#Bhaal: chosen of Bhaal do not get sick leave!

[maegalkarven]

Don't trust his big wet puppy eyes, this is the Durge who doesn't have amnesia. His memories are a little dizzy and details are hard to grasp, but he is well aware who he is and what his silly little sister has done.

The issue is, he doesn't seem to care. Just what part of his brain his idiot of a kin butchered?

[meanbossart]

ooh here’s a question. so companions can leave your party forever if their approval drops too low; you get two warnings and then they leave. the leaving dialogue is also different based on if you romanced them or not. (it’s pretty hard to get this in normal gameplay unless you attack and kill them over and over again lol)

so my question is what would DU drow’s low approval leaving dialogue be? and if you haven’t said this before, are there any other conditions under which he’d leave the party forever?

[Companion] first warning: "I'd like to heed you a quick word of warning - Not a threat, just a warning. You are starting to get on my nerves. Shape up. And do it quickly. Or I might just do something about it." [Lover] first warning: "You've had a penchant for pushing my boundaries lately, haven't you? I admire the gall, but I don't appreciate it. Shape up. Quickly. Or I might just do something about it."

[Companion & Lover] second warning: "Do you forget our little talk from last time, or do you just wish to see what happens? Well, I'll have you know that you are well on your way to finding out. Please, don't make me do something I might regret."

[Companion] attack dialogue: "You've made yourself clear in your intentions - You don't plan on seeing this through with me, do you? I'll be taking that prism now, as well as your life. It didn't have to come to this, you know?" [Lover] attack dialogue: "I am so sick of this. It's not worth it. Not worth it at all - and that's fine! I've never cared much for you, anyway, and it will make what comes next much easier to carry out. I'll be taking that prism now, as well as your life. It didn't have to come to this, you know?"

Listen, it's The Dark Urge. He ain't leaving just to die as soon as he's outside the mile radius of the artifact LOL

Likewise, I can't think of a single event that would prompt him to leave. I think it's more than appropriate that the only way you can get rid of this guy is by killing him.

However, if you kill Orin without him (leaving him at camp), basically dooming him to succumb to his urges without ever knowing if he could have been rid of them (or, alternatively, robbing him from the opportunity of proving himself as Bhaal's chosen) he will betray you at the end of the game and take over the brain (he just appears even if you leave him at camp too so there's no getting away from it).

[animentality]

If there was a canon interaction between Tav and Durge in game, what do you think it would be? Where/When, the context of their interaction, etc? Would Durge be tadpoled? Would Durge still be an enemy or would they be a companion who needs help to destroy Orin?

OK BUT LET'S TALK.

The Dark Urge should be able to join your fucking party.

It's so annoying that I can't fuck that dragonborn, first off. He is so sexy and his voice is so fine, like this is the dungeons and dragons GAME.

And I don't get to fuck a dragon?

Seriously?

My choices are BookTok Vampire or Brooding Goth Gamer Girl? Boring.

No dragonfuckers on Larian's goddamn team.

But on a more serious note...

I actually would've been intrigued by the dark urge as a companion.

Because they could go either way, just like the other companions!

You could encourage them to embrace their urge, or to reject it.

You could convince them to reject Bhaal, or accept him, just as you can encourage Shadowheart to accept Shar or reject her, just as you can convince Lae'zel that she must submit to Vlaakith or break free.

I honestly would've adored the Dark Urge as a companion.

He's a good boy, at heart. I could fix him.

How great would it be too, if you find out that one of your companions is the evil mastermind of the plot too?

It's already really cool finding out that you, the dark urge, were the mastermind.

But having it be a close companion, maybe even one that you romanced, would've been so cool too.

So anon, I think Tav and Durge could've been friends, lovers, allies, or enemies.

In fact, I think it'd be great if you as an evil Tav, encouraged them to be evil, and then you're shocked when they leave your party and join the Temple of Bhaal after killing Orin, and then they become your new enemy.

