Chapter Text
Thenbara* was looking forward to finally getting home. She took a deep breath, inhaling all the beautiful, clean country air. She could smell the sweet grass of the fields she looked out on and the rich, organic bouquet of the forest she was sat in; a far cry from the overcrowded stink of the city she’d come from.
She was on her way back home from Baldur’s Gate, having spent a few days there replenishing scrolls, rare alchemy ingredients and strong healing potions. An effort to finally – hopefully - eradicate the disease that had been running rampant through her stronghold for months.
It had been nice to be back there after so many years - this was her first visit since she had finished her apprenticeship – but the smell of so many people in close proximity was something she’d never become used to and was glad to leave behind.
After recovering from her second bout of the illness - which had left her far leaner* and weaker than she would have preferred before undertaking a nearly thousand-mile round trip – she had set off on her horse Vaasa* for the three- to four-tenday ride to the city with all the provisions and camping supplies she would need, to avoid staying at any inns in the towns along her way. She had avoided touching doors and counters, and worn a mask whilst she shopped in Baldur’s Gate, but she couldn’t keep it on or avoid touching anything for a whole inn stay.
The last thing she wanted to do was risk infecting people outside the stronghold with the disease that had killed far too many of her clan, though she would seriously miss the Beregost Blue cheese she liked to stock up with on her way through the town. Their attempts to recreate it at home were just not quite the same.
Thenbara smiled, knowing she was only a few days away from the stronghold. She took in the forest around her, smelling the faintest hint of petrichor, looking at the aged trees and absent-mindedly following the patterns of their bark with her eyes.
“I can’t wait to get home and see my family, my friends, my cat" she thought to herself. "I want to get back to my workshop, and sleep in my own bed again – I’ve had just about enough of camping for one year. Mmm, I can sense it now; the warm glow from the fire, the smell of Ilhar’s* spiced biscuits, and roses growing in the garden. What day is it? I desperately need Anstreklot*. I’d kill for some slow roasted pork and cheese dumplings”.
She yawned and watched her horse grazing happily as she finished off her ham sandwich, listening to the contented chewing of grass, with the occasional clack of steel bit* against teeth.
"I’ll have fun cleaning the grassy gloop off that bit later, but I don’t begrudge her a bit of breakfast” she thought, brushing the crumbs off her clothes and standing up from the flat-topped boulder she’d been sitting on.
Having headed South from Baldur’s Gate on the Coast Way, she had turned East to head along the Uldoon Trail two days before and was paused for a quick comfort break just inside the forest, somewhere on the Southwestern edge of the Wood of Sharp Teeth.
She checked all her belongings were secured to her saddle, stretched her legs out, and looked over the dark bay* horse to check for any small injuries she might have picked up. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she unplaited, smoothed down and replaited her hair, having become sick of wispy silver-white strands getting in her eyes while she was riding.
“This hair is way too long, I really ought to cut it. I know she liked it long, but it’s getting ridiculous now. Plus, it’s been nearly three years”.
She took an apple from her rucksack, then, noticing Vaasa looking at her expectantly with pricked ears, she pulled it in half with her hands and gave one half to the horse.
“It’s only fair, you are doing most of the work” she said as the mare crunched happily.
After eating the other half herself – and handing over the half-core to Vaasa – she wiped her hands off in the dewy grass, dried them with a cloth from her bag, tightened her girth*, and lead her horse back to the boulder she had been sat on while she ate.
She lined the mare up adjacent to the boulder and used it to remount; a much less tiring affair for both parties than if she’d mounted from the ground. She pulled her gloves on, gave the horse’s neck a small neck scratch, and was just about to turn back onto the open grassland when a colossal shadow was cast over them. Thenbara and Vaasa both looked up and saw what looked like an enormous ship flying over them in the sky.
“Duluk*. I don’t know what that is, but we should definitely get away from it”.
As Vaasa stood frozen, staring at the ship, Thenbara tightened the precious bundles of supplies from Baldur’s Gate inside the saddlebags hanging either side of the cantle*, moved the bag containing her camping supplies from the pommel* bag to her rucksack, and resecured her greataxe to her back.
