RP:Night of the Living Dead Girls 4: All Time Low

Part of the The God of Undeath Arc

This is a Mage's Guild RP.

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Summary: In the aftermath of the fight at the Xalious tree and it's subsequent burning and restoration, Khitti watches over Valrae, Kanna, and Leralynn, while Lanlan does... Lanlan things and Quintessa suffers away in the Chaos Realm. The group discuss the betrayal, get really emotional, and it scares Lanlan off because he can't handle other people's emotions even though all he really wants is a hug, while Quintessa finds a way to leave them a warning about the impending ritual in Cenril.

The Infirmary, Mage's Guild Tower, Xalious

Khitti sat in the Mage’s Guild infirmary watching over Valrae as the witch recovered. Every now and then, Khitti would pick up Valrae’s nearest hand and channel some of her light magic into her, doing her best to help along the healing, in addition to whatever the arcane healers of the guild would take care of. She even learned to check for vitals, just in case. For the most part though, she just sat in an armchair beside the witch’s bed, staring at the floor, wondering what she could’ve done differently over the past two years to try to prevent the ambush from happening. It’s not like she could go back and change it, but that didn’t make any difference. The redhead sighed heavily and leaned forward in her chair, covering her face with her hands. She wanted to go home. But she couldn’t. She needed to stay here and make sure Valrae pulled through. But she craved the darkness of her and Brand’s bedroom. The coolness of their silk sheets. The warmth of his embrace. The silence of being alone. She even clicked her boot heels together three times, like she’d read in one of her stories. She didn’t have magic shoes and it didn’t bring her home. She definitely wanted to cry.

Lanlan gradually makes his way down to the infirmary for like the fourth time this week to visit Valrae and Kanna, but each time, neither of them are awake, and there was mostly nobody in there except peons who’s opinion he didn’t need to worry about. ‘Arcane healers’. Who picks that as a specialty? People who flunk out of everything else. “So Valrae,” he says as he walks into the door, “continuing from our last conversation, I don’t really know who approved this ridiculous enchanted shower they’ve begun artificing outside your dorm but we don’t really–Oh! Khitti, you’re here?” Now whatever he was pretending to talk to her about is gone. “I was just coming to check on them. How are they. Awake yet?” He walks between their two beds, checks Kanna’s restraints (they’re fine), and then kneels down to Valrae at eye level. “I’ve heard they actually woke up a few times,” he says staring at her eyelids, daring her to mess up her pretend sleep.

Kanna || The world was spinning below Kanna, and she just couldn't run fast enough. Heavy steps through what felt like mud and sand weigh her down as she tries to escape this moonlit labyrinth of gardenias towering over her form, of ranunculus bushes blocking the light to allow her a glimpse of what lays on the other side. Should she run left or right? Something was coming for her and Kanna had to keep moving. Not knowing what to do, she makes a guess on a whim and dives right. The gardenia bushes grow thicker, smothering her in their musky perfume and scratching at her skin with their thorns. If she can just make it out of here, things will be okay, things will return to how they were. As she turns the corner, she looks down at the wall of gardenias to one side and ranunculus to another. All of this effort, and Kanna had only run in a circle. There’s a crash behind her, and Kanna can feel the clawed hands grabbing onto her, clutching at her neck to pull her back and down. The necromancer gasps for air and snaps open her eyes as she comes back into the world of the living in the soft oil lamp-lit infirmary. The dreams of floral prisons fade away as the memories of the Xalious Tree come rushing back. Kanna recoils as the memory of Quintessa being dragged away and Orange using every bit of mana in her body to help Kanna escape Caluss replays in her mind, and how the holy tree and those trying to protect it were engulfed in flames. She moves to hold her head when her hands snag taut. Lifting her head up, her eyes widen in alarm as she realizes her hands have been bound to the bed, and a sheet of metal has been placed over her lips to prevent her from using her bardic magic. Turning her head to the left, she sees Khitti and Lanlan looking down at a figure she can’t quite make out from this angle, their backs to her. “...!” Kanna makes a soft noise of discomfort as she turns her head to the right. On the bed opposite her, Leralynn was also incapacitated with hand restraints, her exposed skin on her face still covered in nasty bruises and a washbasin of bloodied gauze at the foot of her bed. “...!” The bard makes another noise, this one of panic, reaching for her injured guildmate with her restrained right hand as much as she could manage.

