Darkness; Silence
In the darkness there was warmth.
She remembers strong arms around her, a barrier against the suddenly terrifying and unknowable world around her. The smell of baking apples in the hot coals of the fire, bright and sharp with cinnamon and sugar. Gentle hands, calloused and worn as they were, holding her hand and guiding her unsteady steps. She remembers the cool, smooth feel of the wood as a staff was put into her hands, as she took those first, hesitant, freeing strides. The clack of the wood over the pavestones, the little jolt each time it tapped against an obstacle. The darkness had surrounded her, but what she remembers most is the sturdy grip on her elbow, and the reassuring words in her ears.
In the silence, it was cold.
He remembers the ringing slap of a blow to the face, the giddy and tilting world and the confusing disorientation. The smell of blood, fresh and stinging as it dropped into the icy snow. The bright contrast of its vivid red against the white, the steaming curl as its heat dissipated. He remembers rough hands grabbing his arms, his face. Shaking him as if that would make him understand their gestures, the way their mouths moved when they looked at him, when they looked at each other. An unknowable secret to which he didn’t have the key. The silence had always been with him, but what he remembers most is the bright white-red flash of pain, and the twisted faces that haunted his dreams.
She remembers the fear, the taunting voices circling her like wolves circling their prey.
The disorienting feeling of being surrounded, of not knowing where she was, where they were. She remembers the heart-racing pulse of her blood singing in her veins, the moment before the pain. The blows like white-hot exhalations of breath. Of grunt and gasp and the heavy-weight thud of fist on flesh. And she remembers the soft feel of the blankets on her skin. The warm water bathing her wounds. The brush of a thumb across her cheek, and the quiet reminder that she is loved. That she is protected. That she will be kept safe. She remembers a soft kiss on her brow, and the first taste of blood in her mouth.
He remembers the fear, the teeth-bared, burning-eyed faces leering down at him.
The way their muscles moved beneath their skin, taut with threat and with danger. He remembers the moment he knew the pain was coming again, the full-body bracing for the blows. Raining on him like hail, pounding against his flesh. Feeling it through to his bones. The familiar copper-iron tang of blood in his mouth. The snow icy cold against his face as he fell. The distant recognition of the blood sinking into the icy crust, briefly hot before the chill. His blood. He remembers the darkness drifting in and out as his skin slid across the icy ground, the bite of rocks and stone. He remembers awaking to the flicking of firelight on a rush and timber ceiling, and heat against his cheek. He remembers the familiar taste of blood on his tongue and the wondering of where the next blow will come from.
In the darkness she found her strength.
Firm hands guiding her, showing her how to stand, how to move, through touch and word. A hand on her elbow, guiding it up, a foot tapping her ankle to shift her stance, a soft word of instruction to tighten her muscles. The huff of breath and the scuff of feet on sand. The sound of her footsteps running laps around the walls, and the thump-thump-thump of her heart against her ribs, giving rhythm to her strides. The slow, steady words of her mentor guiding her meditation, teaching her to reach out with her remaining senses. The brightening of her ki as something in her shifted and touched the lives around her. The brightness of her laugh as she felt the darkness become a part of her. Not sight, but a way to place herself. Not sight. But a way to see.
In the silence he found connection.
A kinship formed in awkward exile. Learning by watching, by careful repetition. Of worn, cold roughened hands showing each step and showing again. To dig for roots, to gut a fish from an icy mountain stream. Of painstaking letters scratched in the dirt, of recognising the shapes of the words if not the way they sounded. The steady connection of the written letters to the movement of a mouth, the key found at last, the secrets unlocked. The growing of understanding, in time with his confidence, the discovery of a way to interact with the world around him. Not hearing. But a way to communicate.
In her horror, she found herself becoming.
