Balder's Gate 3 PSLs/Overflow

[smartass_captain]

Onward to adventure, whether you like it or not!

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@stoplickingthedamnthing - The first night of many

[smartass_captain]

"What d'you mean you can't carry it? It's a Book. You and Gale go absolute fanatical for the damn things." Shadowheart's incredulous tone over the otherwise quiet of the ruin they're exploring is drawing more attention than Jim would like. He glances back and forth before grimacing slightly and swinging his pack around to remove from his shoulders so he can open it up and let her have a look inside.

"What in the name of the Dark Lady?!"

"As I said..." Jim regrets letting his pack open at all. As soon as he does several journals spill out and scatter over the ground. He trails off with a hissed swear and stoops to start scooping them all up. "I don't have any room in my pack for anything else at...at the moment..."

He had to get all of these jigsawed into his pack properly so it'll shut again. Gods. How embarrassing.

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"What are all these books?" Gale asks from behind and over Jim's shoulder. He wasn't particularly involved (his own carrying capacity is... not the best), but he is inevitably drawn to books like a moth to flame. "I know you didn't find all those in here, most of what we've come across has been rotted." Which he knows because he has made a mad dash for every visible tome, only for most of them to crumble between his fingers. No way has Jim beaten him to that many books, and without his notice.

[smartass_captain]

"Oh uh."

Jim hands up a couple of the journals to Gale to free his hands up to grab the rest that had spilled onto the dusty stone. A quick shake and a sharp blow get the worst of the dirt and cobwebs off of them again and the ranger can start shoving them into his pack briskly. Both of the journals he'd handed off to Gale are written in the same elegant script. The penmanship oddly familiar to the sending scroll notes he's received before...

Did Jim write all of these?

"Just a few essentials. I've got my rough topography sketchbook I'll use to make maps of the areas we've been. That one's my field sketches of basic alchemical components to keep an eye out for, so I'll know what to pick and what to leave behind." He rummages through the books he's brought.

"This one is my transcriptions of the Illithid runic text I'm somehow able to read now. Thought perhaps it prudent to write it down and take notes on anything I find in that script in case I can no longer read it when we sort the worm problem. It uh, don't tell Lae'Zel but I've also taken notes on her explanations of Tir'su script in here too. So it's my Languages journal I suppose. Uhm. Oh! And this one's for observations I make on magic or spells I see used while we're out in the field."

"And you need...All of these. On you at all times." Shadowheart deadpans. Jim just looks up at her as if she'd suggested something crazy.

"Oh. Yes. The rest I keep in my trunk at camp." Because he absolutely has more.

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

Gale grins, impressed with their leader's (and he is their leader, whether or not he recognizes it) diligent note taking. "Reference material is very important," he replies to Shadowheart, who doesn't look sure whether he's also teasing Jim or not. "I could cast reduce on them, if you'd like? They would be a bit easier to carry, and you would still be able to reference them?"

[smartass_captain]

Give him time and maybe he'll begin to believe it of himself, but so early on in their adventuring yet he still feels like he has to hide of himself from them. That he has so much to prove and so little to offer. Jim gives a small, embarrassed chuckle at what He assumes is more teasing.

"Could you? Is it difficult to reverse? I add to these fairly frequently. Although I suppose I could just. Learn to write or sketch smaller."

@stoplickingthedamnthing Finding Balance

[smartass_captain]

[What do we do when there's no suitable meme on BS? That's right i Make something up here.]

Things have more or less returned to normal since the night the tieflings shared their modest camp. As normal as anything ever gets for this ragtag group of pathologically unlucky folk. Jim's scoured the druid grove's library and vendors, the ruined village. Everywhere they've been for any sort of information that might help with Gale's condition. No luck, of course. But that's to be expected. Jim's only just started looking. Along the way he's managed to find a few more magical items he can offer the other discreetly on the way back to camp while the others are occupied.

In some ways, it's freeing to have the whole damn camp aware that Jim's caught feelings for the party wizard. He can linger close without needing an excuse. Not worry about catching himself out and stifling any smitten or longing looks he might want to offer to the other. But in others? It feels as though a door has been firmly slammed shut between them. Every time he checks himself reaching for Gale's hand he has to stop himself. Their conversations have gotten a bit forced. Jim doesn't want to flirt with Gale needlessly if it'll only cause the orb to destabilize. He won't risk hurting Gale for his own selfish gains.

