RP:Enthralling Experiments: Don't Lose Your Head

Part of the Dissonance Theory Arc

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Khitti and Quintessa finally find out what that little present from Kasyr is: one of Xicotl's tentacles. Unfortunately, while working on their experiments, the twins Naphtali and Asher (Xicotl's lieutenants) ambush them, sending them to the Shadow Plane for the final fight between both sides.

Quintessa's Laboratory, Vigilanti Semper, Venturil

Khitti waited for Quintessa to return to the lab, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation. But, the annoyance wasn’t at her daughter--it was at a massive crate that jumped about every now and then, that Kasyr had the Syndicate’s Unseen bring not only to the Warrior’s Guild headquarters, but the lab as well. What the hell exactly was in this crate? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, but she was going to find out, seeing as how the guild’s new leader gave her the order to figure out how to use it to their benefit. Whatever the hell ‘it’ was. When Quintessa returned, Khitti would sigh and gesture towards the crate as she went to grab a crowbar. “So, Kasyr and Magik brought us a present and Kasyr wants us to figure out how to use it to our advantage. The problem is, I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a thrall because he would’ve said so otherwise.” The same gesturing hand motioned towards the cage that their most recent thrall was added to. “And that guy’s been going nuts since it’s been down here.”

Quintessa had been in a daze for a while, distracted, preoccupied, so in an effort to cure her of this melancholy she decided to take a quick walk around the Warrior’s Guild headquarters to get a bit of fresh air. Naturally, however, the changeling lost track of time and it wasn’t until she ran out of cigarettes that she decided to return to the lab where she found Khitti in the throes of annoyance. Before Quintessa can speak, however, Khitti answers the question on the tip of her tongue and the young warlock smiles with curiosity. “A present?” The changeling seems eager, removing her cloak to hang on the hook next to the door and replacing it with her black necromancer robes. Mismatched eyes examine the box for a moment and then drift over to the thrall, the smile fading as her brows furrow in thought. “Well, our guest seems unusually excited about it, huh? Has he been like this the whole time?” As she spoke she grabbed a flat bar and began to assist Khitti in opening the crate, getting on the other side as she worked with the crowbar. “You think it could be some kind of artifact or something? Maybe they found something related to those Quakestones that caused those earthquakes two years ago…”

Khitti eyed the thrall warily and nodded to the changeling. “Unfortunately, it has been, yes.” She scrunched up her nose at the thoughts that ran through her head of what it could be--none of them good, of course--until Quintessa pointed out that it could be an artifact of some sort. “Oh, that’s true.” This relaxed Khitti considerably. “Maybe a quakestone on a much smaller scale? Something for more controlled earthquakes?” Yes, yes, this idea was much more preferable. She grit her teeth as she slowly worked the crowbar up underneath the top of the crate and eventually, with Quintessa’s much needed help, managed to pry it off entirely. She jumped back with a yelp as the walls of the box fell down from the pressure of the mystery within it, now that the lid was no longer holding it all together. And inside? A massive writhing tentacle. A piece of it, anyway. There were burns, here and there, thanks to Kasyr and Magik’s combined magicks, but it was more or less intact. And somehow still “alive”. The thrall reached its arms through the bars of its cage, clawing and scratching, trying to get back to the piece of its master. “Mmm. Okay. -Not- an artifact then,” Khitti said at length after staring at the tentacle with disgust. “Remind me to beat the hell out of Kasyr later for this.” He -had- mentioned they’d need a lot of coffee, and so, she did what she always did before they dug into their work: she started up the hot water needed for the aforementioned drink, got the coffee press ready with the ground coffee, then grabbed a bottle of peppermint schnapps from her desk. “I think I’m gonna need extra of this today…”

Quintessa gives Khitti a wary expression when she confirms that the thrall had been freaking out the entire time, a soft shake of her head a small symbol of sympathy. “Sorry I took so long…” Once the lid had been removed Quintessa leans forward to get a better look, almost not recognizing the writhing tentacle kept within for what it was for a moment as she stares blankly at it. “What in the nine hells is this?” The changeling leans away from it for a moment, the edge of the flat bar tapping her bottom lip as she tries to recall where she recognized this thing from. With a flicker of her mismatched eyes she looks to the thrall and then back again, the gears slowly turning, then it came to her. “No, it can’t be…” She wouldn’t make the claim aloud yet; she needed proof, and she had such proof in her research notes on her desk. Dropping her tool on a nearby table, she heads to her desk and searches around a bit, looking for the small piece of fluorine that could project the image of what she thought this was. Clearing a spot for a brass tripod, she places the fluorine crystal in a loop at the top and waved her hand to produce a burst of mana, causing the device to create an projected image of Xicotl in the air, which the changeling immediately waved at again to zoom in closely to it’s long feeler tentacles along its carapace. “Khitti,” Quintessa says to get her attention, “This look familiar?”

