Hunter & Hunted - Baine
Mar 5, 2020 23:05:26 GMT
Varis/G'Lorth/Sundilar, Sunday, and 6 more like this
Post by Ser Baine Cinderwood 🔥🌼 on Mar 5, 2020 23:05:26 GMT
The guards by the Daring Heights teleportation circle barely raise an eyebrow as they come crashing through, even though it’s not even dawn. Adventurers are old news.
Baine looks around at the group, counting heads once and then again, just to make sure. He’s not great with numbers, but it seems like they all made it back.
Daisy, free of the feeblemind and no longer an elephant. Traavor, already looking around to locate the nearest inn that will serve him at this time of night. Pieni, pausing his panic attack briefly to hand Sunday a handkerchief so she can wipe the bloody tears from her face. Baine hates it when she uses the gifts the Sanguine Rose gave her, hates that she made the deal for them, but it may well have saved their lives tonight.
Taffeta is there too, pulling out her sending stone and speaking to Nerry.
“It's done, love. The thing's dead. We can go home. I'll come to you soon. Tell Paw I've got the stone.”
It is done. They’ve killed Khingo Khan. Taff and her family is safe and Baine is clinging desperately to that one bright, shining thought and trying not to let grief and desperation claw its way back up his throat. A small part of him wants to scream at them all, rage and rally them and make them pick up arms again, right this very second - a larger part is warm, and glowing. A calm is spreading through him, bathing him in.. reassurance.
At his feet, Pieni is still a three foot mass of quivering feathers. Thousands of miles away in Aschenwald, Faerun, Thea clears her throat pointedly.
Baine squats down and carefully pats him with a hand that’s easily as large as the aaracockra’s head.
“Hey mate. Do you want to ride on my shoulder for a bit?”
Pieni freezes for a second and doesn’t look back at him, but then turns into an even smaller bird in a small shimmer of magic. The bluebird hops up Baine’s thick arm until it reaches his shoulder, inching in to hide a little behind his curtain of hair.
Standing up straight again, Baine turns his head and whispers.
“It wasn’t your fault. If it’s anyone’s it’s mine. I should have realized you was too far away but I was too eager to smash shit, as always.”
At this, Pi-birb adamantly shakes his head and pecks Baine in the cheek, pointedly. The half-orc shakes his head a little.
“It doesn’t matter though, cos we’re gonna bring him back. We’re gonna bring him back, Pi.”
The bird nods and presses the top of his tiny head against Baine's cheek, right against the spot where he pecked him.
The party walks out into Portal Plaza and, with reassurances and promises to see each other soon and finish what they started, and go their separate ways.
Sunday and eLk both walk with him for a few streets before she makes to head off towards the Gilded Mirror.
In the quiet of the early morning Daring Heights cobblestone street she looks pointedly at the dawn and then back at him, smiling like she knows something he doesn’t.
“I need to go put Kas out of his misery. Why don’t you go up to the tower for a while? Seems like a good moment for you and him to chat.”
She looks okay. He knows she might not be, not after going back to Phlegethos and facing Fierna, but against all odds she’s smiling.
He picks her up clean off the ground and just holds her for a good minute.
“Love you. Tell Marky hi from me.”
“Love you too, dear. Now go salute the sun or whatever it is you do.”
She smiles and mounts her mossy steed. eLk spreads his wings and in a rush of air they take off. As they slip away out of sight, just for a moment, Baine's scared again. His hand pulses and aches from where he crushed the coal Te’Zeer had given him but the warm wave of reassurance comes back, even stronger this time.
“Yes, yes, alright, I’m going.”
“So yeah. Rholor cast some spell that was supposed to bring Khingo to us but Fierna stopped it, and then suddenly we was brought to Phlegethos. The one place I wanted to keep Sunday out of. Didn’t want her to have to see Fierna ever again. That plan was a bust, clearly.”
He fiddles with the last strap of his chest plate, his left hand swollen and clumsy. The rest of his adamantine armour is carefully piled on the floor of the watchtower next to the stairs. The first rays of the rising sun is glinting off of its (second) new coat of paint. With a final grunt of effort he undoes the clasp and wrangles the breastplate off. He sets it down gingerly and sinks down on the bench with a sigh.
“She needed our help though, old Fierna did. Turns out Khingo had been giving her a headache so she let us through on the condition that we tell no mortal about what happened down there. Didn’t even have to sign a contract - not that Taff would have let us. Fuck, but that woman has guts. She brought the full force of mum power out on the bloody Archduke of the Fourth.”
He shakes his head incredulously, still a little baffled at the memory. He hadn’t appreciated it appropriately at the time, being too busy trying to figure out if the plan really was to kill Khingo or not, or if he was losing his chance to bring Varis back.
“She refused to let Rholor come though. He was too powerful and-or too rude. She made him kiss her - problematic, I know - and sent him back here. I assume. Guess we’ll hear if he’s missing soon enough. What’s one more person to rescue from hell, eh?”
The sun doesn’t let on whether it thinks this is reasonable or not.
