6.2 - Conflict (Patreon)

6.2 - Conflict

Madison

When the team hashed out the plan, Madison had some… reservations to say the least. They crossed the river at dusk, when the sun was already dipping below the horizon and the skies were turning purple. 

Hebert’s silk rope was their “bridge” And Gale cast ‘featherfall’ to lower their weight so both she and Emma would have the strength to actually get to the other side. 

She was determined to learn that spell quickly. She could tell that Gale had used up quite a bit of magic casting it on the two of them as well as Karlach.

Because while Karlach no doubt had the strength to make it across, again, woman was on fire, and if she swam she’d make a steam cloud that would be visible from basically everywhere. 

So, Madison, and Emma both, had to try to start pulling their weight even if only in just… not being a burden.  

Still, regardless… they did make it across, slowly but surely. Sir Loin would be tied to a tree so she wouldn’t wander off and Madison tried to emphatically tell Scratch to sit and wait. She hoped he understood that they’d be back for him, and had been encouraged that he did seem to know the word sit. She thought about tying him to the tree as well but she couldn’t stomach the thought of coming back and finding scratch dead because a Goblin band stumbled on them. Sir Loin dying wasn’t exactly a good outcome either but it would be so much worse if the Goblins killed the poor Dog too.

As she made it to the other side and waited for Emma and the others who would follow after her, she was lucky enough to catch the conversation between Durge and Taylor.

“Now that we’re much closer what can you sense?”

“They’re drunk” She answered succinctly. “Stumbling, falling over eachother. They have guards, or at least people that are armed and by the door, but I’m pretty sure they’re drunk too, if not completely passed out given how they’re slumping.

“And inside the complex?” He asked, making Taylor shake her head. 

“A bit closer to confirm but it doesn’t seem like they’re drunk. The way they’re moving says they’re alert at least. But I can confirm Sophia’s entryway and it is unguarded.”

Madison heard Sophia scoff, as if what she’d seen was ever in any doubt.

“There’s also a relatively isolated vantage.” Taylor added, ignoring the sound the other girl made. She pointed very clearly at a white stone tower or overlook. It kinda resembled an outdoor gazebo… if a gazebo was elevated about fifty feet off the ground. “A watch tower I think? Bridge access to it is broken, but because of that there are no Goblins around it, we can probably get a look over the courtyard. Leave Astarion and Stalker there.”

“Tryin to bench me or something Hebert?”

Taylor opened her mouth to answer but Madison spoke up first.

“If something goes wrong you and Astarion are our best Archers.” She said, then hesitated as she found both girls looking at her. 

She averted her gaze, looking towards the floor as Emma finally made her way across the rope. “I-I mean… it makes sense, putting your archers up where they can shoot safely.”

“It does.” Durge nodded, saving her by bringing attention back to himself. “But if something goes wrong we’re surrounded by hundreds of Goblins. I doubt many places here will be considered ‘safe’. Besides that, we’ll need both Hess and Astarion to come with us inside, both can bypass locks and given that it’s inside we may very well find quite a few locks.”

The White scaled Dragonborn knelt down, resting on his haunches, red eyes looking over the group, and the ones still crossing.

He seemed to pause, and she could all but see the gears turning in his head, grinding on before he came to a decision.

“Taylor.” He suddenly said. “We need insects. Large ones, Beetles or something similar, sturdy. Enough for all of us.”

Madison saw Taylor raise an eyebrow but after a handful of seconds large beetles and moths; about the size of a child’s fist buzzed along and planted themselves infront of Durge. 

“You can’t hear but you can feel through them, yes?”

Taylor nodded.

Durge took that as a prompt to grab hold of one of the beetles and placed it on the back of his hand, the large bulbous bug hugged at his limb like a barnacle.

He looked to Taylor, tapping the bug twice. “Feel that?”

Taylor nodded, albeit haltingly as if wondering where he was going with this. 

“We need to assume that as soon as we attack one of the Goblin leaders the entire place will be up in arms. Therefore, we need to hit both at once and get out at once.”

“You want to split up.” Sophia deduced, perking up.

Durge nodded. “Yes, and we’ll use Hebert’s insects to coordinate. Simple messages are best. Less risk of confusion. Taps and bites-” He explained. “One tap, means we are not in position. Two, means we are in position, three means we’re fleeing, fast.” He nodded. “Similarly, one bite of your bugs, means the other team isn’t ready, two means that they are and we must strike now and three means that everyone needs to escape, now.”

