(A/N: A bit less romance and a bit more action and banter, but ah well. Maybe next chapter. ;) Happy Valentine's Day, loves! - your fav muscle mommy)
When we made it back to camp in the morning, where Halsin and Shadowheart were already packing up, Shadowheart raised her eyebrows at me. I flushed and looked at the ground, finishing making my way over- Astarion in tow.
"What did you two get up to last night?" she asked, a knowing smile on her face. There was even a twinkle in Halsin's eyes as he assessed us, slinging his pack over his shoulders.
"Why, would you have liked to join, pet?" Astarion purred. Shadowheart's eyebrows immediately pushed together, and the nastiest look played over her face.
"I'd rather bed a dead cow than spend one night with you," she said, with more venom than necessary. Even I cringed back at the words. Astarion merely placed a hand over his heart, the back of his other hand across his forehead.
"You wound me," he sighed. "Alas, I shall never know the comfort of your warmth."
"And we'll be keeping it that way," Shadowheart chuckled. She nudged me with her shoulder, and we set off- Shadowheart badgering me with questions for every dirty detail. Halsin and Astarion kept a bit behind, making their own conversation.
I realized that with all Shadowheart knew about me, I didn't know much about her. She sighed and seemed anxious- but relented. She worshipped Shar, and dreamed of one day becoming a dark justiciar. Night orchids were her favorite flower.
"You'll have to point them out for me if we ever come across them," I said. She smiled at that.
"Oh, and- I'm afraid of wolves," she said with a sigh. She scratched the back of her neck, refusing to meet my gaze.
"We'll do our best to avoid them, in the future," I assured her. "Thank you for telling me." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, a smile creeping back onto her face.
We made our way back to the beach where we had taken on the duergar, and then finally made it across the waters, though to my disappointment we were still not quite at moonrise towers- the infamous place we needed to reach in order to solve our worm problem. I was beginning to wonder if we would even actually find the answers to our problems there, as more and more problems seemed to keep popping up. For instance: there were duergar on a passing boat that we ended up having to slaughter, as they hadn't been happy to hear of their friends' passing. And now... there were even more of them.
They had no tadpoles in their heads, but something surged through anyway.
"You're one of them True Soul fuckers," the female duergar waiting for us at the docks said. "You lot owe us coin. Pay up." The daggers in her eyes- if looks could kill. Speaking of daggers, she had one at the ready- aimed at me. I exchanged glances with Astarion, Halsin, and Shadowheart.
"I'd sooner take your head than give you any money," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. The lady raised her hands up as her eyes widened.
"Relax, I was just joking around," she said quickly. "Look- that twat soul, Nere, caused a cave in, and he's trapped tighter than a ring on a fat finger. He's got our gold on him. If he ain't settled up soon, there'll be hell to pay for the lot of you cult buggers."
"He's up that way," she gestured toward the stairs behind her, sheathing her dagger.
"Alright, I guess we'll be on our way, then," I said. As I made my way up the stairs, Astarion was the first to catch up with me.
"Are we really going to rescue this Nere?" he said with a brow raised. "I was under the impression we were to bring his head to the myconids."
"No," I whispered, glancing behind me to see if the two deurgar at the docks were listening. They were engrossed in a conversation about bets on some topic I couldn't quite hear anymore.
"Good, I didn't want to have to get my nails dirty digging," Astarion said with much relief. Shadowheart and Halsin were on our heels.
"Oh, we're still going to have to dig him out," I said.
"Really?" Shadowheart asked.
"Can't cut off his head if he's trapped in some rocks," I said with a shrug.
So we continued onward. I glanced around at the numbers of duergar as we did. I began to sweat a little, and grabbed hold of Astarion's arm- pulling him off to the side.
"What is it?" Halsin asked, following with Shadowheart in tow.
"Well- uh," I started quietly. I glanced around to make sure I wouldn't be overheard. No one was watching us. "I have this feeling that things are going to go really south if we free this Nere guy and then start swinging at him, and there are a lot of duergar here... I vote we thin the herd first."
