"Oh
gods!" Karlach was gushing as we entered the inn. "I can't believe i've actually met Jaheira!
The Jaheira!"
"Someone famous?" I asked her.
"Only one of the greatest living heroes of Baldur's Gate!" Karlach forgot her indoor voice. "Over a century ago she was one of a group of adventurers who saved the city from the son of the God of Murder! When I was a little girl I was raised on stories of her, and now I'm actually getting to
work with her? Eeeeeeee!" I winced and stifled the urge to cover my ears at Karlach's literal squee of delight.
"Forgive my friend, she's... enthusiastic." I turned back to Jaheira as we drew towards a table off in the corner of the inn's ground floor.
"Not the first time." Jaheira replied amusedly. "You've come a long way." she said to the rest of the group, "and to be honest I don't have
that much of the good stuff left. Go get yourselves settled in, grab a hot meal and find a place to pitch your bedrolls. I'll share a drink and talk a bit with your leader before we all decide what to do next." she finished reasonably.
"Go on." I urged them, recognizing when somebody wasn't going to talk freely without being alone. Jaheira nodded to me in thanks, then turned away after they'd left to briefly rummage through a nearby cabinet. "Now where did I leave-
ah!" She came out with a bottle of wine, and laid out a pair of goblets and poured each one half-full, then suddenly pushed the bottle into the center of the table- wait a minute, I'd seen this one before. I mentally thanked Varric yet again for his lessons, and looked very carefully at Jaheira's hands instead of where the suddenly moving bottle had been intended to make me look.
"Thank you." I told her, and quickly and deliberately reached down and picked up the
other goblet than the one she'd been intending me to drink from, plucking it gently from Jaheira's grasp. "Bottoms up!"
"Damn." Jaheira narrowed her eyes at me, then gave a respectful nod. "That usually works."
"It usually does." I agreed with her. "Although I can't figure out
why. It's not poison - if you wanted us dead you'd have just done it at the gate, or else served us all the exotic flavorings. So why spike only my drink after getting me alone, and with what?"
"It was a truth potion." she admitted shamelessly. "You've got a mind flayer parasite in your head, and they
change people. Even if your mind isn't the Absolute's, that doesn't necessarily mean you aren't still a hidden threat."
"Ah." I nodded... and then I set the goblet down and picked up the other one. "Please don't ask anything
too embarassing, if you would?" I said urbanely, and then drank the spiked wine.
"Huh." she raised her eyebrows at me. "You're a rare man, Hawke."
"You don't know
how rare." I heard my tongue say... damn, this stuff worked fast. I began to reconsider the wisdom of my gesture of trust, although I imagined that if I'd made a serious effort of will I could still have held back. Then again, if this stuff was in your drink and you didn't know it was there, you wouldn't know to concentrate-
Jaheira chuckled knowingly as she sipped her own wine. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle. Just one question... how much has that parasite changed you already?"
"I don't know." I admitted. "I'm not
aware of any real change, I've been resisting its temptations as much as possible. But I have needed to touch briefly upon the power several times in order to imitate a True Soul when dealing with cultists, or to communicate silently with my allies. And I can't guarantee there haven't been more insidious effects I'm not conscious of."
"Thank you, that was what I needed to know." Jaheira replied, and then reached out and sprinkled some crushed dried leaves into my cup. "It wears off relatively quickly in any event, but that should counteract what's in your system." I raised my cup to her in thanks and we finished off the rest of our drinks. Jaheira and I chatted a bit about our respective backgrounds - of course I knew she was using the atmosphere of ease to try and draw me out, just as I was doing the same to her - and by the end we were laughing together.
"It's a pleasure to work with another professional, for once." Jaheira saluted me with the dregs of her wine cup. "Quite a few people would have resented my little trick with the potion."
"You're outnumbered, surrounded, in the middle of a magical deathland with no clear line of retreat, and dealing with an enemy that can turn people into mentally enslaved sleeper agents. Of
course you're going to be suspicious and devious, you
need to be." I agreed with her. "Your Harpers are a very impressive crew, and I'm very glad that I'm not going to be dealing with everyone in Moonrise Towers all by myself. I had to fight the battle of Moonhaven with druids - no disrespect to their spellcasting powers-"
"I should certainly hope not, considering that I am one." Jaheira grinned at me.
"-but who for all their magic still weren't the sort of veterans your people clearly are. And then there was the tiefling militia... and speaking of which, what are
they doing here?"
Jaheira's expression turned grave. "Their caravan got hit by a column of troops from Moonrise Towers while they were camped alongside the Risen Road to Baldur's Gate. The road draws very close to the border of the Shadow-Cursed Lands there, and the survivors of that attack were driven by the raiders straight into the darkness. Thank Mielikki that they were able to figure out quickly enough that they needed bright lights to survive, but even so they would have all been lost souls soon enough if they hadn't had the good fortune to encounter one of my scout patrols." She shook her head. "I don't have enough men to get them back out of the cursed lands and then escort them down the road far enough to be safe from another raid by the Absolutists, not and simultaneously hold my position here. Hellfire, I don't have enough men to get
myself out unless I'm willing to abandon our entire mission with no chance of recovery. So here they are stuck, like all the rest of us."
