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tozettastone · 6 months

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I think the scene at waukeen's rest goes like this—

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"The Grand Duke Ravengard could be inside there!" yelled one of the Flaming Fist soldiers, face contorted with desperation. "Don't just stand there! Push!" A tremendous clattering of armour briefly interrupted the roar of the fire from deeper in the burning inn as the soldiers responded to her cry.

Tavali leapt over the body of a drow raider—sprawled like a toddler's discarded ragdoll on the courtyard stones of Waukeen's Rest—and raced up the step. She braced herself and gave the wood a powerful front kick, but it didn't budge. She just wasn't strong enough—wasn't big enough. But there were still people inside. She took a step back.

Uncertainly, Tav glanced at Astarion, who had—until right now, this very second—been the undisputed champion door whisperer. If there was a door, and it didn't want to open, she usually just gestured him towards it and marvelled as it rolled right over beneath his delicate lily-white fingers.

Astarion looked at the door—heavy, barred, smoke leaking out around the edges—and looked back at her.

"Me?" he wondered, raising his eyebrows. "Have I ever told you how much I admire your optimism, darling? Not your eyesight, mind you. But your optimism, certainly."

Then he made a big point of peering at at the heavily armed githyanki warrior next to him. Lae'zel was too busy sneering at the panicked guards and smoke over her crossed arms to notice him using her as a convenient conversational prop.

...Right, so, he wasn't going to be any help.

"Well—"

She was interrupted: "Hey soldier, why don't you let me try that?"

The air was suddenly just as warm behind Tav as the smoking doors to her front.

Tav looked over her shoulder and up—and up—at Karlach. She was still extremely new to their little group, although she was host to a parasite just the same as the rest of them. She was huge, and right then she was standing close enough that Tav could feel the heat leaking off her.

They really had to get someone to have a look at the infernal machinery she had instead of a heart. She was dangerous to stand close to. Her clothes were already wrecked—and even the old halberd she'd picked up had blackened where her hands gripped it.

"Um," said Tav, warily.

Karlach evidently accepted this as wholehearted assent, because she smiled her friendly, open smile and took two steps back. "Right. Brace yourself!"

It dawned on Tav that she was now occupying the path of least resistance. She did what many people had presumably done when they arrived at this discovery: she got out of Karlach's way.

Karlach sized up the obstacle. Her boot hit the paving stones, and then again, and then with all her momentum she kicked the doors. The sound of wood splintering drowned out the roar of the fire for a long second. Then something on the other side went CRACK, and one of the doors rebounded, swinging wide and sagging upon its hinges.

Inside was less fire and much, much more hot smoke. It rolled out this new opening, thick and black and reeking, to sting the eyes and burn the throat.

"Nothing to it," Karlach beamed. If the smoke was bothering her, it didn't show.

"Well!" said Astarion. "I suppose it might come in handy to have a woman-sized battering ram along."

Tav glanced back at him, but he was buffing his nails on his shirt and didn't seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to any of them.

"Among my people, no rescue would be mounted for a leader who had fallen so low as to be caught inside his own burning home," said Lae'zel. As usual her tone heavily implied that other peoples were incapable of the civilised discipline of the gith and she was working—unwillingly—with what she'd been given. "Weakness is its own punishment."

"Thank you, Lae'zel," said Tavali. "That's very constructive."

"When our bones melt and reform and tentacles spill from our dissolving jaws," she hissed, "you will not then wish I had been 'more constructive' about your incessant delays."

Lae'zel said this the way she said everything: with an air of supreme confidence and barely restrained rage. Despite this, Tavali had the bizarre impression they were getting on rather well.

"There might be people trapped," Karlach offered, tail swishing.

"Yep," said Tav. Then, because she was a sucker, she sighed deeply and added, "Wait here, please." And then she went to go find out if anyone needed help getting out (yes) and if the Grand Duke Ravengard really was still in the bloody burning building somehow, after all (of course not).

#bg3 #my fic #waukeen's rest #tavali and astarion are the low strength high damage crew

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