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Morning Frost’s footsteps don’t make a sound when he doesn’t want them to so it’s completely understandable that he appeared in front of the bars of Torbek’s cell and the only audible indication that he’d arrived was a very quiet “I’ve found him” that made Torbek’s head jerk up. He just as quickly lowered his head down though. This wasn't the first time his captors had worn the face of his friends in the last… week? Two? Four? Time had been hard to gauge here in the cold and the damp. Meager meals at random intervals and very inconsistent sleep and exhaustion make for a wonky internal clock, and the metal rings chafing his wrists were chaining his hands up so he couldn't even scratch into the floor to mark anything anyway. He wondered what torment the cultists had planned for him now, what fresh hell they’d unleash on his starved and injured body. He barely flinched when a lightly pawed hand pressed up against his face and turned it up to meet the blown pupils of his friend. Or at least the monster wearing the face of Frost.
A water skin was placed on his lips and tilted up to give him some water, and damned if Torbek was lucid enough to be able to resist when he’s so dehydrated. The Frost voice sounded mildly distorted but eventually coalesced into actual words. “-et you out of here. It’s alright, we found you Torbek, we’ve come to take you home.”
The person lifted a hand up and spoke into a familiar chess piece. “Gideon, I’m going to need you here, the chains have some kind of enchantment on them that makes them resistant to magic, Knock isn’t working, you’ll need to melt them”. Well. This is a new tactic. Torbek let his head drop back down. Making him believe he’s being rescued is a whole different kind of low, but it’s not Torbek’s first torture rodeo, he’s not going to fall for it.
But then a blanket was placed over his legs and Torbek focused his eyes to see it was a towel. That little detail snapped everything into focus. How would his captors know that detail about Frost? And the chess piece, that wasn’t something they’d waved about after they left Prismear. For the first time Torbek focused his attention on the person in front of him properly. Maybe it really was Frost muttering gently to him and encouraging him to drink water. “He’s in bad shape guys, just be ready. Kremy, you too, get the wagon ready.” The wagon. That wagon. The last detail that convinced Torbek that maybe… Maybe his friends really were here.
“F-frooooost?” he asked in a whisper.
Those blown cat eyes darted from where they were examining him to meet his eyes and he heard in his head “Torbek, we came for you. We’re here, Gideon is on his way down with Gricko and Kremy is waiting outside. We went through the whole place looking for you and found a few… unsavory characters. They have been disposed of.” If anything, hearing Frost’s voice in his head sealed it.
“You caaame,” he replied back, “you came for Torbek. You found Torbek.”
A rare smile graced the tabaxi’s face and even in the dim light Torbek could see that there were blood specks on Frost’s face. “Yeah buddy,” he said aloud gently, and this time it was music to Torbek’s ears. “Yeah we did.”
The soft moment was broken by familiar footsteps careening down the corridor, the cadence of Gideon and Gricko unmistakable even in Torbek’s delirious state. Gideon rushed in first and gripped the chains up near where they were nailed to the wall. “Magic resistant, yeah,” he laughed, “but they sure ain’t me resistant”
“Wai-wai-wait Gideon, don’t do it too fast we need to-” Gricko winced as the metal chains broke and fell into the cold puddle of water surrounding Torbek on the stone floor. Torbek winced as his arms hit the ground just as fast and his shoulders strained, but he barely let out a whimper. “-let his arms down slowly.” Gricko sighed and shook his head before letting loose with his ocarina to play some familiar healing magic.
The noise caused a sweeping dread in the pit of Torbek's stomach. “N-no,” he whispered loudly, “quiet, they'll h-heeear you, they'll…. they'll come down and t-torture Torbek.” But Gideon let out a dark chuckle that immediately soothed Torbek's nerves. That was a laugh that said the problem was taken care of.
“The problem has been taken care of,” Gideon said with a grin. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. “Those fuckin’ whack-o cultists never knew what hit ‘em.”
“Awww yeah Torbek, you shoulda seen it!” Gricko jumped around looking over the injuries that remained marring Torbek's body. “Kremy was all ‘Whattado, prepare to die,’ an’ Gideon was cracking skulls left an’ right, an’ I never seen Frosty so angry before, ‘e was frowin’ bodies wiv a flick ‘o the wrist, an’ -”
“Gricko,” Frost interrupted sharply. “Can we move him? I'd like to get him out of the water.”