Like of course.

Duh.

The Chosen of Bhaal doesn't need friends or loved ones, remember.

Plus we already have Astarion for the whole, evil together forever ending.

I think having one of the companies be a big boss at the end might be sick as fuck.

Anyway.

To get back to your question...an amnesiac Dark Urge and a Tav could be super sweet, actually?

A Dark Urge who's scared and confused and needs you to help them understand what's happening to them...or a Dark Urge that you feed and control and intimidate and bully into submission...until it bites the hand that holds its leash?

Yeaaaah, man.

Tav x Dark Urge could be so good...not as good as Durgetash, but...but it's there...

So to sum up anon...yes, I think the Dark Urge and Tav could've had a lot of canon interactions. I think a tadpoled amnesiac Dark Urge could've been amazing. I think a Dark Urge who might reject Bhaal, or join him and try and kill you would've been so cool.

But alas.

[deathswcrn]

@starbvund as Orin asked: She has no kisses to offer Breina. What she offered was a blade pressed against her lover's neck. "Aw does it care for it? Does it want to save it?"

.... wait. what is this? What's going on.... are we.... we are! We're ganging up on @galefcrce

She'll admit it. For all caution, for all she knows of Orin, where Gale is concerned, she's useless. Weak. She trusts him far more than she ought to given the circumstances, mentally discounting him from the list of people Orin might take the place of. They're attached at the hip these days, after all. They sleep in the same bed, she eats meals tucked up by his side, they study magic together - no, she doesn't suspect Gale might one day turn out to be a changeling. Not for a second. And it's that exact weakness Orin chooses to exploit every wretched step of the way to Bhaal's temple.

A cold grin where she was used to seeing a warm smile. Talk of destroying an entire city from the mouth of the one who praised her for defending a goblin. Her lover, gone. In his place, a twisted, malicious, sadistic facsimile dressed in purple robes.

Breina tears the city apart looking for him. She is beyond angry, beyond even afraid - she is inconsolable.

And then Orin gets her with the same trick twice, just to twist the knife. Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, I'm a fucking idiot, Breina thinks in retrospect. Gale babbles in terror at the changling Chosen of Bhaal, of the horrible games she plays, the manhood she took, and Breina is far too quick to want to sweep him up in her arms, to hold him close and promise that he will never be taken from her again.

Orin's sick laughter as she turns from Gale to herself again will stick in her brain for the rest of her life.

Her nerves are in tatters over his kidnapping still when Orin's red blade kisses Gale's throat. It hadn't frightened her before - just a blade, one of many - but now, with red beading where it barely sliced skin, Breina is oddly cowed. "I got Gortash's fucking Netherstone," she says, holding it aloft in her clenched fist like a holy symbol she can dispel Orin with. "You promised. Get rid of the Tyrant, an' he'd be safe. You promised. So come get it, and leave him out of it."

Her heart is spilling on the floor, perfectly visible for Orin to see, a beating, bleeding, red-raw target, but what else is she supposed to do?

She's in love, and he is her weakness.

[crossdressingdeath]

Narrator: *Sarevok Anchev. A Bhaalspawn who failed to become Chosen, long ago. A spilled stain of Father's Divine Essence left out to dry.* Narrator: *And yet, the history he shares with your companion seems to run almost as deep as your own.* Sarevok Anchev: What purpose do you have in bringing this heretic to the court of Bhaal? Speak, or death will be your final word. Kyvir: We're not here to dig up old feuds. I seek a path to the Temple of Bhaal. Jaheira: Do not parley with this madman. Jaheira: Sarevok reclaimed his soul, once - and he still traded it back to his father for a pat on the head. He has earned his second death even more than his first. Sarevok Anchev: You speak of the past - I speak of the future. Well, aspirant? Do the shades of yesterday speak for you, too? Sarevok Anchev: There are two paths to the Temple of Bhaal: to carve your devotion into flesh, or to be the carcass that is carved upon. Kyvir: I answer for myself, Sarevok - and Jaheira answers to me. She won't be a problem. Jaheira: You make promises that aren't yours to keep. Take care that their breaking does not break something more. Sarevok Anchev: I know this one well. I have travelled in her company. Whatever else may be said of her, she answers to no one but herself. Sarevok Anchev: It seems there is some disagreement on who is master here. Kyvir: You follow me. You dare question the SLAYER-LORD? Jaheira: Is it to be death, then? A better alternative to watching this sick family reunion. Sarevok Anchev: I never thought I'd see this. The Grand Harper, brought to her knees before me. Sarevok Anchev: The violence pleases Bhaal. The domination pleases me. Your slaves may stand, the better to bear witness.

