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The Smuggler’s Cave
Day Twenty Three
The path dropped steeply down, as if over the edge of a cliff, but Tav peered over the edge, then sat, her legs dangling over the lip.
“They’re like stairs,” she explained, looking pleased as she suddenly pushed off, landing not far below with a soft grunt.
Astarion glanced down, noticing she was right - the side of the hill was rocky, but staggered in a way to form enormous steps, like it had been built for giants. He couldn’t help but dwell on that idea as Laezel made a clicking noise, and leapt, landing halfway down the natural stairway, well ahead of Tav, before leaping again and reaching the ground in a matter of seconds.
“Wish I could do that,” Wyll grumbled good naturedly, already scrambling over the edge, just tall enough to hold on with his fingertips and touch the rocky outcrop below.
Shadowheart followed, landing with a heavy thud and a curse, weighed down by her armour as Gale passed her shield over the edge. Astarion took a step back and vaulted, more showing off than anything else, landing and almost immediately hopping to the next step, passing Tav before quickly arriving on the ground next to Lae’zel, who gave him the closest thing to an impressed look he figured he was ever going to get from her.
“Lovely weather we’re having,” he drawled sarcastically as the others scrambled down.
To his delight, a large yawning cave entrance opened to the side of them, almost hidden within the rocks. If he hadn’t been able to smell the humans, they would have certainly walked right past. Lae'zel and Astarion peeked into the darkness of the cavern, and a thought occurred to him.
“Do you have Darkvision?” he asked curiously, figuring it was a practical question and not a rude one. “Pitch black in there.”
“No,” she replied shortly, looking put out.
“And no magic to waste on light,” Wyll advised, dropping down next to them. “You and Tav will just have to go in front, tell us where to go.”
“I’ll help,” Shadowheart called down, still slowly plodding step after heavy step.
Astarion felt himself bristle at the reminder she had at least some superior elven blood, but Tav was already creeping past, her bow at the ready again. He glanced up at the dark sky, seeing only a hint of light beginning to tint it, and sighed that it appeared they were going to spend the morning inside a cave.
“You think they’re in there?” she asked, stepping tentatively forward, almost disappearing into the gloom, turning blue as his eyes picked up on what little light there was.
“Somewhere close,” he confirmed, moving after her as the others all fell in line, Shadowheart storming past Lae’zel with a clatter of metal on metal.
The passage was wide, but long, sloping gently upwards as they all moved cautiously forward, Wyll soon grasping hold of Astarion’s shoulder to prevent them from getting separated. Astarion couldn’t help but delight in the feeling - Wyll was almost as warm as Tav, and his hand was larger, with a firmer grip.
Now was no time to get lost in a fantasy though, he chided himself, certain that the night’s frustrations were going to make the day very long indeed.
“Perhaps we could -” Gale started.
“The path’s blocked off,” Shadowheart said from up ahead, not seeming bothered that she was being rude. “Some kind of barricade.”
“Chk,” Lae’zel grumbled, already beginning to crouch to leap over the wooden wall that had been erected across the passageway, a barrel squatting in front of it.
“Stop,” Tav hissed. “You can't jump Lae’zel, we don’t know what’s on the other side - could be a sheer drop.”
“A trap,” Wyll added darkly.
As he spoke, he gave Lae’zel a knowing look - or at least, he gave a knowing look in the direction she thought she was, which was several feet from her actual position. Astarion tried not to sigh wearily and simply felt sorry for the humans, stumbling around in the darkness. No wonder they didn’t live very long, he grumbled in his head.
Meanwhile, the gith paused, and straightened, as if she’d never intended to try and make the jump, while everyone wisely said nothing. Shadowheart was peering through the slats, trying to make out what was on the other side, while Tav began dusting the barrel to uncover the sign on top.
“Some sort of … cup?” she guessed, turning her head to see. “A cup that’s on fire, maybe.”
“Sounds like an explosive,” Shadowheart grumbled as Astarion tried to sniff the air.
“Sounds like -” Gale began, looking excited.