“Fierna popped us over to where Khingo was shacked up. It was pretty gross - just.. Like, flesh. Flesh walls, flesh floor. Everything was all dizzy and like.. Fucked up. Super hard to walk around. Full of fucking monsters as well - big and skinless, long and snakey, there was a beholder as well, who needs more of those big boys, everyone and their uncle had tentacles… The hells, man. I’m not even surprised anymore.
Khingo was in the back, of course, taking a bath in a large tub or something, I don’t know. Taff flew off on eLk and dealt with him. Nice and poetic. The rest of us killed all the other things. Well, almost all the things. The massive wriggling one and the beholder flew up and out through the ceiling when Taff killed Khingo. Into the stars - which were all wrong. And the writhing mass of serpent-looking thingies up there. With the wrong stars.”
He tips his head back and leans it against the railing, staring up into the - familiar - Kantas sky.
“So maybe that answers the question ‘Did BB actually set something in motion when she released the One Serpent?’ Probably not. That'd be too easy, wouldn't it.”
His left hand twinges again and he lifts his head back up.
“I fucked up. I know. But I didn’t do it for an easy out - I thought Tezz and Glasya was gonna buy the contracts like, any minute now. I wanted Varis back and I wanted to keep Sunday safe and I just… I panicked. I’m sorry. I know it’s not- it’s probably not what you’d want from someone who wants to like, fight in your name or whatever.”
He grabs the new, thicker chain from around his neck and takes the sunflower pendant off, turning it in his hands for a moment.
“Thanks for this. Not sure if I should be wearing it yet, or like, ever. But still. Thanks. I’ll keep trying to earn it though. Sunday promised we’re going back, as soon as we can. We’ll go to Avernus and we’ll get him back, the right way. No deals, no shortcuts. Just us. We're gonna keep trying'. I'm gonna keep doin' the right thing.”
He looks down at his hands. The left, covered in soot from the coal, a diagonal black scar covered in a fresher burn, red and angry looking. His right holding the sunflower pendant - the volcanic glass refracting the light of the rising sun, glittering and dancing around him.
He cocks his head sideways, frowning. His right hand starts tingling. He closes his fingers around the pendant and presses his right thumb into the angry mess of his left palm, hissing as the pain worsens. It hurts, more than it should, but he grits his teeth and keeps pressing until - like pus from an infected wound - black blood and soot seeps from the cut, dripping from his hand and turning into smoke before it can hit the wooden floor.
Trembling, just a little, he hangs the chain around his neck again, the holy symbol hanging over his heart. He focuses on the warmth, the almost buzzing feeling in his right hand, lays two fingers into the palm of his left and... pushes? With a rush of heat, like the midday sun in summertime, the wound closes.
I waited a whole year to make this boi a paladin and I'm so happy, you guys ☀️🌻🙏🏼🥰
Thanks to Pieni and Sunday for the collaboration!
Baine looks around at the group, counting heads once and then again, just to make sure. He’s not great with numbers, but it seems like they all made it back.
Daisy, free of the feeblemind and no longer an elephant. Traavor, already looking around to locate the nearest inn that will serve him at this time of night. Pieni, pausing his panic attack briefly to hand Sunday a handkerchief so she can wipe the bloody tears from her face. Baine hates it when she uses the gifts the Sanguine Rose gave her, hates that she made the deal for them, but it may well have saved their lives tonight.
Taffeta is there too, pulling out her sending stone and speaking to Nerry.
“It's done, love. The thing's dead. We can go home. I'll come to you soon. Tell Paw I've got the stone.”
It is done. They’ve killed Khingo Khan. Taff and her family is safe and Baine is clinging desperately to that one bright, shining thought and trying not to let grief and desperation claw its way back up his throat. A small part of him wants to scream at them all, rage and rally them and make them pick up arms again, right this very second - a larger part is warm, and glowing. A calm is spreading through him, bathing him in.. reassurance.
At his feet, Pieni is still a three foot mass of quivering feathers. Thousands of miles away in Aschenwald, Faerun, Thea clears her throat pointedly.
Baine squats down and carefully pats him with a hand that’s easily as large as the aaracockra’s head.
“Hey mate. Do you want to ride on my shoulder for a bit?”
Pieni freezes for a second and doesn’t look back at him, but then turns into an even smaller bird in a small shimmer of magic. The bluebird hops up Baine’s thick arm until it reaches his shoulder, inching in to hide a little behind his curtain of hair.
Standing up straight again, Baine turns his head and whispers.
“It wasn’t your fault. If it’s anyone’s it’s mine. I should have realized you was too far away but I was too eager to smash shit, as always.”
At this, Pi-birb adamantly shakes his head and pecks Baine in the cheek, pointedly. The half-orc shakes his head a little.
“It doesn’t matter though, cos we’re gonna bring him back. We’re gonna bring him back, Pi.”
The bird nods and presses the top of his tiny head against Baine's cheek, right against the spot where he pecked him.
The party walks out into Portal Plaza and, with reassurances and promises to see each other soon and finish what they started, and go their separate ways.
Sunday and eLk both walk with him for a few streets before she makes to head off towards the Gilded Mirror.
