I woke up on a beach, tucked into the sand and warmed by the sun. It would have been nice if the air wasn't filled with smoke and the fact that I should be dead. As I stood, I checked myself for injuries but found none – impossible given the height I had fallen from. The area was unknown and littered with the remains of the illithid ship, but a few yards away I could see a familiar braid of dark hair and the body attached to it lying on the sand, unmoving. I went to Shadowheart's side, gently nudging her awake. I saw no cuts or bleeding, miraculously. Whatever had saved me must have aided her as well.
"Nggh. What, dammit, I'm sleeping," Shadowheart mumbled, swatting an arm at me.
"Shadowheart, it's me, Tav." I shoved her once again, harder this time. "We need to move."
She finally groaned and sat up, slowly rising to a standing position. "Where are we? How did we get down here?" she asked, dusting the sand off of her clothes.
"I was hoping you would know those answers. Where did our gith friend go?" I hadn't seen the githyanki anywhere nearby, but knowing her, she would be fine.
"I'd be careful calling her a friend," Shadowheart muttered. "Seems she packed up and left us here. Anyways," She put her hands on her hips and regarded me. "Shall we keep moving? Don't want to be stuck here when night comes."
"We? You want to come with me?" I asked. Traveling with another seemed like a good idea, especially in a place I had never seen, but I didn't get the feeling that Shadowheart liked me very much.
"Yes, we. Do you see anyone else up and walking around?" She gestured around us at all of the fire and dead illithid bodies. "Our odds of survival are higher if we stick together. And besides, I owe you for saving my life, the least I can do is make sure you don't die right away."
I hadn't seen Shadowheart fight, nor did I know what powers a cleric possessed, so I didn't know if her tagging along would be a burden or a blessing. I guess we would have to find out.
"Alright. Let's move forward then. I say we get to higher ground and go from there," I offered. Shadowheart nodded in agreement. We trudged through the sand, picking up bits of food and what weapons we could find amongst the rubble of the ship while making idle chitchat. Soon enough we had reached the top of the hill and I heard loud swearing coming from further ahead. I unsheathed my blade, continuing with caution, and Shadowheart did the same. There was a man, a high elf it looked like, dressed in finery and strutting around in angry circles, swearing up a storm. I looked to Shadowheart with silent questions, and she shrugged. I put my knife away and called out to him.
"Oh, thank the gods," the man drawled. He pointed frantically to some bushes away from him. "There! In there, there's one of those illithid brain spawn. Can you kill it?" Looking at him, the elf seemed quite capable of killing a simple intellect devourer, but who was I to judge? I crept up to the bushes and grabbed once again for my knife, holding it firm and steady. When the bush began to rustle, my pulse raced in anticipation, and I made a lunge for the creature – surprised when a boar ran out squealing. Behind me, I heard Shadowheart gasp and before I could turn to see, I felt a cool blade against my neck and an even colder hand grabbing me. I tried to fight him off, but we ended up rolling onto the ground, the knife still dangerously close to the artery in my throat.
"Shhh Sh, not a sound, darling," the elf murmured to me, his voice as sultry and soft as velvet. "I'd hate to have to ruin that beautiful neck of yours. Now, answer some questions for me." I swallowed and his crimson eyes followed the movement, tightening his grip on his blade.
"I saw you aboard the mindflayer ship. You were there, correct?" He asked. I nodded, slowly. "Wonderful. You!" He looked up to where Shadowheart crept, slowly inching toward us. "One more step and I'll kill her. Do you underst- "
While the elf was distracted by Shadowheart, I twisted out of his reach and grabbed onto his knife, straddling his waist and pinning him down to the ground under us. Now, I held the weapon to his throat and gave him my most charming smile.
"Why don't we put our toys down and talk like adults, hmm?" I asked. I relished the surprise on his face while also wanting to smack that delicious smirk off his mouth.
"If the lady insists," he answered. I released my hold on him, but kept the knife, waiting for him to strike again. He stood, giving me a mock bow with the grace of a dancer. "My name is Astarion. I do apologize for that, but I am in dire need of some answers."
"I'm afraid we don't have many of those," Shadowheart chimed in, ever helpful. As if on cue, the tadpoles in our brains woke up and decided to talk to each other. Astarion's hands went to his head and he groaned. My pain was no longer unbearable, more a dim throbbing. Through the tadpole, I could see in his mind: dark streets, long alleys, and crowded bars. A seemingly lonely existence.
