The Heroes of Baldur's Gate... and Me

Part 23: The Full Concentrated Power of the Sun

The tunnel curves ever downwards, deeper into the heart of the mountain, the weight of the rock above our heads pressing upon our senses. The walls gleam with moisture, beads running down the mossy walls before pooling into small puddles on the tunnel floor.

As we filed down, Tav fills us in with what happened with the Inquisitor and the Githyanki queen while we had been trapped.

"When the guards took you away, the inquisitor forced me to produce the artefact, threatening me with your deaths if I didn't obey. No sooner had it been pulled from my pack that Vlaakith herself appeared before us. Well, an Astral projection of herself." She lets out a bitter huff, a deep frown marring her brow. "You can imagine Lae'zel's reaction - she practically dropped to her knees before her."

"You dishonoured myself and my queen by refusing to bow." Lae'zel spits at Tav from where she walks at the back of the group. "Disrespectful."

"She invited me to bow before her! Why should I? She isn't my queen." Tav looks at her angrily, her eyes flashing. Her people have tried to kill us on three occasions now!"

"Oh ho, bet old queenie didn't like that!" Chuckles Karlach with a wide amused grin.

Tav shakes her head and sighs before continuing.

"She addressed Lae'zel first and told her she may still grant her purification. Emphasis on the may. She then turned her attention to me, claiming the artefact was hers, and basically demanded to know whether I was a friend or thief."

"Are those the only choices?" Astarion mumbles sarcastically at my side.

"She told us the artefact is an Astral Prism. And it is corrupted by an agent of the Grand Design - whatever that means. She instructed us to enter the prism and kill the one inside it."

"You mean.... the dream visitor?" Shadowheart asks, her grey eyes wide.

"Exactly. She told us that if we did this, she would cleanse all of us and ascend Lae'zel."

Ascend?

"Ascension." Lae'zel breathes, her eyes glazed. "An honour gained. A burden borne."

"What did you do? Surely you didn't do as she demanded?" Gale's head snaps to Tav, an incredulous frown painting his features.

"Of course not!" Tav snaps, anger starting to smoulder in her eyes. "I spoke to him, and he confirmed that whatever is in that prism is stopping us from turning into mindflayers. As you can expect, he wasn't very happy that we ignored his warnings about the githyanki. Thought maybe he had made a mistake by trusting us."

"But it turns out the reason Vlaakith wants him dead is because he knows her secret. A secret so great that if her people ever found out, that would be the end of her rule, the end of her. That same secret is how he has been protecting us from the Absolute. Vlaakith is lying to her people. She pretends to know how Gith defeated the Illithid Empire. In truth, she knows nothing."

"Lies...." mumbles Lae'zel from behind us, but when I turn to look at her, I see none of the usual fire in her, but instead a quiver of doubt growing in her eyes.

Tav merely rolls her eyes, not even facing her as she responds. "The Dream Visitor has no reason to deceive us. He wants the same thing we do - freedom. And he has been helping us since the very beginning. Which is more than I can say about your Lich-queen."

Tav rolls her shoulders in frustration before continuing in a more even tone. "But that very power to resist Illithid control - the power which Vlaakith only pretends to know - is how he has been protecting us."