Chapter Text
"One human male. Well... a male masquerading as a human. Darker skinned, the strapping sort. He would have been with one other. A half-elf. Slender build, her hair dyed silver. A pretty thing. Does any of that sound familiar?"
Though the bitter stench of ale mixed with dried vomit was at its strongest that time of day, the tavern's owner ignored it, having a harder time seeing past the man's hood. It wasn't as easy to drown out drunken cackles and others causing a ruckus. Yet there a strange visitor stood in front of him, taller than anyone there, with what skin he could see black and withered.
"I may've seen someone or the other lookin' like that come through here. Who's to say. My customers come in all shapes and sizes."
"Clearly," the man said, not far from grimacing behind what hid most of his face.
The browns everywhere he looked were worn with time, stinking like years old smoke and something else. The nicks on the tables were as hard on the eyes as the taste of the ale was on his tongue. He set his mug aside, spilling some of the frothy roam on his glove and the bar top.
"Did they mention anything about where they were headed?"
His eyes roamed the tavern owner, who, if he was anymore tense, would have pulled a muscle. Stout, which was typical for a dwarf, but not more than the looming shadow that was the man asking questions. He kept his nerve and fixed his chapped lips to speak.
"... N-North. Somethin' about makin' a stop at Waterdeep. T-That Baldur's Gate wasn't in their future. I'll tell ya' this. They looked familiar. Like famous, or somethin'. Maybe it's because of that mindflayer business some years back. I only seen em' in here once, and I ain't one to forget a face. Not ever."
"Oh they are quite famous. They and their comrades are the reason you aren't a mindflayer yourself, friend. I should know. I was one of them. But I won't bore you with the details."
That had the dwarf's attention, no matter how much boistorous chatter plagued his well-lit tavern in the background.
"Wait a tick. You're an elf, ain't ya'? One of The Five. Common folk tend to use the name for em' on occasion. That wasyou during that whole mindflayer business. Wasn't it? A bleedin' hero! Standin' right here in my tavern!"
The man shrugged flippantly, his shoulders nearly as big as his head.
"Maybe once," he smirked as if remembering an old victory. "You see. I aman old friend, only wanting to make sure the two of them are still among the living. We've been through so much together. What kind would I be to shirk the possibility that they may need my help?"
The dwarf's smile raised his pudgy cheeks with his thick, red beard. "A godsdamn lousy one. I got my fair share of those kinds of friends. Or did. Say, wasn't one'a them friendsof yours a Duke?"
"A Grand Duke. And still is as we speak. The last was a githyanki, no longer residing in Faerûn, but one Hells of a warrior. We were quite the little band of miscreants, when it suited us. But those two, the two I'm looking for, well, I will just say the sooner I find them the better."
The man lost himself in his own thoughts - or gave off the impression the words affected him at all. Anyone watching him looked away quickly if he ever cared to notice. His presence darkened the spot he stood in, given off as a misty vapor with no scent. The dwarf, not aware of the spell used to seize his awe, paid no mind to anything but the red orbs burning fiercely behind the man's hood. He could see the same color shine in the dwarf's eyes. Reaching into the folds of his cloak he dropped an untied pouch on splinters in the wood it hit, with a few of the gold pieces it carried sliding out.
"For your trouble," he said, giving the then frozen stiff dwarf the slightest of nods.
His heavy steps were slow and with purpose. He shuffled his way through the rabble, the wayward stares, and soon out of the tavern, merging with the pangs of a small town's bustle late at night.
"You didn't kill it? Are you mad?"
"What purpose would that serve, Teth? I hardly think it is the worst of our problems right now."
"Gullible. And dangerous. That... creature, could be anything. You don't even know what it is."
"Bing Bong!"
She didn't hesitate to nod her approval. "Exactly, Bing Bong. Focus on the path ahead. You are being ridiculous."
They walked along a cavern's breadth, torches in hand, and trailing the lesser thing taking them there. Teth watched it with his nose turned up. He felt Jen smack him on the shoulder, and turned into her glaring daggers at him for having the gall to consider it.
"Bing Bong!" it chirped with the verve it typically had when excited.
Snuffing the torch flame but holding onto the rods, the peaceful glow of flowers illuminated most of the grotto they ambled into. Their diamond-shaped petals hummed in spurts ever so often, filling the air with a pleasant aroma. Bathed in their cyan glow Jen shot a glance at her moody companion.
"Well, well, well. Would you look at that. Eldercaps. It seems you owe our little friend an apology," she said, arms crossed over her chest and leaning one side of her hips.
Teth took his eyes from her, how tightly her lower gear wrapped her legs in general, and watched her standing there like she was itching to say it. He grumbled, to her amusem*nt, shifting under his chestplate, putting his blade between the sheath on its back and waiting while the runes running the length of it fizzled out.
"I am not apologizing to an imp," he said in defiance.
"You just said we don't know what it is. Now it's an imp. Interesting."
"I said YOU don't know what it is. Never mind. Let's just, take what we need and go."
"Let's," she said, already unhooking something from her belt.
She opened it, walking with him to the closest wall to pick a few of the flowers at their leisure. The creature behind them bounced on its tail, able to hold its weight in place as it stopped to watch. Teth leered his eyes at it again.
"Don't even think about it," he heard her say, and as he checked, she was casually smiling and shaking her head. She packed the satchel with what they found. Taking the flowers did nothing to put out the light each of them gave off, though the hum was lessened if they were ripped from the stems.