Currently hidden under cover of trees, they would have to leave the forest and be exposed out on the road again as the woods became overgrown and unrideable. They needed to be streamlined enough to flee if necessary.
Once again, she checked her girth was tight enough as Vaasa stayed stock still, gawping at the ship. Thenbara shortened her reins, and turned out of the woods, onto the open field adjacent to the road in the distance, keeping her eyes locked skyward. The ship had just been idling along until then, but as soon as the pair emerged, it changed direction to head right for them.
“Fuck, shit, shitfuck!” Thenbara thought, starting to panic. “Vaasa HIST*!” she said firmly, giving the horse a sharp nudge in the ribs.
Not needing to be asked twice, the stocky mare broke into a brisk canter, though this soon became a blistering gallop as the ship suddenly moved a lot closer and lower to the ground. Thenbara could see Vaasa’s eyes wide and scared from the side as the horse watched the ship gain on them, but on top of the growing fear in her chest, Thenbara only felt grateful that she had chosen to take her faithful partner of over a decade with her to Baldur’s Gate, and not the young horse who she’d only recently started training.
“Though she would have benefitted from the hours on the road and exposure to different places, Velta would have an emotional breakdown being asked this much so soon; she’s green* as the grass. I’m glad I trusted my gut”.
Even with the wind whistling past her ears as the horse galloped, Thenbara could hear the ship behind her as she stood up and forward in her stirrups, giving Vaasa every assistance to maintain her speed.
After ensuring they weren’t on a path to collide with anything, Thenbara turned her head to glance behind her. The ship was close enough that she could see suckers on the tentacles that writhed out from it. It was a nautiloid, which filled her with a sickening sense of dread. She was not a very religious woman, but if ever there was a day to ask a deity for protection, this was it.
“Mindflayers! Luthic preserve me” Thenbara prayed in her head, feeling more and more terrified as the seconds passed.
It was as she was wracking her brain to remember what Mir’da’at – her clan’s only githyanki member - had taught her about the illithid monstrosities that one of the nautiloid’s tentacles touched her, and she was abducted onto the ship.
The next few hours Thenbara could only remember flashes of. Finding herself imprisoned in some sort of pod. A hovering mindflayer with glowing orange eyes. Seeing a brown-haired githyanki woman in a pod across the room from her being infected with a mindflayer tadpole-worm. Undiluted horror as Thenbara too was infected with a tadpole of her own. Glimpses of different sights outside the ship: red dragons, snowy mountains, raging fires, swarms of imps. Vague whispers of a soothing woman’s voice. The pod that imprisoned her opening and releasing her.
Teaming up with the githyanki and a black-haired half-elf woman – who Thenbara broke out of her pod, much to the githyanki’s disgust - to fight their way to the helm of the ship to gain control. Failing due to all the dragon-inflicted damage, then plummeting towards the ground after being launched out of the crashing ship.
Her fall being stopped by some unknown force – “an actual miracle?!” Thenbara wondered – just a few feet from the beach she was then more gently deposited onto.
Once she was on the beach and her racing pulse started to slow down, time seemed to go back to its usual flow. She stood up and dusted the sand off herself.
“Typical, I was abducted wearing an outfit I bloody hate” she cursed in her head, her heartbeat finally returning to normal.
With all the illness at the stronghold, the laundry had started to seriously pile up, as sheets and towels were prioritised, and tasks like cooking, crop tending, and animal care were far more important than making sure everyone was well dressed. Hence she found herself on the road in the first set of armour she’d ever crafted, when she originally tried out leathercraft in her skills rotation.
She was almost grateful for her illness-induced weight loss, otherwise it wouldn’t have fit, having filled out significantly since she made it as a teenager. It was traditional orcish barbarian armour, in an unfortunate mix of the colours they’d had in the workshop at the time she’d made it: tan leather, grey fur, turquoise cotton and red braided rope. It wouldn’t have been so bad without that ghastly red rope.*
Thenbara closed her eyes and took a deep breath in to ground herself, smelling the burning ship and charred flesh, but more strongly the clean air coming in from the river.
