Chapter 2 - The Second Night
The group was gathered in that bedchamber. Eventually, the started a fire and popped the two doors open for ventilation. Zriek, the raven, kept watch in the adjoining chamber where they'd battled with Marli and Barton's Mercenaries. Shpri, the spider, kept watch on the stairway down. They ate lavishly, for there was a good variety of foods to go around. Bread, fruit, sausages, fish, wine, ale, water, and just about everything they could have hoped for; all these things were theirs because of the spoils of the fight and their loot from the crate of the fishermen.
They tallied up their loot. "200 GP in total between us," said Kaedyn. "And that's just in coins. Besides our equipped weapons, we have the following: 2 Scale Mails, 2 Leather Armors, 2 Chain Mails, 4 Chain Shirts, 1 Ring Mail, 2 Priest's Packs, a Holy Symbol, a Prayer Book, 10 Sticks of Incense, a Vestment, 7 backpacks with bedrolls, etc., 7 Sets of Common Clothes, 7 Belt Pouches, 60 Bolts, 7 Revivify Scrolls, 1 Alchemist Fire left, Silver Locket with Papa inscribed on it, 5 Bottles of Grease, Chapel Records Book, The Unclaimed Book, Umberlee's Book we found on the beach, a Scroll of Animal Friendship, one for Burning Hands, Detect Thoughts, False Life, Fire Bolt, Inflict Wounds and Mage Armor. We also have 8 Potions of Healing and 2 Greater Potions of Healing, 3 Dungeoneer's Packs, 2 Insignias of Rank, 2 Sets of Bone Dice, some sort of broken blades, 4 Longswords, 20 Arrows, 20 Arrows +1, a Staff, a Hunting Trap, some sort of animal trophy, I think, a Set of Traveler's Clothes, 2 Thieves Tools, one for Astarion and one for Ryth-Shan, 3 Light Crossbows, a Burglar's Pack, a Set of Fine Clothes, a Purse, 4 Shortbows, 4 Goblin Shortbows, a Goblin Shield, a Goblin Scimitar, 2 Rapiers, a Scholar's Pack, 4 Bottles of Black Ink, 3 Quills, 20 Small Knives, 23 forks, 14 spoons, 16 cups, 18 plates, and basically a crap ton of other useless items that we can sell for next to no gold."
"And don't forget Vexir's lovely leather cap," Astarion added as a joke. "She looks so fetching in it. Doesn't she?"
They all chuckled a bit. She was not wearing the cap at that moment. She was applying bandages to a few of her wounds with her hair down. Even she did not think the cap was flattering. Astarion's relationship went up by 1 with everyone. Still, it offered at least some protection from Critical Hits.
(Quick Note: I am making a correction as to the effect of the Leather Cap. They are not items found in the rulebooks and are assumed to be apart of the overall armor already purchased and worn. However, in Baldur's Gate 3, they are items you can find or purchase. I do not approve of their bonuses, as they make no sense to me. A helmet should reduce Critical Hit damage, not add bonuses to saving throws or negate Critical Hits altogether. However, the Damage Reduction I mentioned earlier in the story could potentially negate damage from a Critical Hit altogether. So I came up with a better idea that I am using from here forward. The Leather Cap will provide Resistance to non-magical Piercing or Slashing weapons only, and the Resistance is applied only to the Critical Hit dice. So, if you roll 1d8 for a normal hit, you would get 2d8 for a Critical Hit. If you rolled a 4 and a 5, the Resistance would be applied to the 5 only, making it a 2. So instead of doing 9 damage, it would only be 6.)
"We're not doing too bad, actually," said Ryth-Shan. "Besides all that an Vexir's lovely cap, she is wearing her stylish Chain Mail + 1, I found a nice Breastplate, and Lae'zel has that Spear + 1. Now, if we could just get these things out of our skulls..."
"Humph! Well said, Kin," said Lae'zel. She didn't seem to be as mad now, but she was still unhappy with where they were and what they were doing. "The sooner we find a creche, the better."
"We know," said Shadowheart with a groan. "You're endlessly reminding us. You're such a nag."
Lae'zel shot her another vicious look. The two never made up. They were still quite spiteful towards one another.
"Let's not start that again," said Vexir. "I am only going to put up with it for so long before I start hacking both of you up with my axe."
"Like you could," said Lae'zel, but she turned away as if she didn't feel like challenging her right then.
Vexir let it go. After the fight with the mercenaries, she seemed a bit less angry than she'd been before entering the crypt. Either her sun sensitivity had been part of what set her off, or she was feeling better after getting all of her aggressions out; or both.
Just then, she noticed Gale doing something peculiar. He had conjured a Mirror Image of himself and was examining himself. He was also humming as he did so. "What are you doing?" she asked him, drawing everyone's attention.
"Be with you in a moment," both versions of Gale said almost in unison. "Sorry about that. Just indulging in a spot of vanity. Handsome devil, aren't I? Be that as it may..." After a few more closer looks at himself, he dismissed the illusion and turned to face them.
"Oh, here we go," said Astarion. "A good bedtime story to put us to sleep. I was wondering who was going to tell it."
Gale ignored him. "Ceremorphosis. What does it make you think of?"
"The tadpoles, of course," said Shadowheart. She seemed curious to see where this was going.
"Spot on!" replied Gale. "Day 1: Fever and memory loss. Day 2: Hallucinations and graying skin. Day 3: Hair loss and blood leaking from all orifices. Day 4: Excruciating pain as the skeleton and organs reform and reposition. Day 5: The host's personality has disappeared; fingers, toes and limbs elongate. Day 6: The flesh around the mouth splits to make way for tentacles. Day 7: A Mind Flayer is born. A faultless, if annotated version of the facts."
