Mainly Nyx POV, one section of Astarion POV. Starting with Nyx.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 Easter Egg.

They were heading into unscouted, unfamiliar territory. Halsin mused that the area was wilder and untamed even before the Shadowcurse took hold. Awe remained in his voice while he shared his childhood memories of Thaniel, and he described how the lands looked previously. However, the unfolding scenery only deepened his sadness. The wonderous towering ancient trees he spoke of have become gnarled, twisted and shrunken. Large blue-green galls growing on their trunks and roots. The once lush green and gold earth that teemed with animals was severely broken and jagged; the gaping chasms looked akin to ghostly waterfalls of rippling shadow magic. The strange red vegetation clung stubbornly to portions of cliffs and trenches.

Travel became treacherous and they decided to tie themselves to each other with ropes as they traversed the crumbling unstable land. An escarpment came into view, the descend steep, but in its centre stood the Elder Tree.

"Silvanus preserve us," he gasped.

The tree was taller than the gorge was deep, but similar to the other trees it had been forcefully contracted into itself, its splendour snuffed, and its majesty diminished. The trunk had been ripped apart, splitting the tree in half and from the centre a massive throbbing gall glowed; fat and well fed by its host. The right side of the tree had blackened, glowing scar-streaked fractures along its trunk and branches terminated in red leaves. The left side of the tree had stunted, blanched, became void of bark and didn't bare a single leaf.

Tav prompted, "Halsin?"

He sobered from his shock and dropped his shoulders. He clenched his fists and turned to Tav, "Thaniel had grown powerful enough to spawn guardians before the war. We should be cautious as they may have become cursed too."

She nodded grimly and they organized themselves for the vertical drop down.

---

The curse feels lighter here?

Shadowheart remarked on the same and Halsin surmised that Thaniel must be fighting to hold it back. A lingering silence fell, the implication of Halsin's words settled between them.

Nature's children being subjugated and having to fend off corruption for centuries. Strength and resilience don’t even begin to describe it.

Nyx glimpsed the discomfort on Shadowheart's face too at the destruction her goddess' will could bring.

And for what? Nothing can justify, this...

Thaniel's Elder Tree neared, and the giant gall dwarfed their group.

Nyx clicked her tongue, The pettiness of the Gods is astounding.

Halsin inspected the gall. It throbbed audibly, an irregular syncopated heartbeat. Snaking roots sprouted from its base, greedily sinking into the Elder Tree. Magic moved like fluid through the semi-opaque roots from the Elder Tree to the malformed parasite. Halsin placed his hands on its leathery tissue and his brow furrowed in concentration. They waited.

His eyes snapped open, "I can reach Thaniel! He is trapped in the Shadowfell, and the gateway is through here."

They gaped up at the gall and Tav queried, "How do we get there?"

He smiled softly, "No, my friend. I must go there alone."

Tav wanted to protest, but he stopped her, "This opportunity has been a hundred years in the making. It has to be me, and only me."

"Alright, how do we help y-"

The ground trembled.

Halsin declared looking around, "The guardians have awakened.", he turned to Tav and implored, "You must stand your ground. I cannot keep the guardians at bay and have the portal remain open. Defend it at all costs."

Another quake shook the ground. Nyx had to widen her stance to compensate. They drew their weapons turning away from the tree to face the darkness.

Tav's head whipped over her shoulder, her jaw set in determination she directed at Halsin, "Go!"

"Do not enter. Don't let anything interfere. Thank you!", his words melted, and he disappeared into the gall.

---

The calm before the storm.

They waited.

Nyx gripped her bow, arrow nocked scanning the landscape, her magic and whiskers poised. The gall continued to throb.

The earth moved beneath their feet, cursed roots sifted from the soil and slithered away from them. Nyx sidestepped some that attempted to grasp at her.

Lae'zel's enchanted blade flashed and severed one of the roots, something screeched, but the tissue knit itself together and it didn't retaliate.

The roots swelled with magic and Nyx traced their origin to the gall.

Abyss take it.

A figure rose before them in the clearing away from the Elder tree.

Roots became vines, braiding together shaping the entity. Vines became branches, rugged and weaving into one another. Branches became a fused mass of galls, blackened wood and red moss. The tenebrous behemoth towered over them and shook out its aerial roots from its large flat canopy. The network of roots dropped to the floor with a elongated rolling thud that resonated through the ground. It bore a resemblance to a humped back strangler fig sporting many arms and legs with no discernible head except for several galls protruding from its bulk.

