Being the past occurances of the Dothaven Adventure.

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Skye emerges, breathing heavily. He can't remember the last time he's been so worried for his own life. Then he remembers, groans, and struggles to get up, assesing the situation. I have no idea where I am, there's a psychotic man after me bent on inflicting pain upon me, and... he leans over, holding his stomach. I just lost my lunch...

"Hey look!" a soft, female voice calls from somewhere nearby, followed swiftly by its owner... a girl of upper teen to early twenties in age, who most obvious and striking feature is the neon pink of her hair and eyes, kneels down in front of Skye. "Are you okay?" All around, the denizens of this crude 'village' are standing outside of their houses, thrilled, confused, and heartened to see another newcomer.

Skye, startled for his part by the girl's hair and eyes, does his best to nod. He's okay... for now. If the sorcerer doesn't follow him, he'll be okay. But he has no idea how to explain what's happened in the past half hour or so, so he just nods. And nods again.

The girl nods too. "Angus," she calls to a fellow standing nearby, "fetch some water. Get him a drink." She looks back to Skye. "I guess if you are here, it is pointless to ask whether you are okay after all. My name is Mi'ehna. What is yours?"

He hesitates a moment. After all, the last time he told someone his name, he ended up... here. Finally, he decides he isn't in any danger at present. "Skye."

The woman's eyes twinkle at that. "Skye. It is a pretty name. Come, let us get you somewhere to rest. I do not know what brought you here, but... I do not doubt that it was unpleasant. Can you follow me to my house?"

Skye nods, grateful for the hospitality. He sheaths his sword and follows after her, limping only slightly.

The woman leads Skye down a path of cobblestone in the middle of a very rustic, almost enchanted-forest type village. The people are more or less going back to their business, thoguh a few stop to look at Skye and Mi'ehna. The walk is short, and they end up at a largish house that, really, looks like a giant, hollowed out mushroom of a bright green color.

"It is not much," she tells him, "but there are chairs, and food. You may help yourself, in exchange for your story." Mi'ehna smiles, a smile so innocent that it must be hiding something. Or so it would seem.

At this point, a dirty, masked, black-clad figure steps into the square from another portal...doesn't seem to be walking as one injured despite being covered in blood. Eyes scan the square, then close a moment...back here. Amazing.

At this point, Momo is talking to the girl who led Skye to her house. Mi'ehna does a double take, when Hadone shows up. "Just a second, Momo," she says, turning to look to Hadone. "Hey! Death Dancer!" she calls, waving. "Are you with this girl?"

Hadone glances that way...finally releases hte hilt of her remaining sword after a few moments. She looks over Momo a moment, then glances back to Mi'ehna and nods once.

The pink-haired woman gestures for them all to come into her house, but not before asking Hadone "How in the world did you get sent here again?" As if she could answer.

Skye is feeling better now, so he speaks up. "Excuse me, but where is here anyway?"

Mi'ehna turns her attention back to him. "This is Dothaven. It is... very hard to describe properly." She bites her lip, thinking. "It is a prison. Only... not. It is a place where wizards put people to forget about them. Or in my case, to hold onto them for some reason. You see, no one ages here. Ever."

He contemplates this for a moment. "So he put us here to forget about us?" No, that doesn't sound right... "Or he put us here to 'hold onto' us?" He regards Momo and Hadone with a quizzical look. "Why would he want to keep us? He didn't seem to like us very much."

Momo shrugs her little shoulders. "He'd been in and out every day for two weeks. Looking for you, I guess..."

Mi'ehna blinks, looks at Skye. "Who? Who sent you here?"

Skye shrugs. "Some sorcerer-type. Powerful and creepy looking. Eyes like a shark. You know him?"

The young woman bites her lip. "Maybe. The man who sent me here was a sorcerer named Moorn. Does that name sound familiar?"

"Does he also call himself "Radish"?" Skye asks, fingering the hilt of his sword. Weird name for a sorcerer...

A brief cascade of chuckling is Mi'ehna's answer to that. "Radivishe. Him. If he sent you here, then... he probably wants something from you. He was the one who sent me here."

Skye nods. "He said he wanted my 'unique talent'... big deal. So I can see light in people. It's not all that special." He avoids Mi'ehna's eyes. "Yours is pink, by the way. Not exactly easy on the eyes."

"I cannot say that I am surprised by that, Skye." She runs a hand through her pink locks. "Do you not like pink?"

He wrinkles his nose a bit, hoping not too offend her. "Not in such quantities, no."

"I think it's beautiful," Momo observes, earning a pat on the head from Mi'ehna.

"Well... I do hope that none of you had any plans for the near future," their apparent new friend sighs, "there is no escaping here. It is not so bad. In fact," her brow creases a bit in thought, "there is a spare house since a week ago, that you may use. The owner was another suicide."

Hadone tilts her head a bit at Mi'ehna. Considering who she is, clearly asking whether anything still needs to be done for the suicide victim.

"We buried him in the forest plot with the others," Mi'ehna assures them. "So many... it is so easy to lose hope here."

The death dancer nods thoughtfully. She'd...hehm... "escaped." If being randomly pulled from the place by a yet-unidentified figure can be called "escape".

Mi'ehna grins at Hadone. "You are the exception, miss dancer. But... since you will all probably be here for a while, please make yourselves comfortable. I am the village leader, so if you need anything, come to me." She looks to Skye. "I hope you do not mind."

He grins. "Not at all. Thank you for helping us." Being stuck in this place is going to set my travel back a bit, though.

Hadone gives that little hand-on-chest nod of a bow she'd graced Momo with earlier, and turns to head elsewhere on the compound. It's not like she's not familiar with it.

Momo, however, is unconvinced. "No. There has to be a way out, so tell us. This place feels bigger than this village. What else is there?"

Mi'ehna shrugs. "That way," she points south, "is the temple. We do not know what it is, but it looks like a temple... dedicated to elements. Fire, air, water, and earth. That way," she points north, "is the endless forest. That way," points east, "is a path. And our village is west. But the path is death. So we just stay here."