Khitti || When the coffee was ready, Khitti mixed it together with the schnapps and downed her shot glass-sized cup in an instant. Ohhh it was a good burn. She shivered a little as the hot coffee and minty alcohol made its way down her throat, then turned to see what Quintessa had discovered, an uncomfortable grimace making itself known. “It reminds me of a mind flayer and compels me to say ‘Thanks I hate it’, so yes, it’s very familiar. Ughhh, Kasyr, are you nuts?!” The answer was yes. Yes, he is. And Magik too apparently. She sighed though, knowing what was sacrificed to get them this sample. Of course, the paperwork that the rest of the guild would read that Xicotl had attacked an entire village and the kensai and the Lyastri had gotten there just in time to burn the place to the ground, to keep the villagers from becoming thralls. But, that wasn’t entirely true. “Where do we start then? How can we use this? We’ll have to work as fast as we can… Kasyr wants to hold a guild meeting soon to let everyone know about our experiments and going forward from there.”

Quintessa leaves the fluorine crystal with the projected image alone, walking back to gaze down at the literal piece of their mortal enemy, The Bringer of the Feast itself. With all the information circulating about Xicotl in the world there had never been concrete proof it really existed, but now here it was in the flesh. This was flesh right? “How did they even…?” A hand raises to rest on her head in disbelief, still unable to comprehend what she was looking at despite having already put all the pieces together. It just didn’t feel real, like some kind of dream. “I have so many questions and so little time… Well, I suppose we should get started dissecting and labeling its parts… or maybe we should take a blood sample first, if this thing even has blood.” As she thinks aloud she moves to ready her work station, getting all her mithril tools in a row to slice and dice this thing. “It's still moving around so we’ll have to pin it down somehow. My autopsy table is designed for humanoids but I’m certain some simple adjustments can be made.”

Khitti only grimaced further as Quintessa made known what needed to be done. They were gonna have to move it? Ewww. Well, she kept the ew to herself for the most part. “Bleh, alright. Let’s, uh… Get it on the table and then… maybe we chain it to it?” She stepped over to the other side of the tentacle, opposite the autopsy table, and started to roll it towards the table. She’d wait until Tessa was ready and then would help lift the Xicotl piece onto the table. The redhead grabbed the straps that would normally be used for the torso of a more person-like creature and tossed them above and over the top of the tentacle to Tessa so she could lock it down. All the while, the hair on the back of Khitti’s neck stood up, sending a shiver down her spine, and her stomach lurched with anxiety. It was the telltale signs of her clairvoyancy kicking in, but Khitti chalked it up to being grossed out by the tentacle itself. There wasn’t much that gave her the heebie-jeebies, but once you’ve been around enough mind flayers that have had their tentacles all over your brain, it’s hard not to get a little uncomfortable by it. Unfortunately for Khitti, that’s not what that feeling was about. Something was coming--and it would be there very soon.

Quintessa finds a couple pairs of blacksmith’s gloves and hands a pair to Khitti as they prepare to move it. “We don’t know if this thing secretes some kind of poison, so we should avoid touching it with our bare skin. Put these on first.” This was why she was an Acerbitor. As Khitti moves the box to let gravity do the work for her, Quintessa moves in to grasp it with nothing to protect her except the thick leather of her gloves, the tentacle squirming around as Khitti rushes to clamp the thing down to the table. It was a struggle, but they eventually managed to trap it, using leather bands running horizontally across the table to keep its thrashing to a minimum. As Khitti’s proclivities towards divination magic alerted her to the impending doom in the air, Quintessa’s own sensitivities to such things fail her, the danger not being immediate enough to show her a glimpse of her own death. Instead she assumes Khitti’s dreadful expression was due to her issues with mind flayers, so she simply gives her space to deal with it instead of asking her about it. Time was of the essence, after all, Kasyr demanded results before the next meeting and that was looming in their near future. Reaching for a large glass syringe first she holds it out to Khitti before reaching down to grasp the tentacle to steady it once more, making extraction easier. “Ready when you are,” she declares to her, giving her a nod. “Draw out as much as you can- this is likely our only chance to gather this kind of data.”

Khitti listened to Quintessa’s instructions, putting on the gloves as told, and eventually taking the syringe from her. The sickness stirring within her stomach was a terrible cyclone of coffee, the food she’d eaten so far that day, and the ever-churning bile. She even started to look a little green. But still she pushed past it and shoved the mithril needle into the tentacle and slowly extracted all that she could. The droplets of liquid that dripped around the outside of the puncture mark smelled foul, something like what she imagined the sewers the fermin lived in smelled like: sewage and decaying plant and animal matter. Khitti wasn’t sure how she was keeping herself from throwing up, but there was a dry heave every now and then. All the while, the thrall was shrieking, as if it were some sort of alarm or even in pain. Khitti put a hand out, summoning up an ice block in the thrall’s mouth, just as she’d done when Kasyr and Magik had been there, hoping that it was enough to shut it up for now.