Bhaal's Divine Essence, hm. Is that what they're calling it now.

Durge lowkey calling Sarevok a divine cumstain aside, though. Jaheira, aren't you a Harper? Isn't part of the job subterfuge? Can you stop complaining and go with it at least until we rescue our wizard, please? This isn't really a situation where we want to risk getting into a massive, avoidable fight that'll also piss off an actual god who controls whether Durge lives or dies unless we absolutely have to. Please just go along with this for now! ...To be fair she might not know about the whole "Bhaal has at least some direct control over whether Durge lives or dies" thing. If that came standard with the Bhaalspawn package I suspect the Bhaalspawn crisis would've gone very differently.

I thought the "You follow me" line was addressed at Sarevok at first, since Durge was the head of the temple until the incident. But it's kind of fun how you can get Jaheira to kneel before the Tribunal without even having to roll for it just by leaning into the intimidation factor of a full-fledged Slayer. The lack of a roll has the additional benefit of leaving it pleasingly vague whether Durge is being serious or bluffing. Jaheira seems to be taking it seriously, but it's also possible that she's just realized that we do not want to piss off the Murder Tribunal while trying to solve a kidnapping and is going along with it. All I can say is she doesn't disapprove.

Anyway I assume most of this conversation relates to the previous games so I don't have much to say about it. I am looking forward to playing them, even if the graphics are not going to be as pretty as BG3's. But I do love how many Bhaalspawn are just so desperate for Bhaal's love and approval that they'll give him anything, the way Bhaal uses parental affection as a tool to control his offspring is a fantastic plot point.

[faebhaal]

Verses

All I have to do is Dream (Main)

Awaking on the Nautaloid Ship, Ithaca has no memory of what's ocurred in her life previously, save for her name. Slowly as she works to remove the parasite and put an end to the Absolute, she starts getting a feel for who she may have been and it's not what she could have imagined. The familiar urges start up once again. The hunger for blood and flesh gnaws at her. But as she starts to put the pieces back together she's more confused than ever.

Evil Friend (Companion AU Tav)

A worm in her brain was not how Ithaca planned for. Then again she can't really remember much right before her time on the Nautaloid. And what she does remember are skeletons best kept buried deep down. In order to piece together what's been lost from, she travels with the group led by a person she's (in her mind) affectionately dubbed as Tav. Pretty much one companion verse where Ithaca is still bhaalspawn or even dark urge but isn't the head protagonist.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Pre-Canon)

Before Orin Betrayed her, Ithaca was Bhaal's Chosen; His favorite and the leader of his cult. Ruthless and efficient, she continues to do her father's will with no hesitation. Bhaal is all she has and this life he's led her to has given her the acceptance she's craved. It was like a dream come true. But eventually everyone has to wake up. Teaming up with Enver Gortash, Ithaca and him steal the Crown of Karsus from the vault of Mephistopheles. From there they start working more closely together to fulfill the will of their gods. Everything seemed to be according to plan. Until her sibling, Orin the Red got too jealous of the favoritism lavished upon Ithaca.