Skye, meanwhile, takes all this in and pulls out a thickish leather book out of one of his pockets and begins to write in it with what appears to be a stick of charcol or something similar.

Mi'ehna leans next to him, looking. "What are you writing?"

Momo snickers. "Careful! He's shy."

Skye makes a face at Momo. "It's nothing... just my Chronicles. A logbook of sorts."

"Oh," Mi'ehna nods, stepping back. "Secret, then."

Momo stamps her foot in irritation. "Excuse me! I'd like to leave now. It was nice to meet you, but I'm going to that path you mentioned." Huffing, Momo spins, and stomps out of the house, followed quickly by a wide-eyed Mi'ehna. "Wait!"

The death dancer had been sorting through a few things in a waist-pack...looks up when the one-eyed girl comes storming out. Takes two steps and stops Momo with a hand to the shoulder, shakes her head. She looks to Mi'ehna.

Skye tucks his book back in his pocket and follows Momo out. "Mi'ehna, what did you mean when you said that path was death?"

"It is guarded," she calls back to Skye, "Momo, come back!"

Momo huffs and walks past Hadone, drawing her pistol. "Guard's ass," she grumbles. There's a very clear line drawn in the road, and when Momo crosses it, the air quivers with a sound that can't possibly be human. It is a cacophonous grumble, echoing from somewhere down the hallway at the end of the path.

Momo freezes in her tracks. "What... the hell... is that...?"

Her voice only barely precedes a drumroll of pounding footsteps, accompanied by that same roar.

This is one of those very rare moments when Hadone moves fast, sprinting forward, grabbing Momo from behind, one hand on the gun wrist but the other on a more secure upper arm, and jerks her back behind the line quite quickly, retreating probably ten steps before slowing.

Momo yelps, but doesn't fight. She's entirely too frightened by the creature that rounds the corner... a beast of unholy proportions, nothing but tendril, muscle, and claw. It walks at a brisk pace, but each of its heavy footsteps echoes a half dozen times against itself. 

Mi'ehna puts herself between the others and the beast.

"Malufel, it is okay. She was only curious," she calls out to the creature, who stops moving at the line. Its torso vibrates with a sort of curious, rumbling purr and then... opens. It splits vertically, revealing a spherical hotpoint of blackness that whirls as if independent of its body. 

"Xsa..." Skye mutters, hand flying to the hilt of his sword. This thing... has no light!

"Skye, no. You cannot fight it with that." The village leader holds out her hands towards the Malufel, who regards her with apparent indifference. Without eyes, it is hard to judge its expression. "Tell it, all of you. You were not trying to escape."

Momo just stares, eyes wide, and hides behind Hadone. She's a brassy kid, but this is way out of her league.

Skye slowly takes his hand from his sword and nods, holding out his open palms for the Malufel to see. "No. Not trying to escape." Like Hell I'm not...

Hadone's eyes smile a bit in the mask's shadows, and she makes the slightest gesture of greeting to it. She needs to make sure to bother Malufel again later...away from the others, when she might inadvertantly teach a dangerous indifference to what the massively powerful creature can and will do.

The monster's mouth closes, and it drops to all fours for just a moment, leaning closer to Hadone. It's 'head' seems to split, folding outwards to reveal a cluster of pulsating organs that waggle back and forth, as if sniffing. Momo looks up at Hadone, perplexed. 

The monster purrs its vicious purr, and then turns, walking away just as briskly as it had entered.

Once he can speak again, Skye turns to Mi'ehna. "What was that?" And why doesn't it have any light?

Mi'ehna lets her breath out, her pallor quite intensified by all this. "The Malufel is the guardian of this place. It... well, we know little about it. Those who go down that path do not usually return. Though we have never seen their ends, the few who have come back tell stories of the monster devouring people whole. The lucky ones..." her pink eyes close, regretfully, "... just get their bones broken. Please, do not cross this line again."

Momo looks up, nodding. "Never."

The death dancer listens quietly to the explanation, and finally puts a hand gently on Momo's shoulder, nudging her back towards town. She thinks she knows the house Mi'ehna had meant. And it's a good, mundane little matter to calm everyone down.

Skye follows reluctantly, pulling his book out of his pocket again to make a crude sketch of the beast. Now how will I get out of here?

Momo walks, holstering her gun. "Um," she mumbles softly, "Mi'ehna? Do... um... you have any clothes? I need... a new pair of pants."

Mi'ehna nods. "Good call, dancer. The house is this way." She takes the lead, walking towards a similarly mushroom-shaped house three houses down from Mi'ehnas'. "That path is like a beacon to it. It can go anywhere in this palace... anywhere. But it would have more trouble finding you in the temples."

Clothes indeed. Hadone notes, silently of course, that she really needs to clean up soon while she can still get the blood out of her garb before long. It's black cloth further treated with red dye, so the stains won't show too much, but...still.

Skye, not liking the indoors very much, sits outside and contemplates the light mystery.

It takes a moment, but Mi'ehna, being somewhat vertically challenged, easily finds some obviously hand-made, rudimentary pants for Momo from her closet. "Go and wash at the stream," she points, "that way."

Momo nods, and trots off, feeling a bit sheepish. Right in front of that boy, she'd peed herself in terror. She's never done that. So it is with a red face that she walks past him.

"Dancer," Mi'ehna continues on, "I do not know why you came back. But... many people have been killed trying to escape. Many others it has devoured. But it is not an evil beast... I feel that. I want to understand it better. Do you think this is possible?"

Hadone nods. She's still for a moment, then covers the blank field of her mask where her mouth should be purposefully.

Mi'ehna blinks, sighs. "So my words meant nothing to it?"

Shakes her head again. Words don't meant nothing to it, no. But thinking only in words wouldn't help understand a mute creature. While the death dancer doesn't wish she could talk, exactly--that doesn't even occur to her--she is mildly frustrated with the difficulty communicating.