Quintessa showed an astounding amount of stoicism in the face of such grim activity. In fact, she even seemed to derive some kind of sadistic pleasure out of it. This was in stark contrast to Khitti, who looked as though she was about to fill one of the sample buckets with vomit the first chance she could. “What a putrid scent,” Quintessa says, speaking the obvious yet somehow she sounded more curious about it than disgusted. “Earthy… Moldy even. The thralls don’t stink as bad so perhaps this essence becomes diluted inside of them…” Khitti dry-heaving causes her musings to abruptly end, and she reaches out to take the syringe so she doesn't throw up everywhere. “Here. Take a step back and get some fresh air. Don’t need you contaminating the fluid samples, after all,” Quintessa gives her a cheeky grin before nodding her head over to a stone cylinder in the corner. “Lift the lid off that for me- it’s a lot heavier than it looks. Once this is filled I’ll place this inside to preserve it and we can move on to dissection.”

Khitti couldn’t give up that syringe any faster to Quintessa and quickly took the instructed step aside away from the tentacle. “Goddamn it, Kasyr. I’m gonna kill you,” she muttered, in between taking deep breaths in through her mouth while somewhat pinching her nose. She eventually got used to the smell, and the stomach issues passed somewhat, but the feeling of ‘something isn’t quite right’ hadn’t left her. She summoned up her strength to remove the lid off the cylinder, just enough that the changeling can put the extracted liquid into it. “Quintessa, I think something’s wrong… It’s not the smell or the tentacle itself. I can get past those but… something -feels- wrong. I think something is--” Khitti didn’t get to finish her thought, because she suddenly dropped through the floor through a portal to the Shadow Plane. The portal itself was big enough for not only Khitti, but Quintessa too, and the autopsy table and the cage that held the thrall as well! The sinkhole on the other side was just as massive as the last time Khitti had seen it, two years ago when Xicotl’s lieutenants attacked, but it thankfully had not widened further. Strong winds did their damnedest to pull things down into the teeth-filled hole, but for the moment, all it got was sand, thanks to the table and cage being made of ghroundium. “I hope you didn’t forget about us,” said Asher, while his sister Naphtali grinned cruelly. “You have something of ours and we mean to take it back.”

Quintessa pulls the needle from the subject and hurries it over to the storage cylinder where it slides in neatly, runes along the side reacting and glowing a faint blue as the lid fits back in place. “Wrong?” She wipes the sweat from her brow and turns to face Khitti as she expresses her anxiety. “Khitti it’s probably just-” Quintessa too was interrupted as the subtle change of mana in the air felt abrasive against her sensitive aura, alerting her to the use of dark magic a second before the portal ripped open beneath then and dropped half her laboratory into the shadow realm. A moment ago everything was placid, time dedicated to scientific discovery and in an instant it had been turned to chaos. Wind and sand thrashed around her as she steadied herself, discarding her leather gloves as she turned in the direction of Xicotl’s fearsome twin lieutenants. “You two,” she murmurs in exasperation, the memory of her last encounter with them making the scar on her face burn in irritation. “I knew you’d come eventually,” Instinctually her left hand moves down to grip the sheath on her hip as she speaks, casually flipping her robes off her shoulders since they would only get in the way. She offers a quick glance over to Khitti to make sure she was also prepared for this fight before she focuses her gaze on Naphali, a cool hatred appearing in her mismatched eyes before she parts her lips to speak. “Well, shall we get started then?”

The Maw Of Souls, The Shadow Plane

Khitti scowled at the twins as they challenged the redhead and her daughter, her rage flaring almost instantly. “-You two-. Couldn’t be content to just slither along in the underground with your master, could you?” Asher smirked at the redhead. “It’s not our fault you stole a piece of our Great Ruler. Come now, you had to know that we’d come for it.” Khitti made yet another minor note in the back of her head to punch Kasyr in the face later on. Or at least make it a strong maybe. “Stop talking,” she said, her words for Asher, as she nodded at Quintessa’s question of whether or not she was ready. Unlike Tessa, she was without her swords, having left them in her room in the castle. Of course, she hadn’t thought she’d need them. She really should just keep them with her at all times. Crude-looking throwing daggers made of shadow-ice formed in her hands, something she’d stolen from Brand after having watched him utilize his own ice magic many times. The ice shards ignited, dark purple flames engulfing them as the shadows that made up both elements left inky black smoke-like trails in their wake upon being thrown at the male. One after the other after another were thrown at Asher as the seemingly teenage boy made a few somatic gestures, the last of which was a hand thrown to the sky, red sigils glimmering in the air. The sigils grew larger and larger until a being was summoned, a strange black fox creature. The fox charged Khitti, a miasma of acid spewing forth from its mouth. Khitti dodged, and still the fox pursued her as Asher cast fel magic of his own. As she evaded a bolt of dark magic, the fox managed to corner her and vomit that putrid breath attack. Another massive wave of air was sucked into the massive toothy Maw of Souls that called home to this part of the Shadow Plane. Despite Khitti’s dodge, it pulled her back into the breath attack, the acid coating her legs and eating through the leather leggings she wore. The redhead screamed as the corrosion found flesh, and yet this did not deter her, more ice daggers summoned up as she shadowstepped behind Asher, the two teleporting around in a strange sort of dance.

