Farewell
The morning air is filled with bittersweet goodbyes as the tieflings load up the last of their sparse belongings, ready to head out on the path to Baldur’s Gate.
Zevlor stands in grateful awe that they actually got this far, a tired smile on his heavily-lined face.
“Thank you, again,” he says, turning that smile to Orochimaru. “We owe you a debt we can never repay.”
It’s so sincere that it turns Orochimaru’s stomach.
“If you make it to the city, I hope to see you again. We can’t repay you, but I would like to try.”
“Worry about getting your people there before you worry about some sort of debt to any of us.”
“Of course. May the road be kind to you, my friend.”
Zevlor turns to the rest of the tieflings.
“Let’s move out.”
Orochimaru watches as the tieflings make their way, with the ones tending to the oxen at the head of the party.
Little Arabella spies him and waves at him, beaming, her other hand held in her father’s. He raises his hand back at her in a halfhearted wave.
Such a sweet child, really. He hopes dearly that the world doesn’t crush her spirit before she’s even grown.
Mattis and Silfy accompany her, though they merely peer at him awkwardly, perhaps still sorry about trying to steal from him. Mirkon is far too distracted by a few butterflies flitting by them to pay anything else any mind.
Mol lingers toward the back of the group, head held high, the idol of Silvanus no doubt still stashed in that pack of hers.
Her one eye meets his, a cheeky grin across her face.
He can’t help but smile back at her, though something about the gesture opens up a gaping void in his stomach.
He can see the determination in her stride. The spark of ambition in her eye that he wonders if he used to have before cynicism stole their luster.
If he were braver he would pull her aside. Warn her to be careful, admonish her to protect the other children. To look after them, even if the adults fail them (as he knows adults so very often do).
But Orochimaru has never considered himself brave.
Besides, based on what he’s seen of her, and how she spoke to him when they met-
He feels like she already knows anything he would want to tell her.
Til we meet again, little one.
After the tieflings have all vanished into the distance, he wanders back to where the others are gathered up to have a quick breakfast.
Halsin greets him with a sickeningly friendly smile.
“Good morning- I trust you enjoyed your evening?”
Orochimaru shrugs, grabbing a cup of coffee and scalding the inside of his mouth in his haste to do something for his headache. He feels Halsin deflate behind him, but can’t find it in his heart to care.
The camp feels oddly quiet without the tieflings around; they can only hope their journey doesn’t drag them into something else that’s dangerous.
“So uh, now that we got those guys on their way, what’s next?” Hidan asks, between mouthfuls of breakfast.
“The path to Moonrise Towers is a treacherous one,” Halsin admits. “The lands around the tower are cursed- it’s dangerous to even go near. But if we want to find the source of your infection and cure it, we must brave the curse to reach it.”
“And what options do we have to make it there?”
“You have two options- journey overland, through the path to the Roseymorn monastery, or take the path through the Underdark. Taking the monastery path will cause us to run into the curse sooner, but the Underdark is not a place most people want to linger.”
“The monastery may have people who can give us help,” Shadowheart offers. “Friendly faces would be welcome.”
“But avoiding whatever that curse is may be worth braving the Underdark,” Wyll points out.
“Anything is preferable to risking the shadow curse.” Halsin says.
Everyone remains silent for a few moments, weighing their options.
“How about we go both ways?” Gale offers.
When everybody looks at him like he’s mad, he figures he ought to elaborate.
“Half of us can go in the direction of the monastery,” he says. “And the other half can go through the Underdark. We can meet up once we get to Moonrise.”
A wild idea, but perhaps not the worst one.
“I’ve never been to the Underdark,” he continues. “So I think I’d like to go that way.”
“The tiefling Zorru said he saw my kin around this way,” Lae’zel says, pointing out the circle on the map. “I will seek them out.”
“I’ll head that way too,” Kisame says. “If the creche pans out, we can get a word to the rest of you.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
“I’m interested in what this Underdark might offer,” Orochimaru says. “I think I’ll be heading that way.”
“Let’s get everything packed up and something in our stomachs and then we’ll make our final decisions.”
