Chapter Text
“You got a good shot of the entrance, Lup?”
There’s an incoherent yell of confirmation from further down the tunnel as Taako swivels his flashlight around. Magnus is behind him, EMF meter held in one hand while he has a recorder in the other. Taako, walking hesitantly backwards, flashes his light on and off at Magnus’s face until the bigger man finally looks up.
“Dude, what the fuck?”
“How’s it been, emailing your lover?” Taako curls his mouth into a smirk, moving his flashlight from the big guy’s face to study the curves of this tunnel’s walls. Magnus makes a choking sound that sounds like a very high-pitched creature dying.
“Dav’s gonna be pissed if we fill up the tape with us talking about my… dating life.”
Taako just shrugs, and they turn the corner to find Lup fidgeting with the lens of her camera, glasses pushed up into her wild mane of hair as she sneers at the camera. “I didn’t break this camera, but I just might.”
Taako looked at the cracked lens over his sister’s shoulder, snorting under his breath. “Looks broken to me. Is it still capturing anything?”
“Nope.” Lup growls softly and lowers the camera so that it dangles from her neck, moving to pull her phone out of her back pocket. “I hate this job.”
“No you don’t,” Magnus says cheerfully. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”
Lup hands her phone to Taako and steps up beside Magnus, fixing her hair and sliding her glasses back down onto her nose. Taako glares boredly at the two of them for a second before starting the recording, the ugly light of the phone’s flash making Lup’s features look striking.
“We’ve been trying to go into these caves for two days,” Lup starts, adjusting her glasses in a way that looks classy. “There’s a point that we reach where our devices have, previously, stopped working. Today, though, seems to be an exception and we’re defo taking advantage of it.”
“You mean definitely.”
Lup glares up at Magnus. “Defo.” And then she turns back to the camera. “Davenport, our wonderful leader, insists there’s something worth seeing in the caves. There have been many… arachnophobic claims of there being a spider-like creature hidin' in there.”
“An arachnotaur, if the claims are correct,” Magnus interjects. “They say the creature appears first as a human, until upon further inspection they see what looks like the massive body of a spider. Which, I’m just putting this out there, is really fucking terrifying, and I hate both of the twins for dragging me along on this adventure.”
“Aww, that’s cute.” Lup reaches up and pats his cheek, before turning back to her brother and the camera. “Let’s get this show on the road, yeah?”
…
It started in the middle of autumn, in the IPRE library. Davenport and Merle were at one of the long tables, dozens of books splayed between them. While Davenport was trying to get actual work done, Merle seemed more comfortable with napping on top of important documents.
Davenport shoved his friend’s head off of a copy of the newspaper, pulling it toward him and flipping to somewhere in the middle, as he was known to do. Lucretia chose that moment to walk around the corner, which made her privy to the look of bewilderment that crossed his jovial face, soon followed by a lightbulb that went off behind his eyes.
“Merle. Merle get-- get up .” Davenport shoved Merle’s head until he finally shot up, groggily rubbing at his eyes. Lucretia had stepped closer, curious and-- well honestly, she was kind of bored. There was rarely anything to do at that time of night.
“What the hell, Dav?” Merle grumbled, but he seemed to recognize the excitement on Davenport’s face because he kept his voice only mildly irritated. He looked up and waved Lucretia over so they could both indulge in whatever idea has gotten into Davenport’s head.
And the idea was this: “I want to make a documentary.”
“About?” Lucretia set down her stack of books, sitting beside Merle.
Davenport pointed to an article in the newspaper, next to a blurred picture of what looked like a man but was evidently not. Or at least, the creature was part man, part other . And the look in Davenport’s eyes at the idea of that otherness is what solidified Lucretia’s decision to help.
...
“Why is naming a documentary so hard?” Davenport put his head in his hands as Lucretia walked up with too cappuccinos in hand. “I want it to sound good, but nothing sounds good enough.”