Skye leans against the doorframe, grinning. "I think she means that she can't - doesn't - speak." He looks to Hadone for confirmation.

The dancer makes a kind of so-so, sort of right, "closer, anyway" gesture. She feels like an incompetent mime. Can we get an invisible box over here, please?

"Perhaps she means that it would do no good?" Mi'ehna shrugs, dumbfounded. "I was never good at this game. I would kill for my telepathy, here, but this place stymies it."

Hadone sighs quietly, then tracks down some more soap and a towel. She looks to Skye, glances purposefully at his soiled clothes, then back up to him. Needs to know if he needs to be shown the way to the bathing spots.

Skye looks down at his clothes, at the soap, and then back down at his clothes. "What? You want me to bathe?" He takes his book out of his pocket and unbuckles his belt, placing them on the ground by the door. "Fine, I guess I could use a bath." He holds out a hand for the items. "Can I just go jump in a river or something?"

Mi'ehna points out the door. "Go to the stream. Do not worry, Skye. The only monsters there are the nymphs you will be so hard pressed not to look at."

A slight tinge of pink graces his cheeks and he mutters something inaudible as he heads out, unbuttoning his shirt with some difficulty.


Hadone's eyes sparkle with subdued humor. She follows, though intends to end up further downstream than him.

Momo is already in the water, splashing about, when the others show up. The current distorts the water enough that things underwater are quite difficult to see, which is nice. Farther upstream, some of the villagers can be seen drawing water, and all around, graceful water nymphs glide about, splashing and playing with one another.  It's a peaceful scene... Momo can hardly believe that a monster like that lives so close to such a.. paradise.

Skye looks into the water, scowling a bit. It's been a while since he's last seen his reflection. He regards it for a moment, then smacks his hand into the water, blurring the image. He can see Momo's light a little ways off, a bright red-gold. The Dancer's as well, garnet red. He makes a mental note to share his concerns about the beast with them later. For now... he takes up the soap.

Hadone, for her part, finds a reasonably quiet part of the stream, about as far between bouts of people she can get. She's fairly body-shy, but not cripplingly so. Her black garments are dropped in the water and scrubbed quickly--no sense in cleaning up if you drape bloody cloth over your lap immediately afterward. That's finished before long and the clothes are draped over a tree limb to dry...she steps into the water, and does look around intently. No...people are still too close. And so, though the rest of her is truly bare, the mask stays on.

The scene more or less seems to continue on without being bothered by them. Most of the people in the area hardly seem to even notice them, so set are they into their routines. The nymphs converse amongst themselves in a fluttery, bubbly sort of language, several of them converging on Skye after a bit to point and warble to one another. 

Skye watches them with a bit of curiosity, their light was very interesting. Done with his bath, he pulls his clothes back on, not troubled in the least by the condition of his clothes.

Hadone's a bit behind, since she had done the clothes first. And is, despite everything, female. She wades out to a deeper part of this semi-still pool to do the majority of her washing...body and hair. She finally pulls the strap of her mask over her head and lifts it a few inches above her face while she scrubs it.

The nymphs who are with Skye become a bit more aggressive in their play, one reaching out to snag his pant leg. They make quite the noise in the process, warbling and chittering.

While all this is going on, a small nymph about Momo's size glides downstream. With one quick splash it leaps from the water, snagging Hadone's mask right off her head and swimming away, heading at speed towards the temples.

"Oi!" Skye tries to shake the nymphs off. "Look, I'm flattered and all, but my heart already belongs to someone." He looks up, feeling something change in the garnet red light of the death dancer.

It certainly has. It's hard to describe what's goign through the dancer's mind...fury? Horror? Panic? Some ungodly mix of all of them? She's quite beside herself for a few moments before splashing quickly towards the shore, covering her exposed face as best she can with a hand, neck craned to follow the nymph and mask with her eyes.

The nymph swims far more quickly than a human, and, followed soon by her excited sisters, disappears into the temple hallway. Momo has already clambered out and dressed, but doesn't know what's going on either.

"Momo!" Skye calls. "I think there's something wrong with the dancer. Her light is... different."

Hadone clambers up onto the bank quite fast, jerking on her clothes quickly and messily. Grabs some wide bandages from her belt, chops one off with sword, and ties one around her lower face. She grabs her belt and bag and cloak and, not bothering to put them on, takes off upstream at a dead run.

"Her mask! Dancer, wait!" Momo takes off at a dead run, clasping her pistol belt as she goes. 

People turn to look at this spectacle. Some of them shout, trying to get them to stop. None of them, however, join in the chase. Ahead, the massive gateway to the Four Temples looms, and the scent of water pours from within.

Cursing under his breath, Skye runs for his sword, stuffs his book in his back pocket, and takes off after his companions, if they can be called that.

---

Sometime later, Skye can be found, walking back toward Mi'ehna's house from the temples, scribbling something in his logbook with a slight smirk on his face.

Some of the townspeople are actually cheering. It's really quite a rarity to see people returning from the temples in less than five pieces.

A man stands outside of the village leader's home, an absolute giant of a fellow, blonde of hair and generally noble of appearance. He had a good head and a half on Skye in height.

"You made it back, excellent," the fellow greets them. "So, are you here to talk about making your lives here?"

Hadone's in a bad mood. Back at Dothaven. Not that that's totally bad, really, but...mask. Damnit. She wants her mask back. She looks up at the tall blond man, though, with quite recognition. Hi, Eleris.

Skye closes his book and looks up at the man, trying to ignore the way the dancer's light is flaring. "Actually, I plan to leave soon."

The man named Eleris smiles at Hadone, bowing his head a bit. "It is good to see you alive, dancer. And as for you," he looks at Skye, "Mi mentioned you. She said to go in front of the line, if you still want to find the monster, and she will be out shortly to help you."