Quintessa || In the little carveout of the Chaos Realm Quintessa was finally granted respite after creating her first powerful undead, the Gloom. It was a work of art for certain, but her creation had a more sinister purpose; To hunt and slay her friends that defined Caluss at the Second Battle for the Xalious Tree. The Gloom, however, had left to fulfill its mission and Quintessa was given a rough space to sleep in. This was the first chance she got to reach out to her allies using her Night Hag powers and she wasn’t even certain it would even work. Would the chaos realm prevent her movements? Without ritual or preparation, Quintessa has no choice but to force her will to slip over to the dream realm, swimming through the endless tides of memories and imaginings that pooled therein. And then the warlock senses a familiar tug; The Mage’s Tower! Surely someone will be there- Karasu will be there. Quintessa’s astral form descends from the sky and passes through the walls like a specter, trying to get a grasp on an allied thought- anything to latch onto to follow. Kanna’s dream calls out like a beacon, summoning Quintessa to the infirmary as she clutches the bard's memory of her being dragged away. The changeling’s astral form hovers near the threshold, Lanlan passing through her as he enters the room and joins the others. They were all here- most of them anyway, but how would she communicate with them? Could she? She had to warn them somehow while Caluss couldn’t see her.

Khitti || “Yes of course I’m here. And where have -you- been, Sublime Master?” There was definitely a bit of an attitude there when Khitti said his title. “They’ve been in and out; not awake for long enough for it to matter. They’ll be fine, probably.” She got up out of her chair and tried not to pace, doing yet another worry-filled check of Valrae’s vitals. It was then that Kanna and her struggling caught Khitti’s attention. She moved past Lanlan to look over the girl, pale lips pressed into a grim line. “Ah, sorry… it was a precaution.” She took in the necrobotanist for a moment and then with a sigh, she undid her restraints. “I need you to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Breathe in and out. Calm yourself.” Aside from trying to get Kanna to calm herself, it was a lowkey way to try to get Kanna to realize that she was indeed alive again. Khitti even took the metal off her mouth as well. “If you try anything though…” She didn’t need to finish her warning.

Lanlan continued staring for a little while, proving to himself that Valrae was really asleep. There was no satisfaction there, however, and he closes his eyes to take a breath and ponder. It’s then through his closed eyes that he believes he can see a figure hovering nearby, a banshee waiting to take Valrae away forever? He opens them again to confront it…! But it seems to have only been his imagination. “I’ve been here in the tower, I haven’t left. I was sick too you know?” Poor Lanlan, they’ll never know how much you do for them will they? Kanna stirs behind him. He reaches out to Khitti to stop her from undoing the restraints…but changes his mind and pulls his arm back. “Honestly I don’t know who did that to you,” says Lanlan to Kanna as she’s coming to her senses. Did he advise she be restrained and blocked? Perhaps. It was a wise decision, and he could see the sense in approving it.

Kanna looks up at Khitti as though she’s grown two heads when she suggests she breathe in. Why would she need to breathe in when… Reflexively, her body obliges, taking a deep breath in. The room stunk like gardenia petals. Even if it was not intended to have the effect, Kanna’s shoulders slack as she lays back and takes in the sensations of feeling her filthy hair brush against her face, and the beat of her pulse that seems far too loud to be normal. The mouth-piece is taken away by Khitti, but Kanna doesn’t speak immediately as the scenes of before replay, only to be replaced with the horrors she endured in the Chaos Realm. The overwhelming scenery before her prevents her from sensing anything anomalous in the room with them. “Anything you do to me would be infinitely better than what that monster did to me when he stole me from Frostmaw.” Her voice is soft and raspy as she turns her head over to Orange, then back to Valrae, who was in even worse condition if such a thing were possible. Tears well up in her eyes as she watches Valrae’s chest rise and fall ever so slowly. Forcing herself to look away, she looks up at Khitti and Lanlan. There was apprehension in their features where there was companionship before. Why did her chest hurt so much? “I didn’t ask to be Caluss’ puppet.” Her voice cracks as she says this, and she swallows thickly, averting her eyes. By the door was cubicles full of everyone’s belongings, her included. There’s a small sigh of relief as she sees her heirloom instrument was retrieved and was nearby, but it's the only relief she has for now.