With breakfast done and camp fully broken down, they linger for a bit before splitting up.
It's been decided: Lae'zel, Kisame, Hidan, Wyll, Karlach, and a very reluctant Shadowheart will be striking out in the direction of the monastery. Orochimaru will be accompanying Astarion, Halsin, Itachi, and Gale to the Underdark.
Tucked away from the others, Orochimaru stares at the blank paper in front of him, hesitating for a moment before starting to write.
He has a nagging feeling like he might be tempting some force beyond his understanding by writing this down, but he forces that down and starts to write anyway, before he can risk it leaving his memory.
The script is jagged and strange to him, and writing it is awkward with his unpracticed hand.
Luckily his knack for remembering this sort of thing is excellent, so it soon starts to take shape, just as it had been on Astarion’s back.
“Hey, soldier, we’re gettin’ ready to leave!”
Karlach peers over his shoulder, and he can feel her frowning.
“What’re you doing?” she asks.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Orochimaru retorts.
“I mean- it looks like you’re writing in Infernal. But why are you writing in Infernal?”
“What the hell is Infernal?”
Karlach blinks, then realizes that it’s a genuine question.
“The language they speak in the hells. Not somethin’ most folks would understand.”
“I see.”
Orochimaru finishes the last few strokes of the script, frowning at it.
“Do you happen to be able to read Infernal?” he asks.
“Eh? Yeah, lots of tieflings do.”
He holds the notebook out so that she can see it properly.
“Do you mind telling me what this says, then?”
“I guess I can.”
Karlach looks the page over, careful not to touch it so she doesn’t set it on fire.
The more she reads, the deeper she frowns, concern flashing in her sunset orange eyes.
“...Mate, where’d you see this?” she asks, a tremor of worry in her voice.
Imagining Astarion wouldn’t want his private business being aired, Orochimaru decides not to be truthful there.
“I just saw it around. I just wondered what it says- it might be important.”
Karlach’s eyes scan the page again.
“ Hoc inferius non iurare per ignes . Ne haec verba loquor. Ethoc mundo mutat.”
Interesting words- if only he knew what they meant.
“And what exactly is it?”
Karlach scratches at her head.
“Well, I’m not sure, but just lookin’ at it, it looks like part of an Infernal contract.”
“Oh?”
So, his thought about it looking an awful lot like the contract seals he’s familiar with wasn’t entirely misplaced…
“So what do the words mean?”
“Nothing good.”
“Well enlighten me then.”
Reluctantly, Karlach translates for him.
“ This lowly soul swears no oath by fire. Lest these words be spoken. And this changes within the realm. Tellin’ the truth, it doesn’t even look like this is the entire text.”
Orochimaru twirls a lock of ink-black hair around his fingers, letting the information sink in.
“And what exactly is an “Infernal” contract?”
“When a devil makes a deal with a mortal, they’re sticklers for gettin’ it in writing. So whoever wrote this down, they’re lookin’ to get somethin' big…”
“I see.”
Karlach frowns.
“Not to be pushy, but what’s up with you? Is it something we ought to be worried about?”
“I’m not sure,” Orochimaru answers, closing the notebook and stashing it in his pack. “But leave this between the two of us for now, alright?”
Tail swishing back and forth, Karlach looks at him in concern.
“You sure about that?”
“No. But I don’t want to worry any of the others. Not yet, anyway.”
Though she doesn’t understand the situation, she is at least able to understand that this situation must be a delicate one.
“Whatever you say.”
It seems he has a mystery on his hands.
Good thing he loves mysteries.
Karlach tries to say something else, but they get interrupted by Wyll calling to him.
“Hey, uh- about our guest…”
“Huh- oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Orochimaru pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.
Where Minthara had once been held, there’s only a few shredded remains of rope and a smear of blood- clearly her want to escape had been quite dire indeed.
“That’s a problem,” he says, too annoyed to say anything more.
“I have a feeling this won’t be the last we see of her.” Astarion says, significantly more amused than her.
“We should be careful,” Wyll says. “She’ll be heading to Moonrise, same as us. If she gets there first we may have trouble.”
