Journey to Baldur’s Gate

CH.3 Freeing A New Companion

Dawn rolls in as the camp begins to stir in the sunlight. Ellynn, after her encounter with Astarion the night before, is the last to stir from her slumber, feeling weaker than she usually does, and her neck feels sore from the bite. Much to the concern of Gale and Shadowheart, she takes her time and slowly begins to pack away her section of the camp before finally changing into her robes again. She then makes her way to the pale elf, who looks much healthier than when they first met.

“Good morning,” he greets them with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

Ellynn rubs her neck, and any sign of the bite marks vanish overnight. “I’m fine. I just feel a little woozy.”

“It’ll pass. Just be glad I’m not a ‘true’ vampire,” he says with a somewhat smug look. “A bite from them, and you might wake up as a vampire spawn, like my good self. All of a vampire’s hunger, but few of their powers.”

Ellynn nods a bit, pondering somewhat before asking, “Is that how you can stand in the sun? Because you’re not a ‘true’ vampire?”

Astarion looks at her with some surprise. “Oh no, I should be cinders in this light. I hadn’t seen the sun for 200 years before we crashed here. Someone- or something- wants me alive. They’ve changed the rules.” He began to ponder himself, thinking about his weaknesses before the crash. “Standing in the sun, wading through a river, wandering into homes without an invitation - they’re all perfectly mundane activities now. As for my other quirks - well…” He gave her a chuckle and a smirk. “We can figure those out in time.”

“What’s causing this?” Ellynn asks, trying to make sense of it all. “The mind flayer’s parasite?”

“That’s my theory,” Astarion replies to her. “But who knows? I’m just glad you’re being sensible about these revelations. I was worried people might turn up with torches and pitchforks.” He is cut short once he notices Gale and Shadowheart approaching from behind Ellynn. “Although, there’s still time…”

Gale is the first to give his opinion. “So we’re traveling with a vampire, are we? Of course, we are. A word of warning, Astarion: I taste absolutely awful. Keep your distance.” He gives off a smug look as he gives the verbal warning, and Astarion raises a brow in reaction.

Shadowheart follows up with a warning of her own. “Given our group’s nature, I don’t see much harm. We’re each monsters in the making, after all. I’d just better not wake up in the night to find fangs at my throat…”

Ellynn attempts to ease their concerns. “I trust him. He won’t hurt us.”

“Quite the opposite. I’m here in the spirit of openness and honesty to work together as a team,” Astarion says confidently.

“I’d just better not wake up in the night to find fangs at my throat…” Shadowheart replies, her tone darkened with threat.

Astarion takes it with a grain of sand. “There now. We’re all friends again,” he says to Ellynn in a somewhat babying tone before returning to his normal tone. “Shall we go? There’s a long day ahead of us.”

Ellynn nods as she finishes packing away, with Gale stepping in to help her. He says, “If ever he gets too close for comfort, just say the word, and I will polymorph him into a goose.”

Ellynn chuckles at this as she finally straightens herself up. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She sees Shadowheart approaching, having an idea for the half-elf. “Hmm? Yes, Shadowheart?”

The black-haired half-elf holds her hands out to Ellynn. “Stay still real quick. I think this spell should work.” She casts a lesser restoration spell onto Ellynn, relieving her of her bloodless feeling and restoring her energy. “That should do it.”

Ellynn stretches out and swings her arms around to get a feel for it. “Wow, that worked wonders. Thank you!” Shadowheart nods as she returns to finish packing her tent as Ellynn smothers what was left of the campfire. “That ought to do it. We should start heading out now. We don’t want to keep Auntie Ethel waiting.”

With that, the group trek onward, reading off the map that the old woman had marked off. All the while, a bit of banter breaks out.

Astarion breaks the silence first. “So, do you have loves waiting for you once this is over?”

Gale replies, somewhat uncomfortable with the question after giving it some thought. “You know what - that is not the easiest of questions for me to answer.”

Shadowheart scoffs in response. “You mean just waiting, like a lovesick puppy? Short-term amusements are much less of a hassle.”

Ellynn listens to this, somewhat chuckling as she leads onward. “I never quite had the time for any interaction myself.”

Astarion looks at her amusedly. “Really now? Why ever not? A lovely creature such as yourself is left alone - why, it should be considered a crime!”

Ellynn smiles somewhat. “I just…. Never felt anyone was trustworthy enough to be given such complex feelings.”

Shadowheart moves beside her. “Is that so? And you consider us trustworthy then?”