That shut Gricko up for a second and the smallest man did another once over. His eyes widened as he seemed to realize that the reason he could see all of Torbek's injuries was because there was no matted fur covering them. “Ahhh yeah, yep let's get you outta here big fella. I don't wan’ ‘im walking, Gideon could you-?”
“Yep, I'm on it.” Gideon crouched down to get Torbek on his back and Frost helped Torbek maneuver the chains and manacles still circling his wrists to wrap around Gideon's neck. Gideon let out another dark chuckle. “Well wouldja look at that Torbek. We match.”
But Torbek wasn't paying attention. After so long of being cold and wet and starved and dehydrated, being pressed up against a fire genasi was the greatest thing Torbek had ever experienced. He let out a small whimper of joy and snuggled closer into the warmth, and he barely registered Gideon standing up. He did, however, register an additional warmth on his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar green robe on his shoulders, still warm from Frost's body heat.
That alone brought tears to Torbek's eyes and he looked over at the bare chested Tabaxi. “You shouldn't have done thaaaat, Torbek is filthy, your robe will get dirty.”
Gideon gasped in mock outrage, “Wha- and what about me, Torbek, my shirt is gonna get covered in muck!”
But Torbek giggled, feeling drunk. “That's ok, Gideon is usually a little dirty anyway, Torbek is sure you won't mind.” His rescuers all laughed and Gricko and Gideon started bickering over whether Gideon actually was messy or clean. Torbek relaxed a bit further into Gideon's back and didn't even flinch when Frost spoke in his mind. ‘If it keeps you warm then it is definitely worth it.’
‘Waaaaarm,’ was Torbek's only response to that.
He drifted in and out of consciousness for a few minutes. When he came back to properly, he was seated in the wagon leaned up against Gideon, watching Frost fiddle with the dials. But the complexities of the dials and patterns were too much for Torbek and he trusted Frost and Kremy to know what they were doing based on the few times they'd been back to Prismear to visit. That must be where they were headed to, going to the Inn at the End Of The Road to visit Twig. Torbek knew he was in a bad way and that the resting powers of the Inn would certainly help. But he must be in dire straits with the speed at which Kremy was driving.
From the small fortress that Torbek was being held captive in, a deep red and purple horseless carriage lined with gold sped away into the forest, seemingly swallowed up by the fog. Or in this case actually swallowed up by the fog as Carnivale LeCroux crossed the barrier into the feywild.
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Frost sat back after setting the complicated dial in the cabin to ensure a normal passage of time. A bit slower wouldn't be the worst but fast was definitely not a good option and normal was the one Frost was most familiar with so it was the one he went with. In his heightened state of fury he didn't trust himself not to make a mistake. He shuffled over to sit next to Gideon and a now blanketed Torbek at the back of the wagon gifted to them after freeing Zybilna, eyeing Gricko and Hootsie on the front half of the cabin. Well, Gricko on the bench in the front half. Hootsie was taking up the floor in front of him.
He gazed out the window. Normally he'd be sitting far closer to the wall in order to give his friends space. But right now he was pressed as close as possible to Torbek, trying to share as much of his body heat as he could.
That sparked another wave of rage that threatened to overtake him. Eighteen days. That was how long their friend had been captive by the weird Witchlight Cult. Eighteen days of searching for information, of sleepless nights, of paying off investigators for their knowledge. Fifteen days ago they finally found the last piece they needed and it still took them two and a half days to actually find the fortress. Unacceptable, in Frost's mind. In the rest of their minds too, certainly. But right now Frost was staring at the direct result of those eighteen days in the window's reflection.
The most obvious thing was how thin Torbek was. The man hadn’t had much weight to lose, but that was weight that had painstakingly been gained back after he showed up in Hither. It had barely been two years from the end of that adventure and Torbek had finally started looking like a real person for quite probably the first time in his whole life. Now he was back to square one - emaciated, filthy. Tortured.
The only reason the most obvious thing was the weight was that they seemed to have shaved Torbek completely, and the fur did a lot of work to hide a lot of the problems in the first place. However, with his fur shaved it was so easy to see what they had done to him. The scars from the Witchlight tubes and canisters never fully healed, always remaining a slightly leaking scab that Torbek usually kept bandaged and clean were now all infected. There were new cuts and bruises that marred his skin, grime and caked on blood making it difficult to see what would remain on after a thorough soak in a bathtub. There was only so much that magical cleaning could do, after all.
Torbek's nails were even longer than normal, getting in scraps and travelling and just general use kept them in check most of the time, but these were in brutal shape, split and ragged. There was a gouge out of his left ear that wasn't there before. A tooth missing.
