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Astarion x Dark Urge Chapter 03 Rating: E Tags: Angst, Fluff, hurt/comfort, slow burn, two guarded people fall in love so hard it makes them stupid

Chapter Summary:

After a rough night of sleep, at least Rose could enjoy the sunrise. The party travels to the druid grove, aiming to get information on their specific affliction. Each new detail requires a change in plans, and more supplies. Seems the people in the grove have their own problems-- wonder what they'll be willing to pay for some assistance?

What she wanted was to be enveloped in darkness, for sleep to take hold and for nothingness to surround her until morning. What she got instead was a blanket of red. Endless red. Blood. All…

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

Blood, gore, and slaughter filling the view behind her eyelids. Screams from her victims harmonized with the drumming of her heartbeat. Her hands clawing into endless intestines, feeling the satisfying squish between her closing fingers.

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

The faceless victim screamed and clawed at her arm, tearing her flesh open. The sensation was pure ecstacy . It wasn't until their voice quieted that she could appreciate the scent wafting from their open torso. Oh, how they still smelled fresh .

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

Piles of corpses surrounded her, like a fleshy meadow beneath a red sky. The cool sensation of droplets fell upon her face, like rain falling from a cloudless sky. But the smell of rain did not come, only more of that coppery hint.

The saccharine life liquid pooled around her, seeping into the fabric of clothes. In the glossy puddle, she could see her twisted smile, the glint of her amber eyes looking back at her. Pure untainted joy radiated from that grin.

She loved this.

She craved this.

She —

Woke up.

Rose sat up in her bedroll, with sweat on her brow, and hands shaking. The campfire had long gone out, but the light of early morning cast a faint glow into the crypt. Well, just the area behind the destroyed wall. Someone must have gone out through the hatch. She wiped her brow and quietly sat up, trying not to wake the others. Following the light, she made her way to the ladder past the collapsed crypt wall and climbed out to the surface.

Sitting in the grass, Astarion watched the sun rising over the horizon. He was deep in thought, until a purple-haired amnesiac crawled through the hole in the ground. He quickly put on his signature smile to greet her.

“Ah, good morning,” he started to purr, but quickly stopped, “are you alright? You look…”

“Like hell?” Rose finished, fully sitting in the grass beside him now.

“Rabid. Pained. Sick.”

“Does ‘like hell’ not cover those?”

“No, you look a bit worse than that I’m afraid,” he looked her over, much to her chagrin, “You poor thing, you’re even spasming and twitching.”

Hells, he was right. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking.

“Just a rough night,” she insisted, “a little fresh air, some breakfast, and I should be okay.”

“Mh…do take care of yourself,” Astarion requested, though it sounded half sincerely, “I don’t think I can stand taking orders from Lae’zel. She was ready to have us travel until we passed out. You’re a bit more reasonable.”

“Noted.”

The two sat in silence as sunlight washed over the ocean, slowly it rolled onto the shore. Astarion smiled as he basked in its warmth, a soft expression for the typically sharp tongued elf. Even after just a day she learned a lot about the group she found herself leading. Astarion and Shadowheart were the most secretive it would seem, but for what reasons she could not tell. In the way he spoke, it was like a melody he had sung before. His gestures, even his expressions, she saw how perfectly rehearsed they seemed. But here? In this moment? She felt like she was getting a glimpse of him.

A glimpse that he did not want her to see, clearly. For he plastered that mirful grin back on his face and turned towards her to say something.

“How was your first night camping?” Rose asked, a smirk coming across her face when she saw him briefly stumble that she beat him to break the silence.

“Oh— well, you know,” he recovered quickly, listing off his experiences on his fingers, “uncomfortable, damp, smelled a bit moldy— not as glamorous as some adventurers make it sound.” He paused as he looked towards the horizon again, “but it isn’t all bad, I suppose…and how about you? Besides, well,” he gestured to her poor state, “whatever caused that .”

“Oh,” she scoffed, trying to regain whatever sense of composure she could, “just a nightmare…is all. Yesterday might’ve affected me more than I realized.” She hoped he would buy it.

But she didn’t get a chance to confirm that— she heard the sound of metal clanging echo in the crypt below. Armor being donned, no doubt. Rose stood up and began descending the ladder again, making one last comment as she went.

