Webdancing: Following a Servant of Eilistraee (Baldur's Gate 3 fanfic WIP)

Teala makes her way through the boisterous orgy as best as she can, the demons and the other drow not noticing her while they drink, get high, and fuck. The air is thick with smoke, alcohol, burning incense, and drugs. Finding caverns that are carved deep into some side walls, leading to places where the drow don’t like to go, she slips into a pathway obscured by some rock. Slinking quietly, crawling on the ground, she makes her way into one of the small crevices that lines the pathway, squeezing through it. She finds herself in a small cave lit by some fungi. Seeing a familiar scarred figure sitting there, she smiles.

“Kyorlin, my dearest male, you’re here.” Teala whispers.

Kyorlin is a short drow, with skin which must be blacker than Drizzt’s is rumoured to be, with soft white hair which was torn short by his matron, and with eyes more red than any rubies. Kyorlin reaches for Teala in an embrace, his mouth chewing on her lower lip before going to her neck and kissing her there. She holds her lover against her as if melting into him. They hold each other more tightly, kissing passionately.

“Teala, if we run, we cannot come back.” In between kisses, he keeps his voice low to keep from echoing against the walls. “We won’t survive.”

“Lover, we have to leave. Lolth told me that you'd deceive me...that...I must kill you.” Teala whispers into his mouth, breaking the kiss he's working on. "I know you'd never deceive me. Follow me."

Kyorlin nods.

They start to move as one, through a different crevice at the back of the cave, which leads to a maze of trails. Teala is familiar with the trails because she had planned this for a while, hoping that the orgies were enough of a cover if she was ever asked where she went to.

Presently, Teala and Kyorlin reach a cavern. They’re now close to a number of pathways that will bring them dangerously close to the illithids in a few days. If Teala and her lover can make it past the necrotic elder brain without notice, which will probably take a tenday, then it should only take another tenday to reach the surface.

An insect buzzes by her, biting her ear. Teala’s lover looks at her with alarm. He’s a slave to another house and not used to being this far from home. What was once home. She sees another insect. No. It’s not an insect, it’s an arrow. Teala grabs Kyorlin’s hand, and they run as fast as they can. She knows of a path that will help them escape from their hunters. To his credit, he matches her stride. They run as if they are one, jumping over sharp stones, mushrooms, and a sleeping bulette, making their way to escape. They reach the new path, but their hunters follow.

She knows where a chasm is that has a narrow path against its walls that rings downward. It’s treacherous and there’s a windstorm. However, it should slow their hunters down, and it leads to another set of pathways she and her lover can take. She makes her way, sprinting down the pathway, her beloved keeping up with her. Several hunters trip, falling to their deaths. Teala could use her magic but since it comes from Lolth, it could fail Teala miserably. She finds a way off to the side that she knows and suddenly there’s a clearing. She hears the hunters’ boots clanging against the rock underneath her leathered feet. Turning around, she faces those who hunt her and her lover. She sees that there are four hunters, but strangely, no magic users, maybe they were knocked down by the wind. She grabs her shield from her back, then pushes one of the pursuers with her shield so hard that it knocks him to the side of the cave into a sea of fungi, where he starts laughing maniacally. She brings her sword to hack at the other pursuer’s head.

“Shit, that hurts!” Teala curses as her sword gives up partway through the guard’s neck, killing the guard but leaving his head hanging, as his body spills out blood while falling to the floor.

The other two are after Kyorlin, but he has run forward so she must catch up to them. Jumping on one of the hunters with all of her weight, it brings both of them down. The fallen hunter calls her a thief, trying to hold her down. She has dropped her sword, but she still has her shield. She knocks the shield into him, using the shield to smash him into the floor, leaving him straggling. She hears others behind her. Unbelievably, it sounds like there is an entire army running after her, a priestess of Lolth from a noble house, and Kyorlin, a slave from another noble house. Running forward she finds Kyorlin strangling the other drow dead, the corpse falling to the floor of the chamber.

