ryn placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You know as well I do, she will not give up," whispered the paladin. "You should not either."

Astarion’s eyes grew wide and nodded at Ryn, who took the hand from the rogue’s shoulder and downed Aethelle’s wine. Astarion couldn’t help but laugh.

"Where did our dear sorceress go?" asked Gale, blinking as he searched through the crowd. He was perhaps the most intoxicated of all of the party thus far.

"Oh, Alfira asked her to go convince the barkeep to let her play whatever she wanted," replied Shadowheart nonchalantly, taking a sip of wine. "She’s up at the bar seducing the man now."

"What?" the four men asked in unison.

"Are you all really that dull?" asked Shadowheart. "Just look." The cleric turned around in her chair and pointed to the bar.

The men looked over to see the sorceress leaned over at the bar, smiling rather fondly at the man serving drinks behind the counter. The dyed-black Wavemother’s Robe certainly helped her appearance, as the mage’s outfit was rather scantily clad compared to most. Ryn frowned and looked away, not wanting to see his practically-sister engage in such actions.

Aethelle laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear, giggling with the man at the counter. He handed her a shot of a clear liquid, which she promptly downed, before placing a few coins on the counter. As they continued to chat, Ryn noticed Halsin look away from the spectacle, his cheeks a faint pink. Gale somehow still did not see the sorceress across the room. Astarion rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Oh gods, what am I going to do with her?" mumbled Astarion.

Aethelle soon found her way back over to the table. Ryn began to move over back into his empty seat, but she shook her head, and instead placed herself into Astarion’s lap. The sorceress placed a tray of shots on the table, as well as a new bottle of wine.

"Oh, hello love," growled Astarion.

"Hello," smiled the sorceress warmly, her face pink.

Alfira ran up to Aethelle, having been keeping an eye on her ever since she walked towards the bar.

"Well?" asked Alfira excitedly.

"The stage is yours," grinned the sorceress. "Seems they make exceptions for the damn near end of the city."

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" The tiefling eagerly ran to the side room containing the small wooden stage, and the bard began plucking an upbeat tune.

"Do tell me what you said to him," asked Shadowheart.

"Oh, nothing special. He was easy to break," began Aethelle, refilling her suspiciously empty wine glass. "Smile, bat your eyelashes, laugh at his unfunny joke, ask him a question you already know the answer to, then ask for what you want." The sorceress took a sip of her wine. "Works every time."

"An inspiration to women everywhere," nodded Shadowheart, drinking her wine.

Ryn rubbed the bridge of his nose. Gale was positively dumbstruck. Halsin’s face was now redder. Astarion look up at his lover on top of him in shock.

"What?" asked the vampire in disbelief.

Aethelle sipped her wine, averting his gaze.

"We should do the shots now."

"Hang on a second—"

"Wait, did you get free drinks out of the man too?" asked Ryn, interrupting Astarion.

Aethelle continued to sip her wine.

Gale eagerly took one of the shots into his hand and held it up. "To finally getting these godsforsaken worms out of our heads!"

"And to killing that abomination of a brain!" exclaimed Halsin, grabbing a shot from the table.

"And that damned manipulative mind flayer!" added Aethelle, eagerly downing the shot, along with her companions.

"Gods, we really have down a lot of killing lately, haven’t we?" mulled Shadowheart, her face unperplexed by her revelation, but rather grimacing at the slight burn of the vodka.

Astarion had opted to take the vodka shot, following it by downing the rest of his goblet. He opened his personal bottle of "wine’ from the table, refilling his glass with one hand, the other wrapped around the sorceress’s waist.

"My dear," he murmured under his breath, so only Aethelle could hear, as he filled his cup. "Am I going to have to kill the bartender?"

"Now that I would like to see," she said quietly as she sipped her wine. "At least your jokes are funny."

Astarion chuckled gently. "So what question did you ask me, that you already knew the answer to?"

"I didn’t," whispered Aethelle. "You told me the answer without me ever even having to ask."

"That you were a vampire." She took a long sip of her wine.