Quintessa floats around the room, trying to speak to everyone but her astral form couldn’t even make words. She could scream her head off but they probably would only catch an errant word- something that could just be a trick of the mind. Something usually ignored. She tries to place a hand on Khitti’s shoulder but it passes through her body, and dejectedly Quintessa sits down on Kanna’s bed. Maybe the mattress shifts just a tiny bit but maybe that was your imagination too. With forlorn eyes Quintessa looks at the Living Dead Girls and is overcome by guilt. “I’m so sorry…” She should not have involved them from the start but this last time she had no choice. She had to get Kanna out of Caluss’ hands no matter what the cost was. She only hopes she can explain herself if she survives all this in the end.

Valrae had drifted in and out of blessedly empty sleep. She had been as still as the dead the first few days, causing what was surely an upset to the healers and Khitti, who stood watch over her like an avenging spirit. The magic that the redhead had graciously offered her was speeding the healing process along, though there were still angry, blistering red burns covering most of her body. Her legs had taken the worst of it, along with her back and arms. The burns extended to her neck and chest, along her chin and high on her left cheek. Her hair was a ruined mess, ash covered, short uneven lengths of tangled gold where the fire had caught. Beyond the pain, which was surely unlike anything she’d felt before despite the healer's best attempts at managing it, she could remember voices speaking to her. She could remember waking to cry out only once, before someone forced down a potion that had the taste of dirt still lingering in her too dry mouth, and then there was only more of that same empty black. Her eyes fluttered open to the sound of Khitti’s voice, and then Lanlan and Kanna. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came at first. The ceiling seemed alive with dancing spots of inky black. “Water.” A small, croaking sound came finally. She turns her head, looking toward Khitti and Lan as they stand over Kanna. She thought she saw a figure sitting next to her but as the witch blinked it disappeared again.

Khitti sighed. “I had a feeling. You seemed… lifeless,” she said, which of course meant that Kanna had been acting not at all like her usual self. The redhead moved away the bloodied washbasin and grabbed a cart she’d had prepared for when they had awakened. On it, there was a new basin of water that had lavender and rose petals steeping in it, some soap, and a big pitcher of ice cold water with a bit of lemon floating in it. She poured Kanna a glass and offered it to her, then took up some new gauze and began cleaning Kanna’s face carefully if she allowed it, and would eventually channel her light magic into her to help the healing along. Quintessa’s hand would touch her, sort of, and it gave Khitti a strange sense of longing. Tears almost welled up in her eyes again, but she fought them off, her attention pulled away from these thoughts by Valrae’s begging for water. “Lanlan.” She made a gesture at the pitcher and empty glasses, then nodded her head in Valrae’s direction. “Both of you need to try to take things slowly, even drinking water. We’ll get some food for you and a proper bath soon too.” She soon went quiet, a frown creeping up onto her face, while those crimson brows furrowed into a pensive look.

Lanlan sat across from Kanna on Valrae’s bedside and propped his xalious wood staff between his knees. Standing was a lot, and he still felt…diminished. If he just let himself, he could probably fall asleep and stay that way forever. “So…you didn’t have a choice? Or you didn’t know that was the choice you made.” He didn’t want to be callous. After all, he knew what it was like to have your body used and discarded; it was awful. That being said he still needed to hear her say it. Still needed to know if she could be trusted. “And what about that one?” He asks, gesturing to Leralynn. Lanlan wasn’t sure who she was, or why she deserved to live after what he’d seen. Never mind be -saved-. Finally, Valrae began to open his eyes, and he just about forgot what he was doing. He rises off her bed and throws his hands up in the air. “...You’re awake!” Is all he says. Then he gets her some water, summoning it effortlessly to his hands. “Good idea, Khitti!” He says as he contorts his face and sticks his tongue out. Like he didn’t know where the water was. Why would he know where the water was? “Valrae, when you’re ready… we were just asking Kanna why she was helping out that monster.” He offers Valrae the cup, without touching her or the cup, and turns back to Kanna. “You were saying?” Ideally, Valrae would be able to help determine if she could be trusted, or if this was some scheme concocted by Caluss and her together.