Teala takes Kyorlin’s hand, then they start running again because she hears their pursuers catching up to them. She runs up to an oppressive darkness, a huge expanse that she hadn’t seen when she was there before. Damned dwarves, duergar, or demons! She was here only a little while ago! Teala and her beloved stand at the edge, nodding to each other. As she takes her mouth to his, he kisses her lips, then hand in hand, they jump down. Even though their fall slows by the updrafts, the grip on each other’s hands is torn asunder. The lovers are now lost to each other.

Sliced up and bloody, Teala wakes up from the hard floor. She looks around, finding no sign of Kyorlin. She can hear singing, but from which direction, she does not know. She looks at her hand that just recently held Kyorlin’s. It is broken. She starts crying uncontrollably, not just for the loss of Kyorlin, but for everything that brought her here. Frantically, she looks around, hoping to see someone, anyone, especially Kyorlin. Against the far wall, she sees a dark figure of a tall man, but it’s probably a trick of the shadows. It’s too tall to be Kyorlin or another drow. She pushes the image from her mind.

Following the source of the light, she sees a cave off to the side. She feels herself being pulled to it, limping as she goes because she can’t feel one of her feet. She finally reaches the cave, and there is a round bottle filled with red liquid. It looks like a greater healing potion that she liked to slip to the slaves now and again when someone of her house was being especially cruel. Grimacing, she grabs it, pulls the cork out of it with her good hand, then drinks it down. Despite having to drink the unpleasant liquid, she feels better, and everything is healed except her mind. Looking around the cave she finds enough components for a sword. Her shield is there! She sees several musical instruments on the wall. She takes down a harp and its case. She then looks off to the back of the cave. There is a tall woman dancing in silvery light, singing the same song Teala heard when Teala first woke up.

“Who are you?” Teala calls out to the woman, who turns towards Teala. The woman has long, silvery hair, but is wearing no clothing. She’s holding a glowing sword. The woman isn’t dancing now, but she continues to sing.

“Where is Kyorlin?” Teala cries out, but the woman just solemnly shakes her head. “You can help me but not him?! Please help him and leave me to die in his stead!” The woman walks towards Teala, reaching down to her, kissing her on the forehead as if to calm her.

Seeing that she is still alive, Teala begs the woman, “Please bring him back! Please take me instead!”

The woman shakes her head at Teala, then disappears.

Teala starts crying uncontrollably.

Once Teala calms down, she starts making her sword. She has not had to make a sword in a very long time, but luckily she has enough materials to make one that reminds her of her old sword. A lot of drow favor the bow, but she loves using the sword and shield. She was seen as an oddity in society, but she was accepted. She was a priestess of Lolth wasn’t she? Wasn’t that was important? To top it off, she has a way with taking care of plants and animals, which is rare in a noble house.

“I’m not a priestess of Lolth anymore,” Teala says aloud to herself. She can never go back home. She will have to go to the surface, something she was planning to do with Kyorlin, but now she's alone.

As if in answer, the tall woman returns, dancing and spinning to the song she is singing. The tall woman puts her sword blade down into the floor and starts to dance again, motioning Teala to do the same. Teala puts her sword into the floor of the cave, thinking that it is lucky the cave has a dirt floor because it wouldn’t work in rock. Dancing to the tall woman’s singing, she sees the woman cutting herself on her legs and arms, and her magic starts making the sword glow. However, wasn’t the sword glowing already? Teala follows the same movements, then her sword starts to glow too. The glow starts to encompass Teala as well, forcing her to pick up her sword and to dance with the woman.

Finally able to stop dancing, Teala asks the woman, “Are you a goddess or a demon or both?”

The woman spins into light and when it dims, the woman is gone. Teala is overcome with sudden emptiness. She hears the woman’s voice in her head. “Eilistraee.”

Teala doesn’t want to be alone. Eilistraee might not be as strong and powerful as some of the other deities, but strong enough to stand up to the goddess’ own mother Lolth.

With her sword at her belt, Teala takes her shield and her harp with its case, then puts them on her back. She makes a long trek to the surface.