“That’s because you’ve been working so hard for so long.” Lucretia set one of the cappuccino’s down in front of him. “Didn’t you say one of your students should be arriving soon? I didn’t know what he wanted to drink but--”
“Green tea is fine!” Lucretia turns at the voice to see a clumsy man weave through the tables, steaming cup in hand. He’s got a nice face with a hesitant smile, big glasses crooked on his face, and a stack of files tucked underneath his arm. “Sorry I’m late, uh, traffic was a nightmare.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lucretia said warmly. “I’m Lucretia, I’ll be the one working more behind the scenes.”
He set down his mug and put the files down in front of Davenport, extending a hand to Lucretia. “Barry Bluejeans. I’ll be doing documentation and collecting evidence.”
Lucretia took his hand graciously, her mouth turning up into an amused smile. “Uh, Bluejeans?”
“It’s not my real last name, but it’s a lot easier to remember and pronounce.” He laughed and sat down beside Davenport, who was pouring over his recently acquired files. “Those are some sightings I thought were interesting, all over Faerūn.”
“These are… really out there, Barry. What makes you think they’re all up to par?”
“Well, the reports are phenomenal. Plus, that red-robed phantom mentioned uhh… right here, this one?” Barry looked to both of them with excitement in his hazel eyes. “I’ve seen them myself.”
“Seriously?” Lucretia leaned forward slightly, gripping her mug with both hands. “Where? What was it like?”
“Everywhere, and super weird.” He took a cautious sip of his tea. “I went camping a lot about a year ago, and I saw them in all sorts of places. They seemed to set a lot of fires, or at least be around fires enough for it to not be a coincidence. It was surreal to say the least.”
“Think we can find them for the documentary?” Davenport asked, finally touching his cappuccino and taking a long sip that left a line of foam on his mustache. “Can you explain more about this spectral figure?”
“There’s not much to explain, they were just… there.”
Davenport hummed at that before nodding. “I like that these, uh, these cryptids are all over Faerūn, but how am I supposed to get there with just a tiny car?”
“Oh!” Lucretia fumbled to pull her phone out of her pocket. “Oh, this is excellent. I have a friend, Magnus, he’s got this huge RV that he never uses! I think if we invite him to tag along, he’ll let us use it.”
“Is he… will he be an asshole?” Barry frowned nervously. “Only assholes ever have massive RVs.”
“Oh, he’s a bit dense sometimes, but he’s a sweetheart, I promise.” Lucretia typed out a quick text before setting her phone on the table. “Now, about documentary names.”
“What about…” Barry tapped a pen against his chin. “‘Here There Be Cryptids’?”
Davenport snorted. “That just might wo--”
“Pfft, laaaame .” There was a laugh, and then someone was leaning over Barry’s shoulder, wild curls brushing his face.”Taako, whaddya think?”
Another person showed up, settling himself across the chair beside Lucretia. He had long hair as well, but rather than being curly it was all slicked back into a long braid that roped around his shoulder. The girl has on a worn but fashionable red leather jacket, one gloved hand braced on the table while the other held onto the back of Barry’s chair. The boy had on a glittery silver crop top and high-waisted shorts, long legs covered in intricate geometric and abstract tattoos.
They were a beautiful pair, though while the girl was smiling, the boy-- Taako?-- looked more bored than anything as he studied his nails. “I think they could do better. ‘Here There Be Cryptids’ makes it sound so silly. Plus, there’s no aesthetic to it.”
“And you defo need an aesthetic name.” The girl rolled her eyes at this, leaning more in Lucretia’s direction. “My name’s Lup. That’s my dummy brother, Taako, and we heard rumors of a cryptid hunting club.”
“That makes it sound like a joke,” Davenport mumbled, and Taako snorted indignantly.
“Not hard to do, pal. But Lup was wondering if she-- if we could tag along.” Taako pulled out the chair he had been leaning on, plopping down beside a perplexed Lucretia. “College has been fine and dandy, but we’re set to graduate and going on an adventure sounds more interesting that working as a waiter until the end of my days, my dude.”