Sick Like Me (Companion AU Bhaalspawn)

WIP/REWORK IN PROGRESS

Hallowed be Thy Name (Post Canon)

Pixie Hollow and Purgatory (Dragon Age)

The Brain is defeated, Faerun (and Toril) saved once more. The cult of the Absolute wiped out. But what of the Crown of Karsus? Simple. With vengeance in her heart, Ithaca decides to use it out of spite against the Archfey from her childhood and ascend to Archfey status in her place. All she needed was a way into the Feywilds for her path of revenge to begin. However, the magic goes awry. Instead of the Wilds, Ithaca finds herself in the backwards land of Thedas. It's all about survival until she can figure out how plane hop away to fulfill her latest heart's desire. Yet all is not well. The blood of Bhaal still runs through her veins, clawing at her ribs and leaving a hunger in the pit of her stomach.

Run Rabbit Run (dead by daylight)

Despite the settling dust and the rubble, Baldur's Gate as well as the Sword Coast is saved. The threat of the Elder Brain and the illithids no more. But when she drags herself through the fog it's not her friends that greet her. No, Ithaca finds herself caged in a plane of darkness and blood. From the clutches of one god to another. Perhaps it works in her favor that her whole existence revolved around killing. She'll always be THE SLAYER.

Shinigami Eyes (Cyberpunk2020/2077)

Born in 1988 to a single mother in what one could only describe as a commune (some would say cult) in California, Ithaca never had a simple or normal childhood. One could argue that it wasn't even much of a happy one; between growing up basically in poverty and having a parent that so obviously didn't want her. At the age of 12, Ithaca was abandoned in Nightcity when her mother's commune converted into a nomad group. Laylani left Ithaca to fend for herself without her giving so much as a goodbye. A penchant for violence served her well in her journey to survive. Tooth and nail she scrapped by living on the streets for a stint till she was taken in by a rather kindhearted couple. For the first time she knew what a loving home was. But by 14 they were dead (caused by gang activity) and once again she was alone. In her teens, she took easy odds and ends jobs till she was 18; at which point she took up a career as a dancer in a club. And while she enjoyed a party lifestyle, it wasn't satisfactory enough. There was a craving for ultraviolence, for bloodshed. Slowly she started to dip her toes into mercenary work, specifically assassinations. At this point in her life too, she had started to join the Cult of Bhaal --- a group dedicated to sowing chaos, murder and destruction of all life. Strangely enough, there were several members she would come to learn as being blood related to her, specifically as half siblings. By the time 2020 rolls around, Ithaca has become a skilled edgerunner known as Archfey. However, while her mercenary career boomed, her job as a dancer took a hit. Mainly because of an incident where she mutilated a patron. She makes sure to keep her persona as an edgerunner as far away from her personal name/identity as possible. In 2023 she opens her own club called Faerie Fire in Westbrook which serves as of course a way to make money but also serve as a front to hide the more nefarious activities of the Cult of Bhaal, which she's managed to grasp the highest leadership role of due to dedication and her own viciousness. Most people tend to mellow out with age. And perhaps just a smidge she has. But even in 2077, Ithaca is still as cutthroat, cruel and insane as ever. Her rule of the cult still reigns, cutting down anyone that opposes her. And while she still takes on jobs, a lot more of her focus goes towards planing chaos. As always too, the Cult of Bhaal continues to meddle in politics as well as continuing their usual rites. Faerie Fire still persists, and once in a blue moon she plays the role of fixer. What reputation her alias has gathered is not one that is revered or heroic; no, Archfey is a monster that no one wants to encounter, no matter what their walk of life is. Many things haven't changed. If anyone is ever unlucky enough to cross paths with Ithaca, one noticeable thing (besides obvious features) is how she doesn't look a day over 30. Physical features of note: a rose tattoo on the left side of her neck, flesh covered in freckles, looks mostly organic though has mantis blades, faerie wings tattooed on her back, pierced brow and ear lobes and hair dyed rose pink.