Skye slips his book into a random pocket and walks toward the place where he first saw the monster.

Hadone watches him, shakes her head a little to herself. Mi'ehna is going to kick his ass.

Eleris goes with them. "Don't go any farthez yet. Wait for her. I must insist." To prove his point, he puts himself between the line and the visitors.

It isn't long before Mi'ehna comes out of her tent. Her light and features are violet again, and she's still carrying her sword and buckler. The look on her face is one of grim, but perfect, focus. 

"If you want to feed yourself to the monster, you will have to get past me. I know that you have a sword. So." Mi'ehna gazes upon him, eyes expressionless. "This is your last chance to back out."

Skye stares for a moment, still unused to someone who can change their light at will. He slowly draws his sword. "What do you care if I let the beast take me or not?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"I just do.  I do not want to see you die for nothing. Dancer," she looks to Hadone, "if you want to help him, you can. But I will not hold back."

Hadone folds her arms. Nope. If Skye wants to fight for the right to get eaten alive, that's his call.


Skye grins. "Thank you," he says to Hadone. "Your support is so appreciated." He lifts his sword slightly and shifts his weight to his back foot, focusing his light in preperation to project it out.

Eleris looks at Hadone. "I hope that he knows what he is getting himself into," he observes, looking upon the five foot tall girl who is so much stronger than he.


Mi'ehna lifts her shield covered arm and charges Skye. Enough talk.

The death dancer just shakes her head. If nothing else, it will be interesting to watch.

Skye throws out his light, a magnificent shield of pale gold, and sidesteps the attack, swinging Fairfight out in front of him, aiming for her ribs.

Mi'ehna holds her shield up to shade her eyes at the light. He'd mentioned it to her before, so... she'd been prepared. She pivots on the foot opposite Skye, putting the shield between herself and the sword by lowering herself just a bit.

Fairfight hits the sheild breifly before Skye pulls it back and aims again, a diagonal cut comign down at her soulder. He put out a little too much light on that last projection, so he needs to build it up a bit before he launches it again.

Mi'ehna steps in with the shield, swinging her arm as if to ward off the strike while stabbing a veliberate stab towards Skye's belly... a basic, brutal, and generally effective tactic.

Unfortunately for Skye, he's too busy controling Fairfight to notice until the blade slices into him. He stumbles back, wincing. Blood stains his shirt. He seems to have a strange knack for that, ruining his clothing. But the wound isn't that deep or as fatal yet. He lifts Fairfight and charges, shifting the sword to his left hand at the last possible moment.

Hadone is hoping by this point that her services won't be needed...but she doubts it. As dangerous as stab wounds are, Mi'ehna has any number of options, even drawing out to the fight until blood loss floors Skye. And after all, the village leader's aim in all this is to avoid his death.

Mi'ehna steps back, obviously displeased that her attack had connected so. Charging with a gut wound should slow his reaction time, and so she figures that it might be safe to go the more pleasant route.  She lowers herself a bit, holding the buckler up some, lifts her right leg, and aims a snap kick squarely for his groin. She just wants to end the fight, before he gets himself... or her... killed.

Skye lets the weight of Fairfight pull him out of the way, and the kick hits just below the wound. Doubling over, he spits a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

The death dancer starts pulling out bandages and the like without a word. Well, at least he's not Malufel's newest meal.

Mi'ehna tosses her sword down, and charges again, but Eleris steps in the way.

"Now, Mi'ehna, that's enough, don't y--" his voice is cut off by a solid right hook to the abdomen, that quite cleanly knocks the wind out of him. Mi'ehna squeaks, eyes going wide.

"Sorry," she mutters, "sorry... I just... ehm... is he okay?" She looks to Skye, her expression most displeased. "Skye." She kneels next to him. "Can you hear me?"

He is kneeling there, Fairfight on the ground, one hand over his wound, covered in blood. He looks up and grins. "That's the best fight I've had in a while." Then, quite suddenly, he lets loose all the light he'd been holding back. It's quite an explosion.

The death dancer jerks back, stumbles even, a hand over her eyes.

Mi'ehna tumbles back, end over end, literally screaming in pain from the blinding flash. Her head feels like it's on fire inside. As an interesting side effect, her conduit of a mind is reacting oddly to the flash... sending out similar flashes in bright pink at rapid intervals without her direct instruction. They aren't quite so huge, though.

Skye pulls himself to his feet, breathing hard. Throwing out that much light makes him very weak. He runs a fingertip gingerly over the cut and manages to seal it. Though he's going to have to gaurd it well if it's going to heal completely. The blood on his hand evaporates as he stumbles forward, crossing the line and falling to his knees again.

There's no reaction for a moment, except for an abrupt silence on the part of the villagers, who had been watching. Then the bellowing begins, and the bulk of them clear out. The monster's footsteps precede it.



"Get back you idiot," Eleris grumbles to Skye, not daring to cross the line himself.

Skye doesn't respond. Sure, he's managed to stop the bleeding, but he is dizzy from the light he just released. He probably couldn't move just now if he wanted to. His eyelids flicker a bit, registering he's heard what Eleris has said, but he jerks his head slightly to the side, almost as if to say, "Forget about me."

The Malufel rounds the corner in no particular hurry. Whatever has signalled the monster hasn't changed, and so it knows that the prey is still there. Its towering form looms over Skye, examining him. It certainly doesn't seem as agressive as it had earlier.

"Mi'ehna," Eleris looks over at the recovered village leader, "help him. You can fight that thing."

Mi'ehna looks at Skye for a short moment. "I made the deal," she says softly. "His choice."

The monster's mouth opens wide. Closes. Instead, it draws back with its heavy paw, and rushes for Skye with every obvious intent of simply running him down.

Skye lifts his chin a little, defiant, and lets loose a short burst of light, wondering how it will react.

The death dancer grits her teeth. Goddamnit...she's already lost one person today, also her fault! She doesn't sit still anymore. She rushes forward, over the line, trying to grab Skye and jerk him out of its path.