The more Frost looked the angrier he became and had to actively take meditative breaths as they passed through Prismear headed towards Twig. Kremy was well practiced at dodging through the trees of what was formerly Hither, and the little compass Twig had fashioned for them would lead the wagon straight to her. With no way to send word, they just had to hope that she wasn't too far away from their entry point.
As good fortune would have it, less than an hour into Prismear and they came across the familiar traveling inn. Torbek had long since fallen asleep on Gideon's shoulder, covered now in a few more blankets and the manicles having been removed. Gricko had made sure he'd drank more water and had a banaña before he passed out completely, so at least if the trip had lasted longer he would have a full stomach. But nothing would help more than a good hearty meal at the Inn and a few solid nights of rest and recovery.
If he was being honest with himself, Frost knew that he'd also need a few days of recovery. Not only magically but mentally, the sight of several of the cultists with their necks broken at odd angles from him flinging them would take a while to leave his psyche. Gratuitous violence was more Gideon's speed and he'd shown that with much aplomb. Gricko wasn't exaggerating when he had described Gideon cracking skulls earlier. Several of the cultists ended up with their brains strewn about in the mortar of the stone where they landed. And Kremy had never been so vicious with landing the blasts he got from the Baron, purple and singing jazz music as they created holes in people. All in all it had been gruesome and even Gricko’s usual restraint was completely absent from this fight. They'd stolen a friend and tortured him. If anything they got off lightly for having simply and quickly died.
As the wagon slowed to a halt the Inn did too, kneeling and settling into the ground. Twig jumped out screaming excitedly at the top of her lungs, but Frost barely registered her words as he was gently walking Torbek up and helping Gideon with getting him down from the carriage. Whatever excited stream of consciousness had been babbling from Twig silenced abruptly. The only words that broke the stunned silence with a quiet and shaky “T-Torbek?”
Torbek's head lifted slowly. “H-heeeey Twig!”, he gave her a weak smile. “The guys rescued Torbek!”
Gideon knelt again to get Torbek on his back with a quiet mumbled “Here we go, buddy.” and brought him into the Inn. Frost tilted his head at Gricko to follow Gideon and Twig in before moving to help Kremy to secure the wagon to the Inn in case Twig decided to move in the night. He glanced over to the alligator as he did so and noted the tenseness in the man’s shoulders.
“We found him,” Frost spoke quietly, not looking at Kremy. “We took too long to find him but we got him back and we killed everyone that had him. You collected the notes they had?”
That earned him a growl from deep in Kremy’s chest. “Looked through ‘em while you were grabbin’ him,” he said darkly. Frost was startled by the fierceness in Kremy’s grey eyes. “I ain’ never seen anythin’ so… vicious… so brutal. It’s one thing to experiment on someone, what they did…” Kremy looked up into the window where they could see Torbek being lowered gently into a chair. “They took fuckin’ delight in what they were doin’, Frost. They were enjoyin’ it.” He shook his head in disgust. “They also had notes about the rest o’ the cult. Letters an’ whatnot. When we get back to Avantris we’re gonna have a new mission to go on. We’re shuttin’ down the carnival for the season and going cult hun’in.” With that Kremy slammed down the final lock on the hitch and stormed inside.
Frost followed at a more sedated pace. When he entered it was to the comforting sounds and smells of the Inn at the End of the Road. Torbek was seated in a comfortable armchair by the hearth looking relaxed, though still injured and quite dirty. Prestidigitation had gotten the bulk of the grime off of him and Cure Wounds had taken care of the active damage, but Torbek would still need several days of physical rest to recover properly. Currently he was halfway through a big bowl of stew, eating slowly at Gricko’s admonishment. Frost took a bowl silently from Twig with a nod of thanks and ate much quicker than he normally would; he wanted to finish before Torbek so that he could get a bath sorted.
“Twig,” he called to her softly. As she scampered back over, much more subdued than her usual self, Frost looked around at the Inn for the first time.
Unlike the first time they’d visited, the Inn had quite a few patrons. Thankfully they were all doing their level best to pretend to not be staring at the strange group of them, but that meant the resources of the Inn and Twig herself might be strained. “Would it be possible,” he asked once she came to his side, “to get a large bedroom prepared for the group of us with an ensuite bathtub? I don’t think any of us want to leave Torbek alone tonight and I want to get him a little more cleaned up. He’s been alone and cold for more than two weeks. I want him to get rest and wake up surrounded by his friends.”