"What
is your mission, if I might ask?" I inquired.
"I'll discuss that with your entire team. Come." she ordered, and we got up and rejoined the others. We all assembled in a room off of the main floor of the inn that was normally used for private dining parties, and had now been repurposed as a map room and command center. A glance at several of the maps on the table brought the relieving sight that the Harpers had been using their time here to painstakingly explore and chart trails through the Shadow-Cursed Lands, even if their exploring parties hadn't yet made to within sight of Moonrise.
"General Ketheric Thorm." Jaheira said ominously, as she faced us all from the head of the table. We'd finished bringing her up to date on most of what had happened with us since the nautiloid crash - leaving out certain sensitive parts such as exactly which deity Shadowheart worshipped and suchlike - and now it was her turn.
"What about him?" Halsin asked. "We were both present when he died, nigh on a century ago."
"He's back." Jaheira answered him simply, and Halsin gasped in shock. "And yet again he is the lord of Moonrise Towers, and raising an army of evil there with which to scourge the land. Only instead of Shar, now he serves the Absolute."
"I've seen the dead raised," I broke in. "But only immediately after death, several days at the longest. There's magic that can raise someone who's been gone for a
century?"
"None that would explain Ketheric's return, given the circumstances." Jaheira agreed. "And you don't need to convince me that he truly died the first time, I personally helped shovel the dirt on that bastard's face! But I also- no, let me tell the tale in order." She took a deep breath and continued more calmly. "I don't know how long the Cult of the Absolute has been infiltrating Baldur's Gate, but my Harpers first heard of it several months ago. At first it was merely rumors, whispers, disappearances - the usual thing you get when another bunch of stupid bastards are crouching around an idol in the sewers and thinking they'll earn ultimate power on a platter if they just knife enough beggars. But then things got
quieter. More subtle, more sophisticated. The more we looked the worse things got, but the less concrete evidence we found. Then we discovered that people were not merely being recruited but also
implanted, with mind flayer parasites." She nodded at us. "You know better than I do what that implies, particularly when we discovered that the ceremorphosis was somehow being halted." She exhaled. "Every lead we could turn up led back to Moonrise Towers, so I called in all the reinforcements I could get. Not just Harpers, but also a detachment of Flaming Fist that I convinced an old ally to lend me. We put together an expeditionary force capable of traveling through even these shadow-cursed lands and came here for a reconaissance-in-force. There were almost a hundred of us... and now there are barely fifty." She shook her head. "High Initiate Isobel had come here on her own shortly before we did, searching the lands around Moonrise for something related to the Shadow Curse. She used her powers to create a shelter of moonlight around this inn when our expedition arrived here about a tenday ago."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Despite everything we did to maintain operational security, someone in Baldur's Gate must have warned Thorm that we were coming. We'd barely arrived in the area when we were attacked while still marching, by almost twice our number in goblins and lesser undead with Thorm and a small number of other veteran knights and spellcasters as officers. I saw the old bastard marching at the head of their column with my own two eyes." She chuckled grimly. "And I personally put an arrow in
his eye as well, right up to the fletching.... and the son-of-a-bitch just reached up and pulled it out like it was a
splinter." She shook her head wonderingly. "Whatever brought him back from the grave didn't just make him alive again, it made him immortal. As near as we have been able to determine, he literally
cannot die."
"If he's that invincible, how is this place still standing?" I immediately asked.
"Good question." Jaheira acknowledged. "Thorm's ambush did to us basically the same thing that happened to the tiefling caravan - the main force hammered us while a flanking force cut off our escape in every direction except deeper into the shadow. We were able to retreat in good order, but we still had to retreat. And so we ended up here." She nodded to me. "And you're right... if Thorm came here and led an all-out assault, we wouldn't be able to stop him. Except he hasn't."
"From what Halsin has told us of what Thorm managed to pull off when he was leading the original Sharran incursion here a century ago, he's a very experienced field commander." Gale said. "So I'm assuming that he's not the sort of person who just overlooks the extremely obvious."
"He is - or
was - a half-elf, with the extended lifespan of one." Jaheira said. "And he spent almost all of that life at war, in the service of several gods and nations. He does not give himself the title of 'General' merely out of vanity, it is one that he has legitimately earned several times over. No." she agreed. "He is
not so stupid as to overlook the obvious. And yet, except for several harassing attacks by his mindless undead, he has not come here." She shrugged. "My scout teams report that more and more cultists of the Absolute are being assembled and outfitted, both at Moonrise and at field camps set up outside the shadow-cursed regions, and that shipments of supplies keep arriving and being stockpiled for the same. Thorm is raising an
army - not merely a warband or a group of raiders but a substantial military force of
thousands of men, possibly more. Perhaps that is what preoccupies his time, and keeps him from bothering with me and my remnants so long as we are safely contained. Or perhaps whatever dark power animates him is repelled by Isobel's protections as well."
"Does he need the Shadow Curse to remain animate? Is it possible he's some new type of undead?" Shadowheart asked.
"He does not." Jaheira said. "Our first battle with him was just outside the cursed region. He can leave it if he chooses."
