Having already exerted himself earlier, Eden was happy to let the rest of the party deal with the situation as they saw fit.
The Gnolls were not so dangerous themselves, with only their leader being Tier I. And that leader being affiliated to the Absolute, they managed to turn it against its tribe, allowing them to swiftly dispatch them.
Then, when that last Gnoll turned on them, it had already been beat up by its tribe, so they easily finished it.
As the Gnoll was finally felled by Gale's Magic Missile, the people hiding in the cave revealed themselves. There were two of them, both dressed in similar dark leather armors. One was an archer, the other a swordsman.
The swordsman, who happened to be a Tier I, addressed Sylfine, as she was the one in front, "Thank you, friends."
Astarion, who had climbed some rocks to gain height, looked into the cave, his natural dark-vision allowing him to see what was inside. His eyes locking onto a heavy chest, he said, "Must be precious cargo, for you to be ready to throw down your lives for it."
The swordsman, Rugan, was unimpressed, eyeing the Ranger for a moment as he revealed, "We are the Zhentarim, it is our duty to protect our merchandise with our lives."
Astarion smiled, his bow still in his hands as Sylfine offered, "Well, maybe we could help you with that."
Rugan frowned, his hand going to his blade, but before he could even draw it, Ergon fired the Cobra right between his eyes. It blew a hole in the middle of his forehead, killing him instantly.
The second Zhentarim was alarmed, but he was cut apart by a Dismantle before he could fire his bow.
Ignoring the splattered brain matter over the ground, Astarion eagerly moved up to the chest, only to find it locked.
While Astarion examined the lock, and Sylfine extracted the tadpole out of the Gnoll leader's head, Eden grabbed its weapon, examining it. It looked like a flail that had been broken and turned into a mace.
[Shattered Flail]
[Rank: Rare]
[Attack: +80]
[Strength: +4]
[Physique: +1]
[Yeenoghu's Gift: Heals the user for 10% of the damage dealt with every hit, up to 10 HP.]
[Curse of Madness: All hits have a chance of turning the user mad, making them hostile to everyone in their proximity.]
Eden stared at it for a moment, his grip tightening. This weapon might be dangerous in someone else's hands, but to Eden, it was insanely powerful. His Talent making him immune to the curse, it meant that every hit with this weapon would heal him nearly the equivalent of a Minor Health Potion.
With this in hand, no amount of goblins could possibly fell him. Moreover, stamina was linked to HP, and while there were no metrics for it, recovering HP while at full health allowed one to recover their stamina.
Of course, the Rosa Estrellada was not diminished in any way in Eden's eyes. If anything, the two weapons suited one another especially well, especially against a single target. One would allow him to last longer in a fight, while the other would weaken his enemy over time by bleeding them out.
Still, this was something that Eden would only use against challenging enemies, so he approached Wyll, and handed the sword to him.
Though surprised, Wyll received the Rosa Estrellada and inspected it closely, examining its edge as he commented, "Your sword was made by a master, my friend. It could compare with some of the best swords in my collection."
Eden nodded, "Yes, it used to belong to a Pirate Lord. A particularly fierce warrior too."
Wyll smiled, pushing the sword back towards Eden in an effort to give it back, while saying, "Ah, I've faced my fair share of pirates myself. I'm sure it is in better hands now."
Eden refused the sword, and said instead, "It is. But make no mistake, I'm not giving it to you, I am only lending it until you find a better weapon."
Wyll looked surprised, but that did not hide his genuine smile as he traced his finger over the blade, "Still, it is a magnificent gift, even if temporary. I can assure you I will take care of it as my own."
Eden nodded, and left Wyll to bond with his sword. Sylfine, having gotten another tadpole, looked at Astarion, who was struggling with the lock, and proposed, "How about we take a short rest here? The cave is rather well protected, and there are enough supplies here."
Wyll, who had not started binding with the sword but sheathed it instead, said, "I could use a rest myself. However, instead of resting here, we might as well continue alongside the mountainside and stop at Waukeen's Rest. It can't be more than ten minutes away, and we would be far more comfortable there."
The party agreed to the proposition, and Eden placed the heavy, iron-wrought chest into his Inventory as they left the cave. He was also tempted to grab the explosive barrels they found, but they took too much space for not enough results.