“Firewine,” Astarion interjected, knowing it wasn’t important enough to cut the wizard off, but smug that he had a good excuse. “Flammable, but not explosive.”
“No open flames then,” Wyll warned. “Or we’ll end up like that gnoll.”
Astarion drew himself up a bit taller, proud of his part in dispatching the gnoll the day before, before realizing half the group couldn’t even see him, and settling back down with a pout. Shadowheart and Wyll took firm hold of the barrel and began to pull, Gale rather fruitlessly sweeping his foot on the ground beside it to try and clear a path. It was clearly heavy, but they moved it without Astarion feeling the need to offer his own strength, and settled it to the side of the path to look at the wooden barricade.
“I say we smash it down,” Wyll proposed, grabbing hold of one plank and rattling it. “Feels half rotten, anyway.”
“I suppose so,” Tav agreed, sounding dubious.
Nevertheless she took a step back as Shadowheart began to pound on it with her mace, Gale following suit with his staff. Lae'zel and Wyll attempted to get closer with their swords, but it became obvious someone was just going to get injured if they all started waving sharp things around in the dark, and they hung back with Tav.
The sound of the old wood splintering and breaking echoed throughout the cave, and he couldn’t help but glance nervously backwards, as if something was about to sneak up on him. His perception was strumming a light and annoying tempo against his neck - something to watch out for, but not dangerous yet.
After a few minutes, the barricade collapsed, and Gale pushed his way forward, looking excessively proud of himself for merely triumphing against some old wooden boards. Everyone filed through behind him, Astarion and Tav once again taking the lead, Shadowheart close on their heels.
This part of the tunnel was narrowed, the walls almost circular, with more Firewine barrels haphazardly lining the curving stone sides. There were even wooden platforms built above their heads, he noted with interest, and more boxes stored on top to keep the path clear. The ladder on one side had long since rotted away, and the boxes on the other appeared to have fallen down at some point, the contents of what looked like wine bottles smashed and dusty.
“Must have been a smuggler’s den,” Gale said, squinting into the dimly lit cave and speaking unusually quickly, as Astarion realized he was worried he’d be interrupted again.
“Where are the smugglers?” Tav queried.
“I think they abandoned this place a long time ago,” Shadowheart said, looking strangely moved at the idea.
“Or they got arrested and put in the stocks,” Wyll added cheerfully. “Tends to teach people a lesson, once they've spent the day being pelted with rotten fruit.”
Whatever had happened to the people who had left their things in the cave, it didn’t bode well for a treasure expedition, he thought, feeling let down - remembering a moment later that they were meant to be rescuing someone.
His perception was tingling harder now, and he found himself wondering if perhaps there was something valuable in the cave he just hadn’t seen. Firewine was no good - they could sit and drink it, but they had no way to move a keg easily. However he did glance at a single box that was still in one piece, sitting on a platform he would need Gale’s staff to even reach.
“You think you could jump up there, darling?” he asked Lae’zel, indicating towards the box.
“Up where?” she snapped, and he remembered she couldn’t see anything.
“No,” Tav said quickly. “She’s not leaping around trying to get a box, she’ll hurt herself. We’re supposed to be looking for whoever set off that firework.”
“We know things are serious when even Tav isn’t interested in looting,” Wyll grinned, feeling his way down the passage. “Be just our luck if that's where they keep all their ill gotten gold.”
Astarion gave the box a wistful glance, but reminded himself they could just come back later. His eyes traveled further up the passage, taking in the rough walls, idly wondering if perhaps there was an actual den full of treasure up ahead. There was another platform rising up at the curve of the passage - built, for some reason, directly underneath an enormous boulder that was jutting out of the wall.
He couldn’t help but stare, puzzling it, as his neck tingled with full force. It baffled him why someone would build a platform that simply ended underneath a boulder - there certainly wasn’t enough room for anything to be stored on top.
“Come on, Astarion,” Tav said, noticing he was lagging behind.
She at least stopped, while the others plodded along behind Shadowheart. Astarion forced himself to take another few steps forward, feeling it was vitally important where he put his feet, his eyes fixed on the platform underneath the boulder.