"A full-fledged army. If he's raising that kind of force, there's only one place I can think of where he'd be taking it." Wyll said, shocked.
"Baldur's Gate." Jaheira agreed. "That seems to be his plan - a fifth column within the city to weaken it and perhaps open an entranceway for him from within, and a force of conquest with which to break open the Gate and either sack it or turn it into another realm of misery like he did the lands that used to be here. We don't know yet where his mind flayer allies come in, or even where they are, but the tadpoles clearly prove that he has them."
"No, wait." I said. "The vision the Absolute sent us, before the Prism blocked it - there were
three people she called her 'Chosen', the ones who 'spoke in her name', and they were apparently of equal seniority. One of them was an elderly male elf or half-elf, a warrior in heavy armor - presumably that's General Thorm. But then where are the other two?" I described both the strange pale woman and the handsome young nobleman. "And are they at Moonrise Towers as well, or handling similarly sized projects for the Absolute somewhere else?"
"Damn it." Jaheira swore. "Are you telling me that as outnumbered and deeply up shit creek as my people are, we
still aren't dealing with the full scope of the problem here?"
"That reminds me." Gale said grimly, and we passed on the part of Elminster's warning that related to what the Absolute could eventually grow into.
"
Elminster was here? The Sage of Shadowdale? You were speaking to him just this morning?" Jaheira goggled. "And he has confirmed this is potentially a global-scale threat, in the long run?"
"Yes." I said. "But he couldn't do more than pass on the warning - Mystra has commanded his non-interference otherwise."
Jaheira swore colorfully in at least three languages, none of which I spoke. "You know what? If the gods want me to expand my operation here, then they can send me or Isobel a messenger. I'm already outnumbered and overextended, and barring direct divine revelation I am sticking with my original objective. Which is to figure out what the hell has made Ketheric unable to die, strip it away from him, and then kill him.
Again."
"Made any progress?" I asked.
"Pfft." she snorted. "I can't even get
to Moonrise, let alone inside of it. You think the Shadow Curse you've seen is bad? This is the
less severe region of it. There are patches of darkness out there so thick that you could be surrounded by twenty torches and still be drained of your life in an instant. Even the Selunite blessing is overwhelmed." She nodded to Shadowheart. "I wouldn't guarantee that even the Blood of Lathander could hold proof against the deepest darkness, although that certainly has a better chance of working than anything we've tried so far. But it's precisely those deep patches of darkness that cut off any route to Moonrise." She looked up. "Your intelligence about the 'moonlanterns' the cultists use to ignore the Shadow Curse, that matches what I have found out as well. What my scouts have been searching for these past days are their caravan routes, so that we can ambush one and steal a moonlantern for ourselves. But even if we pulled that off, I hadn't solved the problem of how I was going to get anyone into Moonrise Towers proper and have a hope of seeing them alive again..." She trailed off.
"Until half a dozen people with tadpoles in their heads just fell into your lap." I agreed, having readily seen where this one was going. "It's already worked once, so let's hope it does twice."
"It had better, or we're all fucked." Jaheira agreed.
"Have you heard of the Netherese travelstone system? We've been using it for a little over the past week." I said. "Maybe we can use that to run a message out of here-" I stopped when I realized something. "Damn. The Shadow Curse is interfering with the attunements. I can't 'feel' any of the travelstones we attuned to on the way here, even though there's one near Last Light Inn we could still use."
"Pity." Jaheira said. "If I could get one message out to the High Harpers-" She shook her head. "I've had several volunteers to be couriers. None have made it."
"Have you been using that parasite to check everyone here?" I said.
"Every time someone leaves, they don't get back in without passing it." She agreed. "No, I do not think Ketheric has a source inside my encampment. Then again, it is only his
living servants who need moonlanterns - there are any number of undead out there, lurking in the shadows where we cannot see them."
"We met a pair of Death Shepherds and a pack of ghouls on the mountain pass leading past Rosymorn." I remembered. "Now I'm thinking I know where they came from."
"Quite likely." Jaheira agreed. "All right - I am waiting for a progress report by my latest caravan-tracking team. If they found something, I would appreciate your help with the ambush... particularly since I am going to need to give you the moonlantern so that you can reach Moonrise. But that won't be for hours yet." She looked briefly out the window. "I'll want to introduce you to the priestess so that she can cast her blessing upon you - it helps protect against the Shadow Curse. I can't afford to have it used on every patrol, she only has so much power, but I can prioritize you. Right now she is conducting her daily ritual to reinforce and renew the shielding, but after she is done..."
"I won't be going with them." Halsin said suddenly. "For one, I don't bear the parasite so I can't accompany them to Moonrise. And for another, your mission is not why I came here. I came to try and put an end to the Shadow Curse."
"That would be lovely...
if you could pull it off." Jaheira said. "But what in the world makes you think you can?"
"At present, very little." Halsin acknowledged frankly. "But this was my
home. Our failure to stop Thorm from finishing his curse of vengeance on this land before killing him the first time is why it was devastated, and I have never forgiven myself for that failure. At first I didn't remotely have the power to even dream of making an attempt, and then for decades I had my obligations to the Grove... but
finally I am free to pursue my quest and have found my way back here. And I will not be leaving until after I have made certain that there is nothing left to attempt."