[tactyl-ymon]

DnD session recap - Lore and Losses

Ok, initial heads up. I am like 90% sure this is actually 2 sessions crammed into one, but I’ll be honest I genuinely can’t remember. So you get a biggun today. Like any of the previous one’s weren’t also ridiculously large.

We pick up this session with Emmi walking back into the city following a successful few days relaxing on her ship pulling up scavenged treasure from sunken ships and just generally enjoying the weather after a fairly stressful week when the necklace Core gave her to communicate with everyone starts going off, something about explosions and people dying and Drackuss. If she doesn’t say anything, maybe she can just turn around and go back to fishing but as fate is want to do, she runs into everyone trudging after their tiny gnome healer and they fill her in on why they’re moving towards a very possible death at the hands of their compatriot turned foe if he is still in the barracks. Eridol uses what little energy he has left after his stint in the fight pits to put a protective ward over Veiraen and begs everyone to stay outside and try to protect each other as he and Core enter the barracks to make sure it’s clear. They check room after room and find nothing but some missing supplies. Drackuss is gone. Eridol needs to know what happened, Veiraen starts going over the details of the fight in the alley and Core mentions remembering the shield Drackuss had as being Olgum’s and being linked to Bhaal.

All the stress from the past few weeks latches onto Eridol at once before he can try and squash it down again, images of children he couldn’t save, all the times he couldn’t get to someone to heal them in time, Drackuss attacking him while being mind controlled, having to face grieving parents and tell them their son was dead only to have him miraculously return to life minutes later, nearly killing Merla, not being there to stop Drackuss from attacking everyone else, not seeing any of this coming … everything comes to a head and Eridol just starts walking out of the city without a word. Luckily someone sees him leaving and after realising that he’s not responding to anything the group quietly follows him westward. He walks for hours, long after the sun sets and rain starts bucketing down before he collapses in a field and everyone quietly puts up the small tent they have and takes watches keeping an eye on him.

It’s late morning when Eridol wakes up and while being completely emotionally drained, eventually asks why they’re camping and why is he soaking wet, the last thing he remembers is getting to the barracks. Emmi and Veiraen fill him in that he just kind of went very quiet afterwards and decided to just leave and no one could really stop him before asking what happened. Eridol mentions that he hasn’t been doing alright since they got to the underwater temple and he saw that first dead child and things have only gone downhill from there, having the person he trusted most in the world to take care of the group if anything happened fall like this was something he couldn’t even have begun to consider and it hit harder than it should have. In a moment of conversation they all figure out that this seems to have started back in the mistress’ temple when Drackuss tried to pray in a ritualistic circle to Bhaal, Yurtris and the great old one that the mistress had used in her rituals to generate a coven for herself.

Tornur and Whisky begin throwing around Bhaal’s name in conversation, joking that Drackuss has always been like this as long as they’ve known him, Eridol immediately refutes that he wasn’t always like this and tells them about Drackuss helping sick children and taking blows that could have killed other party members because that’s who he always was beforehand and a brief theological history of Bhaal and the other members of the trio of gods that look over the domain of death before meekly apologising and letting himself be led back to the city. They drink and discuss on what to do next, Eridol believes they should contact the other towns to warn them and leave immediately to find Drackuss and stop him before anyone gets hurt while Tornur believes they should stay and wait to hear from someone first so they’re not wasting their time looking into possible dead ends. With neither giving up either argument, it’s put to a vote and the group stays put until they get a lead. Drinking continues until Eridol gets up to use the bathroom and impulsively sends a message to Drackuss. “Whatever forced your actions, I will break its hold. I hope the next time we meet it can be as friends, but will prepare otherwise” he whispers to the ether. A few minutes go by before he gets a response frol the AWOL dragonborn “Once I have attained the power I seek, I will return”. Eridol sighs and quietly returns back to the group, not saying much more as the night continues.