Quintessa || Naphtali isn’t amused with Quintessa’s calm reaction, there is no shock, no fear, no threats being levied in her direction, just the icy glare of the young changeling warlock as she enters an offensive stance, ready to free her katana in a reactionary drawing-strike the moment Xicotl’s lieutenant came in range. Naphtali had lived long enough to see this stance ten times over, warriors from the six cycles that all fell to her blade, but there was something strange about this moment that the fair twin could not place her finger upon. “You seem different- Have you finally decided to accept your fate?” Naphtali’s words linger in the air for a moment before Quintessa breaks her serious expression with an amused smile, both standing still as Khitti and Asher move away from them in their dance of shadows. “Different?” Quintessa responds, a curious smile breaking the stoic mask she had prepared for her rival as she acknowledges the Greater Thrall’s words. “You’ll find I’m not the same little girl you encountered two years ago.” Naphtali turns up her nose in disgust. “No matter, you’ll succumb to the Feast either way.” As if putting an exclamation point on that statement, the female twin holds aloft her free hand, her sword hand gripping her jade katana firmly as she points it in Quintessa’s direction. Palm facing upward, Naphtali’s brows knit together as she focuses her attention on an inner transmutation, crystallizing her own corrupted blood into a sharp custer that exits the flesh of her palm and floats a few inches above her skin, energized by the powers Xicotl had gifted them eons ago. The changeling can sense the horrific essence held within, but before Quintessa can react in concern how Naphtali had wished for prior, the Greater Thrall is on her, propelled by a burst of mana from her crystal reservoir.

Quintessa || Like when first they met, Naphtali levies an attack aimed right for the warlock’s face, yet this time Quintessa has the insight to step aside and draw her sword, a pulse of negative energy filling the air as the cursed blade is finally freed after months of being trapped with her sheath. A loud ring echoes out, followed by the grinding of blades as jade battles against dull, ashen, black. The hexblade is quick to retaliate, both hands on the grip of her sword pushing back to gain an inch before arcing low for Naphtali’s thighs and then slashing at her midsection, her goal to carry through and disembowel her quickly, but Naphtali was wily. She had faced more skilled warriors than Quintessa. With inhuman speed the lieutenant blocks the first attack and then deflects the second, sending the Jubaku off course before planting a kick squarely into the changeling’s midsection, causing her to stumble backwards a few feet as Naphtali regained her bearings. Now, with a few yards between them they circle slowly, waiting for one to leave an opening that wasn’t an obvious ploy, each a little more wary of what the other was capable of than they were before.

Khitti was getting rather tired of being chased around by some overgrown squirrel with a serious acid reflux problem. She stopped shadowstepping around and seemed to hesitate for a moment, letting the strange creature build up its breath attack to use on her again. As it did, she shadowstepped behind it, grabbed it by the tail, and threw the damn thing like she was in a hammer throw competition. It went right into the Maw of Souls, but Asher was quick to summon up another one--or the same one, Khitti was uncertain--and unleashed it on Khitti again. “Fine. You want a little pet playdate? Have it your way.” She outstretched her hand towards the ground in front of her, her fingers bending somewhat to look like a claw. She looked like she was going to tear the ground open, and in a way she did, as a portal opened before her. “Francis! It’s time to play! And bring your family too!” Eight massive legs pulled their way out of the portal, revealing the massive cow-sized arachnid, and was eventually followed by much smaller, yet still quite large black widow--his wife, of course, that had been stolen from the Something Wicked shop years ago--and hundreds of baby spiders of all sizes. The redhead pointed at Asher. “Go get them!” With hundreds of screeching hisses, the spiders swarmed the male and his pet, leaving him to thrash about and fire off bolts of magic in an attempt to free himself, the overgrown squirrel doing similarly with its acidic breath attack. And Khitti? She just stood there watching, her pale lips twisted into the faintest of grins.