"What was that?" he asked after a few moments.
"The tadpoles in our heads can communicate with each other," I explained once again. "We all seem to be linked by them."
"We have illithid tadpoles in our minds? How do I get it out?" Astarion asked. His tender voice was edging with panic.
"I don't know. If it stays, there's a chance we will turn into mindflayers," I responded. After a few beats, Astarion began to chuckle, surprising both Shadowheart and me. I looked at her as if to ask What's wrong with this guy? She could only shake her head and shrug.
"Of course I would turn into a monster. Perfect, just what I should have expected." He met my gaze and held it, forcing me to look at his beautiful face.
"You can come with us," I blurted before I even knew what I was saying. "Shadowheart and I are going to explore the area and see if anyone can tell us where we are." As soon as the words left my mouth, Astarion gave me an angelic smile and I had the terrible sense that I had fallen into his trap somehow.
"Thank you, love. I think I'll take you up on the offer," He answered. He held out a hand and I reluctantly returned his knife. Our fingers brushed for the tiniest of moments and the red hue of my skin contrasted with his ghostly complexion so vividly.
"Are we done here?" Shadowheart called to us, already walking forward without me. Astarion and I shared one last look before following her along the path created by years of use.
The instances where I had gone to the lands above were far and few between, so I basked in the sunlight as we walked, holding my arms out to the light, and soaking in as much of it as I could.
"Do you not get out much?" Astarion asked, eyeing me with an amused expression. He could laugh all he wanted; I didn't care.
"Growing up in the Underdark is its own special hell," I responded. "The few times I managed to sneak out were rewarded by lashings. I never gave up trying though."
Astarion was silent for a long while. Then, he sighed and tilted his face up to the sun, allowing the rays to fully weave through his silvery hair. "I understand trying to run away from something. And the sun does feel good after so long in the dark."
I wondered why an elf would choose to live in the darkness, but before I could ask, the three of us stumbled upon a swirling mass of a portal stuck on the side of a cliff.
"Hello? Please, if you can hear me, help me out!" A male voice from inside the portal called out to us.
"Gods, where are these people coming from?" Shadowheart muttered to herself. "Tav, do you know anything of glowing portals?"
"Tav? A rather ugly name for such a pretty thing," Astarion mused.
I stepped toward the portal and held out my hands, getting a sense of the magic surrounding it. It was unstable, almost volatile, and the man inside would need to get out soon. I closed my mind off to my surroundings, concentrating only on the magic of the portal and soothing it with my own power.
"Whatever you're doing it's working!" The man called. "Just a little more and I'll be free of this."
I pushed further into the portal, commanding it to sleep. Eventually, the roaring within quieted and the portal began to close. Shadowheart reached a hand into the swirling vortex and pulled, helping the man out before I closed the gateway with a flick of my wrist. I turned to face the man, seeing a young man staring up at me with wide eyes.
"You ... you saved me. Thank you." The man stood, grasping my left hand in both of his, then placed his lips to my knuckles. "My name is Gale. I'm a wizard from Waterdeep and I promise I'm usually better at this."
"At introductions or at spell casting?" I asked. Behind me, Astarion and Shadowheart chuckled.
"Well, both, generally speaking." Gale the wizard smiled up at me. "My magic seems to be a bit unstable at the moment, so I'm grateful you came along, Miss ...?"
"Tav. I'm Tav." I grasped his hand and helped him stand. "You're welcome to join us – we're trying to find some answers around here."
"Mystra is benevolent, placing me in the debt of such a generous savior," Gale said.
"I vote we set up a campsite before we journey much further," Shadowheart said, gesturing to all the weapons and materials we had been collecting on our short trip so far. We all agreed and began to lay down our things, sectioning off into our own areas and grabbing a handful of the berries that Shadowheart had picked on our way up here.
"I'm going to do a bit more looking around – Shadowheart, will you stay here and guard the camp?" I asked, grabbing for my knife and a few other small things.
"I'll go with you," Astarion announced. He stood and gave Gale a dashing grin. "Gale can stay behind and protect our cleric friend. I'm sure she'll need it."
"Okay then. Gale, Shadowheart, we'll be back before sundown," I said. "If I don't come back, Astarion killed me and hid the body."