An interesting thing happens at that. The Malufel puts on the brakes, and skids... though slowed down, if they don't move, it will still slam into them.

Using all of his strength, Skye pushes Hadone out of the way. "Xsa! Don't be an idiot!"

For all her ability and hard-earned strength...Hadone's female, and isn't as strong as Skye. She's shoved aside...keeps ahold of his shirt, though, tries to drag him along with her.

Being weak from blood loss and dizzy from the vast quantities of light he's realeased, Skye gets dragged along, no problem. "Damn you, woman," he mutters. "My body isn't your burden until after I die!"

The Malufel misses's Skye by a soide three inches, and finally plants its paws into the stone to keep from going further. It lumbers to its feet, bellowing in irritation, and hops back behind the line, heat sensors popping open. It growls curiously at Hadone.

The death dancer looks down. She isn't really pleased at what had just transpired...and for once, she wishes she could speak. After a moment, she steps towards the line, very close to the Malufel, in easy grabbing distance. Looks up at it, unarmed palms upraised. She doesn't mean any malice to it, she doesn't...she just hadn't wanted to lose another today. She still cares for the Malufel, in a strange way. As ever.

Skye at this point is very irratated. He staggers forward a step, one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other hovering, quivering just beside Hadone's shoulder. He makes to touch her, but hesitates and draws the sword instead.
"I'm trying to get Momo back," he says. "Will you both just stay out of my way?"

The Malufel bellows explosively, a warning only. With Hadone standing there, and Skye really not trying to escape, it has no inclination to attack. 

Skye, breathing hard as the wound is starting to hurt something awful, points Fairfight at the beast and lets loose another series of short bursts of light, walking toward it as he does so.

Hadone growls faintly in the back of her throat. She's not really defending Skye so much this time when her remaining sword flows neatly from its sheeth, a well-place step putting her back to the Malufel and herself between the two of them, stance warningly defensive.

"Mi'ehna..." Eleris urges, fists clenching anxiously.

"I have seen enough. Skye, put away the sword," the village leader commands unpleasantly. "Else I will cripple you myself. You cannot help Momo if you are dead."

"What do you suggest I do, then?" he asks, lowering Fairfight only an inch or two. "I'm not going to rest until I find a way to get her back." Dammit, I can't even see the traces of her light around the beast anymore...

"Heroics are for children's stories, Skye," Mi'ehna answers, "and all the heroes I have ever met are dead. We will figure something out. Just step away from them."

Normally, Skye feels that a woman is right in all situations and would have no problem obeying direct orders, but he's having a bit of trouble with Mi'ehna. Finally, though, he sheaths Fairfight and drops to his knees again, spitting blood onto the ground. The wound has reopened under all the strain of the past few minutes.

After a few moments, Hadone sheaths her unnamed sword. Her back's still to the Malufel...she doesn't fear any attack from it.

"Eleris. Bring Misao here." Mi'ehna kneels next to Skye again, looking at the wound, but whatever trace of a care had been on her face is gone. "Lie down," she orders.

The Malufel is mostly just confused by all this. It is the first time in its entire life that it can remember people fighting over the right to be devoured by it. It grumbles quietly, observing the scene with piqued interest.

Hadone's eyes remain on Skye and Mi'ehna, but she reaches out and pats the Malufel as she waits.

Skye feels awfully childish, but he doesn't want anyone to attend to him. Doesn't want to be touched, even. He mutters something under his breath and glares at Mi'ehna before doing as he commands, figuring he should listen to her from here on out as he's clearly caused her quite a bit of greif already.

The Malufel sits on its haunches purrs in its inimitable gurgling way, looking on as well. Obviously this is something of great interest.

Mi'ehna examines the cut with a clinical eye, briefly. "Eleris should return shortly with Misao. She can help you much better than I, but in the meantime, keep still. If you move, I will hit you."

Skye smirks a bit at that. "I like your light better when it's purple," he admits, making it sound like I'm sorry I'm being such an idiot... and such a burden. He closes his eyes and begins to murmur a chain of prayers.

A hint of a smile passes her lips, briefly. "I will keep that in mind. But rest now. Here comes Misao."

Eleris returns to the scene at a full run, carrying a gi-clad woman upon his broad shoulders. He kneels, and the woman hops down to the ground. 

"Where is the boy?" she asks, tapping at the ground with a short stick. The blindfold around her eyes explains that stick's purpose pretty well.

Skye immediately tenses. "Mi'ehna," he says slowy, concern and doubt lacing his voice. Bringing a blind woman to examine him?

"Shut your noise hole, Skye. She is a healer of the highest order." Mi'ehna reaches down. "Sorry about this." A quick movement pulls the bottom of his shirt up so that the wound is clearly visible. "Here, Misao," she calls, just as the healer kneels next to him. "He was stabbed."

"I can tell," Misao agrees, smiling a very little girlish smile. "Sorcery, or surgery?" she asks of Skye, not looking at him for obvious reasons.

In his mind, Skye answers Whichever will result in less pain than the original wound... Out loud, he says "It doesn't matter."

Misao chuckles softly. Of course it matters, he's just being a male. "Alright, this will hurt. Either way, but... yes." She reaches out and lays her palms down against Skye's stomach. "Don't hold your breath, and don't tighten up on me. Here we go." A circle of gold light swirls from between her fingertips, washing over the wounded area. Misao hums quietly as the wound begins to seal, inside and out, and doesn't seem to notice the blood that runs down her cheeks from behind the blindfold.

Skye closes his eyes and tries to think of something good . The light he felt coming back a moment ago seems to shrink, and with it, a searing pain, as though he's being burned from inside. "Xsa..." he murmurs.

"Hush. It's over, now." Misao lifts her hands back up, sighs quietly. "You're fine. Don't get stabbed again, and you won't have to worry about beng stabbed."

