Chapter 2 - The Return of Lae'zel
One of the Tieflings, the male, was built like a fighter. He was strong and intimidating with red skin and ram's horns and flaming eyes. His dark hair was slicked back, and he was wearing Ring Mail armor, a crossbow and a longsword.
The female was almost the opposite. She was of similar coloring, but that was where the likeness ended. She was petite, wore leather, carried a crossbow and a shortsword, and she was trembling with fear. She was aiming the crossbow at the cage.
Meanwhile, Lae'zel was staring at them with eyes that could kill. Her arms were folded across her chest, and her stance was that of a fuming mother who has just caught her child in a bold-faced lie.
"Zorru was right, Nymessa," the male Tiefling was saying as the group approached from behind. Neither Tieflings were aware of them yet. "Yellow as a toad and twice as ugly."
Nymessa glanced over at him as if afraid to even take her eyes off of Lae'zel. "The thing's dangerous, Damays. Please. Leave it for the goblins to kill."
Just then, the party stopped. Everyone, including Gale, it seemed, stopped as they clutched their heads in pain. Their skulls pounded in response to the prisoner's white-hot stare. Her lips didn't move, yet they heard her voice.
"You again," her words struck them like a hammer. "Get rid of them. Now."
It was then that the Tieflings took notice of the party. Immediately, Nymessa pointed her crossbow at Ryth-Shan. "Holy hells! Another one!"
"Blades high!" cried Damays as he drew his longsword and held it in both hands.
The party recovered, and immediately Astarion was there with a witty comment. "That's nice armor you're wearing," he said with a sinister grin. "I bet our Drow Fighter here could use that better than you."
Ryth-Shan interrupted, though. He stepped forward to address the Tieflings with a truly frightening look on his face. "If you value your life, walk away." He rolled a 17 Intimidation check. He had no bonus, but he only needed a 15 to succeed.
Nymessa stumbled backwards and fell. Her crossbow bolt fired into the air and vanished out of sight. "Damays!..." she cried in a panic.
Damays withdrew to her side, helping her to stand. He obviously recognized that this was their best chance at surviving. "Come, Nymessa. Now," he instructed. Then, helping her to her feet, the two fled off along one of the pathways further off to the north. They continued to glance over their shoulders at the party as they disappeared.
Ryth-Shan's relationship with Kaedyn went up by 1 to 52. Vexir was also, actually, impressed by his ability to intimidate them, so her score with him went up to 56. His relationship with Gale also went up to 51. However, his relationship with Lae'zel dropped to 48, with Shadowheart it dropped to 51, and with Astarion it dropped to 51 as well.
Lae'zel was like a statue that could talk. "Enough gawking. Get me down."
Ryth-Shan nodded and approached the rope that suspended the cage in the air. "Now that they're out of the way, sure," he replied. Then he hacked the rope with both shortswords, callously allowing the cage to fall hard to the ground. The somewhat flimsy prison splintered to pieces. Lae'zel fell prone, hard, and roared in anger. Then she threw the cage's remains off of her and drew her longsword as she approached him.
Everyone tensed, ready to defend their companion. Lae'zel, however, made no move to strike. Ryth-Shan also did not raise his weapons to defend. Was this some sort of odd Githyanki greeting ritual? Was she actually pleased with how he released her?
Indeed, she was impressed by his lack of fear towards her, and their relationship went back up to 50. She didn't like spineless people, and it seemed he had come to realize this. Still, when she spoke again, her tone was harsh. "The tadpole hasn't yet scrambled all your senses. Auspicious. But the longer we wait, the more it consumes. You will join me. We must find a creche. Our people possess the cure for this infection."
"I welcome our alliance, kin," Ryth-Shan said in reply with equal strength and confidence. "We will seek out a creche."
Lae'zel actually seemed pleased. She adopted a proud stance. "You have made an ally from Creche K'liir. Few know such fortune. In case you don't remember, call me Lae'zel. Come. The horned ones mentioned a camp. One there, this Zorru, has seen Githyanki. A creche must be near. We will ask this Zorru where he has seen our kin."
Then she set off towards the direction the two Tieflings had gone.
Ryth-Shan stopped her by grabbing her elbow. She shot him a vicious look as if to say that he had crossed a boundary and was in danger of being put to death. "Chatter already? Tas'ki."
"There are others with us," he replied. "We need to consult them."
Lae'zel barely glanced in their direction. "Must we?" she said with a superior air about her. "We do not need them any longer. Dismiss them, and let's go."
Ryth-Shan shook his head, much to her displeasure. "Thinking of that worm inside me... it's driving me mad. But, I think we need their help if we're going to get through this. There are too many enemies around."