“I consider you all equally trustworthy enough for an alliance. If we’re to spend quite a few days on this journey, assuming Auntie Ethel cannot help us, I’m sure everything else will open up naturally.”

“Indeed…” Astarion says, raising a brow as he thinks to himself how she is the perfect challenge for him.

They start coming up along the path when they start hearing voices up ahead. They sound frantic and angry. Ellynn runs up to see what's going on. Two men are ganging up on Auntie Ethel, seeming to be trying to get some information out of her.

“Lads, for the love of all that is holy, I’ve never clapped eyes on your poor sister,” Ethel exclaimed, looking quite frightened of the men.

One of them, a tall human with flaming red hair in a ponytail and a beard, spoke up. “Drop the act, hag. You were the last to see Mayrina!”

The other man, a tall human with thicker blonde hair in a bun and a goatee, spoke up. “Just let her go! Please.”

Ethel cries out, “Please, leave me be!” She spots Ellynn and waves at her frantically. “You there! Please, I don’t know what’s come over these boys. I just want to go home!”

Ellynn noticed that her face creased with false concern. She realized she was lying about seeing this girl, Mayrina. The men did not even give Ellynn a single look, too focused on Ethel, as one of them spoke up again. “Stop this! We…. We won’t ask again!”

Ellynn looks at Ethel, unsure of whom to believe at first. But she couldn’t turn her back on her own morals. If she did have this girl, she had to help. “You’re lying; you’ve seen this girl!”

Auntie Ethel glares at the group as her tone changes. “Bollocks… You were supposed to rush to my defense, love. A fat lot of good you are! Some advice? You ever darken my door, you’d best have that head bowed down and an apology at the ready.” She straightens up as she begins to shift a bit. “Bye-bye, now!” She shines like a prism before vanishing out of sight, leaving the group puzzled.

One of the men, Demir, finally approaches Ellynn. “Bloody hells, she just disappeared. Ain’t seen nothing like that before…”

Johl, the other man, follows up. “She could shoot fireworks out her backside for all I care; the hag has Rina!”

Ellynn, still puzzled by the encounter, finally pipes up. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s our sister- Mayrina,” Demire replied. “She is… well, she was in a bad way after her husband died.”

“Started saying weird things, like how she was gonna bring him back,” Johl added.

“Next thing, she’s gone looking for the hag. Of all the stupid things to do! We haven’t seen her since, and no good ever came from dealing with a hag.”

“None of this matters, all right?” Johl says, extreme concern plastered upon his face. “We need to get her back. And fast.”

After hearing about their ordeal, Ellynn sighed a bit. She needed the hag for her tadpole problem, but if someone is already in danger because of her… “Let me- I’ll bring Mayrina home.”

Johl looks at her, brows furrowed in disbelief. “Are you joking? I ain’t got a clue who you are. No way I’m leaving Rina to you.”

Demir attempts to speak up. “But, Johl-”

“Not a chance! We’re getting her back on our own. Now, come on.”

Demire sighs as he and Johl give chase in search of where the hag had gone. Astarion rolled his eyes as he stood beside Ellynn. “Well, we tried. Back to our own business, eh? The sooner we see that hag for ourselves, the better, right?”

“And what happens if we find her with their missing sister?”

“The girl went about this deal on her own! Nothing we can do. She made her choice, going to a hag just as those two idiots did. Now shall we go? I’d love to have a wriggling worm extracted as soon as possible… And no more jumping into heroics. Not much good ever comes from being nice to every pathetic soul we meet.”

Gale shoots a glare at Astarion, disapproving of his town toward Ellynn. “You might want to rethink yourself, Astarion. After all, just like this girl, we are the ones going to a hag for a deal as well. Would you consider us to be idiotic as well?”

“Yes! Because we’re all going for the hag because we’re all extremely low on options here! But at least I know we can devise a way around whatever consequences the hag might set up for us.”

Ellynn looks at Astarion, her face now awash with concern. “Do you think we can actually do it? Outwit a hag?”

“I-.... Honestly, I have no idea. As we are right now, I think what we’re doing is really stupid.”

Shadowheart finally joins in on the conversation. “I never thought I’d say this, but Astarion is right. What we’re doing may not be the wisest thing to do right now. We can always come back to the hag once we’ve built up our strengths.”

Ellynn nods, listening to everyone. “So do we just turn back then?”

Gale sighs. “We just might have to. Whatever the hag needs that girl for, she’s likely to keep her alive. She can wait it out just a little longer until we each have our own improvements going forward, yes?”