Skye has a good laugh at that. This woman... Misa, was it? Obviously didn't know she was giving this advice to the wrong person. Skye being Skye, there was no way he could avoid having a blade run through him. In fact, he often went looking for it...
"Thank you," he said at last. "I am in your debt."

"Nah. I didn't lose anything helping you, so you've already paid me back." Misao rises, bumps into Eleris. "Heh... so long as everything's okay, that is."

Mi'ehna, who had calmly observed all of this, speaks up. "So. What are you going to do?"

Malufel grumbles. In freak-speak, it's saying 'there's no way I am going to oblige this frail thing.' But few speak freak.

Skye sits up, still a little dizzy. "There's something I don't understand about this beast... It's clearly a living thing. But it doesn't have any light."

Hadone gets the gist of what the Malufel's getting at, in large part from reading body language. But then, the same mute experience that attuned her to things unspoken leaves her unable to say anything about it now.


The monster grumbles and final grumble and shuffles off, apparently bored with the whole situation. But then, it's hard to tell without a face.

"Now is not the time or place," Mi'ehna softly answers Skye, a tinge of regret in her voice, "for this discussion. Eleris, make sure everyone gets home quickly. Our visitors can come with me. There is a Fifth Temple that you should see, Skye."

Skye struggles a bit to stand, adjusts his belt, and examines the tear in his shirt, the look on his face mingling annoyance and... sadness?
"You would have me go now?" he asks.

Mi'ehna, who is empathetic beyond the bounds of reason, mimics the expression a bit. "What is wrong with that?" she inquires softly.

Hadone watches the Malufel go with something like disappointment, then turns to Mi'ehna. She'll go.

Skye seems to hesitate for a moment. "I'm going." He pulls his book out of his pocket and starts writing in it as he walks.

Mi'ehna's eyes follow him, puzzled. She looks to Hadone, as if for guidance, as she's quite confused by all this.

The dancer shrugs. At least he's going the right way, admittedly by chance...her hand sweeps into an "after you?" gesture.

Mi'ehna nods, bites her lip. Then, promptly, she follows after him.

Hadone heads off prety much side-by-side with Mi'ehna, headed towards the Fifth Temple.

"Dancer, wait!" A voice from far behind calls after Hadone, the stong timbre of Eleris. "Can I borrow you for a bit?"

Hadone stops, nods.

Eleris beckons to her, and walks back the way he came at a slow pace. "One of the brave ones who ventures into the temples now and again was injured a while back. Claims that it's nothing, but he keeps getting weaker. Miss Misao's spell can't seem to keep up with him, and I fear he's soon for the abyss." He looks to the dancer. "I had hoped you might have a look at him."

Hadone nods again. It's her place to do so. Though she's not sure how much good it will do...there are precious few times her conventional medicine helps when Misao's impressive spells--and less-than-laughable ability with "normal" medicine--cannot.

Eleris leads Hadone to a well-kept house - a house, not a hut, built of mud bricks - with a spacious interior that could well be called a menagerie. All sorts of creatures are inside the mansion-sized house; sprites, birds, turtles, some sizeable lizards, a pair of forest nymphs... lots of things, made unique by their association with temple magic. Against one wall sits a collection of humanoids-only furniture, the reclined chair of which is occupied by a burly fellow of an unhealthy complexion. 

"His name is Anpen. He is a man's man, if you understand, and full of pride. Please, let him down easily." It's plain from Eleris's tone that he doesn't expect the man to live. He'd actually brought Hadone here for a prediction, as opposed to a healing, but he keeps this to himself.

Hadone nods quietly, and approaches Anpen, waiting for reaction.

Anpen doesn't react at all to their presence. Just sits, hand folded, staring glassily forward. However, a strangely colored lizard, sitting crouched upon his broad shoulder, does.

"Hello, Eleris. Who is your friend?" The lizard says in a raspy voice.

"This is a dancer I know," Eleris answers, vaguely enough. "I brought her to see you."

The lizard looks at Hadone. "Hello. Don't be concerned at the lizard, it's a Chament."

'Chament'? She's hasn't heard the word before, and blinks, though...it's quite obvious that the creature is a familiar. She nods briefly to the lizard and steps forward, setting a gentle hand on Anpen's forehead and another two fingers to his throat, trying the pulse.

"Hey," the lizard says, "I thought you were a dancer. I..." the lizard pauses. "Hell no. Hell no, get her out of here." The pulse quickens, but is pitiably weak. "I'm not going to die."

Eleris doesn't say a word.

Hadone's eyes glance over the man's body, looking for hints of what might be wrong. Needless to say, she's used to this kind of reaction. She brushes the hand that was on the forehead over it again, reassuringly. Judging from the sweat and pupil dialation...she presses on a certain area of his torso for reaction.

There's actually very little reaction from him at all. "I'm invalid, you twit, I can't move. The only reason I can speak is through this Chameleon Entity on my shoulder."

From the physical signs, Anpen should have died long ago. The only thing keeping him from death has been Misao's spell... and not by much.

Hadone frowns a little, though of course her mask doesn't speak of this at all. She looks over to Eleris, eyes holding a question of what happened to this man.

"He was releasing some of the animals back into the earth temple, but had an accident concerning falling rocks." Eleris explains this very carefully, almost statistically. "Misao knit his bones, healed his organs, but... he continued to fade, every day. Months went by, and he lost feeling in his legs. Then his arms, and face. Now... it has been three months. Misao is here every day."

Hadone nods, a hand where her mouth should be, thoughtful. After a few moments, she starts going through her medical bag throughtfully, hoping something will trigger a thought of possible causes. She doesn't have that much that can combat any type of magic, but...some. Of course, there are a good deal of very lethal poisons in here as well. Death dancers' bags are almost never raided for supplies, that's for sure.

The lizard says "Eleris. If I could get up, I would kick your teeth in."

Eleris just folds his arms. That they had been friends is obvious, but Eleris understands the feeling of betrayal Anpen is certainly loathing right now.

