Basil (Basil [D&D])

After waking up on a misty roadside with nary a memory in his head, a long loop of red thread wrapped around his throat like a collar, and an increasingly incoherent letter to tell him such nuanced details as his name and a few important people in his life, Basil meets his soon-to-be new friends. They are all equally lost in the Mists and on the run from something, with their own mysteries afoot, and Basil is just a simple creature. He gets picked up on the side of the road by a couple friendly people (and a couple not so friendly people) and he wants to help them out. He's not going to get far on his own in the state he's in anyway.

The Lost Boys, as they quickly come to be known, first arrive in Dementlieu. The opening act of their journey is a lot of Basil cementing himself as the weird one who doesn't know what he's doing, but he's got a weird sort of charm about him anyway. He has a book that is confirmed by Talia's uncle to be made of his own skin. He is furthermore confirmed to be a warlock in a moment of high tension where he casts Eldritch Blast, which Devin calls him out on... relatively discreetly.  

After a handful of shenanigans involving a wax house, a shrieky soprano, and an angel (of the opera) they finally meet Firan, the man who maybe called some of them here in the first place. He informs the Lost Boys that according to his visions, they are the ones who are going to save the Mists, which have been shattering for some reason he does not care to explain at the moment in the wake of the masquerade, the dreadlord, and Talia's sister, Renarin. The city is burning. The Lost Boys escape and head to Borca to lay low.

Everything goes wrong in Borca.

Basil begins to have unusual dreams about a grand library that are a comfort to him, and wakes having sewn his mouth shut in his sleep. The group panics muchly, and Turroc cuts the stitches open - Basil hocks up a page from his skin book with writing on it that suggests Basil's patron is looking for him. Deeply worrying news to Turroc, who is a former warlock himself, but despite his worrisome actions Basil is a little bit intrigued by the prospect, only tempered by the party's caution.

This is all well and good, but then Basil gets arrested trying to bewitch some guards who are whipping children in a prisoners' procession, and this goes very poorly. Though the Lost Boys attempt to fight, they are quickly outmatched, and only Basil and Turroc are arrested. That night, Basil has another dream, and follows red thread into dark, decaying corners of the library. A beast that is not his patron awaits him, more powerful and terrifying than anything he's encountered so far. When he wakes, he is screaming. This does not help with the being arrested thing, but it sure is confirmation that this thing knows where they are now and that it's coming for them.

Anyway, Basil and Turroc get brought to court and make twin escapes. They nearly bolt but after Basil is knocked out by a critical hit that pushes him into death saving throws, Turroc makes one of the decisions of all time and tries to tug on Basil's collar to summon his patron. It works.

That patron possesses Basil, and rises to his feet with many crimson eyes, and he opens the void. Everyone in the courthouse who isn't Basil dies. Including Turroc.

Basil, unconscious, has a chat with this beast in a different, more peaceful void - he confirms his name is Casimir (but, keeping it real, Basil calls him Cas), and Basil passes on that he's lost his memories. Cas isn't best pleased by this, and is even less pleased when he lets on that Turroc's gone and gotten annihilated and Basil protests that he must bring him back - Turroc is one of his only friends, after all. Basil bargains away his floating ribs and then some so that Cas can bring Turroc back to life. Then he passes on the news about the monster in the library, and Cas is, quietly, afraid.

It would be well enough if that was the end of it, but apparently his friends went and got themselves infected by hallucinatory zombie mushrooms while the drow were getting arrested, so. Now they've got to go appeal to Ivana Boritsi for a cure! And along the way Basil talks to Cas, now a resident of the amulet he's been wearing, confirming that they had kind of a complicated... relationship. Romantically speaking. Too much info about his past tends to make Basil's nose bleed, so they leave it at that For Now, and fuck Paul nasty instead.

Ivana agrees to help them, so they stay at the Boritsi estate fora while, where there's a spa day and a library and several revelations - namely that Basil is actually a father, and has a few siblings. That night, after another little sewing session with Cas, Basil remembers how to summon his familiar. Enter Aglaya, a snooty beast of a cat with four gleaming eyes. He also remembers his brother Benny with some detail, and regards him fondly, but does have to admit he's kind of a dick.

The Lady Boritsi finally kicks their asses out, no fondness for any of them except for Talia because she literally hates men, sending them on an errand to deliver a gift to her cousin Ivan as payment for saving everyone from mushroom hell. That's great and all, so off the Lost Boys go! On the way over Basil and Turroc kiss, and also they do blood sacrifice to get Cas a semi-mortal vessel. Everyone pitches in except Rhea, and Basil does double. Surprise, Cas is here now. His magicks are limited because he's cut off, but Basil is foolishly, dopily in love with him anyway.

Arriving at Ivan's sees them thrown into a birthday party that ends in carnage. The man is a mad old noble and the party has to make a hasty escape after an encounter with a minotaur and the man in question leaves them beaten and bloodied. In order to help the party escape, Basil feeds Cas his hand.