“And I heard about moth-angels up near Neverwinter, so I’d like to get in on that.” Lup sat down beside Barry, who was looking at her like she had thorns growing from her face-- a weird mix of curiosity and bewilderment. She tossed her hair over one shoulder and gave everyone a brilliant grin. “I did my four years of college, and I kinda… crushed it, so I’m up for gettin’ out of here.”
Davenport sat up in his chair, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “You attend the IPRE?”
“Oh, hell yeah! We both do.” She gestured between herself and her brother. “He double majored in chemistry and the culinary arts, and I’ve got my Masters in Being Rad.” Lup did finger guns at that, throwing a wink to Lucretia. Lucretia blinked several times before adjusting her glasses and turning to Davenport.
“Magnus said we could use his RV, and it… it would be big enough. And I mean, the more hands to help, right?”
Davenport seemed skeptic, but as he looked around at the assortment of people willing to follow him on this absurd adventure, he saw something that was… familiar in it’s intensity. A sort of unspeakable loyalty that made him nod slowly.
“Yeah… yeah, okay.”
“What about ‘The Cryptid Zone’?” Taako said, looking up with one brow arched. He had dramatic and flawless eyeliner that made his frosty blue-green eyes pop against his dark skin. “It’s simple but it sounds nice.”
“I like it,” Barry said, finally jumping into conversation, and Lup smirked.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“I, uh, I’m pretty sure we’re the same age, but I’m-- I’m Barry.” Barry nodded once, glancing between the twins. “I think I had one of you in my Speech class last semester.”
“Oh, that would be me.” Taako winked before turning to Lucretia. “You’re the librarian, right? I think you yelled at me for falling asleep in the romance section.”
“If I did, you certainly weren’t the only person to do that.”
Everyone chuckled a bit, and something in that moment tied all of them together: call it fate, or a soul connection, or whatever you would want. But something chained them together, like they were puzzle pieces that completed a surreal and beautiful picture.
...
“Could you maybe uhhhh not almost push me to my death?” Taako snapped, taking a shaky breath as he stepped away from the ledge looking down into a dark chasm. Magnus held up his hands in surrender, face apologetic as he followed behind Lup around the curve of the cavern. Then Lup suddenly stopped and Taako again had to catch himself by grabbing onto Magnus’s backpack with a sharp yelp.
“Did you guys hear that?”
“What, the sound of my heart climbing out of my mouth and throwing itself into the chasm?” Taako hissed, causing Magnus to snicker nervously. But Lup just shook her head, passing the phone back to Taako as she took a slow step forward.
“Magnus give me that recorder…”
Magnus hands it to Lup and she holds it out in front of her, keeping her footsteps light as she approaches what looks like an opening into another cavernous room. The EMF reader had completely fucked up on them earlier, but now it’s lighting up like crazy in Magnus’s back pocket and making Taako’s stomach twist into knots.
“Guys, hate to be the voice of fear, but is this really worth it? The EMF has never reacted like--” Lup thrusts a hand backwards in his direction to shush him and he immediately throws up a middle finger in view of the camera.
“I think… I see something?” Lup cocks her head to the side, and before either of the others can say anything she’s running into the cavern, leaving them behind as she chases whatever it is that she saw. Magnus spins to give Taako a bewildered look but then he’s sprinting after her as well, leaving Taako to grumble uselessly under his breath as he quickly follows suit.
...
When they try to talk about the whole, insane story, they’re going to say it started in the forest, with the arch between the trees and the moth-angels. But really this was the moment that changed the path of their story, the split second decision that lead our heroes into a downward spiral of absurdities and oddities and love, of all things.
And someone will ask them, “If you could go back would you change a thing?” And they’ll look at each other, and think about all of the horrors they saw, the things that broke them into pieces and built them into their new selves.
And they’ll say: “No. We’d do it all over again.”