Still thinking, he felt his eyes drag to a spot just in front of Shadowheart, watching it intently. Staring as her metal boots took her past the place he found so fascinating, Wyll close behind her, his hand on her shoulder now, and Gale’s on his, like it was some kind of strange party dance people did when they were too drunk to be sensible.
“Whats wrong?” Tav asked, but her voice sounded distant.
Gale stepped forward, his well tailored boots kicking up dust, his staff extended backwards over his shoulder with the clear intent of letting Lae’zel grab it as a guide - a silent offer she was either unaware of, or just rejecting out of pride. Gale’s robe almost trailed in the dirt, such was its length, and Astarion couldn’t help but think it would be better off being a few inches shorter.
And then the robe moved, in an unnatural way, the end flicking horizontal and dragging, as if Gale had moved off an invisible step and left it raised behind him. Or, Astarion realized with horror, as if it had gotten caught on something strung low across the pathway, that the first three had miraculously stepped over.
His head snapped up, at the boulder, finally understanding - the boulder wasn’t part of the rock wall. It was placed on top of the platform, poised to crush anyone who triggered the trap that they had only missed through sheer dumb luck.
“Stop!” he hissed, his feet rooted to the ground, panicked that any step might set off another trap.
Thankfully, they all did, the two she-elves staring at him - Tav with concern, Shadowheart with peevish annoyance - while the other three just looked in his general direction, more confused than anything else.
“It’s a trap,” he explained, feeling pride well up inside him despite the dire circumstances. “There’s a string across the path, there, it’ll pull down that boulder, and the Gods know what else.”
“Shit,” Wyll said after a long tense beat, which seemed to sum up everyone’s feelings.
“We’ll come back to you,” Gale said, already shifting his weight backwards.
“No!” Tav and Astarion both shouted, which had the effect of making Gale stop dead in his tracks.
“What then?” Shadowheart asked, her voice higher than usual. “Stay here until the Third Sundering?”
“We’ll come forward, slowly,” Tav advised, crouching and tilting her head, like she was trying to see the traps. “If we can get past that boulder, then we can’t be crushed by it.”
Astarion nodded his agreement, squatting to see if he could pick up any hint of the hidden traps. To his delight, he did see one, right near Tav - not quite invisible, so not a magic tripwire, but very thin, the line stretched from wall to wall and connected to one of the posts propping up the boulder platform. Careful not to touch it, he dragged his foot along its length to mark it, then stepped over and drew another line, so there was no question where it was on the way back.
“Well done, Astarion,” Tav urged, sounding proud and a little turned on at his cleverness.
Up ahead of them, Shadowheart was doing the same to the furthest one, while the men and Lae'zel stood stock still, Tav sprinkling dust to try and locate any others, making a gleeful noise when the thin line became more visible under a light layer of dirt.
Within a few minutes they had marked out all the tripwires, and carefully made their way deeper into the cave, breathing a sigh of relief as they passed by the ominous looking boulder, still perched atop its platform. The humans up ahead smelled more distinctive now, at least two - males, and unwashed. He couldn’t hear heartbeats, but he wasn’t sure if they were simply too far away, or if they really were dead.
“Definitely going in the right direction, darling,” he said encouragingly, as if they had any choice besides forwards and backwards.
“Am I going mad, or is it better lit in here?” Wyll said before Tav could answer.
“It’s not just you,” Gale agreed, sounding very relieved. “Perhaps we’re getting close to the other end?”
“Perhaps not,” Shadowheart said dryly as she rounded the corner and stopped.
Everyone gathered around her, looking at the path ahead. It was made of wood, not a dirt track, and the ground seemed to glow an unnatural blue. Astarion edged forward, curious, and noticed it wasn’t solid ground, but a chasm, glowing blue with mist hiding the bottom.
“Magic portal, Gale?” Wyll inquired.
“Not magic,” the wizard confirmed as they all crept towards what was now obviously a bridge. “Just very, very deep.”
