Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Forever Beyond: A BG Fic

Aerie found the ruins, touching down in the middle of a square of skeletal walls that must have once been a courtyard. The site was on a sort of island, a deep ravine all around. She was glad to have not had to cross the moldy, crumbling bridge on foot or horseback, but someone had. And she would have to too if Jaheira was hurt. Deal with that when it came to it; in the meantime there were fresh paw prints leading to the remains of a chapel. They disappeared once she was inside, but from there was only one way to go anyway; down.

As she descended she began to see more signs of what this place had been; worn mosaics showed blue four pointed stars, and then she came to the grey statue of a woman with thick robes and flowing. Aerie summoned a staff to her hand, an orb encased at one end lighting up as she examined flecks on the stone. She quickly deduced that the hair of statue had once been brightly painted with all the colors of the rainbow.

“Mystryl,” she whispered with a slight bow to the former incarnation of the goddess of magic. It was strange to think that even gods weren’t immune to time. Had Aerie more she would have liked to explore this place more fully, but Jaheira might have been very close to running out of hers.

Still she would feel foolish rushing to the rescue only for herself to be caught in a trap; Jaheira’s scolding would take years to recover from. Nalia, Imoen, and Yoshimo had shown her various things to look out for. Jaheira also wouldn’t be happy if she found out Yoshimo had a hand in her rescue, but he had always been kind to Aerie and right now they both needed him. It was thanks to him she spotted the slightly raised and off-color stones in the floor and knew that if Jaheira was being chased she couldn’t have gone that way.

That and other processes of elimination as Aerie navigated the musty corridors eventually led her to signs of a fierce clash, large chunks of the temple’s structure smashed and torn asunder, and soon she heard the clamor and literal growls of a battle. The elf dashed behind a column in a wide hall from where she could assess the situation. It was not good.

Jaheira had assumed the form of a panther, back arched with her jaw close to the ground as she hissed, black coat damp and glistening from all the blood seeping out of her many cuts. Her paws left a slippery red trail on the mosaics as she slid back from the virtually unscratched Vortigan - who Aerie now knew for sure was the same man from the woods, just as impassive and almost mechanical as he had been then, and just like then she had arrived in the last seconds. Jaheira pounced just like the cornered animal whose shape she had taken, her teeth sinking into his forearm. But that just left her side exposed to his dagger.

He stabbed her several times between the ribs before throwing her over the floor to splat on her side then he approached the supine cat, throwing away the dagger and unfastening his axe. She lifted her head to bare her teeth defiantly as the axe raised, using the last of her strength.

The axe began to swing, falling toward her neck. Instead it met with the spine of a staff, bright blue glowing eyes kneeling behind it, weapons trembling as Vortigan kept trying to push through to get at Jaheira, surprised that this tiny elf possessed the power to hold him at bay. The air between them began to smell like burnt copper, sparks building, a bolt jumping out striking a column and exploding it into dust. Aerie couldn’t match his strength for long; she was slowly being forced back. With a final push she screamed, summoning forth a brilliant blinding light around her. Vortigan leapt back, shielding his eyes, then a second later found himself looking at the empty space his intended prey had been.

Aerie reappeared in a room back the way she had came, Jaheira’s now humanoid again arm draped across across her shoulders. She helped her not-really-elder-but-for-all-intents-and-purposes-her-elder to sit in a corner so she could tend to herself as Aerie peered out into the murky corridor. Vortigan was no doubt hunting, still, but hopefully they had a couple of minutes.

“Foolish child,” Jaheira hung her head, still in pain, “why did you come here?”

“Oh,” Aerie rolled her eyes; not that she’d really been expecting anything like a ‘thank you’. “I suppose I just missed your sunny smiles.”

Jaheira glared harshly at her. “Sarcasm does not suit you,” she said. She then tried to stand, but it was like some invisible force struck her in the side again. She collapsed, arm shaking, hand locked into a claw shape near her chest as she ground her teeth hissing, “dammit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“That dagger must have been coated in something.”

Aerie bounded across, gently pulling Jaheira’s hand away. Changing back to her natural shape should have healed most of her wounds but her side was still bleeding. Prayers to Silvanus hadn’t helped. “Could be a toxin; could be a curse,” Aerie muttered, “either way we need to get you back to the village to deal with it. Luckily someone taught me to prepare for things just like this,” she reached into her bag of holding for her bandages.