Barrelmancy was powerful in the game, but not so much here. He did pick up the multiple vials of Alchemist's Fire he found though.
As Wyll had promised, Waukeen's Rest was only a short distance away from the cave. However, the peaceful inn they awaited had been ravaged. Most of the large inn had been sieged, and was currently going up into flames, with people doing their best to extinguish it.
The party still approached, and one of the soldiers shouted, "Push, damn it! Duke Ravengard might be in there!"
This caused everyone to look at Wyll, already aware of his identity, and the Warlock hurried the party, "Come, we must help!"
Karlach grinned, "Allow me."
She slammed her foot into the gate, shattering the already weakened doors as she rushed in. The rest of the party followed as they quickly searched through the inn. The heavy smoke made it hard, but the soldiers, members of the Flaming Fist, guided them to his room.
Unfortunately, as they reached said room, they only found an Elven woman there.
[Name: Florrick]
[Title: Advisor to the Grand Duke]
[HP: 340/340]
[MP: 490/490]
[Strength: 29]
[Agility: 34]
[Physique: 34]
[Intelligence: 49]
[Wisdom: 27]
Despite the heavy smoke, her eyes locked on Wyll's figure, as if struggling to believe what she was seeing was true, before exclaiming, "Hurry, we must get out of here before the whole inn falls on our heads!"
Once they were outside, Wyll demanded, "Counselor Florrick, where is Duke Ravengard?!"
The Counselor sighed, and revealed, "He was taken by the fanatics of the Absolute. We were attacked by Drows, goblins and even humans. You must rescue him!"
Wyll looked at the rest of the party, and especially Lae'zel, his eyes firm. The Githyanki frowned, but Eden said, "I can assure you we have time. You are protected. Have I not earned your trust, Lae'zel."
Lae'zel gritted her teeth, and muttered her curse under her breath, but nodded nonetheless.
Wyll sighed in relief, and turned back to Florrick, nodding, "Of course. There is a large goblin camp nearby, serving the Absolute. They must have taken him there."
Florrick frowned, and remarked, "Goblin camps are all at least a couple hundred strong, and if Drows have joined them, there must be many of them. I need to go back to Baldur's Gate immediately, but I can lend you my cohort."
At this, Eden stepped forward, and said, "No need, we already have a plan. And you must also safely reach Baldur's Gate, so take your soldiers with you."
Florrick appeared to be conflicted, but Wyll nodded along, so she sighed and said, "I trust you. Please bring your father back alive. But here, take this, it is the least I can do."
She handed over her staff, the Spellsparkler, a Rare magical weapon.
As she was leaving though, Eden added, "When you get back to the city, be careful of Enver Gortash."
Although confused by the sudden piece of information, Florrick still nodded. Back to the party, Karlach, upon hearing Gortash's name, suddenly turned to Eden, and asked hurriedly, "Gortash? He has something to do with this?!"
Knowing of their past, and how Gortash had been the one to sell her to Zariel, Eden said, "He does. But we will deal with him once we reach Baldur's Gate. For now, we must save the duke."
Gale looked bothered though, clutching at his chest ever so slightly as he said, "But this throws a wrench into our plans. Even if we do manage to infiltrate the goblin camp, they most certainly will not allow us to take the Duke with us. We should have accepted the lady's offer."
Sylfine shook her head, arguing, "No, that might have been worse. If we had accepted the Flaming Fist's soldiers, the goblins would see us coming from afar, and would most certainly evacuate the Duke, or worse. Infiltrating will allow us to get close to him and escort him out. Moreover, once inside, we should be able to get the help of the Archdruid. Certainly he will be a great help against the goblins."
Lae'zel, though still unhappy they were not heading for the Creche already, warned, "Going in unprepared would be suicide."
Wyll, despite his personal stakes in the matter, nodded, admitting, "As much as I wish we could go in right away, Lae'zel is right. We need to be in our best condition for this. I can feel I am about to recover a major part of my prowess, but I need some time. I'm sure you're the same."
The others, except for Karlach, nodded.
Glancing at the side of the inn, where there was an inconspicuous storage room, Eden said, "Our infiltration will surely become much easier at night. I propose that you get back to the cave to rest, while I will start clearing some of the stragglers, to reduce their numbers."