While Eridol’s in the middle of an emotional breakdown surrounded by his friends, Drackuss has made his way out of the city and settled into the foothills near an allied goblin stronghold we visited several months ago and brokered a peace treaty with, knowing that word would soon travel about him, he’s been luring and killing any patrols that come by to make sure he goes unnoticed. Strangely this doesn’t last as long as he might’ve hoped as one patrol managed to slip his grasp and he couldn’t kill them all before the warning horns of the stronghold blare and he is forced to make a quick getaway with his newly summoned fiendish steed. At some point on his path to Bhaal’s chosen victims, Drackuss receives some messages from Core trying to get him to come back. Bhaal bids he finish his work and complete a ritual before it is too late to fully become a champion of the god of murder and Drackuss finds himself, sword ablaze, outside a small cottage containing a small half assimar child that Drackuss himself had brought back to life in an act of miraculous twisting of fate earlier in the campaign.

As visions of carnage filter through his head, showing all the possible ways he could dispatch the inhabitants, Drackuss falters just a little. Remembering the messages he had received from his friends and companions the past few days, mixing with his own feelings of accomplishment at granting the child a second chance and in a forceful show of will, he overcomes the whispers of the god of murder long enough to walk away from the cottage and ride off into the hills. Bhall not being exactly pleased with this turn of events, points him towards a new target that is currently being sheltered in a forest nearby that would fulfil the needs of the ritual. He eventually comes across a small village hidden in a small clearing, this is where his prey is hiding. As he observes the village, he notes it appears to be being overseen by another previous member of Tacty’l Ymon, Raven, the wood elf druid as she’s talking to several people about upkeep and the like. She is hiding all manner of fey and monstrous races that appear to have come through the portals linking the country to the outside world and find the trapping of civility a little too much. A rustling from a nearby tent catches his attention and his prey exits out to the village. Our halfling barbarian, Merla. Ran away because she couldn’t face the possibility of jail after murdering a peasant. She would fit the ritual requirements just fine the whispers urged Drackuss as he sprung into action, sending his wolf to attack Raven and the others as a distraction while he slowly creeps through the bushes to close the gap between himself and Merla. The wolf gets a good swipe at Raven before she panics and wildshapes into a mouse as several townsfolk rush to grab weapons and another druid who looks similar to Raven gets between the wolf and the remainder of the towsfolk. The druid wildshapes into another large carnivore and the battle begins as Drackuss continues to creep towards the confused halfling. Drackuss makes a charge for his soon to be sacrifice as the two large wolves battle in the other side of the small clearing but unfortunately the monstrous villagers notice him before he can attack and now aware of his presence, turn towards Drackuss. Knowing an unwinnable fight when he sees it, Drackuss attempts to flee, calling his wolf as he goes, firing spells and curses off at the party following him and nearly hitting the other druid with a nasty curse that is quickly shaken off.

Drackuss’ wild magic surges and he is lifted into the sky, a brief ability to fly bestowed by chance at the most opportune moment. His escape almost complete, he feels a wrenching in his skull as he succumbs to the feeblemind spell thrown out by the other druid. All intelligent thought leaves his mind as he continues to rocket upwards through the air, only knowing that landing right now would mean pain and death. He continues to rise until the wild magic surge allowing his flight wears off and he begins plummeting to the ground, seconds stretch as the world tumbles around him and he crashes through several trees and into a small lake far enough away from the village that he wouldn’t be easily found. He feebly calls out to his steed and the telepathic bond they share allows it to find him and unable to listen to the whispers of Bhaal he falls back to his base instincts for protection which in this instance is boiled down to “Find eridol, he will protect us” and so the wolf pads off with his master to find help and return to the group.