Taylor nodded. “Makes sense. So who goes where?’

“You-” Durge said pointedly, “-will be staying outside.”

That clearly caught her off guard, to be honest it caught Madison a little off guard too. 

“Why?” Taylor asked and glared immediately at the smug looking Sophia. 

“You cannot see or hear through your insects, and I suspect there are more Goblins out here than there are in there.” Durge answered. “We need you out here to keep our escape route clear in the event we need to make a quick escape. Out here you can see, hear, counter and react to any unexpected arrivals or other emergencies far more efficiently than you could in there while comparatively blind and deaf.”

Taylor didn’t look pleased. She looked mollified, and when laid out like that it made sense, but she didn’t look pleased.

“Karlach will be staying with you-” Durge continued, and that made sense too. The woman was many things. Kind, funny… but she was also on fire and very large. Not exactly someone built for sneaking around.

However, it became very obvious that he led with that… to soften the next bit. 

“So will Barcus, Barnes and Clements.”

Madison cringed.

Astarion gave a very sharp bark of laughter where he stood, leaning on a tree just a few feet away.

Because just there, just for a split second when Taylor turned to look, not at Madison but at Emma next to her, Madison could see a deep, smouldering hate, a flicker of that thing that she’d seen down in Ethel’s lair before Taylor grabbed hold of herself and with that unnerving impossible self control she wrangled that wrath into whatever personal lock box she had inside her head. Her eyes still brimmed with that hate. They glimmered, almost glowed in the gloom… but there was no rage… or… at least there was no rage she could see.

Durge watched it all carefully, and the silence felt like it was strangling her. 

“That’s fine.” Emma said next to Madison, and for her part, Madison felt like her heart fell into the yawning pit of her stomach, watching for Taylor’s reaction.

Taylor stared at Emma, Emma stared back, and her own expression was almost as unreadable as Taylor’s. 

Oh what Madison wouldn’t give in that moment to know what was running through either of their heads. The urge of just trying to see with the tadpole was beyond tempting, but she was aware enough to understand that this was probably the closest thing to standing on a literal mine field as she would ever experience and so she kept very very quiet.

Taylor’s eyes narrowed, and with her neck seemingly fixed on a rigid hinge she turned and looked at Durge. “Fine.”

By now, Wyll and Lae’zel had crossed the bridge and Wyll looked immediately aware of the tension. “Something wrong?” He ventured to ask.

“Not. at. All.” Astarion practically crooned with that toothy smile of his, Wyll and Lae’zel both looked at him suspiciously.

It didn’t help that he was giggling.

Durge didn’t press. 

“The other teams will be simple. Hess, you’re with me, as is Shadowheart. Astarion, Wyll, Lae’zel and Gale will consist of the third team.”

“Whatever you say oh fearless and wise leader. Haha.” Astarion was definitely not helping, laughing even as Durge openly glared at him. 

—

Eventually… inevitably… they climbed the steep hill, towards the Temple.

Most of the festivities had died down. At least, in comparison to what it had been. Mostly because a good half of the Goblins were passed out drunk. 

She tried not to watch, or listen to Astarion silently cutting their throats as they passed them by, or the sizzle of flesh as Karlach grabbed them and chucked them over the edge of the ravine they’d just climbed. 

“Alright-” Durge whispered looking to them. “Let’s keep it quiet and fast. Shadowheart.”

The half elf nodded, and with a whispered prayer Madison felt more than saw the glamour being cast over them. She herself didn’t look any different, at least when she looked at her own hands and clothes, but when she looked at Emma next to her, and then to Karlach.

Yup. The red head had been replaced by a red headed Goblin and the Fiery woman by a much taller ‘Hobgoblin.’

Looking over the others they, each of them looked much the same, though they were generally either Hobgoblins or Bugbears, given their heights. 

“It will not hold up if you’re touched or under any real scrutiny.” The cleric warned. “Stay out of sight, don’t interact.”

“Quick and quiet.” Durge urged again. “Let’s go.”

As the ‘infiltration teams’ -as she’d taken to calling them- split off from the ‘lookout’ team -as she’d taken to calling her own group- Karlach inched her way forward, peering down over the half shattered stone railings into the courtyard below.

Morbid curiosity urged her forward and she looked down, trying not to gasp at the sheer horde of small green men infesting the place.

“There must be hundreds.” She whispered.

Five Hundred sixty five exactly.”