The quiet whispered conversations overheard in the halls. The stiff-held grief hidden in funerals and ceremonies. In bodies lowered into graves, in the smell of blood and death that still clung to their shrouds, no matter how well they were cleaned. In the feel of paper-thin skin over age-knobbled joints and the recognition of time passing faster than she knew how to handle. In the announcement that rocked her world to the core, the tearing down of walls and the realisation of vulnerability. All that she thought eternal shaken to its core. Warm arms holding her, a familiar voice telling her to be brave. To be strong. That she had what it took. A footstep on the road, a home left behind. Her strength only growing with every support taken from her.
In his horror, he found his purpose.
Bodies filled with hate, shoving through the door. The flickering flames of the firelight deep in their eyes. The dance of their fists, sinking into flesh. The movement of their mouths, too jerky and fast for him to follow, distorted by the unsteady firelight and their own violence. The tearing in his throat as he screamed a scream he could not hear. Their hands like iron bands around his arms, the realisation of his weakness and his helplessness. The heat of the flames and the destruction of hope. The lonely march into the mountains, the cold biting his skin, even though he could still feel the fire. The darkness calling him, drawing him near. The chill in his soul, the breath harsh in his lungs. The figure in the hall, surrounded by the dark and long held secrets of the mountain. That ice-black stare, those dark-frozen eyes. The voice shattering the silence he had known his whole life. His footsteps leading him forward as he discovered his strength in the dark.
A field in a valley. Mountains like teeth chewing the storm-tossed sky. The long grass a lashing sea, whipping as the wind howls through the crags. He sees the lightning split the horizon, a white-hot streak through the clouds. She hears the thunder crack and roll down the mountain’s slopes like a tumble of boulders.
The wind whistles in her ears, tossing her white braids across her face. The wind caresses his skin, its voice unknown to him, but its familiar fingers tracing the tattoos on his body. He sees her mouth move, effortlessly forming the words that had so long been denied to him.
This is not the first time he has faced her. He knows it will be the last.
At last, her mouth forms, and he steps into the familiar stance, feeling his muscles twitch and quiver with readiness. She hears the shift of his body, the creaking of his knees as they take his weight, the rustle of the grass stalks as he plants his feet. She senses the thrum of his ki, the crawling-flies-on-corpse buzz of it. The humming of the thousand tiny wings as his intention registers. The hairs down the back of her neck rising in response. It is not the first time she has faced him. She knows it will be the last.
He doesn’t reply to her call, not with his words. She can’t see him, and he can’t hear her. But they both know this fight will be to the death.
He sees the lightning flash again.
She hears the crash of thunder again.
She smiles, and lifts a hand.
A language they both understand.
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Just because I am bored, here are my various characters that I have played, am currently playing or plan to play:
Siova Tav
My first character, she was made pretty much just because I found it very funny to have a devil-looking character get powers from a god, so I chose the most good-oriented-sounding god from the cleric list... and somehow I ended up falling in love with her.
She grew up in the Open Hand Temple after her father was murdered and her mother left her there and never came back. I imagined her to be a lot like Tohru Honda from the "Fruits Basket" manga/anime, where she is not book-smart but has a lot of wisdom and kindness that makes people like her and feel safe around her. She has her long hair in a braid because her mother's family used to do that as part of a tradition, she dislikes having the hair free. Her eyes are also naturally darker, but got a glow after Ilmater accepted her as his cleric. She loves meeting people belonging to different gods and to learn from their point of view the world, but over time she is not afraid to stand by her own views of the world, life and divinity, which lead to quite a few arguments between her and especially Wyll, Gale and Astarion.
She romanced Wyll and followed him to Avernus to take down Mizora, although she does not want to adventure forever. Because I want the best for her, in my head she convinced/Command'ed the two opposing Prism-prisoners to cooperate, and used her Divine Intervention to save Karlach since I never had to use it in the story.
She is my main Tav, the other characters are there more for fun to make slightly different choices.
The Sad Surge
This is the Dark Urge of Siova's story. Technically she does not have a name, but because all my characters accidentally ended up having "S" first in their names, I call her Surge. She has selective eidetic memory with anything to do with death and blood (for example she can easily recall murdering Siova's father in all its gory details from a random urge to kill, but otherwise her memory is very blurry).