Astarion blinked. He thought back to their first few days after the nautiloid crash. Once, while they were exploring a crypt, they had found a teal canvas book called "The Curse of the Vampyr'. The sorceress dismissed it as urban legend before handing it specifically to Astarion. Another time, Aethelle had accidentally cut her hand rather deeply while slicing vegetables at their camp, and now he realized she had feigned concern whilst keeping a watchful eye on his discomfort. The last instance Astarion could think of was the boar they stumbled upon the trail, that he had drank dry the previous night. Aethelle had asked Astarion what kind of creature could have made those marks, and he replied: a vampire. All at once, he realized she had known the answer to the question she asked, and the answer to the question she didn’t need to ask. She had known of his secret since the day they met on the beach. Aethelle didn’t pry, but waited until Astarion had told her, or rather, waited to find a vampire’s fangs at her throat.

After all, why did Astarion choose Aethelle specifically to bite, and not another person in the camp? He had originally thought that her blood was the most alluring, and that she would be the easiest to subdue, should she awaken. And she did. But perhaps the sorceress purposefully brushed up against him as they walked through the Emerald Grove, perhaps she purposefully stood a little too close to the bandits’ blades in the crypt, and perhaps she purposefully put her hair up into her bun and bared her neck.

Astarion couldn’t help but chuckle into his wine glass. He had spent so long trying to seduce her in the beginning, that he had been completely oblivious that she had her own tricks up her sleeve.

Aethelle noticed her lover deep in thought, and his revelation as he drank the metallic red.

"I wasn’t sure, at first," murmured the sorceress, still speaking so only they could hear. The others at the table were now entirely enthralled with Halsin and Ryn, as the two propped their elbows on the table, and clasped their hands together. Gale and Shadowheart laughed and cheered as the two men arm wrestled each other.

"The whole "walking in sunlight’ thing threw me off," continued Aethelle. "But I was fairly sure of my discovery."

"Why did you let me join you, then?" asked Astarion quietly. "Did you want me to bite you?"

"I’ll let you think about it," smiled Aethelle.

Before Astarion could speak again, Halsin slammed Ryn’s arm down on the table, ending their lengthy battle. Gale pointed and laughed at the paladin, who held his head in his hands in shame. Shadowheart could also barely contain herself, patting Gale’s shoulder as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"I don’t know what you expected, Ryndel," commented Aethelle.

"Aethelflaed, I will kill you."

"Seems to me that someone has to buy the next round," laughed Halsin heartily.

"Come on Ryn, I’ll go with you. The barkeep will give you a discount, I’m sure, if I come too." Aethelle stood up slowly to balance herself, and pulled at the paladin’s arm, dragging him back to the bar.

"Well, you look rather out of sorts," slurred Gale as he took another drink. "What’s on your mind, Astarion?"

"I... When did you realize I was a vampire?" asked Astarion.

"The same as everyone else, I presume. The morning Aethelle woke up with bite marks on her neck," laughed the wizard.

Astarion turned to Shadowheart. "And you?"

"This may come as a surprise to you, Astarion, but I don’t pay much attention to you," dripped the cleric’s sarcasm. Halsin chuckled at her wit as he drank from his goblet.

Astarion’s face was bewildered, slightly from his increasing inebriation, but mostly at his confusion.

"Why do you ask, Astarion?" inquired the druid. "Most surely haven’t noticed a vampire in their midst. You are the first I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, let alone meeting."

The vampire narrowed his eyes at the two elves at the bar. Ryn was pulling out coins from his pocket with a scowl on his face, while Aethelle laughed at the bartender and patted the paladin’s shoulder.

"I think she knew before then," said Astarion. "But how?"

"Aethelle was very perceptive about us all, from the start," commented Shadowheart. "I wouldn’t be surprised if she had figured out your affliction earlier than us."

"Indeed," affirmed the wizard, rubbing his chin. "I assume she probably had some prior knowledge to figure it out that quickly, considering the rarity of your kind," gestured Gale to Astarion.

"Or prior experience," added Halsin.

The three others looked at the druid in astonishment.

"What?!" exclaimed the vampire, clearly in disarray.

The two patriars walked back to the table, more shots in hand, and two more wine bottles to boot. Ryn took his original seat, and Aethelle sat between the paladin and the rogue once more.

"My gods Aethelflaed, never do that again," muttered the paladin.

"What? We got free shots, did we not?" laughed the sorceress, her face very pink, and her stature quite wobbly.