While the humans examined the hole, Astarion glanced around, looking to see if there was anything important - or valuable. More Firewine barrels, one of them cracked with the liquid long since having leaked out, leaving only a sticky residue on the dirt floor. Trying not to sigh, his eyes settled on an unassuming canvas bag - the base bulging, obviously containing something heavy. Without speaking, rather hoping she would be discreet, he tapped Tav’s thigh and nodded towards it.
Utterly failing to realize he wanted to be subtle about his find, Tav made a loud, gleeful noise that echoed off the small tunnel. Everyone turned to look as she grabbed hold of it, the clinking noise of metal inside indicating he had been right to notice it, and wrong to trust her to keep it secret. Astarion restrained himself from sighing and contented himself with a quick grinding of his teeth.
“Finally, treasure,” she said eagerly, dropping to the ground and holding it open, showing them all the gold coins contained inside.
Not an overflowing chest, he noted silently, while the others made enthusiastic noises and gathered around as she began quickly counting it. But certainly a decent sum, to be found in an old smugglers cave.
“Sixty gold,” Tav almost chirped, looking so excited that it made Astarion want to grin back at her. “That’s ten for each of us.”
That certainly robbed him of any desire to smile, watching in dismay as she pulled out her red notebook and quickly jotted the sum down before dropping it in her bag. Everyone else looked pleased though, except Lae’zel, who was clearly uninterested. Still though, he reminded himself, ten gold was still ten gold, and certainly better than nothing - perhaps Lae’zel would give him her share when she left the group.
Freedom, small treasure findings, and regular sex was certainly making him a more positive person, he thought as Tav put her foot on the bridge, testing it under her weight.
“It’s a long way down,” she mused, picking up a pebble and dropping it in.
The stone bounced off the walls, echoing as it fell, the clattering noise continuing for far longer than Astarion thought should be natural. Wyll whistled before the sound stopped, shaking his head.
“We sure that doesn’t go down to the UnderDark?” he joked, his hand on Gale’s shoulder to lean forward and peer in.
The wizard grabbed at Wyll’s armour, his face deathly pale, pulling him away from the edge as Astarion remembered his suspicion about Gale’s fear of heights.
“You have a death wish, Master Ravengard,” he scolded, clearly trying to keep his tone light despite the tremor in his voice.
Astarion's eyes swept over the bridge again, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The ropes that held it seemed secure, the planks looked solid, if aged, and the struts were securely fastened to the rocks on either side.
“Some sort of enchantment hanging around,” Gale said, reaching his hand out over the bridge. “Could just be something from inside the chasm or a lingering spell to reinforce the bridge.”
“Are we crossing?” Shadowheart said in exasperation. “We can't just hang around all day.”
“I …” Gale said hesitantly, glancing around. “I would be reluctant to press ahead.”
Nobody looked too pleased at the assessment, Astarion groaning out loud just to show his annoyance.
“There are Humans up ahead somewhere,” he explained, using his most long suffering voice. “And every chance that going back trips a wire we haven't noticed and brings that boulder down on us.”
“I understand completely,” Gale explained, calm and reasonable and diplomatic, which Astarion found infuriating. “But my concerns are more with the unknown dangers that lie ahead.”
“This is ridiculous,” Shadowheart muttered, Lae’zel nodding in agreement for once.
“Hello!” Wyll shouted suddenly, his voice echoing and reverberating off the walls. “Anyone there?”
Astarion had to fight not to cover his sensitive ears as the sound of Wyll's loud voice bounced off the walls, shooting him a dirty look that went unnoticed. The words were lost in the echo, but anyone who was close enough to smell had surely heard them.
“There goes the element of surprise,” Shadowheart sighed in annoyance, as Wyll gave a dismissive shrug.
“We're not surprising anyone if we can't get across,” he explained. “We're supposed to be rescuing them anyway.”
“Right then,” Shadowheart said firmly, bowing her head and clasping her hands in prayer, her lips moving silently.
Astarion and the others waited, not wanting to interrupt a cleric's holy prayer. Even he, with his derision towards the Gods, knew that if Shadowheart was a favourite of one God or another, that good things tended to happen. Maybe she was right, he pondered, and their luck so far was a blessing from on high. Still though, he couldn't help but be dubious.
