Barely ten minutes back on the road and you encounter once more the githyanki woman, in quite the embarassing position for a warrior with such pride: the sword she acquired on the nautiloid lying on the ground, her being stuck in a suspended cage with two tiefflings debating on her fate a few meters away. She uses the psionic connection granted by the tadpole to ask that you free her, affirming that she knows of a cure to your parasites. And so you do, tricking the tieffs into letting you handle the threat that she is. They accept and make mention of a druids' grove nearby, it's on your path anyways. You have developed a great affection for tiefflings and their culture over the decades. And after so much time spent with Jezebelle, how could you not? Shooting the trap down once they are out of earshot, she introduces herself as Lae'zel and speaks of a zai'thisk, a githyanki machine that can extract illithid parasites and found in every crèche. You remember that a crèche is both a hatchery and training grounds for young giths, they tend to establish them on material planes since in the Astral, where they originate from, the passing of time is much slower and doesn't allow them to raise and educate their progeny as fast as their military centric culture requires.
"-I've never heard of a zai'thisk before, could you explain it to me more precisely?
-It is one of the greatest marvels of our technology. I see you truly have a thirst for knowledge but by covenant I can say no more.
-I hope one day you will. If it ever happens, I'll share with you the story behind my scimitars."
She understands that you know the importance of silver weapons in githyanki lore, and you've clearly piqued her interest by mentioning it. You already know that one day, when she trusts you enough, you'll be able to satisfy your curiosity about her people. After all, they're ancient humans who grew under mindflayer dominion until their revolt led them to settle and evolve in the Astral plane. They kind of are very, very distant cousins of yours. Shadowheart doesn't even try to hide her distaste of your sincere inquiries to the fighter, but you don't hold it against her. She is way too young to have already realized that racism is a dangerous gateway to isolating oneself from the world: its impredictiveness, its risks and its opportunities. You wonder which one of the two is younger, it could in fact be Lae'zel.
Nearing said Grove, your group hears shouting up ahead, interrupting the amusing banter that was going back and forth between Shadowheart and Astarion. You decide to investigate it carefully, crouching and sneaking your way to the top of a hill with enough foliage to keep you out of view. You catch the pitiful sight of a party of adventurers, some of them barely able to stand, pleading a tieffling perched above a gate covered in vines to open it to them. They say they're being chased by goblins, and indeed, a squadron of them shows up right on their tails. You make quick work of them, Lae'zel causing a debacle among their ranks with swift, precise and searing strikes while Astarion and Gale quickly shoot arrows and rays of ice alike side by side atop the mound, Shadowheart placing upon you a blessing for greater accuracy. You spot a black skinned human jumping down to the battleground from the gate, slashing and piercing as if dancing with his rapier. If not for him making some kind of ridiculous heroic statement as he joined the fight, you would have appreciated his physical prowesses even more.
As the rogue and the cleric rummage around the goblin corpses to recover arrows and search for loot, you feign doing the same to discreetly fill your set of blood vials. Your hunger seems to be growing and becoming a problem, but you blame it on the battles you exhaust yourself with these last days.
"Getting everything you wished for darling?" asks Astarion in the hopes of startling you.
"-You know that I heard you coming my way, right?
-Oh, you're no fun", he pouts playfully. "You know, those ampuls of yours are quite a smart plan, if you don't mind the taste. I am however taking notes."
YOU ARE READING
On the Death of Stars
FanfictionA fanfiction based in the extended universe of DND 5e, following the characters and plotline of Baldur's Gate 3. Elen was lucky enough to have their life finally begin right at its end and find their place in this world. But now? It has been snatche...