"My darling, you're too cruel," Astarion pouted, mocking a shot to the heart. "I would never dream of killing such a perfect specimen of life."
I rolled my eyes at his theatrics and started toward another hill, leaving the camp, and my two other companions, behind. As Astarion and I walked, I asked about his life and received a few vague answers about being a magistrate in Baldur's Gate.
"Very boring business, I'm afraid," he said. "Nothing compared to your daily life, I'm sure. Though I am curious." He gave me a curious look. "How does a drow end up on a mindflayer ship?"
I didn't answer at first. The few times I've shared my hopes for the future with those close to me didn't end well, but this stranger didn't seem like one to judge others' dreams. "I left the Underdark. I was making my way to Baldur's Gate when the ship flew by and decimated the entire village I was passing through."
"Why Baldur's Gate? What's so special there?" Astarion asked more questions, and I couldn't understand why he'd care. "Is there someone waiting there for you? A lost lover, perhaps?"
I shook my head and laughed. "No lover is waiting there for me; I can promise you that. But maybe some peace and quiet. I've heard stories of drow and other ... unsavory types starting over in a place like Baldur's Gate. I'm hoping for a life in the sunlight," I answered, waiting for his reaction to my soul-baring response. He was quiet for a long while. We walked in silence, looting where we could and collecting water from nearby streams.
"I could take you there," Astarion said, breaking the hour-long quiet as we neared a winding path framed by rocky cliffs and trees.
"To where? Baldur's Gate?" I laughed. "If we survive long enough, maybe you can give me a tour of the city. It would be nice to know at least one person there."
He opened his mouth to say more, but we were interrupted by loud voices further along the path. I crouched down and moved in closer, hoping to see who we were up against. To my surprise, I saw the gith from the mindflayer ship, caught in a trap and held above ground while two tiefling guards stood watch. They were arguing.
"A githyanki. What in the hells is she doing up there?" Astarion muttered.
"She was with me on the ship. Looks like she's in need of rescuing," I said, standing and making my way to the center of the cave-like area to speak with the tieflings. I could hear Astarion swearing at me from where he was hidden, but I could take care of these two by myself.
"Halt! Give you name drow, or we'll shoot you where you stand," One of the tieflings shouted while the other notched an arrow.
I held up my hands in surrender.
"What are you doing?" the gith hissed at me from where she was trapped.
"I'm here to take the gith with me. I mean no harm to either of you. Allow us to leave and I'll let you live," I announced, keeping my hands chest level so they wouldn't see me as a threat. The tieflings looked at each other, confused. The one with the arrow drew back the bow, ready to fire.
"We cannot allow her back to her creche. You can take your leave now and go in peace, or you put up a fight and die, little drowling." The tiefling sneered down at me from where he stood on the stone ledge.
I gave a long sigh. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that." With a simple wave of my hands and a muttered incantation, the two tieflings burst into flames, their screams echoing in the rocky cavern. Astarion came out of hiding to witness my magic, laughing as they shriveled into ash. I turned my attention to the gith, still hanging from the cage.
"Let. Me. Out." She growled. Her green and yellow-toned skin looked even more sickly in the evening sunlight.
"Can you say 'please'?" I called up to her. Astarion made a noise of approval behind me.
"No, I will not," the gith spat down to me, rage darkening her eyes. "Let me out and I will not slit your throat."
A simple lever was connected to the chain of her cage, so I pushed it down, sending the whole thing crashing into the earth.
Astarion clucked his tongue. "I do you love how you play with your friends. We might get along after all."
The gith stepped out of her cage and began swearing at me in her native tongue. "You fool. I could have handled them myself."
"Ah right, because you seemed to be doing such a good job by yourself," I teased. "The rest of us have set up camp a few miles from here. You're welcome to join and continue your way in the morning."
The gith warrior held her head up and said nothing.
"What are we to call you? You never gave me your name," I asked.
"Lae'zel. Now, lead on, sorceress. I want no more teethlings to get in our way." Her words were clipped. Astarion, of course, caught her mispronunciation.
"You mean tieflings? I'm not quite sure what a teethling is," he said, earning a sharp glare in return.
Lae'zel looked at me. "You will teach me the customsof this place and I will not kill your pale friend. Let us leave."
With those introductions, we went back the way we came and took the long road back to camp.