In the quiet of the early morning Daring Heights cobblestone street she looks pointedly at the dawn and then back at him, smiling like she knows something he doesn’t.
“I need to go put Kas out of his misery. Why don’t you go up to the tower for a while? Seems like a good moment for you and him to chat.”
She looks okay. He knows she might not be, not after going back to Phlegethos and facing Fierna, but against all odds she’s smiling.
He picks her up clean off the ground and just holds her for a good minute.
“Love you. Tell Marky hi from me.”
“Love you too, dear. Now go salute the sun or whatever it is you do.”
She smiles and mounts her mossy steed. eLk spreads his wings and in a rush of air they take off. As they slip away out of sight, just for a moment, Baine's scared again. His hand pulses and aches from where he crushed the coal Te’Zeer had given him but the warm wave of reassurance comes back, even stronger this time.
“Yes, yes, alright, I’m going.”
“So yeah. Rholor cast some spell that was supposed to bring Khingo to us but Fierna stopped it, and then suddenly we was brought to Phlegethos. The one place I wanted to keep Sunday out of. Didn’t want her to have to see Fierna ever again. That plan was a bust, clearly.”
He fiddles with the last strap of his chest plate, his left hand swollen and clumsy. The rest of his adamantine armour is carefully piled on the floor of the watchtower next to the stairs. The first rays of the rising sun is glinting off of its (second) new coat of paint. With a final grunt of effort he undoes the clasp and wrangles the breastplate off. He sets it down gingerly and sinks down on the bench with a sigh.
“She needed our help though, old Fierna did. Turns out Khingo had been giving her a headache so she let us through on the condition that we tell no mortal about what happened down there. Didn’t even have to sign a contract - not that Taff would have let us. Fuck, but that woman has guts. She brought the full force of mum power out on the bloody Archduke of the Fourth.”
He shakes his head incredulously, still a little baffled at the memory. He hadn’t appreciated it appropriately at the time, being too busy trying to figure out if the plan really was to kill Khingo or not, or if he was losing his chance to bring Varis back.
“She refused to let Rholor come though. He was too powerful and-or too rude. She made him kiss her - problematic, I know - and sent him back here. I assume. Guess we’ll hear if he’s missing soon enough. What’s one more person to rescue from hell, eh?”
The sun doesn’t let on whether it thinks this is reasonable or not.
“Fierna popped us over to where Khingo was shacked up. It was pretty gross - just.. Like, flesh. Flesh walls, flesh floor. Everything was all dizzy and like.. Fucked up. Super hard to walk around. Full of fucking monsters as well - big and skinless, long and snakey, there was a beholder as well, who needs more of those big boys, everyone and their uncle had tentacles… The hells, man. I’m not even surprised anymore.
Khingo was in the back, of course, taking a bath in a large tub or something, I don’t know. Taff flew off on eLk and dealt with him. Nice and poetic. The rest of us killed all the other things. Well, almost all the things. The massive wriggling one and the beholder flew up and out through the ceiling when Taff killed Khingo. Into the stars - which were all wrong. And the writhing mass of serpent-looking thingies up there. With the wrong stars.”
He tips his head back and leans it against the railing, staring up into the - familiar - Kantas sky.
“So maybe that answers the question ‘Did BB actually set something in motion when she released the One Serpent?’ Probably not. That'd be too easy, wouldn't it.”
His left hand twinges again and he lifts his head back up.
“I fucked up. I know. But I didn’t do it for an easy out - I thought Tezz and Glasya was gonna buy the contracts like, any minute now. I wanted Varis back and I wanted to keep Sunday safe and I just… I panicked. I’m sorry. I know it’s not- it’s probably not what you’d want from someone who wants to like, fight in your name or whatever.”
He grabs the new, thicker chain from around his neck and takes the sunflower pendant off, turning it in his hands for a moment.
“Thanks for this. Not sure if I should be wearing it yet, or like, ever. But still. Thanks. I’ll keep trying to earn it though. Sunday promised we’re going back, as soon as we can. We’ll go to Avernus and we’ll get him back, the right way. No deals, no shortcuts. Just us. We're gonna keep trying'. I'm gonna keep doin' the right thing.”
He looks down at his hands. The left, covered in soot from the coal, a diagonal black scar covered in a fresher burn, red and angry looking. His right holding the sunflower pendant - the volcanic glass refracting the light of the rising sun, glittering and dancing around him.
He cocks his head sideways, frowning. His right hand starts tingling. He closes his fingers around the pendant and presses his right thumb into the angry mess of his left palm, hissing as the pain worsens. It hurts, more than it should, but he grits his teeth and keeps pressing until - like pus from an infected wound - black blood and soot seeps from the cut, dripping from his hand and turning into smoke before it can hit the wooden floor.
Trembling, just a little, he hangs the chain around his neck again, the holy symbol hanging over his heart. He focuses on the warmth, the almost buzzing feeling in his right hand, lays two fingers into the palm of his left and... pushes? With a rush of heat, like the midday sun in summertime, the wound closes.
I waited a whole year to make this boi a paladin and I'm so happy, you guys ☀️🌻🙏🏼🥰
Thanks to Pieni and Sunday for the collaboration!