Kanna struggles to sit up on her own, gasping in pain as her body attempts to recenter its point of gravity after such a long period of disuse. The gestures of such kindness always feel foreign to Kanna, even more so now that she can feel the gentle cloth on her face wiping away the caked-on gore and mud. The water feels refreshing on her lips and tongue, yet stings at her teeth with how cold the ice is. Has water always tasted this good? Her hot tears contrast the cold feeling as they roll down her cheeks. “I’ve killed a lot of people, Khitti, I really don’t deserve this kindness.” Looking over to the unconscious Leralynn, she adds, “But she does. She jumped into this fight pretending to be on Caluss’ side just to help cut the strings that were on me.” Looking up at Lanlan to address his question, Kanna straightens her shoulders. There was no need or want to lie at this stage. “I was never given a choice. The being that-- Suddenly, Lanlan is on his feet, tending to Valrae. Once that’s done, she starts over. “The being calls himself Alithyk Caluss picked me out of a party of strangers because I resembled his first scorned love. I was working on trying to betray him when he took me into the place he called his doman. From there, I had no power over my own body.”

Quintessa sits on the edge of the bed, right next to everyone but so far away at the same time. She never felt more alone than this moment. It was all consuming. She listens to her friends speak about Alithyk Caluss and his domain, the same place she found herself trapped in. She surely wasn’t suffering the same torments Kanna had under Caluss’ care but she was still being forced to work for it against her will. That she was willing to sacrifice at least- everyone else, Valrae especially, she never meant to put in harm’s way. “I’m just as much of a monster as Alithyk Caluss…”

Valrae would have flinched at Lanlan’s exclamation, her body only remained motionless because of awareness of the pain that movement would bring her. She saved her energy, moving toward an upright position at a pace that seemed to span lifetimes. Every motion was a new agony. Despite a herculean effort of her will, she cried out with the motions of it. Bitter tears slipped down her welted, ugly cheeks. Her burned lips trembled. There were medicated wraps covering most of her wounds, she could smell the bitter herbs with every cursed inch of ground she gained as she rose. She felt her dignity falling away from her, surrounded as she struggled and her breathing became shallow. Finally, her blistered back was against the cool edge of the infirmary bed’s headboard, and the cup was in her trembling and badly burned hands. She took a careful drink, not hearing what the others said despite her best efforts. Her heartbeat pounded too loudly in her head. She heard ‘helping that monster’ and ‘Caluss’. The witch worked through her memory of the night slowly. She could smell the smoke in her hair and her stomach rolled. When she turned her face to look toward her friends again it was Kanna’s eyes she looked for. “You saved us.” She says simply, her voice rough and weak. “In the end.” There was something close to her, more of those dark spots in her vision, but Valrae thought they almost formed the shape of a woman. She closes her eyes again. “Where is Tessa?” Her voice sounded small, even in her own ears. The witch could remember her being held down but everything after that was only fire.

Khitti || “Hush,” Khitti said, in response to Kanna’s protests. “You are not the only one in this room that has killed people. I have killed when I’m at my sanest. I have killed while under the influence of the shade that helped us in Vailkrin. You have killed and you will likely kill again, because you have things and people you care about. It happens and there is no changing it.” Her words were twinged with her own guilt and a hint of sadness. “I am as much of a monster as you think you are--possibly even moreso. It will stay with you, always, but try not to let it consume you, as it has consumed me. You have so many important things you still must do.” Of course, Khitti could spout off all this wisdom, but she could never keep any for herself. No, there was never ever enough, and even if there was, she wouldn’t allow herself to have it. The redhead sighed and sat on the edge of Kanna’s bed, just next to where Quintessa was, though she did not know it. “He took her,” her words now for Valrae. “Just like he took Kanna.” Khitti gripped the edge of the bed, curling her fingers deep into the mattress, biting back more emotions. And yet, she could no longer keep them at bay, her tears leaving wet streaks on her cheeks as they spilled down and fell to the white tile floor.