"I like your thinking," Astarion said with a wide grin. Shadowheart sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she said. "What do you suggest we do first?"
I grabbed onto Astarion's shoulder, making direct eye contact with him. His expression turned serious as we huddled together. Halsin and Shadowheart stepped in closer.
"You're going to slink into the shadows, and then start firing off arrows," I told him. Astarion nodded. I turned to Halsin then. "You're going to turn into a bear, and just start swinging and slashing with claws and teeth. It'll hopefully give Astarion the cover he needs to remain in the shadows and continue picking them off."
"And what of me?" Shadowheart asked with raised brows. I turned to her finally.
"You're going to hang back with me," I said. "We're spellcasters, after all. We've got the big cannons, and Halsin's got the bear strength to be our tank." Shadowheart grinned. "Besides, if any of them get too close, I know you'll be able to handle yourself."
"You're damn right," she said.
"Ready?" I asked. Everyone nodded.
The plan went off without a hitch. These bastards didn't know what hit them- even with the scrying eye calling over reinforcements, including the two deurgar from the docks. A battlefield of corpses lay before us when we were done. Of course we didn't make it out without wounds of our own, but we weren't too worse for wear. Nothing a few healing potions wouldn't fix.
The gnome slaves were still trembling in fear, unsure if we were friend or foe.
And then we turned our attention to the cave in. Nere awaited there, still yelling for help- we could hear him through the rubble.
"How are we going to get him out of there to behead?" Astarion asked. I turned and smiled, pulling some smoke powder bombs from my satchel.
"You've got firebolt at the ready?" I said, placing the bombs around the rubble. The gnomes cleared out, not wanting to get caught in the blast.
"Of course," Shadowheart and Astarion said in unison. They exchanged a look.
"I do too," I said with a chuckle.
We stood back, and blasted away the rubble. Nere came out, and before he could reprimand the gnomes he had with him, I sent a witch bolt his way, the lightning jolting through him deliciously.
"You imbeciles!" he roared. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're going to pay for this!"
Right as he started charging at us, Shadowheart launched a guiding bolt at him- sending him to his knees with the blinding light. He cried out in pain, blood seeping from his wounds.
"Your head is wanted by some mushroom guys," I said. "I think it's you who's going to be the one paying."
Astarion chuckled, making his way over quickly with Halsin- in bear form- on his heels. Astarion sank a dagger into Nere's side, and Halsin's massive jaw clamped around Nere's shoulder. As Astarion withdrew his dagger, Halsin shook his head violently- whipping Nere's body around like a dog with his favorite chew toy.
Nere's screams of pain soon died off, and Halsin set his lifeless corpse back onto the ground. He dropped his bear form, wringing his hands and arms out as he tried to shake off the blood that spattered him.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Astarion asked, holding his dagger out to Halsin. Halsin eyed Nere for a moment, and then shook his head.
"I don't think I have the stomach," Halsin said grimly. He turned away as Astarion shrugged.
Shadowheart also averted her gaze, but I watched as Astarion severed Nere's head from his body. It took a bit of sawing, and the sounds were awful, but he worked it free and then held it up by the hair.
"And we have our trophy," Astarion said triumphantly. "I had to get a bit dirty, but- a nice bath later will do nicely." He winked at me, and then stuffed the head into a separate bag from the rest of our things.
I gagged a little, placing a hand over my mouth. What a sickening thought; we had to travel back to the myconids with that head.
The gnomes rejoiced at having their friends reunited, and at their sudden freedom. They made their way to the lands above, taking the elevator near the docks we'd come from, while we returned to the boat.
"Should we rest? It's been quite a long day," Shadowheart sighed. I glanced over at the elevator across the water from us.
"We'll rest when we get back to the myconid colony," I said with a shiver. "I'm getting bad vibes from this place. Still such a long ways to go before moonrise..."
"We'll get there in due time," Halsin said, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, my gaze still set on the elevator as we sailed off into the dark once more.
The shadow cursed lands above... What waited for us, in those dark shadows?