“Sounds like a wise and brilliant person. Who were they?” Jaheira winced as they were wrapped around her, snapping, “careful!”

“Oh, you wouldn’t have liked her. She was very ornery.”

“Ornery? Really?”

“A terrible cook too, but everyone was too afraid to tell her.”

Jaheira snorted, “do not get cocky, girl. You still have a lot to learn.”

“Life would be dull if I didn’t,” Aerie finished binding the bandages. She sat back on her heels, sighing, “you know, even if it didn’t always seem like it, I did always look up to you.”

“Well,” Jaheira shifted a little uncomfortably, “now is not the time to start being sentimental. Let us get to that village.”

She was right, of course. Jaheira was always right, even when she was wrong; that was one of the lessons Aerie had keenly learned.

They continued back along the path Aerie had taken, but progress was slow since Jaheira struggled to stand on her own and was getting weaker. Aerie could have prayed for more strength to carry her, but she doubted Vortigan will have left yet so she might well need it for him. Although not something she could be blamed for, it was not the first time Aerie regretted not being much bigger than she was. Still, Mazzy always managed; she just had to have heart.

Dust fell from the ceiling as it vibrated from some thumping above. They paused, listening; there was certainly something big and heavy stomping around up there. The ceiling burst, a cloud of debris and dust filling the corridor, and through their frantic blinking they saw the form of Vortigan stand up, towering before them.

Aerie had to let go of Jaheira as he charged, hoping whatever anger she felt at her would be fleeting. She rushed to intercept the warrior, summoning spiritual armor around herself as she dove under his axe - being small helped her there - then a raccoon emblemed shield as both combatants spun about. The axe and shield collided, a thunderous wave causing the entire structure around them to quake. They separated, then he quickly swung on her again, axe striking the shield over and over. Aerie had been taught not to block when she could help it - she obviously didn’t have the mass to stop his momentum - instead deflecting as she fell back, his axe scraping and digging grooves out of the walls. But despite his size he was quick, never allowing her a chance to counter. Soon she would run out of corridor to fall back into.

She skipped back, giving herself some space to launch a flaming bolt from her wrist, watching it strike him just above the lip, his head snapping back. He either wasn’t human or there was some magic protecting him, as his head just rolled back with only a sneer, his gray eyes locked onto her. At least she seemed to have caught his attention and Jaheira was no longer his only target.

He rushed, Aerie having no choice but to raise her shield to block as he rammed into her, lifting and pushing her the rest of the way along the corridor, a blue star mosaic shattering and shooting away in pieces as they crashed through.

Aerie coughed and spluttered as she tried to rise to her feet, only for an enormous boot to strike her in the side of the head and she was sprawled on the floor again with a piercing ringing bouncing around her skull. Vortigan swung his axe underarm striking her in the stomach, sending her flying to meet another wall in the chamber they were in. The metallic skin she had summoned around herself was the only reason she remained in one piece, but then an uppercut that spun her head over heels broke it.

She stretched and grimaced, blinking repeatedly to try and focus. It looked like there were four or five Vortigan’s advancing menacingly on her. “I-I can do that trick too,” she wheezed, “you’re not special.”

The ground cracked, roots and vines shooting through wrapping themselves around his limbs. Grunting he pulled at them, broke some, chopped, only for more to grow in their place. Jaheira leaned in archway, a green glow from her eyes. She was deathly pale, the red stains on her bandages growing more and more, but had bought Aerie enough time to regain her senses.

The chamber began to flash with all colors as bolts and missiles of force struck Vortigan again and again. He grimaced from the impacts, but Aerie’s ranged attacks had little more effect than that; it seemed the bracers he wore were absorbing the energy of whatever she could throw and dispersing it back into the weave. So she changed her target, first taking advantage of the distraction of the vines to run to Jaheira, backing off through the arch, then aiming her staff at supports in the chamber to bring it all crashing down on Vortigan.

That should slow him down, at least, which was good as now Jaheira and Aerie were both bruised and battered and their progress a lot slower than before. Less good was that they felt another quake whose epicenter was somewhere in the structure.

Jaheira panted, “this whole place is collapsing. We need to hurry.”