Lanlan believed Kanna was telling the truth, just upon hearing her say it. But still, he had his doubts. “That may be true,” he says plainly when she says she doesn’t deserve this kindness. “But why do you feel that way if you had no control?” He chose to focus on Kanna because he didn’t know how to look at Valrae right now. Her burns were severe enough that he couldn’t tell what she was feeling or thinking by looking at her anymore. Still, he stayed close to her, magicking a poofy cloudlike chair into being, just in front of where he sat on her bed. This was too much for him to think about. Once again, he closes his eyes just to quiet everything down a bit, but is almost immediately disturbed. “Nobody’s saying you're a monster,” Lanlan says, misattributing the disembodied voice to Kanna. Actually he wasn’t even sure if he’d heard it. “Uhh. Besides, she’s right,” he said, placing his hand on Valrae’s bed. “You did save us.” Valrae asks a question that he wasn’t sure how to answer, because he didn’t especially like contradicting Khitti. Too stressful. “It looked to me like she went willingly,” he says, almost under his breath.

Quintessa frowns as she pulls her legs under her chin and hugs them tightly. “You don’t understand!” she screams in Lanlan’s direction, “I had to do this.” Maybe she was trying to cope with her situation but she believed it for now, at least. “There was no other way…” She sobs into her knees now, which strangely echoes through the halls for a moment and then is gone. Kanna’s words bring more despair, describing Alithyk Caluss’ disdain, an emotion of the monster she had experienced already in its lair a lot. Quintessa had to be constantly put down and mentally dominated to keep her in line, and even just a mere scowl would be treated as defiance. When the changeling hears Kanna ask about the status of the Xalious Tree she waits expectantly for their answer, looking up from her curled position.

Valrae wished that Khitti was closer to her while knowing that thought was selfish. She could see both her and Kanna struggling with what had happened. If she’d been less of a ruined mess she might have thrown her arms around them. The absence of both Tessa and Kasyr felt like a phantom limb now, she could almost swear she could feel at least one of them in the room, but it was likely the pain numbing potions that still lingered in her system. She reaches out carefully when Lanlan places his hand on her bed, her own resting atop it gently. “How are you?” She murmurs softly. She knew he’d died, had felt it through the bond that was between them now. Her injuries were severe and so plainly on her skin, she wondered if Lan harbored his own under the surface and the thought sent an echo of sadness through her chest. She thought she heard a sob and wondered for a moment if it was Khitti’s or her own. Perhap she was imagining things. “Was it you that saved me?” She asked him, then looked around for Khitti. “I know I fell but… I know you stayed with me.” There was an apology written in her tone. Her scarred lips turned to a smile that struggled to remain despite the pain it brought her. And as much as her injuries plagued her, her vanity was the sharpest knife. The witch had yet to see how badly the fire had ravaged her features. She could tell by the way Lan avoided looking toward her that she must be a very disfigured version of herself now. A hiccuping sob escaped her, despite herself, and fresh tears tumbled down her blistered face. She pulled her hand away from Lan’s covering her ruined face as Kanna spoke. She listened but the words only echoed in her mind, nearly drowned by all the horrible images of herself she conjured up. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. The word beat like a drum in her mind. Mention of the Xalious tree pulled her from it. Her hands drop to her lap. “I saw it come back.” Her tone was hollow, defeated. “Can’t you feel it? The connection remains. Caluss won nothing from us.” Except, perhaps he had. What faith among them could survive what they knew now? Quintessa and Kanna’s role in the near destruction of all arcane magic could not be ignored. It shook the very foundation of what little trust had been growing between them. Perhaps especially for Lanlan, who had seemed determined to mistrust the world as a whole. She wondered now if he’d been correct. Her eyes find Khitti again and she searches the other woman’s face. It seemed she’d known the longest about this betrayal. If Khitti could trust that they had been forced, that Caluss had managed to worm his way into them through faults that were not of their making, Valrae would follow her lead. Because it was simpler this way, and because she wanted to believe in the goodness of them both.