"I respect that, but I can spare no one to aid you at present." Jaheira replied to him. "And your traveling companions will also have another mission. So please, do not throw your life away out there in the shadows. Particularly not since I fear that no matter what else, the curse will never be truly undone so long as Ketheric Thorm remains free to walk the land."
"Perhaps our goals will run in parallel again after all." Halsin said. "But for now, with your permission, I will withdraw to begin my investigations."
"Silvanus guide you and keep you safe." Jaheira said to him, and the two druids nodded at each other before Halsin made his goodbyes to us and left. We discussed a few more details with Jaheira and then our meeting broke up as well.
According to Jaheira Isobel would be occupied with her protective ritual for around another hour, so we ended up splitting up all over the inn. Wyll was busy helping two tiefling children who'd apparently been drafted as bartenders deal with a belligerent drunk. Karlach had gone to see if the tiefling smith Dammon was one of the survivors so she could get her infernal heart readjusted further using some infernal iron we'd found among the supplies in the Grymforge. Gale was busy pondering the heavy tidings that Elminster had brought him over a glass of wine, and politely demurred my offer to sit and talk with him about it. Shadowheart had ducked outside to get some fresh air on the inn grounds, and also avoid the questions of curious Harpers about the Blood of Lathander and related matters. Lae'zel had gone to observe the Harpers who were at weapons practice, saying that she wanted to 'judge the quality of our new allies'.
And I had had my own plans entirely derailed when I had spotted Mol sitting and playing a game of chess with the last person in the world I'd have expected to be here.
"Mol,
please tell me you haven't signed anything or agreed to anything." I begged her as I approached the two chessplayers.
"Of course not." Mol snarked at me. "This is still us getting the other one's measure! Dealing comes
after."
"Indeed it does," Raphael smirked up at me. "And this is an exchange to which you were
not invited. Do please depart in a civil fashion, there's a good fellow."
I resisted an urge to throw the chessboard out the window and sat down at the table anyway. "Mol, how's about I stand you a round?"
"People paying for drinks are definitely invited to
my table!
" Mol agreed cheerfully.
"Nothing on my account, thank you." Raphael smirked as he raised an elaborately finished golden goblet to me in acknowledgement. "I doubt this venue even carries any of my favorite vintages. I'll just refill my own."
"Half honey mead and half water, and keep it coming!" Mol called out cheerfully to one of her bartender rapscallions. "What?" she looked at me challengingly. "I'm gambling for money here
and I've got half your body weight. A girl needs to pace herself under those conditions."
"You do know he's a devil, right?" I made sure to tell Mol first thing.
"'Course I do." she said. "Now ssh, I'm winning!"
"Mol, he's hundreds of years old at least and been living the high life the entire time - which includes a
lot of chess playing. Are you a grandmaster genius at this game?"
"What, you think I can't beat him?" Mol shot back proudly.
"I think an experienced sharpster like you knows perfectly well that you deliberately lose the first couple of times to get the mark nice and relaxed before you start dealing from the bottom on them." I told her. "And that Raphael here has been so charming and amusing that you were temporarily distracted from remembering that."
"I wasn't-
shit!" she swore, and immediately knocked over her king. "Oops, look at that, I lost!"
"I assume you don't want a rematch, either." Raphael told her equably.
"Not until after I've had a private word with one of my advisors, at least." Mol said, slapping a gold coin down on the table as payment for her wager. "There, all settled up and it looks like we won't be doing any further business tonight. But hey - only two of us here are growing any older, right?"
"Of course, of course." he chuckled urbanely. "Enjoy your evening, and perhaps we'll chat another time. For right now, I'd appreciate a word with Hawke here."
"See you around then, or maybe not!" Mol agreed quickly. "Uh... good luck?" she said uncertainly to me.
"Wyll's at the bar." I pointed at him. "Ask him about his own negotiations and how they went."
"I'll do just that." Mol agreed, and then made herself scarce. Quickly.
"And so the brave and noble paladin has spared yet another innocent child from a horrible fate." Raphael said smugly after Mol had gone. "Or has he?"
"Even if you can teleport in and out, you still didn't come all this way to this cursed a place just to pick up a teenaged cutpurse." I challenged him. "She was just something you were amusing yourself with while you waited for someone else." I stared challengingly at him. "So, what's your pitch
this time?"
"You really shouldn't underestimate people like that, Hawke." Raphael said knowingly. "Why, it was only a decade or three ago that I was dealing for yet another 'teenaged cutpurse', and today that young man is poised to enter the highest ranks of nobility. Most impressive!" His smile turned slightly cruel. "Granted, he has been a bit
irregular with his payments of late." He chuckled evilly. "Ah, but that's how it is with mortals. They're all so...
mortal, in the end."
I sat and waited quietly, sipping at Mol's abandoned drink. Why not, I'd paid for it.
"You are of course correct." Raphael agreed smoothly. "Our encounter here is not coincidence.
Nothing is a coincidence, truly. You, like all mortals, so desperately believe in the mirage that is free will. Denying the ugly truth that your superiors have plotted out every potential path ahead, and that your only 'freedom' is being allowed to choose only from the options that they permit you to have." He chuckled. "No offence meant, of course. I'm sure everyone in this inn thinks they could have
changed things, had things work out
better for them. If only they hadn't missed the opportunity to."