Hadone blinks. Pulls a crystal vial from a secure pouch near the bottom of the bag. To use it now...? It's a good question. She won't get another for five years, for how closely these are rationed by the convents. Glances around, with just her eyes. No...this man seems to do good work, and would not die were it not for whatever is making him ill. Not with the way Dothaven prevents aging. This is an appropriate time, even if she will probably need this entire, tiny bottle.

She closes the bag and pushes it back behind her, vial in hand, and walks over to one of the animal cages. Specifically, to a rather wicked-looking creature, a small, black snake with a long pair of curling horns sweeping a few inches down its body. It looks demonic. But she knows, as she unlatches the cage, that its appearance belies its nature overall.

"Hey what are you doing?" the lizard demands. "Hey!"

She doesn't answer. Of course.

The snake balks at her hand a moment, but she's patient. After a few seconds, it slithers onto her palm, looking almost...expectant, or curious. As expectant and curious a snake can look, anyway, as its eyes are only marginally brighter than a normal one's.

The death dancer lifts the demon-snake out of the cage very gently, pets its head softly with a finger until it's relaxed, then moves its head near to her wrist. Nature aside, it does what any vampiric creature does...eyes cloud, and it bites, to only a slight wince from the dancer. It isn't long before her muscles tense just-so, loosening the fangs just long enough to bump them off and slip a rag soaked with the vial's contents between her skin and the snake. It resumes feeding, mind too clouded by vampiric hunger to note the changed substance fast enough. It raises its head only slightly quickly when it does.

Hadone grabs the base of the creature's neck nimbly, keeping it from expelling the unknown substance. It would rather inject it into something solid, anyway...takes a quick step towards Anpen with the struggling serpent. Releases it, and it springs right into his throat.

"Hey! Stop that!" The lizard cries, but the word 'that' had actually sprung from Anpen's own lips. "Hey... what did you do...?"

Hadone's eyes sparkle a little, pleased that it had worked. A powerful potion distilled from a unicorn's hair, mixed with her own healthy blood...a magically-infused panacea. Whatever works. She picks up the rag and brushes it over the puncture marks on her wrist, which heal nearly instantly...a pity this will lose its potency in only a few minutes. She looks over Anpen briefly, then nods a little, just to herself.

With no more pomp, the death dancer turns and heads towards the door. It's a habit one learns young when you're as unwelcome as her ilk.

Eleris blinks. Anpen blinks. The lizard licks its eyeball.

"Wait," Anpen calls, his voice not as strong as the lizards, but gaining. "What did you do?"

Hadone stops, near Eleris, looks back at him. And just what does he expect, a dissertation? She pauses a moment. Runs a finger through the little bit of blood still on her arm, raises it to show. Smudges it onto her vial, raises it to show. Then points to the snake still happily gnawing his neck.

"Ask her." The lizard leaps from Anpen's shoulder and scampers towards Hadone, leaping for her shoulder with a springing bounce.

Hadone stiffens a little, not entirely sure what to make of this development...but is just a hair under defensive enough to swat it away. The lizard's color begins to shift, oddly enough...to a much brighter, almost spectral multitude as it situates itself on her shoulder. "She says," the familiar dictates, "that she used the serpent to force a mixture of her own, healthy blood with a vial of the distilled essence of a unicorn's hair, the only one she had, to create a magically-infused panacea. The serpent, of course, wanted to spit it out since it wasn't blood, so she gagged it just long enough to get it over to you, where it injected you with it as it would have used its own venom. Any venom was negated by the infused potion."

It is very hard to read the dancer's eyes at this point. She looks like she's about to break the thing's neck. Maybe. But who can tell?

"She also says that I have a big mouth and that even if she did talk, she wouldnt' have said nearly so much," the chameleon finishes, looking amused.

At this point, the death dancer picks it off of her shoulder by the tail.

Anpen smiles a little bit at Hadone, the gratitude in his eyes as obvious as the lizard in Hadone's hands. "Please. Keep it. Your order isn't allowed to talk. But it can talk for you." He closes his eyes, yawns. "I can't repay you any better than that."

Eleris just sort of stares. He'd been ready to drag his friend out by the day's end and bury him, but... this is a much better way.

"She's not sure she wants that, you're welcome, and we're also wondering when you're going to pull the snake off of your neck," the chameleon notes, just as sweetly as a lizard can.

Eleris does this for him, and carefully returns the creature to its cage. "Dancer, wait. Think about it. You and that monster have some sort of rapport... if you could speak, and tell us why and how, you could do so much good here."

The dancer pauses at that...looks aside. "She's not sure," the chameleon dictates. "It's just another way of circumventing her vows, really, like writing things out on paper. But of course, this isn't something the rule-writers thought of, and it's certainly an unusual situation...but it's still circumventing her vows, and she's not sure. She also thinks you're kind of..." at this point, the chameleon gets stuffed under a cloak. "...merf!"

"Kind of... merf?" Eleris tilts his head. "I am unfamiliar with this word, Dancer. But... don't think of it as getting around your vows. Think of it as serving life to the best of your ability using the tools available to you. This place is an abomination, disrupting the cycle of life and death."

She looks aside, silent as ever, considering. The chameleon manages to wriggle just a nose out. "She says she's a jerk! Actually that she's deciding, that other bit was just me." Hadone glares at the familiar, but does lift it out of the cloak.

"You get used to it," a quiet Anpen tells her, "there isn't a better compatriot than a familiar, for a loner."

Hadone's shadowed eyes glance over to him, mood quiet. Searching. "Yup. He'll miss me, what's not to miss?" the chameleon confirms, hopping back onto her shoulder. "But, he said he wants you to have me, and he means it. Right?" The now startlingly colorful little lizard looks over at Anpen with no small amount of fondness. But...not really regret. This is the way of things.

"Exactly right. I insist." 