“Sounds like it’s officially time to start the day.”

As she hoped, she was feeling better for the day after getting fresh air and eating a Gale-made breakfast. No one else mentioned her looking sickly, for which she was grateful. The prep for the travel ahead was quick, with roles being assigned with little to no issue. Lae’zel and Gale took the lead (Rose was pretty sure Gale volunteered specifically to ask about Gith history and Astral Planar subjects). Shadowheart volunteered to carry a crate of wares, which could prove useful if the grove had its own merchant. Astarion and Rose took up the rear.

They spent a few hours trekking through the wilderness, witty banter helping the time go by. Shadowheart and Astarion seemed to become quick friends, with the way they joked at the other’s expense like it was sport. Even more of a sport was how fast Lae’zel could threaten someone for saying the wrong thing to her. In a way, Rose wondered if it was how the Gith was trying to banter. The threats held little weight, she decided. All in good fun. Maybe.

The marching stopped abruptly, and the group wasn’t saying a word. There was another commotion further ahead, one that she couldn’t make sense of. Lae’zel looked to the back of the line and tilted her head towards elevated ground when she looked at Rose. There was something ahead, and repositioning was necessary. She pulled out her daggers and took Astarion with her to higher ground.

She saw a gate, covered with vines and embedded in the stone. Well hidden, to anyone who wasn’t sure what they were looking for. Impressive. But its well hidden entryway was no match for the small party banging at the door, begging for the gate to be let up. Rose and Astarion were low to the ground, scoping out the rest of the area. Hidden by walls of stone, with few beaten paths leading towards the entrance. She heard the panic in the adventurer’s voices.

“They’re running from something,” Rose whispered to Astarion.

“I think I found what,” he nudged her and nodded towards a group of goblins creeping up the path.

“If we help them, they’ll owe us.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

She smirked to the elf as she procured a bottle from her belt. His own grin widened, realizing it was filled with grease— and he had the fire they needed. Rose stood up from her spot and threw the bottle where the path opened towards the gate. The attention of the grove was now on them, uncertain if she was friend or foe. Their blades were drawn quickly, but she’d be damned if they would be pointed at her.

“Goblins!” She shouted to the gate, just as Astarion cast his magic and sent a small bolt of fire towards the puddle.

“You fools!” The tiefling gatekeeper shouted to the small group at the gate, “you lead them right to us!”

The goblins ran up the path, with a worg in tow, trying to clear the grease before it went aflame. Several managed to make it past the grease puddle, but the explosion cut their ranks in half. The grove alerted their forces with the blow of a warhorn, and more soldiers came to their aid. Rose happily jumped down from her perch, carving into the goblin archers who hid in the backline. The sensation of their blood spraying over her face sent a pleasurable shiver down her spine.

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

Their screams serenaded her eardrums, punctuated by the drumming of her heartbeat. If it weren’t for their armor, she would have grabbed their own hearts to feel it beat in the palm of her hand.

Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

Rose didn’t know who she was. Hardly knew her name. But this? The slashing of her dagger, the smell of liquid copper, the dying screams. She knew this was something she liked. She needed more . More carnage, more slaughter more—

“Rose,” Shadowheart’s call snapped her back to reality, “let me heal you.”

Standing in the middle of dead goblins, covered in blood, Rose hadn’t realized she was wounded. The pain in her arm finally began to register, and it hurt like a bitch . Shadowheart quickly used her magic to seal the wound.

“You were in your own world there, weren’t you?” she asked as the cool healing touch washed over Rose, “I’ve seen that look before, like a hunter who found their kill.”

‘So maybe I was a hunter…’ Rose considered.

“I guess I was for a moment,” Rose confessed to the half-elf.

“Just don’t forget who your allies are,” she warned, “I’ve seen that happen too.”

Thanks to their advantage, they sustained very few casualties on their side. Some injuries, but no deaths, thankfully. When it was safe for the gates to open, no one stopped Rose’s group from following the others inside their walls.

“There are bound to be more,” Shadowheart noted as the gates closed behind them, “if we were hoping for sanctuary, I doubt we’ll get it here.”