Khitti’s mom senses were tingling. Or she was hearing things. Or she was wanting to hear things. She was so distraught, yet so angry about the whole betrayal that she wasn’t sure how she’d react if Quintessa was suddenly in front of her. She kept fluctuating between wanting to hug her and wanting to strangle the life from her. Maybe she should settle on both. Or nothing at all. But she heard those echoed sobs coming in the hallway and it tugged at her heartstrings and she couldn’t stop herself from getting up and walking to the doorway as the rest of them talked amongst themselves. There was immediate confusion when she saw nothing, heard nothing. But those cries, they felt so familiar… “Tessa…?” Her daughter’s name was naught but a whisper, a frown made to accompany it. Khitti turned her head away from the door, shook it, then moved to Valrae’s side now that she was finished with Kanna for now. On a table beside Valrae’s bed, there laid an aloe plant, with several leaves missing. Khitti now broke off another and carefully started to rub the aloe along Valrae’s burns, letting the cooling, healing properties take effect. She said nothing for now, but that look of vague confusion still lingered. Unlike Lanlan, however, Khitti did not look away from her friend and her predicament. “You’re going to look like a lizard soon, you know,” the redhead said after what seemed like an eternity of silence from her. There was a hint of smirk for the witch. “All these burns will peel off and you’ll be as good as new.”

Lanlan scowled as Kanna revealed what she knew from the other side. “Isn’t it obvious? She’s always agreed with his…vision. Remember how she called him ‘The Great Defier’ as if he was some kind of hero? He’s a monster.” Now she was going to find out the hard way, it seemed, as he was not a kind master. Sobs echo through the infirmary with seemingly no source, and he shudders, before Khitti gets up to check for it, as if reading his mind. He looks at her for a clue, but she doesn’t offer any. From now on he keeps his voice low, almost out of instinct. “She probably doesn’t deserve what she’s getting…but she did ask for it.” He huffed, disappointed that even after the ordeal with Haladavar, the Mage’s Guild was still so divided. Perhaps moreso, or else couldn’t he have seen this coming? He should have. But he was so tired, now. He could scarcely consider the impact of what he was saying; if it were true then what might happen? And Valrae, why did she think he could save her after all that? Nobody could’ve. “...I couldn’t just leave you out there with the monsters could I?” Apparently he could. When he woke up again, she was nowhere to be found. And then she was here. He meekly steals a glance toward her to see if that was the right answer, then immediately turns away again. He could see what she was feeling, just by looking into her eyes. It was despair. She pulls her hand off his and he gradually slides his into his own lap as he ponders why it might be there. She knew he didn’t save her and this was a test that he failed. “The tree is going to be fine,” he says somewhat coldly, but he catches himself, and stands up out of his conjured chair triumphantly. “We saved it! But there’s still so much to do,” he says sounding impossibly optimistic. “The people of Cenril? They’re counting on us! So rest up, get healed. I’ll be back soon to check up on you both. Or…Khitti, are you staying with them? I think that’s an excellent idea!” Then he claps his hands together once, offers each of them an illusory smile, and marches off to…anywhere else.

Kanna looks up at Lanlan as anxiety befalls him as easily as a flea infestation befalls a fermin collective. “No, Quintessa wouldn’t do that knowing that he used me against my will, she wouldn’t hurt her friends…!” The protests fall on deaf ears as he flees the room to leave the more emotional humans to their feelings. Kanna furrows her brows and moves to throw the blanket off, her weakened muscles straining against her movements all the while. Tentatively, Kanna presses two feet to the floor and moves to stand. “Ah…!” Her body decides for her that it is not time to travel yet, and the bardess goes down. Clinging to the bed with her knees on the ground, Kanna protests her body’s rejection with ragged breaths as she tries to maintain the little bit of stamina she has. “He’s right, though… we need to get to Cenril before the new moon. I just… Just need my koto, so I can heal Valrae and Leralynn…” Kanna scrambles to get back up on the bed and kicks the nightstand that holds Orange’s belongings on it, putting the bag dangerously close to the precipice.