It was a pity; Aerie would really have liked to have studied it more, plus she couldn’t help but feel a little bit responsible. Couldn’t be helped, she supposed. “It’s not much further now.”

Soon they were back on the surface limping across the courtyard to the bridge. On the other all the Harper’s that were able had finally caught up; they had even recruited some villager’s and people from the circus along with a wagon with Ervir at the reins. Thyneus was sat next to him, teary eyed at first, but perking up immediately when he saw Aerie; she could only speculate that the silly boy had stowed away or followed without permission.

They all waved and beckoned for the women to cross, but they were only half way across the yard when they felt another quake, chunks of stone falling from the bridge into the river far below. A few of the Harpers dared to run across it, Aerie letting them take the now barely cognizant Jaheira from her. The avariel then fell to her knees, shoulder’s bunched as she finally had a chance to suck in some air and letting the others cross back over first, only standing up once they had.

She struggled to maintain her footing as there was yet another quake, much larger than any before. She felt like she was trying to balance with her feet between two barrels in the ocean. That was the least of her problems, however, as with wide eyed helpless horror the people on the other side watched the remainder of the bridge twist and tumble, splashing into the waters below. Not a problem, Aerie thought; she still had a fly spell left.

She noticed the Harpers looking past her, raising their crossbows. She looked over her shoulder to see Vortigan emerging from what was left of the chapel, axe in hand, rolling his huge shoulders.

Aerie wished she knew what she’d done to have offended the gods so. She was an avariel, not an angel, so of course she hadn’t always been perfect, but she tried her best to be good even when it seemed like the whole world was set against her. She watched as bolts whistled over her, Vortigan just batting a few away with his axe, the rest just seeming to bounce off if they even hit him at all.

The shaking had brought Jaheira around again as she called across the chasm, “forget him, child! Just get yourself over here! Now!” Aerie couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever type of monster this was wouldn’t rest until either he or they were destroyed. But Jaheira was right, of course; the best thing to do now was escape and try to figure it all out later.

The ground was steady, for now, but Aerie was still dizzy when she rose. “Look out!” Someone cried, and she ducked, just dodging one of Vortigan’s knives whizzing over her across the chasm. But still there was a thud and a sharp, quiet breath.

Aerie quickly twisted herself around to follow the trajectory. There on the other side of the ravine Thyneus blinked in surprise at an ivory handle buried in his chest. He squinted back at Aerie as if hoping she could explain what had happened, then slumped slowly to his knees and flopped on his side. There was strange silence as everyone just looked at the boy, faces frozen in shock like they were characters in a painting. Everyone was still. Everyone except Vortigan.

Jaheira slowly turned from the fallen boy to see the glassy eyed avariel’s face twitching, her nostrils and her eyes starting to flare as her body tensed. Jaheira shook her head, trying to warn, “Aerie - no!”

But it was too late. Aerie determinedly jumped up, turning to face the killer. A column of flame erupted from her to engulf Vortigan. The bracers on her wrists began to glow red, yellow, white hot - yet still he pushed on, getting close. Aerie summoned back her shield and her staff shortened and broadened to become a mace as she ran at him and danced around trading blows.

Jaheira spat frustratedly, having no way back across the ravine. Even if she had she was in no state to help, but she knew the stupid girl was just going to wear herself out and needed to be dragged away from the fight.

Sure enough, Aerie began to slow. An elbow caught her across the nose knocking her straight down. Vortigan seemed just amused by her at this point, sickening thuds as he began to just kick her across the ground. With blood and tears streaming down her face she tried to fight back. She got to her knees and thrust the edge of her shield up into his stomach… but she just couldn’t hurt him.

He finally slapped her hard with the back of his hand and she lay on her back, groaning and grimacing, trying to will herself to get back up… but her body just had nothing left.

Vortigan bent down, grasping her by the throat and lifting her with one arm. She couldn’t lift her arms to even try to resist. She could only hang limply as he brought her close enough to whisper, “it must be so frustrating. So much courage, trapped in such weak and vulnerable flesh. You did well, considering your disadvantages. Be proud.”

With that he carried her to edge of the ravine, dangling her over it, making sure Jaheira got a good look at her utterly crushed and defeated companion, before he let her go.