Where they might have once spent most nights reading together with a bit of flirting sprinkled in, now Jim sits alone at the riverbank trying his hand at learning how to fish. His journals keep him company. Karlach would say he's brooding. Shadowheart would say he's pining.

Loudly. Pointedly within earshot of Gale.

Sorry this took so long!!

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"As normal as anything ever gets" is honestly so much more than Gale had expected. He had been fully prepared to be exiled from their little group. Astarion still makes snarky remarks and Lae'zel still glares, but that's hardly any different than before.

And Jim, well... Nothing is the same there. Long glances and brushes of skin against skin that they pretend were accidental. It's thrilling in a way that makes Gale feel like a smitten boy again. Of course, he is no teenager content to sate himself on scraps of attention from an unrequited crush. He is a grown man starved of affection.

Maybe that hunger is what brings him down to the river's edge. "Any bites?" He asks, wishing he had something clever or charming to say instead. Mostly, he just wants to talk to Jim, no matter the topic. He misses the easy rhythm their conversations had before.

Story of our lives this summer lmao

[smartass_captain]

Honestly as it's become clear that Gale isn't on the cusp of blowing up at any given moment, most of them have relaxed and settled back into routine. Purely for his own self interest, Astarion has even taken to sneaking magical baubles into Gale's trunk when the other is out so he doesn't have to claim credit for it or be accused of being 'Nice'. Wanting to blow up apparently isn't a good enough reason to part with a chunk of loot.

Let him think they're from his idiotic lover if he wishes. A lover who, by all accounts, is content to never get anything of the sort from Gale in return.

Gale will find the ranger sitting along the bank, his elbows propped up on his thighs while he stares out at the water. Beyond it really, as his thoughts are miles away. He jumps a little for Gale's question before turning to glance over his shoulder.

"Nothing yet. I'm told it takes patience." A quirk of his brows to punctuate that last bit. Jim tilts his chin in a wordless offer for the other to sit next to him. "Can't help but feeling like I'd be more useful at the alchemy table than here. But I...wanted to be away from the group for a little while."

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"Indeed. I've tried my hand at fishing from time to time, but was never good at it. I can be immensely patient and focused so long as the task at hand is one I find interesting, but fishing was never able to hold my attention. My mind would wander to some magical experiment or some tome I needed to consult, I'd fidget and lose focus... But perhaps you'll have better luck. Do you want me to go and leave you to it?" That's been the theme of things as of late - Gale offers to leave, to give Jim space, and the ranger declines. It's like the wizard expects him to eventually admit that he's tired of him, that he's too much trouble, that he doesn't want him around, but he never does, and now is no different. Jim beckons Gale to sit, and so he does, knees popping on the way down. "Is anything bothering you? Something you'd like to talk about? I know I do more talking than anyone, but I can be as good a listener as an orator." 

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

[from here]

Yes, of course! At once. [With quick, efficient hand motions, Gale casts... dancing lights. He stares for a long moment, watching the multicolored orbs bob in between them.] I meant to do that, of course. We needed the light. [The magenta light, and the cerulean light, and the goldenrod light, and the lime light... Regardless, he gives it another go, and this time he is able to cast mirror image, producing that translucent blue duplicate of himself.]

Cute....

[smartass_captain]

There we are. See? You're doing...

[Jim trails off in a startled chuckle to see the soft glowing orbs of light bobbing in the air between them. It's quite romantic, actually. He lifts his brows in a teasing smile Gale's way but doesn't comment on the 'preliminary test cast' that is 'definitely not a mistake'.

But at the second casting, Jim's pleasantly surprised that nothing catches fire and instead he is now standing between two Gales. He's pretty sure he's had a dream like this once.]

Alright! Good job. Now the moment of scientific discovery. [Jim turns from the original wizard to the image and offers him a hopeful smile.] Please relate to me in proper order of operations how to produce a cantrip of Shocking Grasp. We're conducting an experiment and I want to see how well your faculties are holding up compared to our flesh and blood wizard in this moment.

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

[Gale's smile is soft as taffy as he looks up at his own double.] Handsome, aren't I? Ah, anyway, yes, help Jim out however he asks.

[The mirror image cheerfully lifts his hands and goes through the motions for a Shocking Grasp, careful to point out the difference between how most people cast and the way he does it (far more efficiently).]

Do I always sound like that? [The flesh and blood Gale muses, not clarifying what "like that" means.]

[smartass_captain]

Yeah....