“Finally, the smartest thing anyone’s said all bloody morning,” Astarion growls out, stomping past the group as he heads back. “Shall we go now? I’m feeling particularly parched right now.”

Ellynn sighed as she started following Astarion, and the rest of the group followed suit as they made their way back toward the grove. Ellynn breaks the silence after a while. “So maybe we could have a talk with Zevlor or that handsome gentleman who helped us before.”

Astarion scoffs audibly. “Handsome? I hardly call him handsome. He does appear attractive enough, but he certainly isn’t that handsome.”

Shadowheart chuckles. “Sounds like you might be envious that a man like him could grasp our friend’s attention.”

“Envious? Of what? A half-breed falling for one of the species she carries? Never.”

Ellynn stops, her ears ringing when she hears those words. “......”

Gale stops beside her and frowns at Astarion. “Half-breed? That’s taking it too far, and you know it.”

Shadowheart moves toward Ellynn. “It’s okay, Ellynn. I’m a half-elf as well. I’ve learned to take these words with a grain of salt. Although, you’re likely more sensitive to their cruelty than I am…”

Astarion stops and looks back, noticing Ellynn’s face as he raises a brow. A strange feeling began to stir. Was it remorse? He had not felt it in a long while. “Oh for....” He sighed as he approached the sorcerer. “Do forgive my behavior, my dear. It has been a very trying day so far. Heroics and whatnot are simply not my things. You understand, don’t you?”

Gale holds his arm out in front of Ellynn in a defensive motion. “That is not a proper apology, Astarion. We’ve all had a stressful couple of days, and you do not see us insulting one another. Now apologize properly, or I may be forced to set those fancy clothes of yours aflame.”

Astarion rolls his eyes as he pushes Gale’s arm down, getting closer to Ellynn and forcing out the nicest words he can muster. “I…. Am…. Sorry. For hurting your feelings. Will you ever forgive me?”

Ellynn looks into the vampire’s eyes, trying to read his intentions. With enough insight, she could see he was being as honest and genuine as possible. She smiles a bit as she gently pats her hand against his shoulder. “I appreciate the apology and forgive you. But please, don’t call me a half-breed again. I’ve had enough discrimination in my life. I don’t need it from the people I need to depend on.”

Astarion pats her hand, smiling softly before quickly switching. “Of course, darling! As you know, I need you to survive as well if we are to get rid of these worms in our brains.”

Shadowheart sighs. “Now that that’s taken care of, can we please move on?”

Gale starts looking around, seemingly distracted. “Actually, I think I hear something up ahead…” He starts moving on as the rest begin to follow. They come across a strange scene: two tieflings are arguing with one another, and a Githyanki woman is suspended in the air, trapped inside a wooden cage. It must have been a trap, and she got caught in it.

One of the tieflings spots the group and immediately treats them as a threat, drawing their weapons and ready to fight. Astarion chuckles as he draws his dagger and flashes his fangs, happy to finally unleash his hidden predator as he quickly makes his way toward the duo. Shadowheart takes out her mace and casts a shield of faith around herself as three light shields project around her. Gale casts a witch bolt at one of the tieflings, giving them some damage, while Ellynn soon charges out a thunder chromatic orb, tossing it to the other tiefling, doing plenty of damage to her. The tiefling male runs for Gale and thrusts his dagger toward him, but Gale promptly dodges the thrust. The tiefling female draws her bow and goes for a hamstring shot for Shadowheart. Shadowheart is able to dodge the incoming arrow. Astarion takes his chance to charge at the tiefling female and thrusts his own dagger at her, getting it in her shoulder as she grunts out, stumbling back. He then uses this opportunity to sink his fangs into her, sucking out some of her blood as he feels more invigorated and happy. The female tiefling felt drained as she stumbled away from Astarion. Gale runs at the male tiefling and swings his staff at his legs, sweeping him off his feet and leaving him prone to critical hits. This gives Shadowheart a chance to run to the male and swing her mace down on his head, shattering his horns and skull. Ellynn soon runs at the female when she is weakened. She also swings her staff down on her, knocking her square on the head and knocking her out. A non-lethal attack. However, her staff snaps in two from the intensity of her swing. She quickly loots from the knocked-out female and takes her bow and dagger. Now she has a shiny new blade to try out!

Astarion smirks, watching her admiring the new dagger. “You know, I could teach you a couple of moves if you ask nicely~.”

Ellynn chuckles at him. “I already know how to wield a dagger, Astarion.”

“Yes, but can you show off with it?”

Gale interjects. “Could we do this later? There is the matter of the Gith in the cage.”