Lae'zel regarded him curiously. "We were flayed, beaten, burned, and poisoned in our training. It is our duty to withstand suffering, and our pleasure to conquer it. I am seriously questioning your upbringing. Come. We must locate a creche. Observe everything. Assume nothing. Endure all to the bitter end."
Ryth-Shan stopped her again, still not releasing his hold on her arm. "From which creche do you hail again?"
Lae'zel was growing more agitated. "What does it matter? And I just told you. I was trained on Creche K'liir among the Tears of Selune. Of this place... I know nothing. Why?"
Ryth-Shan seemed to ponder this for a moment. "That's what I thought. Selune. It struck me as unusual because there is, or was, a sect of Selune here. Coincidence?"
Lae'zel was now taken aback. She then gave it some thought. "Perhaps Vlaakith has ordained this. Who knows? I suppose there may be more to us crashing here than we first thought. Is that what you're getting at?"
Ryth-Shan nodded. To Kaedyn, he was clearly using this to win her allegiance to the group. She didn't seem to recognize it, though. The Gith Ranger then said, "Perhaps we should search around the area more thoroughly. Let's not be too hasty. As you said, the tadpoles have not scrambled all our senses, yet. Perhaps there is a reason for it. Maybe Vlaakith is even holding it in a dormant stasis for now."
"We have noticed a bit too many coincidences around here," Ryth-Shan continued. "The gods may be up to something. I think whatever is happening here is beyond what it, at first, appears."
"For example, what might happen should we not be purified?"
Lae'zel grunted. "Your ignorance concerns me. It starts with a fever and memory loss. Then you start to hallucinate. Your hair falls out and you bleed from every orifice. Your bones will change form. Your jaw will split to allow room for four great tentacles. All skin will turn to gore, and be shed to reveal new flesh underneath. Then your physical body will have ceased to exist, and a Mind Flayer is born."
"But what happens within the first few hours?" he asked.
"You cease to exist mentally. Your brain is gone," she replied. "What are you getting at?"
"Like I said, it's just an example of how things aren't normal. The Mind Flayers were different. The intellect devourers were different. The parasites are different. There's a Selune sect around here. Harpers were somehow involved. We found a symbol that looks like a cross between the three symbols of the Dead Three Gods. Harpers were involved with them. There's a Druid's Grove nearby with something shifty happening within. Goblins are about. There are gnolls and Tieflings."
"In short," said Vexir, cutting in, "this place is a hotbed of activity right now. If we're going to survive, we need to not rush things too much. If we haven't lost our minds yet from the tadpole, there's nothing saying we will anytime soon. So, let's try to work together as a team to increase our chances of survival. I think that pretty much sums it up."
"And we're not going to let the parasites turn us," Ryth-Shan assured her. "We will find a cure."
This actually seemed to make Lae'zel feel better. In fact, both Vexir and Ryth-Shan were easing her own anxieties. Their relationships went up by 1 each. Then, she said, "Words forged in steel. May your actions express the same mettle. Fine. We will travel together. Our ultimate priority must be to find our kind and be rid of the parasite. It's as simple as that. We should find this Zorru and the red hunters' camp. He will point us to a creche; hopefully. There, we may be purified. It is our only hope."
Just then, there was some sort of commotion from the path off towards the southeast. It drew everyone's attention. Therefore, they exchanged a brief series of glances with one another, and they hurried off to see what it was. Though they all wanted to get rid of the parasites as soon as possible, curiosity won them over at that moment. It wasn't long before they were wandering onto the upper level of the ruins of the ancient crypt.
Before going any further, it was time to level up Lae'zel. The DM decided to level her up to Level 2 already because there was no real benefit for the players to do the leveling up for her. The DM rolled a 4 for her HP, so with her Constitution of +2, she got 6 HP more for a total of 18. She, like Vexir, also got Action Surge.
Then she leveled up to Level 3. She received 7+2=9 more HP, for a total of 27, and now it was time for the players to decide what Archtype they wanted to pick for her. They chose Eldritch Knight. The first thing this did was give her Weapon Bond. During a Short Rest, she could bond a weapon to herself. Once bonded, she could not be disarmed unless she was incapacitated. If the weapon was on the same plane of existence, she could summon it to her hand as a Bonus Action. She could bond up to two weapons at once.
As an Eldritch Knight, she also got to learn 2 cantrips and 3 spells from the wizard spell list. She had 2 level 1 spell slots. So, besides already having Mage Hand and Jump, because she was Githyanki, she picked Minor Illusion and Mind Sliver for cantrips, and Find Familiar, Magic Missile and Thunderwave for level 1 spells. When she was finished, she instantly cast Find Familiar, and summoned a spider. She called him Shpri.