“I don't like this,” Gale muttered once she finished.
His words caught Astarion's attention - Gale had previously claimed to be a devotee of Mystra, one of the most powerful gods of the pantheon. If anyone should respect the power of the gods, it was Gale. And yet he just looked uneasy, his hand flinching out as though he intended to physically hold Shadowheart back.
“My Lady will protect me,” Shadowheart said, looking forward and stepping onto the bridge without hesitation. “Have faith.”
She didn't lack for confidence in her goddess, that was for certain, Astarion assessed, watching as her heavy metal boots thumped against the old wood, kicking up dust with every step. For some reason, just like with the traps, he found his mind was completely fixated on her feet. Without knowing why, he slipped his hand onto Tav's back, where nobody could see, and took a firm hold of her waist belt to stop her following the cleric.
“See?” Shadowheart said over her shoulder. “It's completely -”
Astarion's gaze was fixed on her boots, so he saw clearly when her foot simply sank through one of the planks, rippling as though it was made of water. Shadowheart gasped, tottering forward dangerously over the chasm for a moment before throwing her weight backwards, falling ungracefully onto her rear with a loud clattering thud.
“Shadowheart!” yelled three voices, as Tav, Gale and Wyll lunged forward to help her - Tav being almost immediately yanked back by Astarion's tight grip on her belt.
“It's a blasted illusion,” Shadowheart snarled, scrambling backwards away from what seemed like an ordinary, solid wood bridge, her face white as a sheet. “Who in the hells does that?”
“Smugglers,” Wyll replied simply, helping her to her feet. “Are you alright?”
“So much for prayer,” Astarion commented dryly, which earned him a dirty look from everyone except Lae’zel, who just trilled her approval.
“Clearly She is teaching me a lesson,” Shadowheart snapped. “About … about not being cautious.”
Astarion sighed theatrically, pleased to have been proved right. He had long since exhausted his patience for the hoops religious people jumped through to justify their gods' arbitrary actions. Everything good was a God's special blessing on them in particular, everything bad was a punishment for some sin or another, and even silence was perceived as a sign.
He couldn't help but wonder if the Gods were simply as ambivalent towards the rest of his companions as they were about him.
An echoing voice suddenly snuck into his ears, forcing his head to whip around and look down the dark curving passage. Lae’zel’s head snapped forward too, and he found himself distantly noting that she really did have good hearing.
“Someone’s shouting,” he advised, straining to hear.
“Is it -” Gale began in excitement, but Astarion just hissed to silent him.
“Lo - lo - lo,” the far away voice called, one syllable echoing into another until it was almost unrecognizable. “Ack - ack - ack.”
“Under attack?” Lae’zel puzzled, as Astarion shook his head.
“I think it said ‘go back’,” he offered.
“Hello!” Wyll bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth.
“Maybe they know there’s no way across the bri-” Gale started.
But the sound of cracking made them all turn, looking backwards in horror as the platform supporting the boulder started to buckle and splinter. The enormous rock teetered and then began to roll, the wooden struts falling beneath its weight.
“Stand back,” Wyll shouted, but everyone was already pressed against the wall.
The boulder was further down the path, but it kicked up an enormous dust cloud as it hit the ground, rolling with surprising speed down the slope, taking out the tripwires as it went. Astarion realized what was going to happen before it did, and braced as the stone suddenly smashed into where the tunnel narrowed, causing the entire area to shake with the vibration, dirt and stones being dislodged from the roof above them.
They were all frozen, waiting in terror to see if the tunnel would collapse, as the debris fell on their heads. For a few tense seconds, all they could do was wait, until the dirt stopped falling and they could breathe a sigh of relief. The boulder was now completely blocking the exit, the illusionary bridge the only way forward.
“Shit,” said Lae’zel, before Wyll could.
“Breaching the enchantment must have triggered a failsafe,” Gale said morosely, pointing his staff at the very deceptively solid-looking bridge.
“Only one way forward,” Wyll chimed in.