Quintessa || Naphali is first to break the staredown, her aggression levels exceeding that of even Quintessa. “You think you’re quick? Try avoiding this!” As the twin goads the changeling her crystal reservoir begins to power up, sending multiple bursts of magic missiles sailing out in groups of five down in a barrage upon Quintessa. The warlock, however, already knew how to counter such an assault. With a flick of her katana the changeling wields it like a wand, twirling it between her hands as she utters the phrase “Tarian grym.” Before the magic missiles can make impact, a translucent green barrier manifests around Quintessa, absorbing the offensive spell before fading away into nothing. Naphali is quick to re-engage however, moving forward into another thrust with her sword the moment Quintessa’s shield has vanished. Unable to anticipate this, the attack strikes true, slicing along her side flank as she attempts to pivot out of the way. The pain shooting through the changeling angers her, a growl building in her throat as she continues her spin and throws all her weight into a whirlwind attack. As the ebon blade whistles through the air in a horizontal arc, Naphali takes a step back and prepares to block with her own weapon set in a vertical pose. The Jubaku’s no Kijo’s ghroundium core, however, could not be stopped. Like trying to absorb the force of a warhammer, the jade blade keeps Quintessa from cutting her but the momentum carried through sends Naphali sailing yards away into the sand, her curses following afterward. As the greater thrall finds her feet Quintessa finds an offensive stance, a sneer on her pale face. “Alright, now I’m pissed off. Let’s end this.” Naphali seems too pleased with herself that she made Tessa lose her cool, a smirk replacing her momentary annoyance. “Eager to die?” The twin teases, “I’ll grant your request then.”

Khitti || “ENOUGH,” Asher screamed as he let out a fiery explosion of black, putrid smelling shadowfire around his body to rid him of the spiders that clung to him. Francis and his wife Francine leapt back and hissed at him, and Khitti’s satisfied smirk shifted to an angry frown. He raised his hands towards the heavens again, calling upon more of that wretched magic from his beloved master. In the process, he sacrificed his weird squirrel for more power, the creature melting and turning into a puddle of bubbling goo nearby. As he goes about his casting, Khitti side-eyed Tessa’s own fight, watching as it went so much better than how her own had been going. Her attention eventually shifted back to Asher, no emotion on her face. “I’ll hand it to you, kid,” she said to the twin, “I’ve never met anyone before that’s been able to close my Shadow Plane portals like you had that one day. Especially one that massive.” Power radiated from Asher, that same putrid goo that his pet had turned into, now dripping from his eyes, nose, and ears as his body was literally unable to contain it. “But, I’ve got another hole in the ground for you to deal with.” Asher’s face contorted into a look of confusion, and then again into something more sadistic. “What? Are you going to summon more spiders? You -can’t- stop us.” Khitti just shrugged. “You might be right. -I- probably can’t stop you…”

Khitti || It’s strange how talkative Khitti was right now. Sure, she usually talked a lot of crap when she was fighting stuff, but… she was just standing there? Huh. But, not long after she seemed to finish her statement, did the large toothy abyss near them start to inhale again, drawing in anything it could around it. Birds flying overhead got sucked in; some of Francis and Francine’s babies as well. No sooner did it start, did Khitti shadowstep behind Asher, grabbed him around the neck with an arm, and shadowstepped the two of them over to the side of the sinkhole “I can’t stop you… but this can.” She released him, pushed him forward, and kicked his back hard with a booted foot to send him over the side and into the hole in the ground. Khitti clapped her hands together a few times, dramatically wiping them as one does after they ‘take out the trash’. But, unfortunately for her, that doesn’t last long. See, she temporarily forgot about the fact that Asher can also shadowstep. Which he does. And grabbed ahold of her leg as she started to shadowstep herself away from the Maw. “Oh,” she said flatly, in the second it took for her to process things as Asher pulled her as well down into the pit,” shiiiiiiiiii------!” And then she was gone. Apparently.

Quintessa || This time the changeling is the one to break the lull in combat between them, the area immediately around her becoming a maelstrom of darkness and fury, the wind whipping around her scooping up sand and flinging it like a cyclone as she calls the words of another spell. “Gwynt y medelwr!” Wicked and distorted, her voice rips through the air a moment before she swings her sword through the empty space before her, a burst of red tinged mana accrestent with the arc of her swing creating a vicious gale of raw energy that disintegrates even the sand that comes in contact with it. Naphali knows better than to try and negate this attack, however, and slinks away into the shadows beneath her feet a split second before the ground below her is converted into glass, the spell exploding and sending small shards and debris everywhere… Then all is silent for a moment. Quintessa spins around, head on a swivel as she awaits the reemergence of the female twin, both hands clenched tightly to the Jubaku no Kijo as blood continues to trickle down her body. Above the warlock a portal splits open, dropping Naphali in from above like a deadly assassin poised to skewer the changeling before she even knew what hit her, but Quintessa was keen to the subtle changes of the magical weave of the shadow plane. The moment that reality ripped open to create a passageway for Naphali, mismatched eyes were upon her, ebon blade raised expertly to deflect the downward stab before it could connect. The greater thrall follows up quickly, both hands on her sword as she sends a barrage of medium effort strikes meant to wear down Quintessa’s guard as she is forced to respond over and over again. Blocking, parrying, and backstepping ever so slightly just to avoid being sliced open again, then the worst happens; Stepping back the sand gives way and hexblade loses her footing for a second, long enough for Naphali to step inside of her guard and send a sudden thrust aiming right for Quintessa’s heart.