Taylor’s whisper made Madison turn to look at her, Karlach did the same. 

“Got them all tagged already?” The large woman asked a note of incredulity in the whisper.

If the expression on the Glamour was accurate, Taylor offered the larger woman a very dry look. “It’s not hard when they’re covered in ticks and fleas.”

Oh… ew.

“Goblins are not known for their hygiene.” Barcus whispered as he crawled forward, joining them to look over the railing. 

“Can’t be as bad as that dog Anne babysat for a week.”

Emma’s whisper… it made sense as in, Madison understood the words, but her tone didn’t. It was like she was reminding someone about it, It couldn’t be Karlach or Barcus, Anne was Emma’s sister… so… she must’ve been talking to Madison, but Madison didn’t have the foggiest notion on what Emma was talking about. 

She turned around, ready to say… something to get some clarity on things, when she noticed that Emma wasn’t talking to her.

Emma was talking to Taylor… Madison didn’t even know that Taylor even knew Emma had a sister, let alone her name, but apparently she did know.

Taylor’s eyes narrowed glaring at the red head, looking like she was about to lay into Emma like she had into Madison when Madison had apologized just two nights ago, but then, her mouth shut, stopping whatever she was about to say before shimmying in a crouch walk forward to get next to Karlach. 

Madison followed the Brunette’s movements with her eyes and so whatever reaction, if any crossed Emma’s expression, Madison missed such. Refocusing as Taylor spoke to Karlach in a whisper. “What’s that?”

Madison followed her eyes, finding the Goblins near a cordoned off section of the courtyard laughing and jeering as one of their fellows whipped… something, an animal of some kind.

“Looks like an Owlbear cub.” Karlach answered. “Poor little guy. They’ll whip him to death for entertainment before the day is done I reckon.”

—

Durge

The entrance Sophia had discovered led them onto the overhead support structure that held up the entire Temple’s ceiling.

Convenient, in the sense that the Goblins were too stupid to look up, let alone post a guard.

Then again, they hadn’t even done the bare minimum of boarding up the hole. So expecting even basic competence seemed to be a tall order.

Even more convenient-

“That must be her.” Gale whispered.

Durge agreed.

Even if he didn’t dare reach out with the tadpole for fear of discovery, the small, diminutive creature in the grand hall directly below them seemed very much like the ‘Goblin leader’ they were looking for, at least if the congregation of worshipers she was leading ina  sermon and offering to brand them with the ‘Mark of the Absolute’ was anything to go by. 

“Astarion-” He whispered towards the elf. “Her.” She’s your teams target.”

The elf held up his hand, the one with the rather large beetle perched along the back of it. “Two bites for when your team is ready then?

Durge nodded. ”Go.” He whispered. “Get closer, be ready.”

The Elf began to sneak off, Gale, Wyll and Lae’zel following as quietly as they could after him. 

The Dragonborn turned towards the half elf. “Shadowheart.” He whispered. “You know this place. Where would the main cloister be? I imagine that’s where we’ll find the second Goblin leader.”

The dark haired woman scoffed. “This is a selunite temple. I don’t consort with that moon witch.”

“Sharan’s know how to infiltrate Selunite temples, along with their layouts. Makes killing their priests easier I imagine.”

Shadowheart reeled. “Sharan?”

In response Durge gave her a very dry look. “Because so many other religions refer to Selune as Moon witch with that much personal venom in their voice?”

He had the satisfaction of watching the half elf open and close her mouth a few times as if fishing for what to say before she settled on a glare and a grumbled. “You’re insufferable sometimes. You know that don’t you?”

He had to smirk just a little bit at getting under her skin. “Noted.”

“Weren’t you people going off yesterday on how Shar is an evil bitch or something?” Hess asked.

He saw Shadowheart bristle and she looked just about ready to turn around and give Hess a proper tongue lashing. “You can correct her misconceptions later if you’re so inclined.” He promised, cutting the woman off before she could get started. “Now; We’re pressed on time.  your best guess as to the Cloister.”

Shadowheart looked like she was counting back from ten, praying for patience. Still… She worshiped Shar, not Lendor, but hopefully the results would work out.

Finally, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Follow me.”

Durge stepped aside, letting the woman walk gingerly across the beam as Hess followed behind him.

(X)(X)(X)

Next chapter is gonna be fun.

Why you ask?

Well. Because next chapter. THE TEAM DAD SHOWS UP!

PAPA BEAR HALSIN!