"Shambling mound", Gale spoke quickly, "Fire and ice have little effect. Stay away from lightning."

Good thing I laced my new knives. She had laced it with something special too. The sticky xanthous poison was one of her experimental recipes that she dubbed 'Crawler Ichor'. A paralytic made from carrion crawler mucus and Underdark mushrooms. A mixture she hoped no creature here would have encountered, and thus, not have a natural resistance against. After some thought, she decided to swap her current arrow for acid tipped ones instead. Astarion exchanged his for poison, their tips glistening with a familiar yellow sheen.

Lae'zel huffed, "Then what are we waiting for?"

Her battle cry rang out while she and Karlach charged the creature, blades glimmering with magic. Shortly followed by Wyll, taking position to aim and call up an Eldritch blast while Shadowheart recited a ray of radiance. Nyx, Astarion, Tav and Gale held the line at the portal, magic crackling and arrows whizzing.

Clumps of roots shot from the mound, Lae'zel dove into an evading tactical roll, but Karlach's momentum collided with the roots head on. She cried out in rage and frustration as the net engulfed her and dragged her immobilized form along the ground. Lae'zel hacked at the constricting prison from the outside while Karlach's hellfire scorched plumes from the inside.

Roots sprang up from the ground grappling, whipping and grasping at the line protecting the portal. Wyll and Shadowheart stood back-to-back with outstretched arms, both firing different incantations at the same time using both their hands to guide their magic. Karlach burst from the tangled root mass only for their roles to be reversed when Lae'zel became ensnared.

The battle continued in this way for what seemed like an eternity, roots withering away only for more to take their place. All while the mound stood stock still in its original position. Neither side gaining nor losing ground.

Lae'zel bellowed in frustration and cried out, "It is toying with us! Whittling down our strength."

Tav remarked, "We need a new strategy."

As though the mound had been listening, the ground shook again. The gall thrashed behind them and a grating roar echoed.

It is enraged?

Gale commented, "Halsin must have reached Thaniel."

Astarion groused, "About time, tell him to hurry it along."

More cursed roots rose from the ground slithering and thickening toward the mound.

Oh no.

Two additional root masses formed; large blights took shape on either side of the mound. One stomped toward Karlach and Lae'zel while the other engaged Wyll and Shadowheart. Leaving double the roots attempting to reach the portal.

By the Abyss, Nyx barely had enough time to collect her quarterstaff and line it with her original set of throwing knives.

Now is not the time to see if I can control more.

Her staff directed the knives in sets of three strikes to cut away multiple roots at a time. Gale yelped and Tav cried out.

Nyx glimpsed Gale losing the grappling battle and being inched away. Tav trying to keep her roots at bay while reaching out for him.

Nyx instructed, "Tav, swop with me on my mark."

"Ready," she confirmed over the notes of her bardic song.

Between the onslaughts, Nyx sidestepped around Tav, who moved to Nyx's original position. Gale sent out a blast of his thunderwave, stunning the roots surrounding them. Nyx cut Gale free in a flurry of knives. She yanked him to his feet and directed him between her and Tav, in order for Nyx to take the outer flank.

Nyx exchanged two of her knives for the new ones, quickly adjusting to their weight difference. A sweep of her staff made them cut across the closest stunned roots in a wide arc.

Acid ate through their outer layer and the toxin lined the exposed tissue, eliciting the smell of charred resinous plant matter that left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth.

"Incendé!", Shadowheart's voice rung out as the blight's roots swarmed her and she rend them to pieces, blasting the blight creature into oblivion. Lathander's light faded to a feint ember, and she continued to pummel remaining roots with it instead.

Tav called out Gale's name. He had collapsed between Nyx and Tav, necrosis taking hold around the wounds where he grappled with the roots.

Shit!

The roots, Nyx and Astarion had poisoned, did not recover like the others. They spasmed violently and shrivelled up. Nyx hoped the tide was turning, but both Karlach and Lae'zel's silhouettes collapsed as well.

Roots from the mound threatened to overwhelm Shadowheart, and Wyll was the only one standing against the last remaining blight.

Nyx shared a knowing look with Tav and Astarion.