Quintessa || For a moment it seems as if time has frozen for her and she can see every event in her life that has led up to this point, each mistake and each triumph. Then, ahead of all of this she can see a possible future, not far, just a few seconds. Quintessa watches as the jade katana sinks into her chest, her hands too slow to flip her sword around and parry the strike in time. Blood pools around the point of impact, it flows into the sand at her feet. Naphali draws the blade back out of her body and the wound fully splits open, killing the changeling instantly in a sanguine crescendo. Quintessa blinks as the divination ends, knowing that she cannot block the strike with her sword this time. A sacrifice must be made. Throwing herself into the attack, she balls her first and protects her body with her left forearm, lips parted to utter the words “Rhew- “ But it is too late; Before she can cast her ice-shield and manifest a buckler to absorb the damage Naphali’s sword has pierced the unarmored flesh of her arm, slipped between the ulna and radius, and stopped inches from the desired point of impact. In a moment of cruelty and frustration, Naphali twists her katana, points the blade upward, and carves her way up and through the bones in Quintessa’s wrist and hand, separating her middle and ring fingers and spraying her crimson essence all over both of them. The pain is unlike anything the changeling has ever experienced, the white hot agony bubbling up as a magical scream aimed right for the greater thrall at point blank range. All of Quintessa’s hatred and torment were poured into a wail of the banshee as she jabs her katana into the sand, clutching her maimed arm as the necrotic energy tears into Naphali’s own flesh. She staggers backwards, the death magic splitting open wounds all over her body as she clenches her eyes, free hand over an ear as she steadies her equilibrium.

Quintessa || Unfortunately even with all of her emotions empowering the spell it wasn’t enough as slowly Naphali shook off the effects of the spell, her body still sizzling slightly. She holds out her hand once more, crystalline structure hovering over from around her head to float above her palm once more. “You’re finished.” She says, buying a few more seconds as her crystal powers up. Quintessa feels numb all of a sudden as she clutches the arm which hangs limply at her side, blood spilling from it like a spigot. Even with her foresight it seemed like she was at the end of her rope, but then Quintessa notices the reaction the greater thrall’s crystal was having with the blood that had been sprayed upon it, and a smirk comes to her face. Naphali had not yet noticed the changeling’s corrupted blood reacted negatively with her crystal, which was made out of Naphali’s own corrupted blood. Two curses fighting against one another unable to coexist. The greater thrall doesn’t like the look on her face, however, and sneers in her direction. “What are you smiling abo-” As she speaks she follows Quintessa’s eyes to her crystal, and then the warlock snaps her fingers. Attempting to draw power from the thrall’s crystal reservoir of mana, it spools up in preparation, a low whistling noise building up to cast her spell, but since Quintessa was not the commander of the crystal it refuses. Even so the changeling’s blood will try to urge it over and over, creating a feedback loop of building energy and doing nothing with it in the matter of microsections, increasing pressure until the crystal could not handle it. Just as Naphtali’s eyes widen at the realization of what was happening the crystal explodes, consuming the holder and the area around her in a vortex of eldritch magic.

Khitti || In true Khitti fashion, her death was just a near one. How many of those cat lives did she even have left? She’d managed to catch one of the few wayward vines that dangled into the pit, the redhead hanging precariously above a row of many teeth. “Note to self: don’t tell Brand about this. This is fine.. Totally fine. Just another skeleton to add to my closet of lies. No big deal.” She pulled herself up awkwardly, while kicking at the Asher that hung onto her legs. “This isn’t anything like that second time I died. Nope. Nuh uh. Just hanging around. In a hole. With a jerk hanging onto me. That wants me to die a terrible death. I’m fine. I’m fiiiiine.” Despite what she was saying, she’s definitely not fine and she’s most likely having flashbacks of just before her death when she was hanging off the side of the Cenril bridge, with an Amarrah-Lydia amalgamation clawing its way up her leg.. “Hey, can you uh… do me a favor? And maybe die? Pretty please?” The power that Xicotl had bestowed upon Asher had almost entirely taken him over, that same dark ooze still flowing from the various holes in his head, the look on his face a rabid one--at this point, he was just like any other thrall, albeit a much stronger one. “Mmm, so that’s a ‘no’ then. Siiiigh.”

Khitti || And then there was that scream from up above, and a switch in Khitti’s mind flipped on. Quintessa was in trouble and she needed to get up there. “You.” She kicked Asher with her free foot, once for every word she shouted at him. “Are. Going. Into. Time. OUT!” The twin’s nails clawed down Khitti’s leg with every kick, ripping through not just the leggings, but the flesh itself, leaving rivulets of blood to gush forth from her thigh and calf, to trail down the rest of her leg and onto Asher. The blood only furthered Xicotl’s lieutenant's madness and he struggled to regain his grip, even going so far as to bite her, his teeth clamping down on her bloody lower leg. She let out a scream of her own and no sooner has she, was Francis jumping down to save his mother. Massive mandibles dripping with a corrosive, neon green venom tore at Asher, severing limbs as the arachnid bear-hugged the thrall with those long spindly legs. Francis was eventually after to get to Asher’s head, devouring it and his neck, right down to the shoulders. It didn’t occur to Francis that he should let go before then. All his thoughts were on saving his mother. He let out a blurbled whine as Asher’s body fell away, down into the fanged depths, and Francis went with it. Khitti could only watch, shock and despair written all over her face as she reached for him. “FRANCIS!!!”