I stared and took another sip. Loudly. Ostentatiously.
"You're learning." Raphael complimented me. "Give the opponent as little to work with as they can. Let their own desire overfill the silence. It's a useful maneuver." He chuckled again. "For
amateurs."
"Amateur or professional, you can't beat someone at a game if they don't sit at the gametable." I nodded towards the abandoned chessboard.
"Touche." Raphael nodded briefly. "But not all games are visible... too often, not until after you've already started playing them. And then there's temptation... oh, we can never forget
temptation, can we? Why, the last time I successfully tempted someone in this region, I profited off that victory for
decades."
"You are not going to claim
you're responsible for that." I nodded out the window at the Shadow Curse visible in the distance.
"Of course not." Raphael affected an elaborate shudder. "I would
never leave such an unsightly and crude mess behind. Far too much attention for so little gain. But where are my manners? Why, I haven't even asked how you've been faring, or if your journey was pleasant." Raphael chuckled. "You do look a bit green around the gills, now that I mention it. Why, I have this picture in my head of you tossing and turning in the middle of the night. Such unrestful sleep. Such strange dreams."
"I'm not going to sell you the mind flayer, but if you happened to trip over him and haul him away for free, I might cry." I sniffled theatrically. "Just don't take the rest of the relic, or its other occupant and the protection they give." I didn't feel the slightest hesitation about bringing that topic up - after all, if he knew about the 'Guardian' then he already knew the rest of it. And who knows, maybe I'd get lucky and he really
did want the Guardian's soul, at which point I'd gladly let him reave it for free and even buy him a drink.
"Ahahahaha!" Raphael laughed. "No, I have no interest in that silly little creature. Illithids are so
very bad for business - they don't even have any souls for us to take. I'm afraid that I must leave your not-so-imaginary friend to your tender unmercies - he is of very little use to me. Still, I am gratified that you're starting to learn the proper attitude. So in appreciation of your offer, I'll gift you a piece of the truth. With no obligation attaching, don't trouble your weary little head."
"Let me guess - just enough of a piece that I'll be more tempted to buy the remainder?" I said cynically.
"That goes without saying." Raphael freely admitted. "And so -
General Ketheric Thorm." he dramatically orated. "Proud father. Man of faith. Utter
fool." he curled a scornful lip. "On the night the Harpers defeated him the first time, someone murdered his entire army in the heart of their most secure fortress. But who could possibly
benefit from such a massacre?" Raphael chuckled. "If you want to know more, I could work the exchange of such precious knowledge into the terms of your future deal. But the time for quibbling over clauses and contracts hasn't
quite arrived." He waved away my denials before I could make them. "Don't worry, though. You'll be coming to me again soon enough. Oh, and that
reminds me. Your warlock friend - his patron sends her regrets that she couldn't stop by in person, but she asked me to bring him a message." He reached into his pocket and withdrew an elaborately sealed envelope. "Do make sure young Ravengard gets this, would you? It's rather urgent - to him, at least."
"I hope you at least charged her an arm and a leg for postage." I said darkly, as I took the letter.
"Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't." Raphael smirked as he stood from the table. "But at present, I'm afraid that you're making me late for a meeting with another client. Until we meet again!" he finished cheerfully, and vanished.
"I hope you made infernal pacting sound as horrible as possible." I told Wyll as I sought him at the bar.
"Nothing held back." he agreed. "Mol's a very proud young woman, though, and with the most dangerous belief a rogue can have - that she'll
always be smarter than the marks."
"If you're
too cocksure that everyone else at the card table is a sucker, then you're the sucker." I agreed. "Hopefully, my pointing out where Raphael was successfully rooking her with one of the cardsharp's basics has helped her reconsider that belief - or at least made her doubt her odds of outwitting Raphael enough to not want to sign on the dotted line."
"If devils couldn't make people believe that there was always a chance to cheat them if you were just clever
enough, nobody would ever sign one of those pacts." Wyll agreed. "I should have- agh!" he winced. "Damn it, came too close to the forbidden topic."
"Please tell me that was just a warning shot and not you leaving yourself open for another one of Mizora's punishments." I trailed off.
"Warning shot." he agreed. "Fortunately."
"Which reminds me." I said sadly. "Mizora apparently couldn't stop by in person, so Raphael offered to carry a message for her." I handed him the envelope.
"Mizora is
lower on the infernal power scale than Raphael is." Wyll shuddered. "But
he ran an errand for
her? What are they scheming together? What fresh hell am I in for now?"
"Only one way to find out." I winced, and Wyll reluctantly drew a dagger and neatly slit open the envelope.
"Mizora's handwriting." Wyll said. "And not a forgery - there's a spark of her power imbued in the ink-" His eyes widened. "This note's written in her own blood." he trailed off faintly.
"
Please tell me it's not a ransom note." I swore vehemently.
"As if I'd pay even a bent copper coin for her?" Wyll snorted. "No, it's a command. Apparently one of Zariel's important assets is being held prisoner at Moonrise Towers. I'm ordered - ordered is underlined - to set them free at all costs." He swore viciously. "My pact was to
hunt devils at her command, and now I'm being told to
rescue one? She's enjoying twisting this knife worse and worse!"