“That’s a bridge we’ll need to cross when we get there.”
“We ought to get going then. Before anything else goes wrong.”
Orochimaru gathers the ropes they tied her up with, in awe that Minthara had enough strength in her to be able to escape so soon after waking from her involuntary rest.
He knew she was made of tougher stuff than most, but he's still impressed.
“I would’ve preferred to take her with us- she would have made a good guide, if nothing else.”
“Assuming she wanted to help us,” Astarion reminds him.
“Oh, I have ways of getting uncooperative people to talk.”
“And what would those be?”
“You’ll have to allow me that little secret for now. If I get to pull it out, I’ll let you watch.”
“Such a tease. I’ll hold you to that.”
“Itachi-”
“Hm?”
Kisame feels awkward as hell, realizing this is the longest they’ll have been apart from each other since the day they were first partnered in Akatsuki.
It feels weird, not knowing when they’ll see each other next. Doubly so, considering last night…
“I just didn’t wanna leave without saying goodbye. Be careful down there, okay?”
“You do the same. I hope if you run into the Gith that they don’t treat you too badly.”
Kisame takes a moment to caress the side of his face; Itachi leans into it like a cat eager for affection.
“If they’re anything like Lae’zel, we should be able to work our way into their good graces. Don’t worry about me.”
Itachi practically purrs against his hand, clearly not wanting to leave.
The others bid each other an awkward farewell, and with that, head their separate ways.
“So, how exactly does one get to the Underdark?” Itachi asks.
“I found something interesting when we picked up that book,” Astarion answers, whipping a paper out of seemingly nowhere. “As a matter of fact, that charming old village we passed through has a path to the underdark right there.”
“Yeah? That was awfully kind of them.”
“Very much so.”
Back at the village once again, they find it oddly devoid of the goblins that had been milling about in it earlier.
A bit disappointing, since he had hoped they would try to pick a fight, but it does save them time he supposes.
“Back down that well?” he asks, cringing at the thought of maybe wandering into more of those spiders.
“That’s what it looks like. Unless you have a better idea?”
“I never said I did.”
Itachi squints at them, clearly skeptical, but follows them down the frayed rope down into the well.
Fortunately for them, the only spiders left are the corpses of the ones they’d killed, guiding them along the path that allegedly will lead them to the Underdark.
At long last, past the corpse of the largest spider, a giant web spans a huge chasm that seems to go down forever.
“...are we supposed to jump?” Itachi asks, dizzy at the depth of the drop even with his horrible eyesight.
“Seems like it,” Orochimaru answers, stepping out into the middle of the web and pondering their options.
“That sounds a little…stupid?”
“Not to worry!” Gale says, making a few gestures with his hands, “I’ve got this covered- Sine metu !”
A flurry of luminescent feathers spins around them like a sort of avian tornado, shooting up toward the roof of the cave. As it spins, a lightness settles over them, like even a slight breeze could blow them clean away.
“There we go- now then, shall we?”
Once they’re all gathered in the center of the web, Astarion whips out a dagger and, with no further ceremony, slashes the fine silk threads holding them up.
They fall downward in slow motion, like feathers caught in the wind. The darkness deepens the farther they fall, deeper and blacker, until it’s so complete it briefly makes them wonder if they died.
Eventually, after what feels like forever, they see small, twinkling lights beneath them that steadily grow larger.
Then, at last, they touch solid ground once again.
The world around them is lit up by mushrooms of every conceivable shape, size, and color, some extending far up beyond what they can see. Luminescent dust floats through the air, forming spirals as they dissipate into the darkness.
“...So,” Orochimaru mutters, looking around. “This is the Underdark?”
“The very same!”
Gale grins, looking around like a child who’s just walked into a candy store.
"Absolutely magnificent!" he declares. "Never had the pleasure of coming before-"
"I hope we don't have to stay long," Astarion sighs. "I've actually gotten used to the sun on my skin."
"In that case," Orochimaru says, stepping forth into this world so alien to anything he's ever encountered, "we best get going."