[Jim sounds very wistful when he agrees with Gale on how handsome the wizard is. It's a good thing his interest is well and truly out in the open now because the Gaze Jim gives the wizard and his double is so obvious they could tell form Waterdeep.

It's clear almost immediately that Gale's Mirror Image has absolutely no cognitive inebriation, and Jim can't help his dopey little smile to listen to even an image of Gale explaining his grasp of magic the way only the wizarding prodigy can.]

I like it. [Jim remarks with a smirk over his shoulder toward the physical Gale.] Not everyone happens to find intellect unattractive, you know. But I like you like This too. Just in case you were worried.

[Vulnerable, Jim means. Not at his best. He might not be impressing anyone with his oration right now, but Jim is thrilling to see that even in an altered state Gale can manage his magic so well.]

Very good! [He chirps to the image. Then gestures out of Gales tent to the wider camp.] You've more than proven your efficacy. Please assist me in attempting to convince the others in camp to relax. Maybe take an early night tonight. I'll break out some more wine, if it's an incentive.

@stoplickingthedamnthing - Of furry friends and familiars

[smartass_captain]

BARK BRAK BARK!!!

MISTER Dekarios DO something about that fleabag!

BARK BARK BARKBARKBARK!

Jim pitches himself out of his bedroll and onto the dirt floor of his tent bleary eyed and confused for all the noise. The sound of wings and ...is that hissing? Impossible to make out for certain over the din of Scratch's excited barking ringing out through the camp. Hadn't he heard a lady crying out too? Or was that whatever had been left of his dream bleeding away when he jerked awake?

He's emerging like the others bed headed and bleary eyed to squint against the early morning sunlight at Scratch dancing around a large tree at one end of the camp. Seeing Jim, Scratch darts over to him and does a happy little butt-wiggle dance, his tail wagging so fast it's a wonder it doesn't fall off before the dog bolts back to the tree and jumps as high up as he can, paws scrabbling at the trunk of the tree in his excitement.

"Is...issat a cat...?" Jim mumbles to himself, palm rubbing at one eye as he pads his way over, tugging his woolen shirt back into proper place as he goes. "Easy Scratch. I see it."

"What in the fresh hells is all that racket?!" Shadowheart grumps while stomping over, though she freezes upon spying the tree and seems to be fighting every instinct in her that wants to coo over the feline form up the tree. "Awww, did Scratch make a new friend?"

"He most certainly has NOT!" Cried the cat, wings flaring. Wings? A winged...?

"Is that a tressym...?" Jim revises, now even more confused.

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"Now Tara, there's no need for all the fuss!" Gale says, gently scolding and soothing in one. "Come down from there. Scratch is a good boy, I'll vouch for him. He just wants to smell you."

"And suffer the indignity of having a filthy mutt sniffing at my posterior? No thank you!" the cat answers.

"Well, you didn't travel all the way from Waterdeep just to sit up in a tree, now did you?"

The rest of the camp starts waking up and exiting their tents to see what the commotion is, but Gale only has eyes for his oldest friend. He extends his arms upwards to her and eventually, with a heavy sigh, she jumps down into them. Gale hugs her and buries his face in her fur.

[smartass_captain]

Jim settles down onto one knee to keep an arm around Scratch who is wiggling even happier once Gale and his cat--Tressym--are reunited. He barks twice more and then turns to lick all over Jim's hands to express his joy the best way a puppo knows how.

"Shadowheart, would you...?" Jim glances up to their cleric out of the corner of his eye and watches her pretend to look annoyed even as she's smiling and kneeling down herself with open arms.

"Scratch! Here boy~" With his hands free of a wiggling dog, Jim straightens back up and heads over to Gale's side. Before he can open his mouth, Tara squawks first in full indignation.

"Heavens! What is that monstrosity on your FACE! What would Mrs. Dekarios say if she could see you now??"

Jim wishes all eyes in the camp hadn't just suddenly shot over to Jim as if HE knew about this. The poor ranger just gapes a little bit, his eyes wide as saucers. Well, he's certainly awake now.

"Uh." What the fuck???

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"Tara," Gale scolds, with the intonation of a child trying to get a parent not to embarrass them in front of their friends. The feline must have some sympathy, because she lets the matter drop for the moment and deigns to allow herself to be cuddled like a teddy bear.

"Jim!" Gale says, once he looks up to see him standing there looking bewildered, "I believe I've mentioned my very dear friend Tara?" Tara leaps gracefully onto Gale's shoulder so that she can get a better vantage point on the man she's being introduced to. "Tara, this is Jim, the leader of our odd little band."