"Your description is not vivid enough," Lae'zel remarked.
"I would also note that the host's personality disappearing on Day 5 is really just the personality," Ryth-Shan added. "Their conscious minds are gone within hours on Day 1, so it is only the personality that lingers. They are not even truly technically themselves. The parasite has absorbed their personality for those first few days after devouring their brain."
"Not the prettiest of transmutations, is it?" Gale continued. "The point: Thanks to the tadpole, we should have developed more than invasive symptoms by now, but we haven't. Our orifices remain blissfully unblooded, our heads remain clear, and our blood pressure normal. Any expert will agree, this is... abnormal."
"Long live abnormal!" cheered Astarion as he lifted a glass of wine to it.
Gale didn't chuckle or even smile, but he said, "I'll toast to that."
"Can you explain why this is happening?" Shadowheart asked.
"That, alas, is where my knowledge fails me," said Gale. "A rogue might call it luck. A priest might call it fate. The pragmatic in me, however, sees only the silence before the storm."
"And what makes you think you're the expert on this?" asked Lae'zel.
"Study," said Gale. "But what is happening, or rather not happening to us, is entirely undocumented. Uncharted territory. As I said, the silence before the storm. Something to sleep on. I think I'll get some rest."
Lae'zel only grunted in disdain, muttering a bit to herself. Shadowheart stretched. "Well, I don't think I can argue with that. I am awfully tired as well. This whole thing has been brutal."
"I can keep watch," said Astarion. "I'm not very tired, myself. Also, I'm an elf, so we don't really sleep. We just sort of meditate for a few hours."
"Same," said Vexir. "Maybe I'll guard the stairs down and you can guard the other door." She said this in hopes of catching him. She wasn't sure what she'd catch him doing, but she had a feeling it would be something.
"No need," said Lae'zel. "Everyone can relax. Shpri is guarding the stairway and will inform me the moment something moves in that direction. And Ryth-Shan has his bird guarding the other way. We'll be fine."
"True," said Ryth-Shan, and his relationship with her went up 1 to 54. He was quite happy that she not only said his name, for once, but that she also trusted him and Zriek enough to say that they could just relax; that everything from that direction was taken care of.
"Hmmm," said Astarion, looking a bit frustrated. "Well, no offense, but I don't trust a bird and a spider with our lives."
"Nor do I," said Vexir. "We'll keep watch also. Like he said, we don't need much rest anyway." Her relationship with Astarion went up by 2 to 50.
Lae'zel just shrugged at this. "Fine. Suit yourselves." Then she decided to turn in for the night.
It wasn't long after that before the rest of the group did the same. One by one, they got into their bedrolls and drifted off. Astarion did, indeed, sit at the door to the adjoining room, and Vexir sat at the top of the stairs, just out of his line of sight. She was hoping that if he didn't see her that she would catch him slip out into the next chamber.
Sure enough, after a bit of time, Astarion got up and paced a bit. Then, he slipped out through the door and vanished. By this point, she had carefully removed all of her armor, for she had used her injuries as an excuse to do so. She needed to bandage them after all. Right?
And so, she waited until he was out of sight for about thirty seconds before she slipped back up into the chamber and to the door he'd been at. She made a Stealth roll of 11+2=13. Astarion's Passive Perception was 13. Success. She crept along into the adjoining room and watched as Astarion came up to Zriek who was perched silently on a candelabra. "Hello, Friend," said Astarion pleasantly, though he kept his voice low. "I know you and I can't really understand one another, but I don't suppose I can trouble you to keep my activities quiet. Can you? I do rather feel as if I have a good thing going here, and I don't want to mess that up. So, if you don't mind, let's just pretend you didn't see me. Okay?" The bird just twitched its head from side to side as if totally unsure what to think of him.
"Bah!" he said in frustration. "It's no use. Hopefully, he won't question you or anything about me, and if he does, maybe you won't remember this anyway. You are just a dumb bird." Then he turned around and strode over to where Marli's body still lay on the pavement. "Such a pity," he said as he sighed. "Such a waste. So much blood." He seemed to be truly grieving. Vexir thought it was most unusual. It was as if he was now grieving for their loss. Did he actually care about them for some reason? Was he some sort of religious person after all who was concerned for the souls of the dead?
Nah! That made no sense. He'd been totally thrilled when he'd killed her. Maybe he was just unstable. Maybe he had dual personalities, or something.
Then he clenched his fists together tightly and grit his teeth. It was as if he was in intense pain. "Gods, I hate you!" he cursed up at the ceiling. "You all are cruel and vicious. What game are you playing with me now? Huh? Why are you tormenting me like this?"
"Because you're all the same," he continued with his monologue. "You're all the same. Just like HIM. Controlling, manipulating, self-serving... ALL of you!" Then he spun on his heel and headed for the main entrance of the crypt. Vexir continued to follow. She rolled a 12 for another Stealth roll. He did not stop. He continued out into the night air. Then, much to her amazement, he ran. He ran up the stairs and along the path back towards where they had met Lae'zel in the cage. She thought about pursuing him, but there was no way she could without him detecting her.
"Well," she said softly to herself. "Either he's gone for good and that's the end of that, or I'll just have to keep an eye out for him to see when he actually returns. Curious. SO curious." And with that, she returned to her position at the top of the stairs. She wondered if Zriek would alert them all if and when he returned, or if he'd be able to sneak back in without anyone noticing.
It was the latter. At some point in the night, Vexir glanced over her shoulder, and there he was. It was as if he had never left. For some time, she watched him with his back to her. No matter how hard she tried, she simply could not figure him out. What had he been up to? Why did he leave? Where did he go? She had no logical ideas, but she was determined more than ever to find the answers.
End of Chapter 2.