“Ragh ala*. You’re okay, you’re still alive. Yes, there’s a hideous parasite in your head, but right now you’re still you, and you need to pull yourself together” she thought, listening to gentle sounds of waves lapping the shore. “Maybe I’ll find that githyanki woman around here somewhere, she was very helpful”.
After taking another moment to feel the sun on her face, she looked around, taking in her surroundings. There were pieces of burning nautiloid scattered in the area surrounding her, a few of the tentacles still squirming creepily. Her battleaxe and rucksack were on the ground a few feet from her. “Small mercies”.
After checking that everything she’d packed was still in the bag - and relieved to find it was - she put it and the battleaxe on her back, ready to go and look for other survivors. She found the black-haired woman in chainmail armour she had rescued on the ship, unconscious, a little further up the beach; the strange, spiked artefact Thenbara had seen her pull from her pod still in her hand.
Upon gently shaking her awake, she introduced herself as Shadowheart, and after a short discussion about their circumstances and location, they decided to travel together for the time being, in search of a healer to cure their tadpole infection.
“One thing, just before we go. I wanted to thank you again, for freeing me” Shadowheart said, her face neutral. “It would’ve been all too easy for you to run right past my pod, but you didn’t. I’ll remember that”.
“I was happy to help, I couldn’t just leave you trapped there. Do as you would be done by, and all that” Thenbara replied, giving her a small smile.
“All the same, thank you - sincerely. Lead the way”.
They talked about what they could do about their tadpoles as they walked along the beach, checking the corpses of those less fortunate from the ship for any useful supplies, and gathering some food and alchemy ingredients.
One of the orcish instincts that always served Thenbara well was the urge to forage and loot – “redistribute and repurpose” she remembered looting being amusingly rephrased as in one of her stronghold-authored books - and she had no intentions of ignoring it now. The conversation between the two turned to work.
“What do you do for a living, Thenbara?” Shadowheart enquired.
“I’m a bench saddler and armourer. I primarily make tack* for horses, clothing, leather armour and strapwork for plate armour, though I’m pretty handy and will turn my hand to make most things from leather. Except shoes, I never could get the hang of them. They somehow always ended up different sizes, even with good lasts. What about you?”
“I’m a cleric, I work mainly from Baldur’s Gate. I’m on a mission currently, but can’t really divulge much about it, I’m afraid”.
“That sounds interesting. Do you get to travel much?”
“From time to time. But again, I can’t really give any details”.
“Are you a native Baldurian?”
“I’ve lived there for years but was born elsewhere. How about you?”
“I was born and still live in a half-orc stronghold near Berdusk, but I completed my apprenticeship in Baldur’s Gate, so by city law I am counted as a Baldurian”.
“Were you travelling when the nautiloid snatched you?”
“Yes, I was on my way home from a shopping trip in Baldur’s Gate when I was taken. A sickness has been running rampage through my stronghold of late, and after I healed from my second bout, I volunteered to travel to replenish our supplies of plants, alchemy ingredients and potions. We certainly could have used another good cleric the last few months”.
Shadowheart gave a small smile but didn’t carry the conversation on. They walked along the sand in silence for a few minutes.
Thenbara wasn’t really sure what to make of the half-elf cleric. She wasn’t particularly candid with information about herself, but she seemed friendly enough.
“She’s not forthcoming with the details. Suspicious… No Bara, use your brain! While not common among orcs, some people are taciturn. It’s a valid choice, and you should try to respect her privacy” she thought, a reminder to herself that the culture of candour in the stronghold was not widespread practise.
It had been some years since she’d spent more than a few days away from the stronghold, and their orcish practises – progressive though they were as far as orcs went – were quite ingrained in her.
After looking through the nautiloid debris at the other end of the beach, they came across a pale elf with silver hair asking for help killing “one of those brain things” from the ship. It turned out it was just an excuse to threaten Thenbara with a dagger and accuse her of being in cahoots with the mindflayers, until their tadpoles created a psychic connection between them, each sharing a memory of the other; Thenbara saw dark streets bustling with nightlife in the city.