In the few days since returning to the city, not much had happened for the remainder of Tacty’l Ymon. Everyone was anxiously waiting for instructions and pottering around the barracks. Eridol and Veiraen are in the midst of a heated prank war because someone, not naming names, may have ruined veiraens chances at a date with another drop dead gorgeous drow assassin, Tornur and Whisky are beginning plans for starting a brewing company and Emmi is looking into any additional information into the tower and the slyph and the whole “We’re imprisoned in a bubble outside the material plane thing and if it’s not fixed there might need to be a genocide to avoid overpopulation” thing that’s going on in the background while we deal with our personal dramas. Core comes to see us in the early afternoon saying that he’s found something about Drackuss being seen near the goblin stronghold we allied with ages ago when this whole thing started and possibly sighted in one of the villages to the east. Everyone gets their standard ready up montage while Core wrangles up a contingent of guards to come with them just in case and the groups march out to end this. We march for a few hours in grim determination before setting up camp for the night and sending the guards onward to the town just in case he’s still there.

The first watch goes on without incident and Veiraen and Eridol take the second watch, Veiraen tries to get Eridol to discuss what he’s feeling towards Drackuss and everything but they are interrupted by a loud scraping sound outside the limits of their vision. Everyone is woken up as the sounds get closer and closer before a very large and imposing dire wolf enters their view carrying a bloodied and confused looking Drackuss straight up to Eridol. Arguments are had about what happened to him and what happens next while the wolf refuses to let Eridol leave Drackuss’ side. Tornur and Core work together to realise this was powerful magic that caused this and that as Drackuss is now, he’s no threat to anyone. A decision is made by Core to remove Drackuss’ weapons and armour and escort him back to the city. Eridol bundles everything up and puts it into the bag of holding, making note of the shield to Bhaal and Drackuss’ now tarnished blade having a lingering sense of tainted divinity around them. Everyone discusses what happens with Drackuss now, he obviously isn’t in any state to stand trial for his actions at the moment and can’t be left to roam freely. So for now he’ll be imprisoned while Core and Tornur look into how to break whatever spell took Drackuss’ mind from him, Eridol mentions the tainted ritual that was underway and was affecting the sword and shield and angrily states that he’d look into these before retreating back inside himself like the conflicted, emotional turtle trying not to succumb to like 20 panic attacks that he is.

The group separates with Core taking a now de-armored Drackuss off to a holding cell and mentions that construction on the keep we’d been promised starts shortly so everyone should look forward to that. The next morning comes and the barracks Tacty’l Ymon live in had started to stir with Veiraen making his way down to the kitchen where he finds a hastily scribbled note from Eridol that states he’s sorry but he had to leave. He’s taken the bag of holding minus the party’s collective funds and both his and Merla’s dogs, he needed to go to work out some things before he can face everyone again. Core can contact him if it’s an emergency and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. A sloppily written post script mentions to not let Veiraen stab anyone and to only let someone stab Veiraen if he deserved it. The rogue crumples up the note before anyone else comes down stairs, adamant to not tell them about Eridol’s apparent betrayal.

We skip forward 7 months, Eridol is still missing, Veiraen, Whisky and Tornur have been spearheading overseeing construction of the keep, Drackuss is still being taken care of in a prison cell inside the main city by Core and several guardsmen and Emmi had entered a very open ended agreement with what looked like a magic item salesman for some new armaments that took the shape of a fabled sea captains boots, swords and cloak before retiring to her ship to fish and excavate sunken treasure when everyone gets a message from Core that he’ll be dropping by the keep in a weeks time with someone he’d like the group to meet and he expects everyone to be there. Emmi returns first, bringing all manner of gifts from her expeditions and is welcomed with open arms. Eridol tries to sneak in a few days later but is found by Veiraen who wants nothing to do with the gnome for how he just up and left everyone like that. How dare he try to come back now and act like nothing happened. What was he even doing that was so important that warranted such a shitty note and no other communication for months on end. Eridol apologises for how he acted, it was wrong of him to run away like that, everything got too much and he couldn’t face everyone like that but he can’t tell Veiraen most of what he was doing while he was away but some of it was working to break the connection between Drackuss and Bhaal as well as researching how to implant objects with divine energy. But he’ll do anything to make it up to Veiraen and the rest of the group. Veiraen mentions he’ll let Eridol in if he lets Veiraen stab him with a poison he’s been working on.

