Anastri Galandel

Out of the musty interior of the tavern, Anastri breathed a sigh of relief. Solus wasn’t out yet, so she settled herself on the stone step outside of the building. Ash was seated nearby, his weapons scattered around him like toys. She poked him, and he opened his eyes with a grunt.

“Hey Ash.”

“Hi.”

“So... did you learn anything?”

“We should wait for the group.”

Anastri rolled her eyes and returned to her seat. That was Ash, talkative as ever. They worked well together and she wasn’t complaining, but would it hurt him to engage once in a while? It wasn’t as if nobody else did. Shaking off that train of thought, she instead looked over at Warren, leaning against one of the wooden posts that were holding up the rickety awning. He wasn’t taking any notice of her either, his eyes on the dagger in his hands.  It was possible he’d talk to her, but before she could say anything the door to the tavern burst open and Solus came out, trailing behind a tall tiefling with a viol, something Anastri hadn’t seen since she’d lived with the elves. 

Even that little detail brought back a flood of memories, warmth and light and music and - a wall of darkness. No regretting what happened. That was a long time ago, and she was better off without them.

“Anastri?” She blinked, and realized that the tiefling was standing in front of her, hand held out expectantly.

“Oh! Sorry.” She jumped up and shook the tiefling’s hand, still reeling from the memories the viol brought back.

The tiefling cocked her head and said with a wry smile, “Salorien. And you are?”

“Anastri. Good to meet you. Also, what are you doing here?”

Solus stepped forwards. “She knows the way to the Sunless Citadel, and also a lot more about it than we do. It’d be useful to have her in the group.”

Anastri frowned. She was never sure if Solus was angry or not - she always seemed on a knife-edge of tension, able to boil over at any moment. “I’m not opposed to that, as long as Salorien isn’t. Good to have you on board.” She smiled, and then frowned at the viol. “That’s a very nice instrument, how’d it get that scratch?” Solus let out a bark of laughter and Salorien scowled.

“It’s not important, and it’ll stay not important if I agree to work with you, alright?”

“Ok, ok. Sorry about that. It’s a very nice instrument.” Slowly, Salorien relaxed into a less aggressive posture and nodded curtly.

“Apology accepted.”

There was a tense several seconds of silence, suddenly broken when Ash got to his feet. “So are we gonna tell each other what we learned?” Solus nodded briskly.

“We should definitely get started. We’ve wasted enough time already. Ash, do you want to start?”

Ash sighed. “Fine. I asked a group of people about it. They said they’d heard about it, but never seen it and that it was down an old, unused road running out of town. I think one of them was lying though. He seemed suspicious. What did you guys find out?”

Warren spoke for the first time. “An old gnome lady who was overly fond of the drink told me that goblins infest it, and that it was buried in the ground by this dragon named Ashardalon, and that the goblins claim they have a tree that grows one apple of healing every year and one apple of poison every ten years. Who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” Anastri offered. She was encouraged by the fact that Warren also mentioned a tree - it meant that she was on the right track. “I talked to the barman, who told me that there was something going on with a magical tree of some kind too, and that there were two other people who have already gone searching for the citadel, both presumed dead. An old man with a large tree frog who was interested in the apple-bearing tree, and a younger man with armor who seemed anxious or preoccupied named Lycinth. That’s it, although he also mentioned goblins  Solus?”

Solus grinned. “As you can see, I brought a live presentation for y’all. This is Salorien, who has been to the Sunless Citadel site and knows a fair amount about it. She agreed to come with us as long as we take care of the goblins.”

“And I get my fair share of the spoils,” Salorien added. “Also, it’s he now. I’m not feeling quite as evil.” He looked around at their faces. “What? When I’m nicer, I’m generally a dude. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted.”

Ash clapped his hands together, which made a strange clicking noise as his scales collided. “I propose we move forward. Salorien, how far away is the citadel?”

Salorien frowned, thinking. “About half a day without horses. And I assume we don’t have horses. There used to be a road going right past it, but it’s so overgrown now that a cart would drop a wheel as soon as it came in sight.”

The sun was already high in the sky, and Anastri wasn’t sure that going into the citadel at night was the best idea. Besides, she realized as her stomach gave a growl that they hadn’t eaten yet today. “Maybe we should rest and prepare today, and leave early tomorrow morning? That way we can get some food and we’ll still have some sunlight left when we get there.”

“I agree,” Ash said, straightening up from where he was slouched on the ground. “We shouldn’t rush in without preparing, and the goblins will be much more dangerous at night.”

“To those who can’t see, maybe,” retorted Warren. “We need to get there as soon as possible, and I for one don’t need sunlight getting in my way. I’m half blind as it is.”

Anastri winced at the raised voices. Something seemed to be on Warren’s mind. He was flipping his dagger in agitation and his voice held an urgency that she’d never heard before.

“Warren, look. We can’t just jump in to this. From what we heard in the tavern, there are a lot of goblins in there and that sort of fighting is Ash’s job. We need to prioritize him this mission, and you’ll already get enough time out of the sunlight in the Sunless Citadel.”

Solus stepped forward, leaving Salorien seated on the small stoop of the tavern. “I hate to say it, but Anastri is right. We have no idea what we’re getting into. Anastri and I need to prepare appropriate spells, we all need to get a night of rest.” She walked up to Warren and gripped his shoulder. “Whatever it is that’s got you so riled up, it can wait.”

Warren looked down, his blade flashing faster between his fingers. “I- fine. One night, and then we head out.” He hesitated, then shook his head and abruptly turned back into the darkness beneath the tavern awning.

Anastri stared at him - something was definitely wrong - but he was ignoring her, packing his bag and disappearing into the tavern. She entered the tavern along with the rest of the group, and went to sleep intrigued and worried about his strange behavior.