For @tangledweave - Of curses and men

[smartass_captain]

"We're back everyone! Lae'zel, you remember who asked for what, right?"

"Chk! You insult my memory now too??"

Jim holds up both hands in a gesture of surrender and lets the Githyanki do her thing. It had been their turn to go shopping for supplies while some of the others did the scouting. While the gold they were sent off with is gone, their packs are startlingly light for what's spent. Nevertheless, Jim looks well proud of himself. He's managed to get every item but one or two trivial things asked of him and he managed to find something special for the camp's resident wizard.

The ranger hands off the whetstone Astarion had asked for to sharpen his daggers with on his way over to Gale's tent.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything important, Gale, but I've found something you might take an interest in."

James, or Jim as he's asked to be called, is a peculiar kind of man. A ranger so he claims but not one exactly comfortable with the outdoors. A man who walks and holds himself as though he's had etiquette lessons drilled into him when he isn't consciously trying to fit in amongst his peers. Whose accent seems to drift depending on who he's speaking To.

It's to their benefit he's as good with a map and directions as he is, at least. Fairly good at helping them navigate their way out of trouble too.

"You said you were on the hunt for magical items, yes? Well Iiiiiii managed to find this." He procures a ring from his pocket, all delighted smiles proud of himself. The enchantment on it is barely anything. A bobbing light to help one find their way in the dark, little more. "The merchant didn't want to sell it to me at first, but I talked her around to it."

[tangledweave]

Lae'zel would not be Gale's choice of shopping partner. She too sharp and he too sensitive to make it a comfortable trip at all. Gale is more than aware that it is simply the Gith's mannerisms to be straight to the point, but he is the exact opposite, enjoying a superfluous number of words to convey his point, with the addition of a relatively newly acquired, (or so he tells himself, perhaps it is merely the awareness of the trait that is new), rejection sensitivity. Kudos to James, though, for surviving whatever scathing comments she has had for him while they haggled and bargained for their purchases.

There is no real rush for his own request, aside from the food that he assumes have been left with the rest of the camp supplies. Even if he's the one doing a lot of the cooking, those ingredients were for the benefit of the whole company. Currently, there is no pressing need for magic to consume, even though he feels the gnawing pangs of that hunger constantly, he is nowhere near famished for it. Yet.

He busies himself with his telescope while he waits; cleaning the lenses, checking the mechanisms are well lubricated. Honestly, he doesn't expect Jim to come over to him as shortly after returning as he does. Is Lae'zel delivering Shadowheart's request? That... doesn't seem entirely safe... Still, he turns with a smile to his new-found friend.

"Oh no, not interrupting at all. Let's see what you found."

Gale squints at the ring pinched between the other's fingers. Something turns in his chest, like a small rodent shifting in slumber. Hardly excitement or greed in response, but magic, all the same. Weave. Consumable, when required.

"Hmm... May I?" He reaches out to pluck it from the ranger's grasp, bringing the small magical trinket closer for inspection. "It's... very sweet. Why was she so reluctant to part with it? Sentiment?"

[smartass_captain]

It's just wine, how much trouble could Lae'zel possibly get into handing it off? Though Gale is correct that Jim has placed their food and spice acquisitions in the communal camp supply chest that has been enchanted to help preserve its contents. While Jim's quite at home with the Githyanki's sharp tongue criticizing his every breath, he's somewhat more relaxed to be back at camp and able to go check in on one of the souls he has found the most in common with.

"Of course. I got it for you, after all." He relinquishes the ring before moving to go and settle down on a nearby log to watch Gale give it a once over. "Mhm. The old potion seller at the grove had it. Said she couldn't just part with magical items willy nilly. It'd be irresponsible if someone used them improperly. I was able to assure her that we were most trustworthy. Ah...well. I might have asked Lae'Zel to go and inspect the blacksmith's wares while I handled her but it all worked out in the end."

James can't tell a minor enchantment from a divine relic though. It all reads the same to him, Weave-blind as he is. So there's a distinct possibility he thinks the ring is worth more than it is.

[tangledweave]

There's conflicting emotions that flicker over Gale's expression as Jim explains the where and how of acquiring the ring. The wizard appreciates the tact shown in giving Lae'zel a task that was both busy work and important at the same time, allowing James the chance to talk with the old woman and negotiate without risk of upsetting her.