Quintessa isn’t aware of what was taking place between Asher and Khitti, but had she been lucid enough to understand the name her adopted mother was screaming her heart would have surely sunk into her stomach. However, Quintessa is in no condition to focus on anything except trying not to think about the immense pain consuming her left arm- she won’t even look at it. She’s too scared to confirm what she already knows. Best not to think about it right now. The warlock still had one good hand and after the blow that Naphali just took she reckoned that’s all she’d need. “...bywyd… f-f-f-ffug…” Quintessa barely manages to get the false life spell off, lime green threads of arcane energy manifesting to rudimentary sew together the two halves of her arm, just enough to stop the bleeding. Enough to stop her from going into shock. Enough to stop her from bleeding out. As the smoke, dust, and sand clears away Quintessa turns to see the fallen form of her nemesis, charred and blackened from the explosion but somehow still breathing. Naphali gasps for air, her body torn to shreds by crystal shrapnel, half of her face melted from the blast, but still she clings to life. Quintessa stumbles forward, much more like a Cenrili Lurker than a living person but she manages it, stopping only to lift the jade katana from the ground and give it a test swing. After a quick examination the changeling’s mismatched eyes turn upon Naphali in contempt, the wheezing noise coming from her scorched and perpetrated lungs like nails on a chalkboard for the warlock. “Why are you still alive?” There is no humor in Quintessa’s voice, no emotion at all, but the simple question makes Naphali laugh. Laughter shifts into a violent cough, spilling more cursed blood into the sand. Quintessa cannot help but allow the insult on the tip of her tongue to pass her lips. “Pathetic.” And then she looks away, searching for Khitti, hoping her fight had gone better than hers.

Khitti || Time seemed to stop for Khitti as she reached out for Francis and caught nothing but air. He had been her “firstborn”, in a way, as he had come to her long before Dominic had even been conceived. Tears filled her eyes and she sighed, letting her hand drop down to her side momentarily before clinging onto the vine again. She remembered the fond times she’d had with the arachnid. All those holidays where he’d help her decorate their room in the Frostmaw tavern or the Tranquility or even the apartment. That silvery thread that Francis was so skilled at spinning helped to bring cheer in even the most unfortunate of times… and now was another time to add to the list. The same silvery thread shot up past Khitti and latched itself on another vine that was actually attached to something up on the surface. When Khitti realized what it was, she just blinked a few times and watched as Francis pulled himself up by his butt. Once he got up to where Khitti was, he bear-hugged his mom and continued to pull himself up, and her with him.

Khitti || Eventually, they reached the top and Khitti pulled herself up and onto her feet. She took a moment to get her bearings but soon spied Tessa in her unfortunate predicament. Those tears of hers returned as she ran to her daughter. She was without words as she stared at the two pieces of the changeling’s arm, a bit of nausea creeping up in her stomach. “W-we’ll get you taken care of. Francis!” The spider left his wife’s side and returned to his mother as Khitti started to make bandages out of her shadow magic. She set them on Francis’ back momentarily, then ripped at her shirt and folded it up. “I-I have to move it, to bandage it and have Francis bind it, s-so you need to bite down.” Her lip quivered and her voice quaked as olive-green eyes searched Quintessa’s face. Khitti was struggling to hold it together. Anytime someone she cared about was injured like this, it brought on a madness she could not easily quell.

Quintessa relaxes somewhat when Khitti and Francis make their appearance but the young woman still seems to be dazed and slow to respond, her adopted mother’s frantic motions causing her to become somewhat confused. Her mind still wouldn’t process what had happened to her arm, avoiding it. Even if the pain was a constant reminder Quintessa was still solely focused on one thing. “She’s still alive.” The changeling warns, blue and hazel eyes shifting to fall upon Naphali’s broken form as she flips the jade sword into a reverse grip. “I’ll survive this…” her voice was weak but firm, fighting the strain of her injuries but still willful in the face of adversity. “She cannot be allowed to… Unless her life has a better use…” Quintessa makes the effort to move forward but she halts if Khitti stops her, allowing her the chance to set her wound though she doesn’t have anything to bite down on handy- maybe she could find a strap of leather or piece of wood- anything to make the process a little easier, but if Khitti doesn’t stop her she moves to stand over the fallen lieutenant, tip of the blade held over the center of her chest as she watches helplessly from the ground. “I could do it… trap her essence inside of this weapon- but a creature like her? What promise is there that she even has a soul?” Especially in this moment of pain and fury did Quintessa’s singular focus become retribution, eschewing her own safety in the process of trying to inflict the maximum amount of suffering on Naphali while at the same time knowing she’d try to escape the first moment she could. Capturing her and torturing her later would be out of the question, she had to be dealt with immediately. “What say you?” Quintessa glances at Khitti to ask her opinion on the matter before her gaze returns to Naphali. “Even if the spell fails I can still siphon out what magic is left in her body to empower the sword. A tool to fight Xicotl. I have more than enough mana to try it.”