"... You smell good," Teth said as he helped her.
"Sweet, but misguided. You're smelling the eldercaps." Jen looked to see him staring at her. "Any more compliments? I never tire of being told how infatuated you are with me."
"Tch. Disgusting," Teth ignored the rib at his expense. He never let his guard falter so much a threat slipped his notice.
"We are being watched," he said, his focus on nothing.
Jen tried to get his attention. "What do you hear?"
He could see how the pointiest tips of her ears were perking up.
"It's not what I hear. It's what I see," he replied, the whites in his eyes flashing as he tapped into his potential. "It seems your petjust lead us right into a trap."
"Bing Bong?" She glanced at the creature barely able to close its arms around one of her boots. Snapping her fingers at the head of the rod popped fire around its base. She took her mace in the other hand, tightly gripping the hard shaft, but keeping its dangerous end down and away from her person. Relying on torch flame once more it was then they heard the cavern groan. Teth shot her a grin as she sucked her teeth.
"Ugh. You may gloat all you wish when we are gone from this place," she said. "Lead the way."
He heard the high-pitch clang of his greatsword sliding out of its holster. It never surprised her that he could hold it like it weighed next to nothing, despite its intimidating length. The cavern shook and they put all of their weight on their feet to stay standing. They watched Bing Bong flutter up and block off any way to them.
"Bing Bong," Jen slowly reached for its back, its wings flapping rapidly to keep it afloat.
She felt an intense heat beginning to pulse around its body. Teth took her by the arm before they saw it breathe fire into the darkness gaining ground on them. Whatever was coming shrieked from another side of the cavern, it shook more of its ceiling loose, some of it breaking over Teth shielding Jen with his back.
Preparing a spell of her own every squared line of a glyph traced itself in the dirt, she left her hand flattened to it, and just before Bing Bong spat blue flame out of its mouth. The glyph finished connecting itself shining brighter than anything nearby. She took Bing Bong by the sides as it coughed smoke and she ran for the cavern entrance.
"Teth!" she yelled but he was already drawing his weapon back and swinging it down with all of his ire.
Its head sliced into the glyph. Wrapped in the power detonating around him, the beast scrambling to swallow him whole didn't gain a moment to part its enormous jaws taking up the width of the corridor. Teth took the brunt of its eyeless head blowing into pieces - the cave finally fell into itself. Safely free of it, Jen ran until she stopped by the fresh rubble rolling to a halt.
"Teth? Teth!" Wanting to dig until she found him, she started to, but stopped as she felt the earth tremble once more. Pulling the round shield from her back she held it over her head. Whatever launched from it was falling out of the sky. She heard it hit the ground with a loud thud, and kept her eyes shut until the clamor wasn't so distracting.
"... There. Done," she heard someone say.
She kept from running to him. Frantically reaching around her waist she breathed a sigh of relief that they procured the bag full of what they came for. Teth wiped the heavy viscera from his shoulders, and spat the bits he accidentally took into his mouth.
"I. Am going. To kill. That imp," he said, stopping only at the feel of Jen's hand against his chest.
She reeled from him with a scrunching face. "Gods! You smell awful." He watched her gag and pinch her nose between her fingers.
Basking in the sun did the smell no favors. It wasn't blinding so much as the thick muck was dripping along his eyelids.
"Bing Bong," the creature could laugh, however briefly.
"Uh huh...Bing Bong." Teth tightly closed one of his hands, hearing the leather crease in with the alloy of his glove.
"Leave him alone, Teth. He obviously didn't know what was hiding in that cave."
Teth looked at Jen as she kept her distance. He tried not to inhale anymore offals, calming himself, or trying to.
"... You owe me," was all he said, and she stopped herself from laughing at how annoyed it made him.
"How does this sound? We will find a river and toss you in it. Whatever it will take to rid you of that nauseating stench."
He glared at the wary creature keeping as close to her as it possibly could. Horns blaring in the distance weren't more than a muffled bellow in the midst of coming to an end. No treeline was anywhere to be seen, only mountains, and cloud wisps around the highest of their peaks. The journey there wouldn't take as long as it appeared, or so they thought.
"Waterdeep. On the other side of those mountains. We aren't far now," Teth grimaced as he spat something red and gooey onto the dirt.
Jen knew his knowledge predated before they met. She wondered if his still having it was part of a burden he wanted to be free of. She didn't bother to press the subject.
"I'd wager whatever calls that mountain home won't be friendly either. We should rest. If your aim is to camp out here, I wouldn't advise it."
Teth followed how she carried herself. It was there when she watched him, like she knew what was on his mind before he had a chance to say it.
"Let's discuss it on the move." He brushed some more grit from his shoulder pauldron.
"Ahem. Aren't you forgetting someone?" she said, dropping the attention she gave him.
Teth begrudgingly glanced at the creature poking its head between her shins. He mumbled swears under his breath at the sight of it.
"... Keep an eye on it, Jen," he said.
"Because it is sooo dangerous to someone as capable as you." As he didn't find it funny she rolled her eyes and sighed out. "... Fine. If it will end your pointless scowling at me."
Teth leered at anything it did, at when it stuck its forked tongue out, then at Jen turning her lips up to mock him all the while. She followed him on the trek for wherever he had a mind to lead them next.