“Good thing we don’t intend on staying for long,” Rose responded, getting a look at the area as they walked further into the grove. Tieflings with carts and tarps were the first sight. Prepared for travel— probably already in the middle of traveling from the looks of it.

“Zevlor, what the hell!?” Shouting up ahead, from the adventurer who was just outside, “ You were going to leave us to die?!”

“There are children here, Aradin!” Shouted the gatekeeper, “What were you thinking?!”

“We were running for our bloody lives!”

Rose waited on the sidelines, watching their argument unfold. There was a lot she gleaned from their fighting. There was a druid with their party, who did not return. This Druid sounded important to the grove, in some way. When the tensions reached a boiling point, another skirmish was at risk of breaking out.

“Hey,” Rose cut in, “sounds more like these Goblins were an unintended problem. Arguing isn’t going to solve them. Or the friends that’ll come looking for them.”

“And who the fuck are you?” Aradin, turned to her, fist balled and ready to be thrown at a mild inconvenience.

“She’s the reason we could beat those goblins,” The tiefling, Zevlor, shot back, “And she’s right— the grove isn’t going to be safe for long with a goblin party dead at the gates,” he turned to Rose and smiled gratefully, “Thank you for your aid.”

The interruption looked to be enough to discourage Aradin’s further arguing. He waved the group off and stormed further into the grove, grumbling about bloody goblins and a shit employer.

“Sadly, we don’t have much to offer in terms of payment,” Zevlor apologized, “we were invited to stay by this Grove’s first druid, Halsin. But since he went with those adventurers, his replacement hasn’t been quite as patient. Kagha is trying to push us out and isolate this place. This attack might just be the reason she needs to do it.”

“That’s unfortunate. But maybe you can repay us with information if you don’t have the gold.” Rose negotiated.

“Sure, if I can.”

“We’re looking for someone named Zorru who we think is somewhere here. He ran into a githyanki patrol some time ago and we wanted to ask him some questions.”

Zevlor eyed Lae’zel, who returned a scowl. As expected, there would be more tension surrounding their gith companion if Zorru had a chance to tell the rest of his people about the ambush. No doubt the casualties would’ve been enough. But thankfully, under the obligation of owing their lives to Rose, Zevlor wouldn’t hold back.

“He’s further ahead, watching our supplies.”

“Anywhere we can sell our wares?” Shadowheart chimed in, lightly shaking their crate of goods.

“Ah, a few. Dammon could find a use for scrap metal. The druids also have their own trader— Arron, right by the Silvanus statue.”

“Thanks.” Rose nodded to him and proceeded to walk further into the grove.

Considering that most of their wares were weapons, they visited the tiefling smith first. While trading, she got a bit more information about the situation surrounding this grove. The tieflings were refugees, heading to Baldur’s Gate to start a new life after their hometown was sold to Avernus for a short time. Halsin sounded like a strong healer, but left his apprentice to handle his healer duties when he left with Aradin’s party. No one really knew for what reason, but he was adamant about going wherever their contract was taking them. As for the new leader, the tieflings clearly did not like her (considering she wanted to kick them out), and the other druids seemed to be mixed. As intriguing as this information was becoming, the business with the tieflings wasn’t really a problem she cared to handle. But she’d be a fool to completely ignore it. There could be an opportunity for her, yet.

Dammon handed them a small pouch of gold in exchange for the weapons and metal they brought to him, and was happy enough to give them directions to the storehouse Zorru was posted outside of.

Lae'zel sighed appreciatively, glad she was not being forgotten, before they proceeded. He was right where Dammon said, posted outside a storage building that looked like it was barely holding itself together. Zorru looked like he had seen a ghost when the whole group approached him. His hand rushed to the hilt of his blade.

“Stay back!” He commanded shakily, “Come back to finish the job? My friends weren’t enough slaughter for you!?”

“Easy,” Rose lifted her empty hands as a show of good faith, “we only had some questions about the ambush.”

Zorru eyed her cautiously, then to Lae’zel who was grinning at the cowardly display.

“Only questions?” Zorru asked. Rose nodded. When he released his hilt, Lae’zel stepped forward with her arms crossed.

“A proper greeting in my creche is a bow,” she stated. Waited. Then, threateningly, “bow.”

Rose, Astarion, and Shadowheart collectively smirked, watching as the tiefling looked to them for aid.