With out much of a choice, Eridol accepts and is lead into Veiraens alchemy lab where Veiraen mentions that the best way to apply the poison is directly to the blood using some kind of stabbing implement, like this handy dagger here. The light stabbing happens and Eridol doubles over in some of the worst agony he’s ever felt as his blood literally boils inside him. The pain is too much and Eridol sees himself back in the underground lair, Drackuss’ sword melting through his armor and splitting his chest open and he panic casts Spirit guardians for protection and Veiraen braces to be attacked by the spirits, but they harmlessly float through him before Eridol passes out into a shivering, disassociating heap on the ground. Veiraen cycles through his emotions very quickly as this all occurs, going from Smug determination to excitement to see the poison in action to mounting concern to fear and then to immediate concern as he spends the next 30 minutes trying to calm Eridol down and get him responsive again. Once their impromptu spooning session is over, Veiraen asks about the spell Eridol cast and why it hadn’t attacked him like it has in the past when they were fighting in the pit. Eridol groggily mentions that subconsciously he must have realised Veiraen wasn’t going to hurt him and that he only remembers it feeling exactly like Drackuss nearly bisecting him which kind of drove him over the edge in a panic.

With hopefully all the revenge pokes out of the way, everyone heads outside to wait for Core and their mystery guest. They arrive and Core introduces us to Septima, a heavily bandaged and covered druid of indeterminate race with glowing green eyes who really doesn’t appreciate Veiraen’s jokes. Introductions are made and Core mentions that he found Septima squatting on an abandoned isle to the south and figured we needed another set of eyes on us considering Drackuss was still out of commission due to the whole feeblemind fiasco. We see Core off and Septima asks if there is any way he could see how everyone fights, to make sure this will be worth his time. We set off to the portals to the north that let refugees and any number of beasties in every dawn. The group travels to the military encampment surrounding the portals and are met with initial resistance as some of the guards recognise Veiraen from when he came through initially and kind of went on a psychotic rampage and maybe killed several people. With tempers rising on both sides, this gets the attention of the commanding officer, a heavily armored dragonborn named Sukaren who comes barrelling over as Septima divides everyone with a wall of wind long enough for everyone to calm down. Sukaren demands to know why we’re at her outpost unanounced and we “calmly” explain that we’re a group of mercanaries who need to test out a new team member and thought why not come and help out the hard working military men and women keeping the kingdom safe and the monsters at bay. Kind of a two birds, multiple stones deal because lets be real our aim is bad at the best of times. We promise there’s nothing nefarious going on, we just want to fight something and then we’ll be on our way. Sukaren begrudgingly agrees on the proviso that our wizard and one of the rogues join up with different groups of infantry for the fight while the rest of us fight without assistance before pointing us towards one of the emptier infantry tents for the night as she stomps grumpily back to her tent warning that if she needs to come out before the sun’s up there’ll be hell to pay.

Everyone gets woken up before the dawn to begin preparations before walking out to the fields between the portals and the military camp and the group is split per Sukaren’s orders with Emmi being led to on of outside groups and Tornur being led to the other while the remainder of the group takes point in the centre and orders are given. The portal will open and civilians will come through first, they will be disoriented and confused, you will have 60 seconds until the monsters appear, once they’re dealt with everyone can retire for the day. Get all the civilians behind the front lines and moving towards the military camp before that happens. The large central portal shudders to life and we start yelling for the small group of civilians that wanders through that they really need to get a move on and with several successful checks we get everyone booking it to the camp and a trumpet breaks the silence signalling the monsters arrival and several tigers, lions and displacer beasts run through flanking a large earth elemental before the portal closes. A vicious fight ensues before it ends with Whisky turning the elemental into gravel with a flurry of rolling punches to the amazement and fear of anyone watching. With everyone exhausted and glad to be done we start heading back towards the encampment as everyone hears an earth shattering kaboom behind them as the portals reopen and we end the session there.