We are not going to last much longer.

Eldritch blasts fired, streaking bright lines past the roots and into the blight proper. Some of the galls got hit, they expanded and burst in a queasy squelch of turquoise ooze. The blight stumbled back as though it had been struck by a mighty blow. Wyll dodged the clumsy counter attacks from the roots and blight alike. Instead, aiming for the blight and destroying more of its galls. The blight continued to weaken under Wyll's renewed efforts, and less roots recovered. Shadowheart had hacked her way to Wyll, and she levelled her rays at the blight's galls as well.

Nyx, Tav and Astarion followed suit, aiming for galls on both the blight and mound, between the dwindling whipping roots. The giant gall behind them thrashed again, like a child having a tantrum, which only spurred them on.

Wyll and Shadowheart brought down the last blight. They collectively turned their magic onto the mound, moving around it to reach the galls the others could not. One side of the mound's supporting roots gave way, and it collapsed, the creature slanted into the ground. Eventually enough galls had been destroyed, and the rest of the mound crumbled.

They were heaving, palms on their knees, doubled over in front of the portal. Tav plopped to the floor and saw to Gale. Shadowheart rushed to Karlach while Wyll moved to Lae'zel.

"Nyx, why isn't it healing?"

Her head snapped, she dropped next to Tav and inspected Gale's injuries. She set her mouth in a line.

Tav braced herself and prompted, "Just tell me."

Nyx met her eyes. Tav was fighting to hold her tears back. Nyx decided to keep to the facts, "It's severe dry gangrene. The tissue is dead. It'll need to be cut away and the surrounding tissue stimulated to grow back. It is beyond my healing ability," she paused and glanced at Tav's empty healing potion, "And no healing potion can revive dead tissue."

Tav's lip quivered asking in a small voice, "Shadowheart?"

Nyx nodded, "Both Shadowheart and Halsin can treat these, but it is going to be hard work and take time. However, it won't get worse than it is now.", Tav's eyes became more hopeful while Nyx continued, "He doesn't have a fever which meant the potion was administered soon enough to prevent infection or blood poisoning from setting in."

A sob caught in Tav's throat. It reminded Nyx of the night Tav was attacked by the Bloodmanic beast. Empathy panged in her chest.

I'll speak to her in private later. Perhaps she'll be more open to my assistance regarding the damage to her psyche when Halsin isn't present.

Nyx placed her one hand on Tav's arm and was met with a wide-eyed look. Nyx smiled warmly, "We are alright. We'll get them patched up." Nyx patted her arm and Tav's wide-eyed look subsided. Tav's quivering voice managed a 'thank you'. Nyx inclined her head and stood to find Astarion with an equally grim expression.

She queried, "I don't have injuries, you?"

"Unharmed."

She confirmed, "Tav?"

Tav shook her head, "I'm good."

Thank the graces, she moved to check on the others, but the giant gall thrashed again. Nyx spun around, hands on weapons.

Halsin's outline congealed from the gall, and he stepped out cradling a child in his arms. He announced smiling, "It's done! I have him!"

The smile dropped from his face when he surveyed the outcome of the battle. The child seemed to be sleeping in his arms. Halsin's face became stern and he gently deposited Thaniel into a surprised Astarion's arms. Astarion stiffened, but Halsin glared down any objections then attended to Gale.

Nyx smirked, Who’s the skittish little faun now?  Enjoying the moment more than she should.

Astarion's shoulders were locked, and he held Thaniel away from his body as though he were diseased. Astarion scurried over to Nyx and motioned to shove Thaniel onto her.

She crossed her arms, "Oh, no,", shaking her head and snickered at his indignant expression. "He is your charge, placed in your care and I need to go help Wyll."

Nyx left to assist Wyll with Lae'zel. Astarion scowling after her.

---

Shadowheart's hands were covering her mouth, horrified she blurted, "But he's just a child!"

They gaped at her. Other than the first time she set eyes on the owlbear cub and promptly smothered his 'adorable toe beans' (hence his namesake) - they've never seen such a response from her. Nyx wonders if she'll swear them to secrecy and death on this reaction too, lest they all want to have their existence cut short.

Shadowheart hissed, shaking out her hand when its wound flared.

That must be one of the strangest injuries, Nyx mused.