“I would do as she says,” Rose suggested, “if you want to keep it ‘only questions.’”

So, with the fear for his life clear in his eyes, he bowed. He continued to bow as Lae’zel demanded him lower, until he was practically kissing the ground.

“See what I meant,” Astarion whispered jokingly to Rose, “if she was our leader, she’d make us bow to her every morning. Ugh. ”

Rose couldn’t hold back her snickering, happy to play along with the elf while Lae’zel got the information she needed. Rose handed over her map when Zorru was ready to show them where the gith patrol ambushed his team. While he was marking the map, she examined the storehouse behind him. Between the crooked slats, she saw crates inside. Lots of them. She wondered what other supplies the tieflings brought with them, and if they would miss any. But before she could consider that, she would need to find a way inside.

"You aren't going to eviscerate him?" Astarion pouted, "I was hoping for a show."

"Cool your blood," Lae'zel hissed, "I'll indulge you soon enough." She snatched the map back when Zorru held it up to her, "Leave."

She didn’t have to tell him twice. Zorru bolted around them, getting another bout of chuckles from their mischievous group. Rose rolled out the map on the ground, and they all circled around it to see where Zorru had marked. Shadowheart pulled out her own map to copy the new markings. The destination was a lot further than she anticipated, leading to the foothills of a mountain from the looks of it.

“Let me see that,’ Gale ran his finger along the map, muttering numbers to himself as he went. It sounded like he was measuring the distance, “That’s a few days travel away,” he concluded, “and if I’m not mistaken, that’s the direction those goblins came from. We’ll need to be on our guard”

“I doubt this gith patrol will still be there by the time we arrive to this spot,” Shadowheart said, “Lae’zel, this is going to turn into a never-ending game of catch-up.”

“I’m not playing games, Shadowheart ,” Lae’zel snapped, “if this is where the ambush happened, it means a creche wouldn’t be too far. Even if we don’t find the patrol, we can find the creche. I assure you.”

“And the goblins? I feel like we’re glossing over the goblins,” Gale reminded.

The three went back and forth about strategy. Lae’zel didn’t seem worried about handling some goblins on the road, but Shadowheart was insistent that the small group was likely part of a larger tribe. Rose did the math herself. A few days travel, when they only had a single day to recoup and barely scrape by. They could use the wilderness around them to hunt and forage, but that would slow them down and require more time to stop and rest. The goblin situation could be an issue, depending where their camp was and how large. If it was a whole tribe nearby, getting through to their destination would be tricky. On the other hand, slaughtering a whole goblin tribe did sound like fun, though…

“It doesn’t matter if we don’t get more supplies,” Rose interjected, silencing the rest of them. Well, at least Astarion wasn’t the only one who acknowledged her as ‘leader.’ She pulled out the pouch of gold from their recent trade with Dammon and split the coins among the lot of them, “they have merchants here, which means food and camping gear. Healers, which means potions and elixirs. Scouts, which means information about the area. Let’s make the most of the next hour to better prepare for our travel ahead. We’ll regroup here before we head out.”

Shadowheart volunteered to seek information, alone. Before anyone could protest (or join her), she stood up with her map and walked back towards Dammon. Rose eyed the other three expectantly, testing who would be the next to volunteer their next task. Lae’zel and Gale decided to get potions from an elderly woman who seemed to know what she was doing with the dry herbs hanging in her stall. Astarion was still considering his options.

“Astarion, you’re with me,” Rose directed.

“Me?” He pointed towards himself with mock surprise, “If you wanted us to be alone, all you have to do is ask.”

Rose rolled her eyes, but her grin betrayed her gesture of annoyance.

“Listen,” she nodded to the storage house, speaking to him now in a hushed tone, “I think they’re keeping a good bunch of supplies in here. Let’s find a way inside, see what we can get from it.”

“Oh, I knew I liked you,” Astarion smirked, “alright, let’s go.”

With a smirk and nod, Rose and Astarion began scoping out the area for a way into the storage house. The clock was ticking. One hour to get in, get out, and avoid witnesses.

They could do this.

Easily.

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#bg3 #astarion ancunin #astarion x tav #astarion x dark urge #dark urge #baldur's gate 3 #ao3 fanfic #ao3

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