"And of course she specified a penalty." I didn't guess.
"Clause Z, Section 13.
'Should the promised soul refuse obeyance or neglect duty, the pact-holder shall cast the promised in Avernus as a lemure.'" Wyll read off the paper. "She's not even being subtle this time."
"Well, we were going to Moonrise anyway." I tried to make the best of it, however weak that effort was.
Wyll nodded back, and folded the note and put it away. By wordless agreement, we got out a bottle of the good stuff and poured ourselves a stiff one each.
"I'm going to go join Lae'zel at the practice yard they set up, work off some steam." Wyll said finally, and at my nod he got up to leave. I had another drink, then corked the bottle and went outside to enjoy some fresh air. I'd had a surfeit of unpleasant conversations recently, and I needed a moment for myself.
So of course I wasn't out on the grounds three minutes before I ran into someone else sounding like they needed help. Specifically, the sound of a weeping woman, a dark silouhette against the silvery dome as they sought a moment alone for themselves near the border of the protections. The outline of horns told me that it wasn't Shadowheart, but it wasn't until the young woman began to querulously try and sing through her tears that I realized-
"
Dance upon the stars tonight / Smile and pain will fade away. / Words of mine will turn to ash / As I call the last light- as I call-" Alfira broke off her attempt at a song, sobbing again.
"What's wrong?" I asked her gently.
"Hawke." she said, turning away from the lake to look at me briefly. "Nothing- I'm-" She sniffled and reached for a handkerchief, realizing the futility of trying to pretend she was fine when her eyes were raining tears. "-really not fine at all." She blew her nose and sighed. "I-I have to keep a brave face up in there, for the children. I can't let them see me like this, even if-"
I realized that someone wasn't here, and my heart sank. "Lakrissa?" I asked her gently as I sat down next to her, remembering the name of her girlfriend from our
awkward introduction at the party that night in the Grove.
"Yes." Alfira confirmed, her voice choked. "I was restless - up and walking around the perimeter of the camp, trying to finish my new song. Throes of creation and all that, you know? So she was back in our tent... alone... when-" Her lead lowered. "They called me a heroine for being alert enough to yell a warning that the cultists were coming, but that only makes it
worse! What kind of heroine isn't with- isn't with-" And suddenly my arms were full of sobbing tiefling. "I just
left her there! Gods, my teacher's already died on this horrible trip and now my lover's gone the same bloody
way-" She collapsed against me.
"My mother left to go shopping in the lower market, while I was busy dealing with 'important matters' up in our house." I told her. "I didn't even insist she take a guard with her - we'd had that argument several times before, and I'd lost every time, so I just got tired of insisting. And that day, she never came back." My voice filled with iron. "I tracked down the man who'd taken her and I killed him. I even got there in time to hear her last words." I sighed and continued more gently. "Being there to see them die doesn't help, Alfira. Either way, they're still gone... and you're still not." I sighed. "And either way you have to keep living."
"I know." Alfira sobbed. "My friends said that. Jaheira said that. And they're not wrong." She sniffled again into my shoulder. "So why does it
hurt so much?"
"Not because we did anything wrong." I told her. "It's just because we're alive." I remembered something Jaheira had mentioned during her debriefing. "Look, some of the other survivors reported that the Absolute's raiding party was taking prisoners. Lakrissa might still be-"
"Still be alive to get locked up in that horrible tower the Harpers can't even reach and where they're going to shove a
tadpole in her head?!?" Alfira cursed vehemently. "And you think that's
better?!?"
"Since I'm going to be going to Moonrise Towers and freeing every prisoner I can, I
hope it's better." I promised her. "Not that I can guarantee she did make it, but if she did-"
"You did save us once." Alfira agreed, her voice soft. "May the Lord Of All Songs be willing that you can do it again."
"A devil I met once told me that hope was his favorite emotion, because it was always just a tease." I surprised Alfira. "And out of all the people I've ever met in my life, he was the hands-down grand champion of being
full of shit. So let's both try to prove him wrong once more, can we?"
"All right." she smiled at me sadly, wiping away her tears. "I'll try. And thank you for everything." And she leaned in to kiss me with soft lips on the cheek-
"You're having a wonderful time, I see." Shadowheart's voice filled both our ears, and was full of enough acid to strip the shine off the Grymforge golem.
"Ah!" Alfira squeaked in embarassment as we both separated so fast we practically teleported. "No, it wasn't like that! I wasn't-"
"Wasn't making the same offer again that you made the last time both of you were out at night together, only with more success this time?" Shadowheart glared at her, her back to me as she turned to stare down Alfira.
"Please believe me." Alfira begged her, literally on bended knees. "
I grabbed onto
him.
I kissed
him. He didn't want anything, and he wasn't doing anything-"
"You're not the one I'm angry at." Shadowheart finally said to her after a long pause. "Now
please get out. I want a private word with my
friend."
"I'm so sorry." Alfira begged me, and then at Shadowheart's glare ran for the inn like her life depended on it.
