They were clearly waiting for Ethemon and Shadowheart to emerge. The girl's mother was still exceptionally furious about what had happened earlier. "If you ever scare me like that again, I'm throwing you to the gnolls."
"Mom, I said I'm fine." Having completely forgotten the pain once healed, the girl had already cast aside the terror of being cornered by the viper, speaking with careless indifference.
Seeing Ethemon come out, the girl's father hurried over with great enthusiasm. "Thank you so much, sir. Our little troublemaker told us everything that happened. We truly wouldn't have known what to do without you. Arabella?"
The tiefling named Arabella smiled mischievously. "Thank you for helping me." With that, she darted over to Ethemon and handed him a necklace. "A reward."
It was an amulet meant for illumination. Ethemon could sense only a faint trace of magic left within it, but judging by the family's clothes, this was likely the most precious thing they owned. Naturally, Ethemon did not refuse what was rightfully his, putting the item away. "Just a small favor. But Arabella, whatever possessed you to try and steal the idol of Silvanus?"
The girl's mother immediately looked ashamed. "It's all my fault. I complained a few times about them wanting to seal off the grove, and Arabella happened to overhear."
"Hey, Mom, I'm already fine. Don't cry." The girl tried to comfort her mother in a fluster.
Unaccustomed to such a scene, Ethemon took his leave shortly after, preparing to head over to the haystacks to meet up with the others.
Three oxen were leisurely grazing near the withered yellow straw. Standing beside them, the white-haired elf had changed into a completely new set of clothes. They were somewhat worn, yet they could not conceal his striking features.
Just standing there, he was utterly eye-catching.
"Astarion, sorry to keep you waiting." Ethemon stepped forward to greet him, but contrary to his usual vibrancy, the elf now looked as though his energy had been entirely sapped. With just a glance, he languidly gestured for the two to follow.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Don't ask," Astarion said with a look of agonizing reluctance. "We almost died back there."
Ethemon: ??!
*
Watching Ethemon and Shadowheart walk away, Gale hurried off to catch up with the two who had already dashed ahead. Whether natural or carved out by hand, the caves of the grove served as makeshift dwellings hastily thrown together by the tieflings on the flat ground. Everyone was busy with their work; some tieflings, likely having already caught wind that they were about to be driven out, had begun packing their belongings, while others gathered around a large cauldron, waiting to receive their evening meal. Gale looked at the gooey substance in the bowls they held, having zero desire to investigate what on earth it was.
"Hello, how much for this food?"
Astarion was already deep in conversation with a merchant. This druid seemed reasonably friendly, and quite a few tieflings were willing to trade with him. Astarion waited until a tiefling walked away before stepping up.
"I know Kahga's method of sealing the grove is somewhat extreme, but every day these tieflings linger here, our danger only grows... I can only hope those refugees find Silvanus's protection on their journey," the merchant said while picking out fresh food for Astarion.
"Most of them are tieflings, with the blood of devils coursing through their veins. They'll be fine," Astarion offered an insincere consolation, picking up a rather worn-looking blanket from the pile of old items on the stall. He reached out to stroke it; he couldn't tell what kind of animal fur it was, but it was soft yet neither heavy nor stuffy. He turned to Gale. "Gale, can I add an extra blanket to my pack?"
"Of course. After all, we're quite likely to end up camping in the wild, and outdoor temperatures fluctuate. We all need something to keep warm."
While Astarion and the merchant were busy packing everything up, Gale spotted a discarded hood lying off to the side. Glancing at Lae'zel, who stood beside him looking rather impatient, he handed the item to her. "Put this on."
"Tch, why should I wear this?" Lae'zel asked with a strange expression.
"Did you forget your previous run-in with those two tieflings? What if we run into them here again? You wouldn't want to start a war with them surrounded by tieflings, would you?" Gale had the merchant ring up the hood along with the rest of their purchases. Since Gale was buying so much and the hood was second-hand, the merchant simply threw it in for free.
Lae'zel's expression shifted a few times before she finally pulled the hood on with obvious reluctance. Because there were others around dressed similarly, she did not stand out at all.
Having finished their purchases, the three asked the merchant where they might set up camp. Since most of the interior space had been taken over by tieflings, the druid thought for a moment and mentioned that there was an open clearing to the north near the cove, though no one wanted it because it was exposed to the elements and rather far away.
Judging by the weather, it shouldn't rain tonight. Gale and his companions simply wanted a place to rest and had no further demands, so they gathered their belongings and headed toward the spot the merchant had described.
That clearing was indeed far from the crowd. The clamor of voices gradually faded, leaving only the gentle breeze rustling through the leaves and the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs, resembling a lovely melody.
Wait, was someone actually singing? Who would come down to the seaside to sing during such a jittery time? The group quickly ducked behind the rocks. Astarion, even while taking cover, couldn't help but grumble, "Seriously, are we about to get into another fight? Every time we hide, a battle breaks out. Why on earth does this kind of thing happen even inside a druid grove?"
"Quiet, Astarion." Signaling the other two to put down their bags, Gale took the lead as the three formed a triangular formation and crept cautiously toward the source of the sound.
Strangely enough, in Faerûn—a world teeming with countless races where humans were considered the weak minority—he had somehow managed to lead these two around. It truly must be due to his mental age being too young, though Lae'zel genuinely was young. Despite her battle prowess being off the charts, she was actually only twenty and hadn't even gone through her coming-of-age ritual yet.
Gale and the others had chosen a prime vantage point. There was only a single downward-sloping path leading to the shore, surrounded by lush trees, making it impossible to see the situation at the edge of the cove without walking closer.
