#Rest of the Waukeen's Rest Gang needs some love

[thisaccountisagainstmywill]

Haven't drawn in a while, so I thought I'd take a go at a lovely template from @riddscorner

Karad is sick of hearing about Bellar's knife-related solutions. And Jarg has suddenly forgotten why he and Brem were fighting.

[thefallenangelsgang]

Oh gods above this Tiefling Party is going to end up as multiple chapters oh my god

The CHAOS these gremlins are getting up to

(Rough and long winded timeline of the party below the break cause I have no interest in being brief a single minute of my life)

Okay so normal canon start to the party. The gang saves Halsin and bring him back to the grove, he restores order and decides to step down, Zevlor asks to have a night of revelry.

Now I'm still trying to decide two things:

-if I want the gang to have been compiling foodstuffs and alcohol etc to the same extent I did in the game (I had nearly 2000 points of camp supplies from the middle of Act 1 until the end of the game. I stopped picking up foodstuffs in Act 3) which is funny but a little reality breaking or have a segment where the party and the tieflings and the druids go on a little mission to pillage stuff now that the threats have been cleared. The idea of going up to Waukeen's Rest and the Tollhouse to raid their food stores is sitting in my mind beside the image of Halsin with a barrel on each shoulder (I know you Halsin Girlies (gender neutral) will love that)

-And where the camp is. I'm playing with it only being easily accessible via the Grove (perhaps the Risen Road brings you past it if you go down the section that's collapsed in). Reason is no one stays at camp save for Withers and the Owl Bear Cub and the camp is not packed up everyday. They need a secure place to leave things. The refugees trust them and the druids (other than Kagha and her die-hards) are respectful cause it is technically outside of the grove and they aren't being antagonistic. Plus they add a layer of protection at that entrance.

Anyways other than that I definitely plan for some Druids to filter in, particularly ones that like Halsin, and bring some alcohol they brew in the Grove. Mostly because I like the idea of there being a mix of people at the party.

Party begins later in the evening, it's still at the Act 1 Camp, all the characters in game are there plus some. It's a blast. There's food, there's drinks, there's music. Good vibes all around.

At some point Shadowheart asks Wynleth to share a bottle of wine with her once things quiet down. Wynleth misses the meaning of this and agrees thinking she's going to get some girl time with Shadowheart.

Networking Networking Networking (maybe a scene with Halsin and Zevlor. I haven't figured that out. All I know is Rhett is hanging out and flirting with Karlach by this point and Laertes is alternating with Alfira to provide the tunes)

Sometime around sunset is when Lae'zel has her moment and tells Wynleth she wants to taste her, which Wynleth politely declines (thoroughly spiraling in her mind #WhatTheActualFuckLae'zel)

From here is the beginning of Glasses, a bottle, and a lot on my mind (that link is an early draft. Laertes still goes by Cassius in it) where Astarion and Wynleth slip into an easy friendship and Wynleth cements herself as firmly Tipsy. Eventually that scene wanders into the discussion about sex and Wynleth's Asexuality that Karlach interrupts and joins. It ends with Wynleth denying anymore wine cause she's meeting with Shadowheart later. Astarion gets confused cause Wynleth JUST told him she doesn't do casual dalliances. Wynleth gets confused cause she's just meeting for a drink. Karlach and Astarion gently bully her and Wynleth flees the scene to straighten out the situation.

Shadowheart is chill with it. Wynleth overshares about not being into casual stuff. Shadowheart has to put the old dog down cause Astarion and Karlach had her thinking that Shadowheart wanted to get nasty (to be fair they genuinely believed that)

I feel like at this point Wynleth is floating around the party (song break anyone???) and hanging out with people. This is where she notices Gale and Wyll are not really in the party. Wyll is missing one of his favorite dances and well, Gale is just kinda moping on the fringes.

Wyll is up first. She finds him on the beach and they end up having a kind of downer heart to heart. Wyll asks about his father. Is he still mad? does he miss me? that kind of stuff. Wynleth gets the story about what really happened that ended with Wyll a Warlock and Ulder disowning him. I haven't ironed this bit out yet but I know Wyll is like a son to Wynleth and it eats her up inside that she wasn't there to stop Ulder. She stepped up when Francesca died to be a force in Wyll's life. She doesn't fill a "Mother" role for Wyll but more of a very involved Aunt. IDK they are cute. (I might have him promise to save her a dance)

Once Wyll leaves, Gale sidles up. This starts what I've bee writing today. They talk a bit about Wyll, vague stuff cause it isn't her story to tell. Gale has one of his "whether 'tis nobler" moments and it scares Wynleth a bit cause she sees her self sacrificial tendencies in Wyll and now in Gale. Gale drops it in favor of poking light fun at Wynleth's "politicking" and Wynleth asserts this is a night of revelry. That is quickly proven by a comical interruption by a tiefling couple trying to fuck by the boats. This fucking UNDOES both of them. IDK why but the characters started kind of naturally working themselves into hysterics and I chose to play it as cartoonishly as feasibly possible. Hence 4 pages of Gale and Wynleth being literally inconsolable with laughter.

Shadowheart finds the two of them collapsed outside Gale's tent after they manage to stagger away. Wynleth, still in a mischievous mood, sics her and Astarion on the couple but makes them promise not to do anything mean, offering two frankly heinous pranks to do. Folding up all the discarded clothing extremely neatly (there is a moment where it all comes flying from behind the boats in a purposefully silly moment) and stealing the couple's socks.

Gale and Wynleth finally calm down enough to talk without howling with laughter and that's when the couple walks back in, sockless and confused (Astarion and Shadowheart did do the folding bit, Wynleth and Gale just can't tell by visuals). Wynleth and Gale HAVE to leave. They are going to actually have an aneurysm. So they do, not before Shadowheart and Astarion almost make them break again and they pass the couples socks on the food table arranged in the shape of hearts.

That is all that I wrote before I ran here to talk about this, but I know Gale and Wynleth duck into the forest behind camp and end up taking a walk. They get to talking, hoping to calm down enough to be able to look the Tiefling couple in the eye without stroking out. It's pleasant. They learn a lot about each other.

Gale gets a little bold, he points out that this little walk is a lot like the one she thought about during their weave lesson. It was a very tame thought. It truly was a fleeting idea of how nice it would be to pick his brain on all sorts of subjects and it turned a touch romantical if you will. Gale is very attractive to Wynleth. She likes the way he thinks and the way he speaks even if it can be overly flowery and obtuse at times.

So Wynleth gets bold right back and the scene ends with them realizing they are mutually attracted to each other. They might even kiss (I'm honestly still figuring their early relationship out more). I'm not entirely convinced either is ready to fully commit to a relationship at that moment, but it very much might change as I get there. I do have an idea of what them deciding to try out a relationship looks like and it's going to probably be torture for me to write (raaaahhhhhh I'm gonna fistfight god and man) but that's a story for another time.

There is a little more to the "party". They do make their way back and part ways. It's late and most people have run off to bed (or be bed ayoooo) or have passed out drunk or are simply chatting quietly. So Wynleth tracks down Shadowheart and they go off to a little spring area and they end up taking a dip and talking. Wynleth spills the tea about Gale and Shadowheart and her begin to form an actual bond.

Wynleth goes to sleep A) Exhausted and B) Assured in the fact that she actually has friends and maybe even a romantic partner in her future after A Very Long Time.

Godspeed. I'm sensing at least three, maybe more, chapters and I am going to go insane.