#but minus the shirt cuz that one was a lost cause

[daemon-in-my-head]

Sorry need to talk about OCs for a hot minute cuz Idk how to incorporate that part of him into the fic but I lack social skills so I'm just gonna info dump on yall especially cuz I'm once again procrastinating editing and they're just living in my head rent-free.

So essentially Ellis nd Gortys first meeting didn't happen when Gortash started looking for the Bhaalist leader, in fact it didn't even happen in the Gate but a while back in Calimport. Gortash had that whole trying to establish himself in the underworld and arms dealer bit going on so his business ofc also took him to one of the biggest trading hubs in all of Faerûn, that being Calimport. Also they're taking religious freedom very serious over there, one of their biggest temples and religions being Shars followers, so it was pretty safe for a Banite upstart.

As for Elli he essentially tried to escape his past as best he could. He got stuck in the Shadow Fell for a while (years) and besides it merging his former divine sorcery by the grace of the shadow's corruption, the Shadow Fell also shows what's going on in the real world via mirages, so he was essentially forced to watch his old life being completely demolished by his father's followers while incapable of doing anything about it. Any and all connections he may have had to anyone previously were carefully picked off by 'divine decree' as he watched what happened to their mirages, all while stuck in a shadow of the world he was part of once. So once he managed to get out, he immediately dipped to a place where the sun never goes down and even winter is warmer than anywhere else. There, he essentially used his old talents again, aka used his perceived 'rareness' and the local hierarchy to live a somewhat comfortable life as a dancer. Constantly reminded him of his family, ofc, especially his mom, who used to be a bard and taught him, but more in a positive way, especially after surviving the horrors of the shadow fell. Sort of like trying to ignore the last few years and deluding himself into the belief that he just ran away from home or smth and if he ever returns to the gate his family and his friends would be there waiting for him, completely disregarding that all of them were dead by now.

So they essentially 'met' while Elli was working as an entertainer for some wealthy nobles and Gortash was busy trying to worm his way into the upper echelon and the trade routes managed by them. They never talked or smth but Gortash did remember him, cuz seeing an elf in a city that is dominated by humans and halflings was rare as fuck, so he was pretty caught off guard when he realised that he had not only seen that man before but that the man who was covered in blood n viscera nd exclusively dark clothing used to wear pretty fabrics nd jewelry and laugh and entertain people instead of viciously slaughtering them once. Elli didn't really remember him but Gortash eventually 'confessed' that he knew what he did in his past which elli laughed off followed by a death threat cuz the chosen of Bhaal can't possibly have done things like that. Over time he grew comfortable with it again tho and at some point Gortash got some stuff imported from calimport for him as a lil pick me up to remind them of easier times.

Elli can't play instruments for shit though, his skill exclusively lies in moving his body and that did come in handy in combat for him, which he sort of used as an excuse to still dance from time to time where no-one could see or when he was sure he was disguised sufficiently so no-one would be able to tell it was him. He sometimes tries to remember what happened back then but he can't really pinpoint ever meeting Gortash, so he kind of just grew to believe him and admire his skill to remember cuz, as an elf, his memory is sort of warped due to their difference in how they perceive time anyway. He was also still using the name his family gave him back in Calimshan, but since they were never formally introduced, Gortash wouldn't find out about his actual name until a long time later.