She was a sweet old lady, from Gale's memory of when he met her. A frission of magical undercurrent around her that made him think that in her youth she perhaps dabbled in more powerful spells of some sort, but age catches up with all who aren't immortal. Perhaps, that made the ring make a little more sense now. Valuable to her; trading in potions and antidotes now, but not the most powerful item, or particularly rare, by a long shot.

"You must have got a good price for it," he comments as he slides it on to his little finger for a demonstration. It was maybe worth ten gold pieces at the maximum, and even then he'd expect that to be from a trader in the middle of no where, looking to get the most out of adventurers that had reached the mouth of a cave and realised that keeping hands free by not carrying a torch might be a better idea.

It takes a moment to feel the Weave and the spell embedded in the trinket, using his instinct to feel his way through, while ignoring the hungry churning in his chest. Raising both pinkie fingers from his fists, he crosses them over each other, then wraps them around each other in a looping motion, finishing with a flourish to hold them out in front of himself like bull's horns. A ball of glowing, golden light forms and hovers between them, bobbing in front of him when he drops his hands away.

"There. It's quite a sweet little charm, really."

@stoplickingthedamnthing - The Ruined Tower

[smartass_captain]

"I don't know....seems like an awful lot of creature activity around this tower. And I've not seen any sign that the wizard we're looking for is even here anymore." Jim fidgets with his spyglass as he peers off across a wide chasm that circles round to what simply Must be the tower the oddest members of the Society of Brilliance spoke of. The only other large structure they've come across while poking around down here has been the Seulunite outpost they wandered in through.

That can't be it. No wizards. And no one left alive, thankfully, else Shadowheart might have started looking for a fight. She's been cold the entirety of their time in the rehomed temple to Selune overtaken by goblins, and again when they found this underground outpost. Jim's glad they've found other people to talk to down here. Sure--misunderstandings with ancient petrified Drow didn't go well. The myconids however? They've been fascinating to talk to. And it put them in touch with Blurg and Omeluum, whom Jim made fast friends with. Neither is human, of course. Well. Omeluum might have been once. Doesn't matter.

The pair have been downright charming and as fellow scholars Jim was all too keen to take their advice on hunting down these rare alchemy ingredients if it might mean a chance of helping the whole tadpole situation. He could have spent days truthfully chatting with a pair of fellow scholars, if it weren't for slightly more pressing issues. Thus: exploring the Underdark far and wide. It's been a week since any of them have seen the sun. But Jim does think he's finally found the place they're looking for.

It just. Does not look all that welcoming.

"No one said anything about having to fight our way in." He hands the spyglass over to Gale and nods out toward the tower. "No chance it's Illusion magic, do you think? As a deterrent??"

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

"Are we ever that lucky?" Gale says with a sigh, taking the spyglass to have a look for himself. "It does look abandoned… It would be an impressive feat indeed were all of that illusion magic, managed continuously. I could have managed it, before the orb, but I daresay most could not. I would guess that everything we're seeing is as it appears, and we should approach it as such."

He passes the spyglass back to Jim, a look of determination on his face. Danger or not, Gale is getting inside that tower. He's practically been salivating over it. There's the whole arcane hunger for magical artifacts of it, sure, but that's not the only reason he wants to speak to the person inside, or at least take a peek at what they've left behind. "Perhaps they're a recluse? I can certainly relate to that…"

[smartass_captain]

"First time for everything?" Jim retorts with a smile that says he doesn't expect this to be the case though. He turns to watch Gale take a peek, propping his chin up with one hand while he keeps settled by the wizard's side. "Well, no telling how long it's been empty if it is. Odd that no one went to check up on her, really. Though I suppose the Duegar attacks probably made leaving almost impossible."

Jim takes the glass back and tucks it away back into his pack. Gale isn't dissuaded any, and with no further leads down here other than tracking down and eliminating the Duegar slavers they come across it seems as though their next objective is this lone tower.

"Don't suppose you can fire a message across to one of the open windows to let them know they'll have guests coming then? If they Are a recluse they might not be too pleased with us leaving a bloody trail up to their front door."

[stoplickingthedamnthing]

Gale tips his head side to side, considering. "The tower is too far away for Message, and I don't know the occupant, so I can't cast Sending. I could try sending a mirror image, but I doubt it would have any easier time getting in."

He turns to look at Jim. "If we tie a message to an arrow, could you get it in one of the windows?" Sometimes, the nonmagical solutions are the ones that work, loathe as Gale is to admit it. "Not the friendliest method, but the Underdark is hardly full of neighborly opportunities."