Shadowheart frowns. “Just leave her. She got herself up there. She’s more than capable to get herself out.”

The Gith in the cage finally snarls out. “Enough dawdling! Get me down!” She runs toward the cage and looks up at the Gith as the creature looks down at her. “Slow to respond. Unsurprising. Enough gawking—get me down!”

“I’ll have you free in a moment.” Ellynn looks at Astarion with a kind of puppy-eyed look. “Could you?”

Astarion chuckles with amusement as he takes a crossbow and aims at the cage. It took a couple of arrows, but the wood finally gave, causing the Githyanki to drop out and land on her feet. She stands back up, and Ellynn finally recognizes the woman. This was the same Gith she teamed up with back on the ship!

The Gith looks at Ellynn as she and the group approach. “The tadpole hasn’t yet scrambled all your senses. Auspicious. But the longer we wait, the more it consumes. My people possess the cure for this infection. I must find a crèche; you will join me.”

Shadowheart glares at the Gith. “Careful - she obviously sees your kindness as a weakness. Don’t let her take advantage.”

Ellynn ponders for a moment before responding. “Alright, we journey together. Let’s find this crèche.”

The Gith makes a strange scoffing noise as she looks at the group with disdain. “You are full up. Dismiss your weakest warrior.”

“Wait at my camp then. We can speak there.”

Gale smiled while Shadowheart shook her head with disapproval. The Gith nodded somewhat. “Very well. But heed my words. The horned ones mentioned a camp. One there—this Zorru—has seen githyanki. A crèche must be near. I must interrogate this Zorru. Our very lives depend on it. I will be at your camp. Do not keep me waiting.” The Githyanki warrior soon ran to set up her camp in one of the nearby areas.

Astarion smirks as he puts an arm around Ellynn’s shoulders. “Well, that was an interesting character. She gives off a sort of ‘look at me wrong, and I will tear off your limbs and feed them to you’ kind of energy. I’m growing to like this latest addition. She is such a delight~.”

Shadowheart goes to get his arm off of Ellynn. “I don’t like that Lae’zel. Best keep your guard up around her. If she is anything like other Githyanki I have encountered, she will drop you at your very first sign of weakness.”

Lae’zel—that’s right. That was her name. She proved to be a strong warrior when up against a strong enemy. At one point on the ship, she complimented Ellynn for being able to hold up her own in a fight and found her useful. “Well, I think we should keep her around. Just in case, you know?”

Shadowheart sighs. “Very well. But don’t expect me to be of any help when you wake up with a blade to your throat.”

Astarion grins at them. “Oh, I would love to see a fight break out between you two. I believe it would be quite a spectacle~.”

Gale shook his head. “Now, now, let’s not push any buttons around here. We have a task at hand, remember? Perhaps we should call it today. The sun is nearly set, and we have a camp to set up.”

Ellynn nods. “Might as well find out which area she set up in.”

She and the rest start making their way around the wilderness until, eventually, they find Lae’zel set up near the cliff wall. The group all scatter about and begin setting up their tents as Ellynn approaches Lae’zel. The Gith looks at Ellynn, wearing a leathery night top and tight pants for her night clothes. “A fine evening, don’t you think? The moonlight shines warmly upon us. The breeze caresses our faces. Hideous. All of it.” She says with a disgusted expression. “Would that I were doing battle up there, among the Tears.” She looks up toward the vast sky with a longing look on her face. Ellynn got a good look at her new companion. Almost a yellowish-green tint to her skin, scarring dots around her eyes, and black war paint like a smoky mask on them.

“What do you mean by ‘the Tears’?” She asks, interested.

“Look above,” Lae’zel said. “Watch the moon cross the sky. The Tears follow behind it. Rocky bodies tumbling through the Sea of Night. One of them is my crèche: K’liir.” She keeps her eyes on the sky with pride gleaming in her piercing yellow-slitted eyes.

“Are all githyanki from the Tears?”

Lae’zel eventually turns her attention to the half-elf, raising a brow. “Your curiosity is to be commended. Githyanki are hatched in crèches all throughout Realmspace. K’liir is one of many. It’s where I first saw a kith’rak mount a red dragon. Where I slit my cousins’ throats at the varsh’s command.” Ellynn could see that fiery pride persisting in the Gith’s eyes. “But enough of this. You are wasting your resting time. Come dawn, we will find this Zorru and continue our search for a crèche.”

Ellynn nods as she starts to walk away. “Have a good night then, Lae’zel.” She then makes her way toward Astarion. Her heart began to pace quickly for some unknown reason.