“Over a chasm,” Astarion remarked dryly, trying not to let his worry show on his face.
Shadowheart picked up a rock and tossed it onto the bridge like she was skimming rocks across a river. It skittered across, suddenly disappearing through the same plank she'd fallen through. Her next throw went further, but still simply dropped through. Her third rock was heaved overarm, but this one at least landed on the bridge at the other side - a gap of more than three times Asarion's height. Depressingly, the majority of the bridge appeared to be completely illusionary.
“We can't jump that,” the cleric muttered.
“I can,” came Lae'zel's smug reply.
“There's lots of wood back here,” Tav muttered, turning to walk back down the tunnel, Wyll close on her heels. “We can make our own bridge.”
Astarion glanced at Gale, both of them merely blinking at each other, before Gale shrugged and followed, waving his hands in front of him as he stepped away from the light cast up from the chasm. Looking up the tunnel, Astarion strained to listen. The humans were clearly there, somewhere out of sight up ahead. Not dead then, given the shouting, but hesitant to come investigate, for some reason.
That likely didn't bode well for them, Astarion brooded, fighting the urge to yell - they had to have heard Wyll and Shadowheart's shouting, and the sound of the boulder, but they stayed put. Perhaps they were just trapped somewhere, or injured, he reasoned, back-stepping towards where the others were struggling to lift one of the tall posts that had formed part of the boulder platform.
“Grab that end, Astarion,” Tav said.
Sighing so they knew how much bother it was, Astarion did what he was told, a little pleased he got to show off his strength as they all heaved the enormous post back towards the bridge. For some reason, Tav and Wyll laid one of the Firewine barrels on its side, wedging rocks under it to stop it rolling.
He didn't ask what they were doing, feeling it was self-evident and he was just an idiot. But it became clear as the post was placed onto the barrel, and pushed forward, the end elevated now to stop the heavy unsupported section dipping into the chasm. Wyll let out an enthusiastic cheer as the wood was lowered and touched the solid part of the bridge, everyone huffing and shoving until they could lay it flat.
It wasn't much of a plan, Astarion had to admit as he surveyed it. Just a long thick plank that stretched over what still looked like a solid wooden bridge. But it was at least wide enough to walk, and seemed stable enough.
“Ack - ack - ack,” the voice called again, but no matter what the unknown shouter was trying to tell them, they had to go forward.
“Me first,” Wyll said cheerfully, already putting his foot on the plank. “Wish me luck.”
“Don't fall, Wyll,” Tav said in a worried tone, chewing her lip.
“Never,” he responded, beginning to trot across.
Within a half-minute he was safe on the other side, turning to give them a wide grin that showed off all his nice white teeth. Against Astarion's better judgement he went next, unnerved by how secure the false bridge seemed, knowing that stepping off the plank would mean his doom.
Soon though, he was on solid ground again, Wyll patting him merrily on the shoulder, Shadowheart already crossing behind him. Without warning, Lae’zel suddenly backed up, and ran, leaping almost effortlessly past the cleric to land lightly on the other side.
Shadowheart wobbled for a moment, looking terrified, before regaining her balance and hurrying forward, grasping hold of Wyll's sleeve to assure herself she was safe.
“You did that on purpose,” she snarled at Lae’zel.
“You were too slow,” the Gith replied, even though her eyes were shining with glee.
Astarion, though, had his own eyes rooted on Tav, remembering at the Grove when she said she was scared of heights.
“Your turn, darling,” he said encouragingly.
She took a deep breath, clearly steeling herself, before beginning the terrifying journey, her eyes fixed on him as if he was a stabilizing force. Before she was even halfway across he stepped back onto the board and reached his hand out for her, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders when her hand grasped his, and finally she stepped beside him with a sigh of relief.
He looked at her levelly, trying to convey with his expressive red eyes what he wasn't permitted to say out loud. But to his frustration, she only gave him a quick smile before dropping his hand to look back towards Gale, who was standing on the other side looking very anxious.
“Come on Gale,” she said, her tone still a bit breathy from the excitement.