Twig nodded enthusiastically, matching his tone. “Yeah of course I c’n do that Frost! It’ll be the mos’ comfortable room I c’n make and the bestest bathtub in the bathroom! An’ I’ll soundproof the whole thing jus’ in case you guys need to have a private talk about what happened… an’ maybe your ol’ pal Twig could be there for that too?”
Frost chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Twigsy, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Twig let out a big pheeew and grinned up at him. “Ok good cause it’s been a reeeeeeally long time since you guys have been here an’ I missed you a bunch. SLEEPO- oh-” she flinched as her loud declaration made everyone turn to her. “Sleepoverrrrrr” she whisper yelled instead and immediately rushed upstairs to make sure the Inn had shifted to the needs of the newest patrons.
Frost padded over to the counter to put his bowl down and then moved over to where the rest of the gang was very carefully not watching Torbek finishing every bite of stew and acting completely normally. Doing a bad job at acting of course, Gricko was babbling like always but kept flinching when he glanced over and saw the damage, Kremy was seething quietly in the corner, and Gideon was going over some of the details of the fight to Torbek who seemed to be raptly taking in every word. “Gentlemen,” said Frost. The chatter from Gricko and Gideon halted abruptly. “Twig is going to set up a big room for us and is setting up a bath for Torbek. I’d like to take him up to get him a little more cleaned and relaxed after what seems to have been a harrowing time. Gricko,” he added, and the goblin’s ears perked up. “If you could join us in a bit I’d like you to take a more thorough look. If that’s ok with you, Torbek?”
Torbek's eyes watered and he swallowed as though honey had been poured down his throat. He nodded at a loss for words and slowly stood up from the chair with a slight groan. Gricko also gave a thumbs up and a grin. “You bet, Frosty! Just gimmie the ol’” and he tapped his temple twice. Gricko turned back to Hootsie and started fussing over her, but Frost noticed that his attention never really left Torbek until the pair of them were up the stairs and past the view of the main room.
Twig was at the end of the hall waving them down, quite a ways from any other doors. “I set it aside a lil’ bit so we could have a lil’ privacy” she said with her voice still lowered. “Frost? Please tell me if you need anything else, OK? Or if you want anything Torbek.” She gave him a watery smile.
“Thaaaaank you Twig,” said Torbek, leaning further into Frost’s grip around his shoulders. “Mayyybe something sweet? They didn’t feed Torbek aaaanything nice in the dungeon.” Twig squeaked in sadness and darted off, calling back that she’d send something up in a bit, and Frost helped Torbek the rest of the way into the room.
It was spacious with a large floor mattress in the middle. Big windows showing the outside, soft candlelight everywhere, piles of blankets and enormous pillows, a hot chocolate station that also had a few different amber bottles in the corner, a book nook…
“Wooooowwwww” Torbek admired under his breath. “Twig really went alllll out!”
Frost shook his head with fondness at Twig’s generosity. “Yes she did. Now let’s get you cleaned up.” He gently steered the bugbear over to the adjacent bathroom. A (completely normal and silent) toilet (thankfully) and a wash basin were on one side, but right in the middle was an opulent sunken in tub. Probably could have fit the whole crew in if they wanted to. But right now it was exactly what Frost needed. He pulled off the blankets that were still wrapped around Torbek’s shoulders and stripped what was left of his pants from him.
It was a testament to how exhausted Torbek was that he didn’t even make a joking pass at Frost taking off his pants and let the Tabaxi settle him into the warm water that Twig had already prepared while Frost stripped his own robes, pants, and shoes off. He slipped into the bath tub that was really arranged more like a hot tub and reached over to the assortment of soaps and shampoos that were lined up by the rim of the tub.
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Torbek had gone from having the worst time to having the absolute best time.
His family had rescued him from the people that had been torturing him, he was in one of his favorite places at the Inn at the End of the Road, had a great meal with a promise of dessert, and was now getting a full spa treatment from the most attentive Frost.
Frost was methodical in his approach, first dunking Torbek up to the shoulders and gently tipping his head back to get his scalp soaking and then rubbing a gentle soap into it. He was just as careful with Torbek’s face as well, making sure to wipe and scrub every inch. Torbek was really glad it was Frost doing this; he didn’t think he could stand the embarrassment of Mr. Kremy, Gricko would mean well but wouldn’t be nearly as thorough, and Gideon would just sit there while Torbek washed himself and chat with him. That last one didn’t sound too terrible if Torbek was being honest with himself, but the quiet way that Frost was taking care of him made Torbek feel really loved in a way he never had. Quiet and shockingly platonically.