"She'd lost her lover in the attack. She was desolate. I was just-" I began.
"Comforting the bereaved?" Shadowheart's voice came back tonelessly, her back still turned to me. "Yes, I saw how
comforting you were being."
"Word of honor, Shadowheart. Nothing happened. Nothing was
going to happen." I insisted.
"And your word's always been your bond, hasn't it." she eventually replied, her voice still emotionlessly rigid - and after what had been
far too long a pause to regain her self-control. "But I still saw what I saw."
"Shadowheart-" I pleaded.
"
No." she cut me off. "I don't want to talk about this right now. I came out originally to tell you that Isobel is ready to see us, and that I'm not going to attend the meeting."
"I think-" I began, for her to spin around and glare at me, her face taut and expressionless.
"
Business. Only." she husked out with a visible effort at not raising her voice. "And the first order of business is, I can't let a High Initiate of Selune even get a glimpse of me. She'll recognize me for what I am on sight, and I really don't think the Harpers are going to be as understanding about it as the druids of the Grove were. Seeing as how they're crusaders against evil cults, not servants of nature's balance." She paused, her face twisting awkwardly before she continued. "And seeing as how Shar's curse on this land has already helped kill a lot of their friends."
"What's your plan for operating without the blessing? The Blood?" I asked her, damping down my own emotions and trying to focus solely on the job-
"Yes." she agreed. "Not that I could risk accepting a blessing of protective magic from a priestess of the Moon
anyway. Given who I serve, it would probably set me on
fire." she bit off her words.
"Then let's hope Jaheira didn't give her an exact count of our party, so she won't notice that you were out visiting the privy at the time." I finally said.
"Hope." Shadowheart echoed meaningfully, and I winced inwardly yet again.
"Can we talk later?" I begged her quietly.
"
Hopefully." she skewered me yet again, and I retreated in disorder before this conversation went any further down into the Underdark than it had already delved. Damn it, this just wasn't
like her. She'd
laughed at Alfira's offer that night in the Grove, she wasn't insecure about it at all-
I sighed and realized that
dying probably did make someone a little insecure, and that unlike Wyll Shadowheart had already been doing the 'No I'm
fine' routine about it even before this mess had come up. So at a moment when she'd already been feeling uncertain enough, she'd then seen the worst possible thing at the worst possible time-
Damn it. I couldn't even begin to say anything further about this without just making it worse.
And we were about to head off on a desperate and dangerous mission.
And she really didn't want to talk about it, and I couldn't dare to bring it up again until she was ready to talk about it.
I cursed the gods and their perverse sense of drama and even more perverse timing all the way to Isobel's room. The rest of our group looked knowingly at me when they spotted Shadowheart's absence, and I cursed inwardly yet again that their perfectly reasonable assumption didn't
begin to cover the actual depths of the shit I was in at present.
Lock all that way right now, Hawke. It's time to be a professional again.
"High Initiate Isobel?" I asked her after she'd answered our door knock with an invitation. Isobel was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen, only slightly shorter than Wyll and with a lovely round face and voloptuous body. Her armored robes were of a design I'd never seen before and emblazoned with the insignia of the waxing moon, and a white-metal spear was slung on her back and an unornamented tiara of plain silver said on her brow. Her hair was silvery-white, of a shade I'd never seen before in nature, but her features were smooth and young. Two slim pointed ears sticking up through her uncombed mane bespoke of her half-elven blood.
"Silver hair." Gale said wonderingly. "You've been specially blessed by the Moonmaiden."
"I'm not
that special, really." Isobel said warmly. "Jaheira's told me about you - the True Souls with free will, who are going to save us. And just call me Isobel, no title."
"All right." I agreed. "You've been doing an amazing job protecting this place. The magic I've seen here - the sheer
scope of it is breathtaking."
"Selune provides the blessing." Isobel replied. "I'm just the person who asks Her for a little help." Her smile faded away. "And now I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you for a lot more."
"Moonrise Towers." I agreed. "First the moonlantern to get us there, and then we infiltrate."
"You're the only ones here who can." Isobel agreed. "Myself and the Lady of Silver are the defense; you will be the offense." She chuckled. "Your walking in just when we most need you is almost too good to be true. But I'd be a poor priestess indeed if I couldn't recognize providence when I saw it."
"Have you learned anything about the Shadow Curse in your studies of it?" Gale asked.
"Some." she agreed. "It's a malediction of Shar, but of course you already know that. But it's lasted far too long and sunk too deeply into the land to be the Nightsinger's work alone."
"
Multiple evil gods are contributing here?" I moaned.
"No." Isobel said. "I think the spirits of the land have somehow been coerced or tricked into tormenting
themselves. That's certainly in keeping with the Lady of Loss's handiwork - to break someone down until they deliberately perpetuate their own misery. Tricking them into believing that self-destruction will be the end of their pain, not the cause of it." Her lip curled scornfully. "But I am a servant of the Moonmaiden, so of course I'm a
little biased on that topic."
"Our druid friend Halsin would certainly like to know what you've theorized about the nature spirits." I very urgently changed the subject.