“Yes, quite,” he stammered, obviously terrified. “Of course. No trouble at all. Just one foot after -”
“Gale!” barked Shadowheart.
She was considerably less encouraging than Tav - but far more effective, her order enough to make the wizard quickly begin to hurry across the plank, still muttering his own affirmations to himself. Astarion stepped back to give him room, but Tav and Wyll both reached out, grabbing one of Gale's hands each and helping him to safety.
“By Mystra,” was all Gale could manage, skirting away from the edge. “By all the gods, I pray the other side has its own exit.”
“Only one way to find -” Shadowheart said, further up the passage, before stumbling.
The sound of a wire snapping was what got Astarion's attention as she toppled backwards, half spinning to land on her ass with a loud exclamation of pain. But there was no wire, at least none that he could see, and despite the surge of panic he found himself cursing at how desperately he hated magic.
The floor underneath them gave a worrying rumble, the sound of crumbling indicating that below their feet, something was happening that was certain to kill them all. Astarion's eyes flicked up to the boulder that blocked their path, suddenly realizing why two trapped Humans, willing to set off a firework to get their attention, able to shout from a distance, might not risk venturing down the passage to escape.
“Run, run, run,” Tav cried, already running as the edge of the path started to crumble into the chasm.
Everyone followed suit, Wyll and Gale stopping for only a moment to help Shadowheart to her feet. Astarion was by far the fastest, but he couldn't let himself get too far ahead of Tav, her short legs taking long strides to get ahead of the danger. But she was stumbling, pushing forward like she was walking through a spiderweb, and he realized that there were more of the invisible wires.
With no other choice he raised his arm in front of his face and barrelled forward, feeling the barest tension of criss-crossed wires that snapped under the lightest touch. The rumbling grew louder, patches of path already falling away, exposing the blue glow of the mist that hid the bottom, far below. Whether he was making it worse or not, he knew that the surest path to safety was just forward, fast.
Lae’zel was bounding ahead as they rounded the corner, pausing only for a moment as the ground rose sharply up ahead of them. The wires were all gone now, and Astarion lowered his arm, stunned to see a dark-skinned young man perched on top, staring into the tunnel with a horrified expression on his face.
“Get up here!” he yelled as they all raced towards the raised section of path that hopefully meant safety. “Now!”
Lae’zel was already there, squatting to leap and soar up onto the ledge, springing upwards and clear over his head. The man leaned forward, his arm extended, and Astarion grabbed hold, his feet walking up the rock while the stranger heaved backwards. As soon as he was on top, Astarion reached back for Tav, yanking her up beside him while Wyll boosted her before attempting to follow. As Tav and Astarion fell backwards onto solid ground, the man grabbed onto Shadoweart’s arm to help her climb to safety. Lae’zel appeared from behind them, and both she and the man took one of Wyll’s hands in theirs, then yanked him up with a grunt as Gale raised his staff, Tav and Shadowheart gripping hold and pulling while Gale walked his way up the wall.
The ground they’d just stood on seemed to shake, the dust being blown up enough to make them all cough, as the lower part of the path suddenly fell away, exposing the chasm that disappeared into blue mist, the sound of crumbling rock indicating what kind of horrific fall it would have been. It was another trap, evidently, and they’d walked right into it.
“Damn,” said the young man, sounding shaken. “That was close.”
Astarion settled back onto solid ground with a sigh, taking a moment to assess their rescuer. Smeared in dirt and grime, but still exceptionally good looking, with wavy black hair that had clearly been styled before he found himself in the cave, a little too long to be convenient, paired with dark skin and eyes. He was looking at them now with an open mouth, stunned at what had just happened.
“Oi!” roared a voice from behind them, causing them all to whirl and grab hold of their weapons.
A second man stood on the other side of the cave, a crossbow in his hands pointed just above their heads - a warning, if not an outright threat. He looked at them all, one after the other, his expression somewhere between disbelief, and fury. And, Astarion noted, he’d apparently been sitting on top of a small caravan lockbox.
“Now then,” he growled, and raised the crossbow to point directly at Wyll’s heart. “Who the fook are yeh?”