Eventually, Teala finds the surface and its blinding light, so she hides in a nearby forest hoping that the brightness will go away. Relying on her resistance to poisons, she samples the fruits and vegetables that she finds in the forest.

Some time later, she finds the brightness darkening and decides to make her way down to town. She finds a place where someone is hanging clothes to dry and grabs a robe to hide underneath. She doubts anyone on the surface will like drow just like she will not like anyone else on the surface either. However, she cannot go back home again, not ever.

The town is crowded and noisy, but she hears a bell ringing loudly. Merchants are buying and selling goods: oils and lotions that smell of beautiful perfume and musk, vegetables and fruits like cranberries, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, and cherries, spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Musicians are singing and playing, maybe one of them will help her play the harp? (When she was little, she tried teaching herself, but her aunts caught her playing and beat her up with it once they found out about it, thus her harp was destroyed.) She stops to listen to these musicians, keeping a close eye on the one playing the harp, and starts dancing with them.

Up in the sky, a long dark shadow with tentacles looms overhead. Beams of light flash from the ship, hurting her eyes. She tries to run, but it is of no use. One of the beams catches her and now she is on the ship and is trapped in a pod of some sort. It is now darker so it is easier for her to see. Illithids. No! Not illithids! She is so horrified that she can’t speak, she can’t move. There is a pool in the center of the room. She screams inside of her mind. Where is her new goddess now? One of the illithids floats to the pool, picking up a tadpole which reminds her of an aboleth. Teala twists and turns, but the pod that she is trapped in is holding her tightly. The illithid places the tadpole in her eye. In her eye? She thought the illithid would place the tadpole in her ear instead. She screams, but there is no one there who cares about her. Kyorlin is gone.

Suddenly, the ship lurches as if hit by something, maybe a demon from the Abyss? Violently, the ship lurches again, so much so that the illithids are thrown against the walls. They are knocked out or killed. Teala doesn’t care, she just wants to escape. She pounds against the pod with all of her strength. With another lurch of the ship, the pod crashes down to the floor, freeing Teala. She finds that her sword is still belted to her side, and to her amazement, her shield has protected her harp from breaking in its case. She gets up and starts to walk unevenly because the ship is still shaking. She is knocked down as the ship is hit again. She finds herself laying next to someone, cold and still, by her side. Uncontrollably, she starts crying again.

“Teala, my dear,” A cultured voice breaks into her subconscious. “Teala, it is just a dream. Wake up. Teala! Wake up!”

Suddenly, she feels sharp ice cold fangs at her neck, pinching her skin. She opens her eyes, seeing someone with white curls, pinching her neck with his teeth. Realization dawns on her.

“Astarion?” A pair of red eyes find her lilac ones.

“Yes, darling?” Letting go of her neck, he wraps her up in his arms.

“I had the same dream about when I escaped from home again. The dream was different but real at the same time. I feel like I’m losing Kyorlin again, losing Eilistraee again. It’s not fair! Drow aren’t supposed to dream like this! Damn tadpoles! And don’t give me any of that control shit!”

Unable to come up with something clever for once, Astarion brings Teala to face him. Kissing Teala on her mouth, his hunger apparent by the way his fangs are grasping.

“Teala, I need to feed. Will you be able to stay awake until I get back?”

Rolling her eyes, she sits up and moves her hair out of the way, her wake up pinches still imprinted on her neck.

“Although I prefer it here.” Teala moves a hand in between her legs, a small smile on her lips.

“Mmmm. Tempting.” Grinning, Astarion turns to leave her tent.

“I thought you said I was tempting!” Teala calls out to him.

“Since the party with the tieflings my dear, you’ve been starting to get as pale as I am. I’m not feeding from you until you are your dark blue colour again. I don’t know why you are getting pale. Maybe it was the vinegar we drank for wine?” With that, Astarion creeps outside, stopping at Halsin’s tent momentarily, before melting into the shadows of the forest that surround their camp.

Looking at her skin, she realizes that Astarion is right. Her skin is now gray. Remembering a conversation she had with Astarion before and needing healing anyway, Teala puts her robe around her nightclothes and decides to have a word with Halsin.