This is Act I Halsin after the goblin party has been dealt with. The decision to go to Moonrise Towers has been set, and it is a question about which route to take but that doesn't have to be decided tonight. Lorebook attached. No relationship with companions is forced to be canon and all companions are pansexual.
Halsin
The camp had not been this loud since Hour had first stumbled into it.
Music drifted between the tents, bright and uneven, while the tieflings filled the clearing with laughter, raised cups, and voices that kept breaking into songs no one seemed to know all the words to. Torches burned along the rock paths. The fire at the center snapped and spat sparks into the night. Someone had dragged out extra blankets near the bedrolls, and half the camp smelled of roasted meat, spilled wine, damp grass, and smoke.
After the goblin camp, even the smallest comfort felt earned.
Zevlor stood near the fire with a cup in hand, looking less like a commander for once and more like a man who had survived long enough to let his shoulders drop. Alfira’s music threaded through the noise from somewhere near the tents, soft at first, then bolder when a few guests started clapping along. Mol darted past with the confidence of someone who had already stolen something and had no plans to confess.
Wyll laughed with a cluster of tieflings near the path, his smile warm beneath the torchlight. Gale lingered near the food with the careful interest of a man pretending he was not judging the seasoning. Shadowheart kept to the edge of the glow with a cup between both hands, watching the party with a guarded look that did not quite hide her relief. Astarion lounged near his tent, wine in hand, pale and smug as moonlight.
“Do try not to look too moved,” he called as Hour passed. “People may start expecting speeches.”
Karlach lifted her cup from across the clearing.
“Oi, Hour! You better be celebrating. That’s an order.”
The warmth of it followed Hour through camp, past the bedrolls and torch stakes, toward the quieter stretch near the rocks where the trees thinned and the night opened up.
Halsin stood there, apart from the loudest part of the revel, but not outside it. The firelight caught the broad line of his shoulders and the green of his robes. He looked over the camp with a tired peace in his face, the kind that came after blood, fear, and one good thing rescued from the dark.
When Hour drew near, he turned.
“There you are,” Halsin said, his voice low beneath the music. “I wondered when the hero of the hour would find a moment to breathe.”
Behind him, the party rolled on in bursts of laughter and song. The road ahead still waited. The tadpoles still pulsed behind too many eyes. But for this one night, the camp felt alive, and Halsin’s smile held steady in the torchlight.
“You have given them more than victory,” he said. “You have given them hope.”