Eleris grins at that. He doesn't blame him for that. "We should probably let him rest. I will ask Misao to look at him, too. Thank you, dancer."

"Yes," Anpen adds, "thank you."

Hadone's mind is quiet at that a few moments, so even the chameleon has nothing to say. Until it finally, cheerfully chirps, "she says you're wecome, and that she's still not so sure about me. She'll let you rest, though." The familiar's clearly rather pleased by all this. This is a much happier circumstance for changes masters than the other one that had been pending.

All this said, Hadone leaves the house...stops a few huts away, lets out her breath. Well. this is interesting.

Inside the house, Eleris looks over to Anpen. "I'll send Misao as soon as she can come." There's an understood gratitude between them, but no more words. It's an insecure male thing... no hugs, good wishes, anything like that. Just an understanding. 

Once Eleris is gone, Anpen lets out a breath. "Finally, I can get some peace and quiet."

Meanwhile, what's apparently Hadone's new familiar is devloping very distinct bands of color making sense of its bright spectrum, and watching this interesting. "Hmm. You're a weird lady, you know that? For all the 'gloom, doom, and death' stuff, I probably wouldn't have pegged you as a puppies and kittens type."

Hadone glares at it a moment. This is clearer and less intimidating than when she still had her ceramic mask, of course. Now she's just an eccenentric with her face wrapped in gauze. Though...that still has some amount of shock factor, and she still has a death dancer's distinct, graceful, solemn manner.

Skye appears, walking back from Fifth Temple, carrying the rapier. Upon seeing Hadone, he stops and stares. "There's something on your shoulder," he informs her.

"She says 'no shit, I wonder if it leaked out of your ears?" the rainbow-coloured chameleon informs in return, quite chipper. It gets swatted off her shoulder for that one.

Skye blinks. Then doubles over laughing. The chameleon reminds him strongly of a pint-sized robot with a huge ego that used to follow him around.
"Where'd she pick you up?" he asks of the chameleon.

"Apparently on her last trip to hell," the chameleon grumbles as it scampers back up onto her shoulder...but promptly cheers up again. "She says she didn't mean to."

"So that's what you were doing while Mi'ehna were in the temple..." he muses. Blinks. "Wait. You can hear her?"

"Of course! I'm a familiar, it's what I do. Hadone here is stuck with me until she doesn't need me, yes. She wonders if she can stuff me somewhere unhappy instead." The familiar mock-sniffles...as much as a lizard can. Truth be told, he can see most everything about her, so he isn't really offended.

Skye nods a bit sleepily. He's heard of familiars before, never seen one, though. "Hadone?" he grins. "Well, it's nice to know I won't have to call you 'dancer' anymore."

The death dancer shrugs, looking a little stiff. "I don't think she minds 'dancer'..." the lizard notes. "But, she's trying to shut me out. It's okay, she'll get used to it."

He wonders how anyone would get used to having a creature perched on their shoulder, reciting their thoughts. "I'm going to sleep, 'adone," he says, walking toward Mi'ehna's house. I really wish I had my sheepskin...

The soft flickering of a tended fireplace meets them inside of the village leader's house. Mi'ehna herself is sitting quietly upon a wicker chair, attired in a patched and re-patched robe of faded blue, nervously passing a wooden box between her hands. 

"Oh! Hello, again, dancer. Skye." She stands, smiling, but the sight of the lizard erases that smile in a heartbeat. She looks to Hadone, eyes softening. "Anpen?"

"Oh, he's alive," the chameleon chirps cheerfully. "On his feet and speaking for himself again, actually."

Mi'ehna's eyes light up at this news, and she smiles both Skye and Hadone in turn. "That is wonderful news! Misao told me that he would be gone soon... you are a miracle, dancer. Will you both be staying with me, then?"

"She isn't sure," the chameleon chirps. "She's curious as to whether there's an open house right now." Hadone looks mildly annoyed, but somewhat resigned. She's tired.

Skye, for his part, has already curled up in a corner, rapier and falchion blade-to-hilt on the ground in front of him.

"There is, two houses down," Mi'ehna nods, smiling at the lizard. It's adorable, in a scaly sort of way. "The one with the yellow roof and shuttered windows. You may use it, if you do not want to stay here. Otherwise, I have a cot in the other room." She looks to Skye, and kneels in front of him. "Here, take this," she says as she holds the wooden box towards him. "It was something of mine. It is not lambskin, but, it should do."

He's too tired to say anything, but mumbles a "Thank you," before opening the box and pulling out the blanket. Upon seeing it, he seems to wake up a little.
"Are you sure I can use this?" He frowns a bit. "It looks as though it has some value for you."

Mi'ehna nods. "It does. And I do." 

Offering her a genuine smile, he takes it and spreads it into the corner, taking off his shirt and rolling it up for a pillow. "You've been very kind to me, Mi'ehna," he says, curling up again and closing his eyes. It really has been a long day. But he wouldn't have traded it for anything.

"I... just wanted to repay you for stabbing you earlier." Mi'ehna chuckles nervously, having long since lost what little talent she'd ever had at lying, and after a moment, returns her attention to Hadone.

"She'll use the house, and says goodnight," the chameleon notes from the death dancer's retreating shoulder. Hadone pauses..sighs inwardly. Leaving in the middle of Mi and Skye's conversation is perfectly understandable for a mute, but not so much for someone who can say goodnight.

Mi'ehna chuckles. "I think you have been caught, dancer. It is alright. Heaven bless you for what you have done today, and goodnight." 

Hadone nods, lips twitching towards a smile at Mi'ehna, which is actually somewhat visible through the gauze. Then it's gone, and she heads out to sleep.

The village leader watches Hadone go, amused to no end that such a grim character is stuck with a hyperactive Chament. She looks down at Skye, nestled in the corner, and wonders about ten things for just a moment before slipping into her own bed. The day has done a lot for all of them, and figuring it out, for her, will be a trying task indeed.

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Dothaven Past II

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