Ellu'kha had found other survivors from the Mindflayer ship crash — Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, and Lae'zel. When finding Lae'zel she had been trapped in a cage, captured by a pair of scared tieflings. Ellu'kha convinced the tieflings to leave Lae'zel in her care and then they mentioned that they had a healer in their camp.
With the knowledge of the healer, Lae'zel wanted to hunt for a creche of her people. Her people had a cure for their affliction. Ellu'kha was happy to explore both possibilities. A healer to heal them or a gith cure, either way, as long as these parasites were removed.
After defeating a group of goblins that had been attacking the nearby tiefling camp, Ellu'kha and her group were welcome inside with open arms.
It was a very short welcome, however, as the tieflings were being told to leave by a group of druids. The druids were in charge of this grove and were going to perform a ritual to forever stop outsiders from ruining their peace.
The tieflings were fine with that, but they didn't have enough time to get out before the ritual was complete. They needed more time. Since Ellu'kha had helped with repelling the goblins, the druids might listen to her and allow them just one more day to gather their things and get out.
Ellu'kha paused. She asked about the healer that she had been told was here... the tiefling said that there was one with the druids. Well, if she was going to go to the druids anyway, she may as well speak with them.
Before going to speak with the druids and the healer, Ellu'kha stopped by a short person who appeared to be a vendor. He was indeed a vendor! She traded all of the discarded weapons she had picked up since falling from the mindflayer ship for a new bow and chestpiece.
Further into the tiefling camp was a man teaching a small child how to fight.
After watching for a bit, Ellu'kha interrupted and then clutched at her head — this man, Wyll, was also afflicted by the damnable parasite inserted by the mindflayers.
Ellu'kha bade him to join them so they could all be freed from this menace, and he agreed but noted that he was on another quest also, to kill a demon woman. If she crossed their paths, he would be forced to deal with her.
Ellu'kha and her group followed some stairs down towards where the druids were performing their ritual and were soon greeted by yelling. A group of tieflings were yelling at the druids and the druids were angrily yelling back.
From what she could glean, a child had taken something important for the ritual and was now being held by the druids, imprisoned as a thief.
After speaking with the tieflings, she discovered that was indeed what had happened. But the child hadn't stolen the icon because she was a thief, but because she wanted to stay in the grove and delay the ritual.
Gale said that they should check in on the child, and Ellu'kha agreed. The druids barred their entry but then they discovered that Ellu'kha and her group were the ones who had repelled the goblins. Because of this, apparently their leader, Kagha wanted to speak with them.
Ellu'kha would speak with this Kagha, and demand the release of this child.
Walking past druids preparing the ritual, Ellu'kha walked inside a temple to where the druid leader threatened a child with a snake.
Somehow, despite her low charisma, Ellu'kha managed to convince the druid that this was not their way.
Abashed, the Kagha allowed the child to go and then asked Ellu'kha for her assistance. Kagha knew that the tieflings would not have the time to leave before the ritual was finished and asked Ellu'kha and her group to escort the tieflings out of the grove.
For a brief moment Ellu'kha wanted to attack this snotty druid, but she swallowed the anger down. As long as she could speak to the healer here and get rid of the worm in her brain, she would be happy to help the tieflings.
Acquiescing with the druid's wishes, she bade farewell and hurried further into the druid's chambers to find the healer.
The healer was healing a bird. A nature lover herself, Ellu'kha waited patiently for the healer to finish her craft and then, once she was done, asked for help. The healer was stunned by their affliction, then paused and said she may know what to do.
Hopefully she knew what to do. Time was running out and they might not have time to find Lae'zel's gith creche if this healer's work failed.
Suddenly, Shadowheart winced with pain. Ellu'kha quickly asked her if it was the parasite causing this pain, but thankfully it was not. Apparently Shadowheart's pain was a long-lasting malady that afflicted her every now and then, that she had learnt to live with. It was nothing to worry about.
Then Gale pulled her aside. He had been watching her closely since she had pulled him out of the problematic rune-portal and liked the stance she took on most matters. As such, he felt he could trust her with knowledge vital to his health — he required magical artifacts. To consume. Could she help him find something before it was too late?
She blinked then wrinkled her nose. He consumed magic? ... Well, she guessed she could help him. Even though that was one of the strangest things she had heard in a while, and she had just had a worm inserted in her eye!
Shaking her head, she and her companions followed the short healer into the next room... where a drow lay on a table, dead.
The healer motioned to the drow and said that he'd had the same parasite in his head. She killed him before he could become a threat. She then questioned Ellu'kha to see if she, too, was a threat.
Thankfully she ascertained that Ellu'kha wasn't a threat. Yet, anyway. She told her that she had no cure for the parasite, but her mentor, Halsin, had been studying the mindflayers and the afflicted for some time now and may have discovered a cure. They just needed to find him... in a goblin camp where he had gone to seek answers.
Ellu'kha sighed and said that she would try and find him, though inwardly cringed at the thought of encountering an entire camp of goblins.
Taking her leave from the druids, they returned to the tiefling camp and made sure the child found her way to her parents safely and then spoke to the leader and told him what Kagha had told him — that she was to escort the tieflings to safety away from here so the druids could finish their ritual, quickly.
The leader of the tieflings suggested that they would not be able to make it with all the goblins out there, but if they took out the leader of the goblins, they would be in disarray and the escort would go smoother. Ellu'kha agreed. She may as well while she was going over in that direction anyway to search for Halsin.
First, though, she and her group were tired. It had been an exhausting few hours and night was closing in. They needed to rest.
Ellu'kha spoke to her Friends-in-Affliction before resting and discovered that Wyll had found his calling as a hero, Lae'zel disapproved of such heroics while Shadowheart thought that such a hero was a wise companion to have alongside them.
Gale was strangely silent after being quite the chatterbox throughout the day, and Astarion... despite being so eager to murder her upon their first meeting, now he seemed strangely flirtatious. While amusing, Ellu'kha didn't quite fancy being his midnight snack and turned her back to him, settling down for the night.
They would have a busy day of goblin killing on the morrow.
Until next time! 😊
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 