Khitti stopped upon hearing the words ‘She’s still alive’. Her olive-green line of sight slid towards where Naphtali lay broken and still. She almost didn’t hear what Tessa had been saying--she was just focused on the fact that the person who badly hurt her daughter was still alive and she was very much of the mind to make her un-alive. “Francine, tie her up,” Khitti said at length to the black widow, the spindly legged creature skittering over to the last of Xicotl’s lieutenants. “Bite down on this.” Her words were for the changeling now, as she handed over the torn and bunched up piece of her shirt. A little more strengthened in her resolve, Khitti went to work piecing Quintessa’s arm back together as best as she could, the shadow magic bandages holding the two pieces of her appendage together long enough for Francis to bind it with his webbing. “Even with my healing or your potions, this will take a while to heal. We’ll get you a sling when we get back to the keep.” After a moment to collect her thoughts, the redhead’s lips pressed into a grim line, the need for vengeance in her mind as she looked towards Naphtali. “Do it. And when you’re done, give me the sword for a moment.”

Khitti || After Quintessa’s work was said and done and Khitti had hold of the sword, she took it over to the girl’s body and held the tip of the blade over her throat. With an angry scream, she plunged the sword into the twin’s throat and through the other side, turning the blade to sever the head from the rest of the spinal cord. Unlike the other thralls, this one didn’t turn to ash, instead oozing that dark goo from the severed arteries and veins. Handing over the sword, Khitti would get to work summoning up smaller portals to let the tentacle and autopsy table, as well as the cage, fall back into place in the keep on the other side before getting them, the spiders, and the severed head home.

Quintessa was relieved when Francine moved to obey Khitti’s orders, wrapping the thrall in a thick layer of silk as she moved back over to allow the redhead to do her work. She opens her mouth for the wadded up cloth and sinks her teeth into, bracing herself for what she expected to come next. Her haphazardly constructed stitches of green mana fade as Khitti replaces them with her shadow bandages, the changeling growling against the pain as her adrenaline gives way to the pain a little more. When Khitti was done Quintessa spits the cloth from her mouth and finally looks down at her arm, the denial of how serious this was already passing. “No… I reckon even after that this arm is…” She doesn’t say it. She doesn’t have to. Looking down at the silk wrapped form of Naphtali, trapped like a fly, Quintessa lets all of her bottled up anger bubble to the surface. She turns the blade upside down again, blade hovering over the thrall’s chest again, her center of mass, and she chants her magic words. “Poen. Cynddaredd. Casineb. Cenfigen. Digofaint. Daw'r pum pwynt malais hyn at ei gilydd i ddal enaid fy ngelyn.” Having used very little of her mana in the fight the warlock was able to channel these energies without much trouble despite it being her first attempt. She had been studying it for years and likely had been capable a long time ago, but never would a chance like this present itself a second time. Quintessa speaks the words of the spell with elegance, not getting a single phrase wrong, and when she finishes the first incantation she slowly sinks the sword into the thrall’s chest, careful not to kill her but providing the connection necessary to begin the second phase. “Tyn allan yr enaid. Tyn allan yr ysbryd. Gadewch i'r un hwn byth wybod gorffwys. Gadewch i'w dioddefaint cyfansawdd. Cymerwch bopeth sydd ganddyn nhw. Ei ddwyn. Cymerwch ef. Mae'n eiddo i mi drwy Hawl i Ymladd.” As these words pass her lips the essence of Naphtali is drained. Every bit of mana that her cursed blood contained. The many gifts of the Feast compounded. The jade sword glows with an eerie, pale light as it attunes to this new energy, bonding with it permanently. Then the changeling looks back at Khitti and gives her a knowing look; It was time to rid the soul from the body and complete the ritual. With Naphatli’s head severed by Khitti the newly enchanted weapon it seals her fate, entrapping her spirit within- though if this spell manifests properly is yet to be seen. Meanwhile Quintessa moves to retrieve the Jubaku from the sand and return it to her sheath, moving to join Khitti as she shadow-ports everything back where it belonged. Once back in the laboratory, Quintessa found a seat and sat there, staring ahead as Khitti tidied everything up. After a long moment of silence the changeling, drained and emotionless, leans back in her chair and stares up at the ceiling. “I wanna go home.”