Astarion was more than relieved to have Thaniel taken out of his care. Tav and Wyll helped Halsin strap Thaniel to his back so that they could climb their way back up the cliff and out. Gale, Karlach and Lae'zel were on their feet, although a little lack-lustre.

Nyx shot a parting glance at the gall, it had deflated, drooping comically to the left side. The right still throbbed, albeit with less vigour.

---

The previously injured were in dire need of rest and the group wasn't going to make it back to Last Light Inn before night settled. They found a suitable area between the broken landscape large enough to setup camp. Wards were laid down and Halsin elaborated on Thaniel's condition over dinner.

He frowned into his bowl, "I still can't wake him. Something is dreadfully wrong. Some part of him is missing. It's like he's... hollow."

Tav asked concerned, "Can you determine the cause?"

"No, not yet. We need to get to Last Light Inn, Isobel might be able to help me."

She nodded sombrely.

Halsin straightened, "Ah, but listen to me complain," he smiled and gestured with open arms, "We have achieved something remarkable and should be proud. We have retrieved Thaniel from the clutches of the Shadowfell."

Everyone made a pointed effort not to glance at Shadowheart on the last word. Except Lae'zel of course, whose arms and legs sported bandages similar to Karlach and Gale.

Astarion and Nyx handed off the second round of watch rotations to Tav and Shadowheart. On the way to Nyx’s tent, Astarion pulled her aside.

He was fidgeting and didn't meet her eyes. She asked alarmed, "Are you alright?"

"I, uh", his hands dropped to his side, and he straightened, "Yes, but... I feel, awful."

--- --- ---

Her brows knit with concern, and she searched his face. Her analysis exacerbated the flutter of trepidation that had suddenly overcome him.

Shit.

His ruminations while standing guard had culminated to this moment, but now he didn't know what to do. He snatched at the words, any words. Yet the well-manicured and curated mask he had sculpted for two hundred years was coming undone. He could literally hear the pieces clatter to the floor. Nonetheless, he smiled like he always had. However, she saw right past it and gave him an expectant eyebrow.

"Astarion?"

A theatrical sigh escaped him. He smirked and he gestured to her, "Everything you do waylays my plan." The smirk fell along with the last bits of his mask. "All I had to do was to get you on my side. To help me. Not turn on me. And I simply did what I do best; seduce you and sleep with you. All with the aim of manipulating you into doing the things I needed you to."

Shock had graced her features. Then she became awash with a dark calm.

He shook his head, "It seems so pointless now. Meaningless."

She didn't reply so he continued to fill the silence, lest he lose his nerve under her scrutinizing gaze.

"The habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. I did what I always do. Simply, went with it", he scoffed, disgusted with himself and the situation, "Did what I was told to do for centuries." His gesturing became more animated than usual, "To use this body to lure anything with a pulse back to my master. What I thought of it, what I felt about it, be damned!"

He was fuming. He reeled himself in and waited for her response. Her ice thawed minutely, but that treacherous frozen lake glistened beneath the surface. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her eyes met his on the exhale and she asked, "So, this was all some elaborate game to you then? And I your willing plaything?", no emotion betrayed her voice.

"No. I.", he stammered looking down and admitted to them both, "It started that way, but now?" He met her eyes again and said softly, "Now, I want something real.", then nearly whispered, "I want us to be real. I want something real with you."

Her hands fisted at her sides, and she declared, "It had always been real for me. Astarion."

Gods.

He was ashamed, more than he'd ever been, "I've come to realize that. Felt it too."

She blew out a breath and stated evenly, locking eyes with him, "Astarion, I'm not going to pretend that any of this is right. Not the abuse you suffered at the hands of that monster, or what you have done. I am angry and hurt." Her voice tremored at the last line. She paused for a moment not looking at him.

I'm such a fool.

She continued gesturing with a flat hand, "I, I need to think. I don't want to say or do anything now that I'd regret later", and gave him a look that warranted no argument.

He nodded, his stomach in knots. He didn't know what to say other than, "I, yes, my love. Take your time. Take all the time you need."

A curt 'thank you' followed and she departed to her tent without another word. Not so much as even a look over her shoulder.

What have I done?

--- --- ---

Nyx hadn't been this angry in years, decades. Her breathing became erratic, her throat was closing, and the black tendrils were swarming her vision. She had to get to her quarterstaff. She rummaged for it with more impatience and agitation than usual.