Surge and Siova never meet; while Siova was busy with helping people around her, Surge ran past it all in order to get to Baldur's Gate and take back her birthright. She was killed by Orin, and Siova found her corpse after defeating Orin.
I am making an "alternative" story for her where she does follow the regular Dark Urge-playthrough with companions and such, but still waiting to see where that goes. Apparently elves have a child name until they are considered adults in their 100's, so the idea then would be that she would finally make a true name for herself, if she went with a redemption story.
Sharin
The bard, a lover of colour, fun and freedom, Sharin is willing to help others around her, and takes everything with a laugh most of the time. Seems to be unbothered by almost anything with the exception of other people claiming her in any shape of form; she romances Astarion but him flirting by saying "tonight you're all mine and I'm all yours" was a big turn-off even if she knew what he meant. As such, she hates Raphael and uses every opportunity to make fun of him and insult him, because she was very provoked by the idea of selling her soul to him. Unlike Siova Tav who happily shares her past if asked, Sharin hardly ever alludes to it even if there are hints that there are more to her than it seems; she is a drow who has lived on the surface for a long time, she carries a lot of Lolth-sworn knowledge but has the look of a Seldarine, and sometimes has the bearings of a noble as well as an entertainer. She often jokes that she might embark on her own journey of growth when the Absolute is taken care of alongside Astarion.
Sharin angered the Emperor and was forced to take Raphael's offer, putting her soul on the line to save the world. Knowing this and her hatred of being owned, she asked to be made an illithid, and had Gale gather the Crown of Karsus before having Orpheus complete her transformation and killing her; the idea was that ceremorphosis destroys the mortal soul, meaning there would be no soul for Raphael to claim when she failed to give him the Crown. Thus she would save the world, free an old prisoner and give the finger to Raphael one last time (she never went to House of Hope, she had no idea it was there).
That is, that WAS the plan, but then Patch 5 arrived and Withers revealed that for some reason she still had her soul after the ceremorphosis, and she was met by a very angry Raphael.
Sissi
Sissi is a Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance. Having grown up as an urchin, then taken in by some noble people far away from Baldur's Gate that since were killed by and with their killeds in an explosive robbery, Sissi vowed to help give vengeance for those that deserved it. She is a "do unto others" and "ride and die by her friends" kind of gal; if someone is kind of her, she will be kind back, but if she has a reason to begrudge, she will carry that forever; only reason Wyll survived trying to attack Karlach was because Karlach vouched for him and Sissi would easier keep an eye on him, otherwise she would have killed him.
With her, I made her mostly for fun because I wanted an all-girl group (with the exception of Wyll because I am weak and Halsin because Sissi romances him; they are never allowed to be used), who were all tanks. Karlach and Lae'zel stay as their classes, same with Jaheira except she is constantly in owlbear mode if I need her, and Shadowheart was respecced to War Domain Cleric. She was also made a half-orc more because I wanted the colour differences. I am still playing Sissi, but with her I am actually thinking about having her attack Gortash first chance we get, just to see what happens and if I will be able to defeat him, the guards and the Steel Watchers, because again, ride or die, and Karlach wants him dead? That's reason enough to blast the ceremony. Also at first I thought to have her romanze Lae'zel or Karlack, but I read somewhere that half-orcs have a shorter lifespan, so I found it funny if she was only 30 but mentally 45 or the like, or at least that she was mentally the same place as Halsin, even though she does not have the same life experience, and so they ended up together.
Su'zan
This is Su'zan, who's bakground I am still not quite sure about since I have just started her. She is the Sorcerer of my characters, specifically a Wild Magic sorcerer; her hair, scar and eyes are results of Wild Magic Surges. She is going to romance Karlach, who will be a Wild Magic Barbarian. More than that I am not sure, I look forward to learning more about githyanki through her!
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