Shadowheart leaned on her spear, an eyebrow cocked as she asked, "Don't you need to rest too?"
"I do, but this is not really strenuous to me. Besides, I won't be gone for long, it should take me a couple hours tops. I'll be leaving Ergon with you, just in case."
Karlach, who had recovered to Tier I, and thus understood the relative gap between them, asked worriedly, "You're not spreading yourself thin, are you, soldier? This is important business, but you can't work yourself to death."
The others also looked worried, which made Eden laugh. Having people who cared about his well-being, that was about the last thing he expected since he entered Dreamland.
He reassured them for a while, and only when they were convinced he was fine and left, did he leave himself.
He did not go for the goblins straight away, as he had said, however. Instead, he went to the inconspicuous storage room, which he happened to know was the local Zhentarim hideout.
However, the insides had not been spared, and there were several burned corpses at the entrance. Draws and goblins.
Eden went deeper in, and only discovered corpses. Moreover, everything had been looted clean.
If he only had suspicions before, he was now sure. There had been Players in the group who had kidnapped Duke Ravengard, and by the look of things, they had taken the time to attack the Zhentarim as well.
Although it was a little disappointing as there were several interesting items inside, and certainly a lot of gold, it was not like it was completely lost. All he had to do was find these Players, and get his loot back from them.
With the Zhentarim hideout turning out to be a bust, Eden rushed along the mountainside, following the Chiontar as he returned to the shattered bridge, and went back to Moonhaven.
Eden had left three of his harpies with the group, as their flight and eagle-like vision allowed them to see enemies approach from afar, thus warning Eden ahead of time. He had also taken one with him, which he posted atop the windmill to warn him of any escapees as he entered Moonhaven, and finished his job.
He had killed about half of the goblins his first time in the blighted village, and they apparently had reinforcements as there was close to a hundred of them by the time he returned.
This allowed Eden to test out his theory as he started a rampage through the 'local population'.
As expected, even with their numbers approaching the triple digits, not a single attack managed to reach Eden as he only took about ten minutes to decimate the goblin forces left in Moonhaven, not even leaving a single one of them live as his Harpy warned him of any who managed to slip past him.
Eden barely felt like he had worked up a sweat too, his new weapon feeding his stamina about as fast as he spent it. It was not like the goblins required that much effort to deal with.
Moreover, that had been with Eden only using Body Reinforcement, and neither Cursed Techniques or spells as he wanted to let them recover for the real fight later on.
Of course, fighting in Moonhaven had allowed Eden to divide and conquer using the different buildings, while the goblin camp would force a much straighter confrontation, but it still wasn't enough to bridge the difference.
If he truly wanted to, Eden could simply go to the goblin camp now, and he might actually be able to rescue Duke Ravengard.
He stopped himself from doing so though, as it would be taking risks for no reason. Whether Duke Ravengard was sent to Moonrise Towers or not mattered little to him. Killing the goblins now or a few hours later was also the same to Eden.
At best, there would be a better chance of Halsin living, but Eden cared little for the so-called Archdruid.
Halsin was not infected with a tadpole, meaning he logically should not be able to recover his power. For the Party, Eden believed that their tadpoles had reached a certain level of symbiosis that allowed them to empower each other.
After all, while Gale, Wyll and Karlach were all famous figures who probably approached Level 20, Shadowheart was dubious, Astarion would not be allowed to gain power by Cazador Szarr, and Lae'zel only became a soldier recently. Yet, they would all reach Level 20.
This symbiosis would explain how this happened, as while the weaker ones would soon reach their limits, their tadpoles would allow them to make rapid advancement, while the stronger ones recovered all of their power.
Thus, the upper limit for every member of the party was their strongest member, which Eden believed to be Gale. And not only was Gale most certainly Level 20, he might even have Epic Boons, or even breached past the mortal limit of Level 20 like Elminster.
In any case, back to Halsin, the Archdruid would not be able to rapidly improve, and although he was called the Archdruid, if he had managed to get himself captured by the goblins, then Eden would rather not have to drag him around.
So, Eden did not go for the goblin camp. He did not return immediately to the rest of the party, however, as there was something of interest for him left in Moonhaven.