“The tadpoles can create psychic links between hosts? This could be either helpful, hilarious or horrifying” Thenbara thought, as the pounding in her head faded.
“What was that? What’s going on?” he said, shaking his head.
“It’s the mindflayer’s worm – it connected us, psychically” Thenbara explained.
“The worm, of course. That explain things. Somewhat. And to think, I was ready to decorate the ground with your innards. Apologies” he replied, with a toothy smile.
“Apology accepted. I might have done the same were the roles reversed”.
“Aha, a kindred spirit. My name’s Astarion. I was in Baldur’s Gate when those beasts snatched me”.
The three of them exchanged introductions, and then Astarion asked what they knew about the worms in their heads. Upon finding out his parasite would turn him into a mindflayer, the elf laughed exasperatedly, then agreed to join them in search of a cure when Thenbara offered.
They started walking together, and Astarion told them that he was a magistrate in Baldur’s Gate, but that it wasn’t very interesting, and he didn’t want to elaborate any further.
“My new companions aren’t very upfront with details about themselves. It makes me homesick for the stronghold all the more, I miss the candour”.
Looking him up and down, taking in his pale skin, red eyes and rather pointy teeth, Thenbara wondered if he might be a vampire, even though they were both standing in the bright midday sun. She knew more about vampires than the average person, as there was one living in her stronghold.
She didn’t find it curious that he didn’t reveal this about himself, as she knew how hostile people could be towards vampires - even aggressive - so she assumed he was protecting himself until he knew them better.
“I’ll maintain an open mind; I don’t blame him for not admitting his vampiric nature if that is what he is. But I’ll keep my eye on him all the same. And keep my neck covered”.
As they explored the surrounding area, they found a dying mindflayer among the ruins of the ship. Upon approaching, it tried to influence her psychically, to make her feel affection for it in its vulnerable state, in an attempt to avoid being killed. Thenbara saw through its lies immediately and was revolted enough to use her battleaxe to decapitate it.
“Filthy illithid” she spat in disgust, “trying to manipulate my mind, my feelings! I am not so easily persuaded, veshlor”.
“Dare I ask what ‘veshlor’ means?” Shadowheart commented, looking at her curiously.
“The literal translation from Orcish is ‘shitbag’, but it’s a good general-purpose insult” Thenbara replied with a small, amused smile, as she wiped her axe clean on the mindflayer’s corpse.
“Good to know” Astarion chuckled mischievously, his eyes sparkling.
“He definitely seems like he has a wicked sense of humour. I hope I get to experience more of it on our travels” Thenbara mused, looking at him, taking another glance at his suspiciously pointy teeth.
Further up the path from the wreckage, they came across a glowing purple portal in a rock wall. Thenbara stared at it for a few seconds, studying it, then as she leaned in a little closer to get a better look, a hand and bracer-clad forearm appeared from it.
“A hand? Anyone?” A voice came from the portal as the hand waved about.
Thenbara took hold of it with both hands and pulled hard. A brown-haired man in purple wizard’s robes emerged, falling to his hands and knees. As he stood up and brushed himself off, he took a good look at Thenbara, did a double take and looked slightly alarmed for a moment, then quickly smiled and introduced himself as Gale of Waterdeep, apologising for the poor introduction, and confirming that he was indeed a wizard.
He said that he recognised Thenbara from the nautiloid and that he too was infected with a mindflayer tadpole and hoped that one of them had the skill to remove it. After discovering that sadly, they did not, he suggested joining them so they could look for a cure together, which Thenbara agreed to.
“Most excellent. A parasite shared is a parasite halved. Or something to that effect” he said, and then thanked her for pulling him out of the stone.
“He’s a little pompous sounding, but that’s pretty standard for a wizard, I expect. I do like the purple robes though. Hopefully he knows some interesting fighting spells. I’m quickly assembling a group of quite capable people. Hopefully that’ll improve our efforts in dealing with the tadpoles”.