What can you tell me about "Loving a Difficult Person"? Sounds interesting~
That is a story about Barcus Wroot, Lia and Cal! Most of it is the three discussing loving someone who isn't always nice (Wulbren and Rolan, respectively, with efforts made to explore the differences between the two and why Wulbren is toxic and Rolan is not).
Most of the story focuses on them, although I open and end it with scenes involving the tiefling refugees. The beginning is under the cut!
Barcus barely sidestepped two tieflings rushing through the open gate, working together to roll a log.
"Sorry!" one yelled. "Didn't see you!"
"Pandirna's not exactly in control of this thing!" shouted the other, like he wasn't also contributing to its speed and direction.
"I'm looking for—" Barcus started.
"Can't talk, Kaldani will not be happy!" Pandirna waved vaguely over the bridge, where a tiefling paced back and forth. A tiefling settlement in the middle of the woods was not what Barcus expected to find, and frankly he was getting tired of the unexpected.
Dodging two more barrels, Barcus reached the bridge and said, "Barcus Wroot, at your service. Have you seen a svirfneblin called Wulbren?"
The tiefling blinked and said, "Kaldani. Charmed, I'm sure. And no. Not unless he's a druid who is also an arsehole."
"Not a druid, no."
"Guex! I said logs. Does that look like a log to you?"
Barcus looked at the clearing below, where a tiefling dragged a large branch, putting on a good show of struggle. He looked to where the tieflings were holding flame to the logs. He looked at the long nails and spikes driven into the walls. He said, "Ah! You're reinforcing the gate."
"Aye. Goblins are in this wood. A party reached our gates the other day." She glanced behind him, to a grave so fresh the flowers hadn't wilted. "It's only a matter of—'
"BARREL!" someone shouted.
Kaldani and Barcus threw themselves aside as a barrel careened down the hill, right towards an open campfire. Another tiefling leapt into action, raising his arms and shouting a spell. With a crack of thunder, a wave of force hit the barrel and brought it to a stop. Everyone let out a breath of relief.
"Aw, I wanted to see it explode," pouted a child.
"Gan! Get back to your training," ordered Kaldani.
"Explode?" Barcus's eyes lit up. An explosive material that was stable enough to bounce down a hill? Stable enough to withstand a spell? Wulbren would sell his ears for that! "What is it?"
"Oil."
"Oh. So not explosive? Merely flammable."
Kaldani shrugged. "I suppose. Listen, it's only a matter of time before they come for us. You should get out while you still can."
"As should you," Barcus observed. "You're carbonizing the wood and doing excellent work with the materials you have, but they will have iron. Real explosives. If you stay here you will lose."
"We have children. Elderly. Injured. Everyone who's here is willing to die protecting them."
Goblins, eh? Barcus looked down, where tieflings were gathering barrels of oil. He looked back at Kaldani.
"Asharak's idea," she said. "We'll bury them at the entrance and shoot fire arrows at them."
"That won't do you much good. It'll splash a little, and light on fire, and that's about it. What if I could make it splash a lot?"