"I'll make sure to look him up, then." Isobel agreed. "But for now, you need a protection cast upon you. Hold still... this might tickle." she quirked a momentary smile, and then raised her hands in invocation. A warm silvery light materialized out of thin air and wrapped around us all, before fading beyond visibility without actually leaving. We felt a pressure on us fade, one that we hadn't been consciously aware of until after it had eased off.
"There you go." Isobel said. "Now you won't take damage if you stray beyond the range of your torches while out in the cursed lands. You'll still have to avoid the deeper darkness though - until we can get a moonlantern for you, that will still kill you."
"How long will it last?" Lae'zel asked practically.
"Several days." Isobel assured us. "And by then we'll hopefully have successfully located and ambushed one of their caravans. If not- well, then we'll have to think of something else."
"Anything else we should know before we get started?" I asked her.
"Ketheric Thorm is a terrifying man." Isobel said, wrapping her arms around herself defensively as she began to pace nervously. "But you have something he doesn't." she affirmed, turning back to face us. "Allies worth having." Her eyes turned sad. "He is apostate to Selune, and betrayed us all to Shar - and now again, to the Absolute. If only he had not fallen..." she trailed off sadly, and looked out the window. "Then
none of this would have come to pass."
"'If only' has poisoned more hearts than all the venoms in the world." I quoted Halsin. "Pray for the man he was, if your compassion bids you to do so. But do not bless the man he is."
"Spoken like a true paladin." Isobel agreed softly. "I will pray that your Oath gives you the strength to withstand what you must face."
"Thank you." I said. "And- who are you?" I turned suddenly to see a large man in a Flaming Fist uniform enter Isobel's room... from the
balcony, not the door.
"Marcus?" Isobel queried him worriedly.
"Hello Isobel." Marcus replied with an unsettling smile.
"Where have you been?" Isobel said. "I haven't seen you in-"
He'd been unaccounted for? My blood turned cold as I realized a horrible possibility- I frantically pushed with my tadpole-
True Soul! I heard Marcus' voice answer me in my head.
Ketheric Thorm commands that the priestess be brought to Moonrise Towers alive at all costs. Aid me!
"He's
infected!" I barked out, immediately stepping in front of Isobel and drawing my sword. "SOUND THE ALARM!"
"
Traitor!
" Marcus spat, going for his own blade and clashing it against mine. A sudden
screaming filled my head as Marcus pushed his own tadpole, broadcasting a savage call
outward- a call I could dimly hear being
answered-
And then Gale solved the problem of Marcus' immediate threat
and sounding the alarm both at once, as his Thunderwave spell woke up everybody in Last Light Inn with a booming
CRACK as the man was ejected straight out of Isobel's balcony door and knocked flat on his arse. But we didn't have time to so much as gasp in relief as two horrible figures - they looked vaguely like the ghouls we'd fought before, only with
wings - dropped down out of the sky onto the balcony, flanking Marcus and helping him back up, and the sounds of leathery wing flaps and the screams of surprised Harpers and tieflings told us that more of these flying ghouls were landing all over the grounds.
"The Absolute will have you
all." Marcus snarled with words of ice, and the battle was joined.
Author's Note: Yes, I know I just threw in some relationship drama. Trust the author, I am actually going somewhere with this. Somewhere
not stereotypical. Just give it a couple more chapters to cook.
Mol's scene with Raphael goes a little better for her here than in canon, because unlike Tav Hawke can speak fluent con man. I mean, he was only besties with Varric for almost a decade. And yes, I know that in Faerun they call the game 'lanceboard'. Hawke is not from Faerun, he calls it chess.
And yes, Alfira's grieving for her teacher routine is done in the Grove in-game, not here. Lakrissa
is one of the tieflings captured by the cult in Act Two, though. So yeah, she's gonna have a meltdown - Hawke didn't help her with grief therapy in the Grove so she's still dealing with that stress, and now she's lost her lover too? Poor girl. And really, Alfira is one of the most beloved minor NPCs in this game for a reason - she's just too sweet. (Also, she gets the best damn song in the game. Seriously, there is a point in BG3, in the middle of a minor sidequest convo, where the game just goes
'And now hold everything for a three-minute music video.') So there was no way I wasn't getting
something with her in. I may try to avoid bashing my non-faves, but I entirely admit I play favorites.
The truth serum scene is canon, even if Hawke takes it much more matter-of-factly than Tav does.
Karlach fangirling over Jaheira is also 100% canon. If you have her in your party when you enter Last Light Inn, you get an earful. Karlach is totally a Jaheira stan. I'm sure she owns
all the merch. *g*
Mizora shows up via a projected image of some kind to deliver the message in person in Act Two, she doesn't have Raphael carry it for her. I altered it because honestly, it's funnier this way.
Besides, Mizora's the prisoner they have to rescue, so what - they were capable of keeping a devil from escaping via planar travel or magic, but forgot to keep her from sending messages? At least Raphael showing up where she's imprisoned to troll and extort her makes sense.
And yes, Marcus has wings in the game but doesn't here. I thought the wings on him were just silly, so, nope. He just snuck into the inn while Jaheira was busy and then climbed up on Isobel's balcony like a normal person. (He risked meeting Jaheira if he walked through the inn's interior, after all, and he knows she's got the tadpole detector in her pocket.)