Astarion was reading a thick book, flipping through the pages as he looked up from them and noticed the girl approaching him; he smiled, closing the book and setting it down. “There you are. I was just thinking about you. And that delicious moment we shared the other night.”

She raises a brow and crosses her arms. “The moment when you bit me?”

“The very same. I’ve had this condition for two centuries, but truth be told?” He gets a little flustered as he admits out loud to her, shifting his eyes toward the ground. “You were my first. In all these years, I’ve only ever fed on beasts. Drinking the blood of thinking creatures is a different thing entirely. You were delectable. And now I can’t help but wonder how the others taste.”

Ellynn shifted her arms, placed her hands on her hips, and said playfully, “You’re looking at other necks? I’m hurt.”

Astarion smirks at her. “Oh, don’t worry, there’s enough of me to go around. I’m a man of tremendous appetite. I don’t think they’d volunteer, of course, but it doesn’t make me any less curious. Take Gale, for example. He strikes me as someone whose blood is very rich, refined like a well-aged brandy. But the gith? What in the Hells would she taste like?”

Ellynn decides to indulge him as she thinks for a moment before coming to a conclusion. “Something exotic, surely? An Amnan liqueur?”

Astarion nods, imagining it already as he smiles. “Ooooh…. That sounds very appealing. I’m almost convinced~”

Ellynn soon asks some slight concern in her voice. “This is all still theoretical, right?”

Astarion takes note of her concern and chuckles. “Absolutely. A mere thought experiment. So- in the spirit of theoretical questions- if you had to take a bite from one of them, who would it be?”

Ellynn thinks to herself, thinking through her current choices as she looks over Astarion. She then smirked as she answered, “You, of course.”

Astarion smirks back, taking it as a compliment. “Oh, I’m flattered. Who knew you had such taste? Unfortunately, all this talk is getting me hungry. I’d better find something I can actually sink my teeth into.”

“Well, I would say good hunting, but…”

“There’s nothing tasty in the woods, but I’ll make do. Sweet dreams.” He starts to pick his book back up, but Ellynn suddenly blurts out.

“Wait!”

“Hmm?” He looks at her, raising a brow. “Was there something else you needed to talk about?”

“U-Um… Y-You can…. Feed on me tonight… If you’d like.”

Astarion’s demeanor changed in an instant, smiling. “My sweet, there is nothing I’d like more. I’ll come to you tonight, when you’re snugly wrapped in your bedroll and we can have a little privacy. And this time, I’ll make sure I’m quiet - we don’t want to disturb your rest.” He moved closer to her, giving off an almost dominating predator energy, but Ellynn didn’t seem to mind as he spoke in a lower voice. “Later on, when we are…. At rest…” He leans in close to her ear, speaking in a more seductive tone. “I will eat you right up~” This causes her to shiver from the tone, but not in a fearful way. There was something about this tone that made her want more somehow. As he pulled away, she smirked as he noticed the effect he was having on her. “Just enough to give me strength and just enough to leave you wishing for more~”

Ellynn was nearly flushing red as she gulped somewhat. “R-Right. I’ll…. I’ll…. Good night!” She walks away from Astarion, chuckling as he picks his book back up and continues his light reading. She gets to her bedroll, taking a few deep breaths. What was with her? Now, anytime she got near him, it was harder to even think. Is this the power of a vampire, or is it something more? Whatever it was, the feeling was new to her. She tries to deny anything to do with the bite having any effect on her other than the bloodless feeling afterward. After all, why would she actually ask him for another bite if it was simply to keep his strength up? Or is there actually something more to this than what she understood? She pushes these questions at the back of her mind as she sits on the bedroll. Tomorrow, she will ask Shadowheart to stay in camp and have Lae’zel accompany her, Gale, and Astarion into the grove to find Zorru and learn more about the Tiefling refugees. Perhaps even recruit the human if possible. All will be different the next day. For now, she curls up on her bedroll as an almost anticipating beating in her heart overtook her senses. She, along with the others, all get their sleep for the night while Astarion silently snuck his way toward Ellynn to finally sneak a bite from her neck, nearly giddy to feed on her again. This time, he knew not to get carried away and showed more self-control this time as he sank his teeth into her neck. He cradles her head in his hand as he sucks her blood, savoring each gulp as he pulls away a few seconds after. He was more gentle than the first time, able to do this without causing her to stir from her slumber. As he looked down at her, he had genuine gratitude in his cold heart as he helped stop the bleeding and made his way to his own bedroll. He was left full and happy for the rest of the night.