The water was so warm and the scrubbing felt so nice and Torbek just felt so safe that he nearly fell asleep multiple times and Frost was apologetic as he woke him up every time. “We’re almost done,” he said finally after the third such time, “I’m going to send Gricko up to do a more thorough once over of you that’s not on a dingy dungeon floor, OK buddy?” Torbek didn’t even realize that he was fully scrubbed over, but as Frost helped him out of the bath and wrapped a slightly warmed fluffy towel around him, Torbek realized that while he had been dozing in the bath Frost had gone over his whole body as professional as a doctor would and had cleaned Torbek up completely.
He was led over to a wooden bench, still wrapped in the fluffy towel while another was carefully rubbed across his head. A quick Prestidigitate got rid of the rest of the water and Torbek was so grateful to be fully dry that he felt tears well up in his eyes. He hadn’t felt so clean or cared for in either recent or distant memory. Before he was able to get too deep into his feelings though, Gricko popped his head in.
“Heeeeey yo lads!” he said with a grin popping into the doorframe. He hopped over seemingly without a care in the world and passed a chocolate tart over to Torbek's waiting hands. Best. Time. Ever. “Welll let’s ‘ave a lookatcha.” Gricko began circling slowly, muttering to himself and occasionally asking questions. Sometimes Torbek had an answer, sometimes Frost did. Sometimes there was simply a shrug as Torbek was at a loss at the causes of certain injuries.
“Torbek doesn't know,” he said with a whine, “Torbek lost track of things down there. How long was Torbek captured for?”
“Eighteen days.” Frost's voice resembled his name, icicles practically dripping from the words until he shook his head and took a deep breath. When he spoke again it was with the cadence that Torbek was familiar with. “You were gone from us for eighteen days, Torbek. I am so sorry that it took so long.”
Torbek held his hands up and shook them. “No no, it's ok, that's nothing, Torbek is old hat at being held captive and being tortured, barely a blip!” but he could tell immediately from how the other guys went still that that was the wrong thing to say. “Ahh… Torbek is sorry, dark humour is probably not appropriate right now… But it's really ok! You guys did your best and found Torbek really fast, Torbek is suuuuuper grateful that his family found him.” He grinned wide and gave a thumbs up.
For his part, Frost simply sighed and took up a bottle of ointment to start bandaging the Witchlight scars. Gricko tried a little more healing magic but when that didn't do anything new he smiled tightly. “Whelp, that's about all I can do at this point! I'll go down and let the lads know that you're doin’ awlrigh! An’ that room Twig set us up in is miiiighty fine if I do say so meself!” his voice was shaking a little from what Torbek guessed was suppressed anger and he bounced out, looking back and smiling again as he went out the door.
Frost was silent still as he finished bandaging everywhere that needed tending to. Once he was done he rested a hand on Torbek's head. “Look, Torbek. We were fighting tooth and nail to find you. As much as these last eighteen days have been stressful and horrible for you, it has also been very bad for us as we faced so many obstacles trying to find you. I understand you might wish to assuage our guilt with humour, I don't think the guys, especially Kremy and Gideon, will take it well at all.”
“Torbek knows, Torbek is sorry,” he leaned up into the hand on his head. “It was an accident, Torbek will save the jokes for when everything isn't so fresh.”
There was that little smile on Frost's face again. He scratched Torbek's head which was a delightful sensation and then walked over to what Torbek thought was just a big pile of towels to pull out a big fluffy robe. “Thank you for understanding,” he said as he walked over. He helped Torbek into the robe and tied it. “Kremy wants to go over what we found and learn what you might know about things. Do you feel up to that?”
Before Torbek could even answer a yawn overtook his body followed by a big stretch. Frost just shook his head fondly and said “In the morning then.” as he led Torbek out into the bedroom. The rest of the gang hadn't come up yet so Torbek squeaked in glee and dove into the pile of blankets and pillows in the sunken mattress. He looked over to Frost who was busying himself by the hot chocolate station with two mugs.
Tomorrow they'd go over everything. Whatever information they could glean and come up with a plan. Tomorrow they'd scheme and plot and get revenge. Tonight though, Torbek thought as the door opened and the rest of the gang barreled in, Hootsie jumping into the bed with him immediately. Tonight he was surrounded by his family and safe.