When Gale pushed aside the branches, his eyes widened instantly. Several humanoid creatures stood atop the rocks, their massive grey wings unfurled to a span of three or four meters. They possessed female anatomy, and feathers sprouting from beneath their skin covered their bodies like clothing that had grown directly into their flesh. Their limbs ended in the sharp talons of birds of prey, which dug deeply into the cliff face as they stretched their bodies and sang a bewitching song.
Gale immediately cast a silencing spell, then began observing the harpies with keen interest.
"What are those things?" Receiving no answer from Lae'zel, the two knowledge-deficient companions turned their gaze to Gale.
Facing the clueless duo, Gale had no choice but to explain. "Those are harpies. Legend has it that in a very ancient era, the elf god Fionnghuala fell in love with an elven maiden. But not long after, the elf god vanished. Desperate to find him, the elven maiden prayed to the elven goddess Aerdrie Faenya for help. Moved by their story, the goddess transformed the maiden into a harpy, granting her the most enchanting voice in the hope that her song would lure back the elf god who loved music. So, the maiden sang endlessly in the forest, singing in utter loneliness for nearly a hundred years. Yet, the elf god never appeared again."
"Wow, what a lovely story," Astarion said dryly, already guessing what came next.
"Eventually, because she could never find her former love, the maiden gradually lost her mind. Once she craved romance; having lost it, she began to crave flesh. She frequently used her song as bait to beguile people's minds so she could turn them into food. They're essentially like sirens, except one hunts in the sky and the other in the sea."
"Hold on," Lae'zel interrupted Gale's lecture. "So you're saying they sing to hunt? Then what are they singing for right..."
As if suddenly catching onto the crux of the matter, the three whipped their heads around and looked down. A small figure they hadn't paid much attention to earlier, obscured by the boulders, was now slowly walking into the seawater under the spell of the song. And right across from him were three harpies drooling with greed!
"By Mystra! Why is there a tiefling child here?!"
Gale had no time for hesitation. If they didn't go down to save him right now, the harpy's razor-sharp talons would strike the child's face, and that terrifying strength could end the tiefling's life in a single blow!
Seeing a fight on the horizon, Lae'zel immediately charged out in Gale's footsteps, leaving Astarion standing in place looking utterly bewildered.
Wait, the two of you—we aren't deaf, are we? Gale, do you even remember what you just said? A song of enticement! And you're just charging down there with zero protection?!
In truth, Gale had indeed made a mistake in his panic and forgotten that detail. But at the time, his only thought was to rush to the child's side with maximum speed, use a silencing spell to cut off the song, cast freezing magic to stall the harpies, and then rescue the child before heading back for reinforcements. It would only take a brief moment, not enough to fall completely under the spell of the harpies' song.
Yet Gale had forgotten something else: he was no longer the immensely powerful archmage he once was. Because of his own little secret, the magic he currently possessed was no longer enough to resist a harpy.
As the melodious tune drilled into Gale's brain, he knew he was in trouble. His entire body began to slow down; the magic that once surged rapidly through his veins stalled in an instant, and dizziness clouded his mind. At that moment, he hadn't even managed to get close to the child.
Lae'zel, trailing closely behind, fared no better. Drawing upon her last shred of lucidity, she pulled her bow to its limit and loosed an arrow that grazed the harpy's face! The singing harpy was startled into a flurry of ruffled feathers, beating her wings as a few plumes drifted down, her song interrupted for a mere couple of seconds.
Taking advantage of that brief pause, Gale rushed forward, snatched the entranced child by the arm, and rapidly retreated. He cast a silencing spell that spread outward from him as the center. Snapped out of her hallucination, the child shrieked in terror, trying to bolt, but Lae'zel—having charged right into the magic zone—slapped a hand over the child's mouth and hissed viciously, "Shut up!"
The kid went quiet instantly.
Gale: O-o??
"What are you standing around for? Do something!" Lae'zel loosed several arrows in rapid succession. However, the harpies were extremely agile, and there was still some distance between them; by the time the arrows reached their targets, they had lost much of their momentum. Not only did they fail to harm the harpies, but they completely enraged them. The three harpies immediately swarmed, screeching and swooping back and forth just outside the boundary of the silencing spell.
Lae'zel could not tolerate such provocation and instinctively moved to charge out, but Gale grabbed her by the arm. "Don't go out there! They're doing it on purpose. The moment you step outside the circle, you'll be charmed by the song. We're simply too close."
"We can't just sit here and wait either—they're going to attack sooner or later! We can't just wait around! Damn it, what kind of trash bow is this? It breaks just from this little bit of distance?!" Frustrated, Lae'zel hurled the bow to the ground; the sheer force of her recent draws had managed to snap it completely. "Dammit, where is Astarion? This coward didn't run away, did he?!"
"Hey! I can hear you! Are you talking trash about me?!" an elf's voice echoed from behind, instantly making Gale's face fall into deep despair. Please, can we not add to the casualties? He would rather have Astarion run off to find help than come back here to throw his life away!
Carrying his weapon pack, the white-haired elf charged straight toward them. The commotion instantly caused the harpies to shriek. They beat their wings, their magically charged voices echoing through the sky. The moment the elf entered their range, his eyes clouded with confusion. He walked forward in a daze and then, following the only available path, stepped right into Gale's magic circle.
The very next second, as his sanity returned, the first thing he saw was Gale's worried expression. Tossing the weapon pack to the two of them, Astarion drew his bow, aiming directly at the harpy closest to him. "My friends, next time you're in a rush to charge ahead, please try not to throw your weapons away, alright? One each?"
Oh yeah, he felt like he looked utterly cool.