I should know better by now, she scoffed at herself, I of all people really should.

The runes lit up along her staff before she even fully removed it from the pack, and she laid it across her lap. It stopped her unravelling emotions, but they simply swirled around within her - a perpetual whirlpool.

That old, bone deep wound opened. One she was all too familiar with.

Betrayal.

She sniffed back the tears and focused on her breathing.

Her meditations were constantly interrupted by the replaying events in her mind, retrospectively picking apart all the signs that she simply was either too stupid to notice, or didn't want to. Too flattered by the attention and convincing herself that it meant something.

It's not like she didn't notice his transactional conditioning around everything, and yet she failed to appreciate the extent of it once again. She never even considered that he had been used by his master in such a way to 'hunt people'. Her assumptions were grossly naïve, laughably so.

So much of his behaviour and mannerisms made sense, especially his reactions last night.

Graces have mercy.

Sickness seized her body. Appalled for not seeing it sooner and for being, herself, a potential contributor and a catalyst to his abuse. However, some small part of her softened the brutality of her inner discourse.

"I want something real with you."

No matter how much she didn't want to believe that right now, she couldn't bring herself to cast it aside as more lies and manipulation.

The swirling whirlpool slowed down, but it refused to relent. She sighed heavily and relaxed her chokehold on picking apart the conversation, the past, and herself. Trying instead to focus on what she was going to do about it.

---

Her thoughts joined her emotions in the swirling whirlpool. It yielded no solutions. Got her nowhere other than to make her utterly exhausted. She assumed she must have passed out rather than falling asleep when the vivid dreams started.

How odd.

She was laying on her bedroll staring up at the ceiling of her tent, but the scenery had that telltale wrapped blur at the edges. Also, she couldn't move her body. The wind brushed over her face momentarily as the flap to her tent was disturbed and something touched her ankles. She wanted to look down, but her head didn't respond. Glancing down didn't yield anything, yet the sensation around her ankles grew tighter.

By the Abyss, why can't I wake?

She reached out to the tadpole, but it remained muted and unresponsive. Nothing to indicate its involvement in whatever was happening. A vice locked around her ankles, and it began to slowly drag her from the top of her bedroll. Her alarm grew and she struggled against it, but to no avail.

The sensation slinked up her calves, twisting around her legs. She reached for her mental arsenal and threw it against the creeping dream vines. Her limbs were released from the lock, and she wrestled to free herself further, but she couldn't sit up to get her hands on it. The all too real scraping of dirt met her back when it dragged her from her tent, and she felt the cold of the night against her skin.

Abyss take it! What is going on!?

Flustering, she grasped at her light memories, the same she uses against the black tendrils and willed them into her limbs. It did not release the rest of her body, but her mind lurched from the dream.

Dark rolling clouds of the night sky filled her wakened vision. Mercifully her body responded to her commands. She looked down, but before she could call for help the misty shadow vines wrapped around her mouth, clamping her jaw shut.

They were pulling her through camp. Nyx thrashed against them, but they had her completely ensnared. Only one free arm could flail for purchase, anything to hold onto. None of the tents were within reach. She lashed out with her magic, but the shadow mist danced around it. She tugged at her knives, but couldn't free them from their restraints either. She screamed, but the sound was absorbed by the shadow around her mouth. Panic took hold when she passed the perimeter wards, kicking hard and screaming as loud as she could. Clawing at the soil, gouging scratches with her fingernails.

In desperation, she called to the others using her tadpole, but the parasite didn't respond.

A red shrub caught at her tunic while she was dragged past. She clung to it for dear life, the shadow vines heaving her up from the ground as she reinforced her arm around the sharp, thorny foliage cutting into her hand. Tears were streaming down her face as she wrestled with the shadows. Her heart thundering in her ears. The blue-green magic lapped at her feet from the nearby cleft in the earth.

The tiny shrubs' roots weren't strong enough for this tug-of-war and started to snap from the earth.

Graces please!

Nyx screamed again, but nothing came of it. She trashed with all her bodily strength and what her magic could wrought. The shadows simply lapped it up, siphoning it into the cleft.

Snap...

Sssnap

...Snap

No!

Shadow consumed her.

Footnote:

I'm a troll, I know.

Published: 27 Dec 2024