Quintessa felt pity for Valrae, a pity she often didn’t experience but more than that. She felt directly responsible. She should have warned them somehow, even with Caluss watching, she should have found a way. When Khitti looks up and whispers Tessa’s name another wave of tears flows down her face. “I’m here,” she sobs in vain, “I promise, I’m going to make this right… I promise…” Quintessa lets out a low growl, mad at herself that she was feeling sorry for herself. She was wasting her time, she needed to communicate in a way besides vague ghostly sounds. In frustration Quintessa rises from the bed and begins to circle the room frantically, looking for something to manipulate- paper, ink, chalk, anything, but nothing works when she tries. Her astral form just isn’t powerful enough. She’s angry enough to throw the medical supplies all over the room at this point, but when she tries nothing happens. The warlock needs to enter somebody’s dreams to speak with them. Quintessa finally floats over to hover above Orange, a hand reaching out to feel for her dreams. With a sigh the changeling’s arm drops in defeat. Her comatose state was a dreamless one. As Quintessa prepares to float away Larelynn’s satchel falls over, a piece of black chalk rolling out from the bag gently. “Perhap this will work…” The warlock reaches down to clutch the piece of magic chalk and it works, the changeling chirping in excitement as she begins to hastily draw something on the floor. She has just enough chalk to write three words, disintegrating quickly in her fingers. The words read: “Beware.” “Cenril.” and “Attack.” in harsh, jagged letters. As Quintessa looks around she notices that Lanlan is already gone and she frowns. She had hoped he would discover her message himself but the important thing was that someone noticed it, it need not be him. Turning back around she gives Kanna a steadfast look, though she could not see it. “Thank you for always trusting me, my friend. I’m going to make him pay.”

Valrae watched as Khitti moved away, a small panic bubbling in her chest. Was she leaving them then? Guilt followed because she knew the other woman must have been miserable and ready for her own home and rest. Still, the witch felt vulnerable and helpless in a way that she’d never experienced before now. She listened as Lan spoke of Tessa, trying to make sense of it. She had agreed with Caluss, that was true enough, but how did that fit in with everything else they knew now? Was she safe, or would she be punished for what seemed like a betrayal to Caluss himself? The thought made her sick. Lanlan finally looks at Valrae again and she opens her mouth to speak, only… He turned away from her so quickly there was no time. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. The sorrow and shame threatened to drown her again. He must regret saving her. She would have been better off dying with the tree. When the redhead returns she struggles not to sob once more. “It’s okay… I know you must be exhausted,” The witch tries to protest but the words die in her throat as the aloe meets her ruined skin. She sighs as relief finds her. Val tries to muster a laugh at Khitti’s joke but what happens instead is a strangled mix between a giggle and a keening wail. “I’m hideous!” She cries, covering her face again despite the pain the quick movements brought her. The same feelings of helplessness and fear arise as Lan sails from the room. “Wait…” Her voice was meek as she called after him, too late to stop him. She wasn’t ready to return to Cenril! How could she face anyone now, looking like this? She felt empty, so far removed from herself that there would be no way she could lead a ritual to save anyone. Her attention turns to Kanna as she falls and the witch cries out in distress. “Kanna! You should be resting!” She hisses out. “You will not be healing me.” There was a sureness that had been missing before in her tone now. Her eyes moved to the commotion of Larelynn’s satchel as it fell. She would have looked away again but for the strange movement that followed. “Am I seeing things now?” She asks, looking up at Khitti.

Khitti made an EXTREMELY rude gesture at the drow as he made his exit. “Remind me to beat the hell out of him later with his own staff.” She rubbed at her eyes tiredly and shook her head at the witch. “Oh hush. You’re not ugly. If you don’t quit it, I’ll beat you with Lan’s staff too.” That didn’t sound right, but she made no move to correct it. “You stop it too!” Khitti’s switch flipped to mom mode as Kanna tried to get up to heal the others. “You’ve been undead for how long now? Your body isn’t used to things yet. And you’re injured on top of that. I’m going to start a bath for each of you and that will help your muscles and burns and then we can tend to Leralynn -together-. And if you don’t, I’m going to beat the hell out of all of you.” She wouldn’t, but she was clearly not impressed with all of their shenanigans. It’s then that Leralynn’s bag stirred, as Khitti got up to go start their nice spa-like baths, which drew the redhead’s attention, first to it, then to the words that inscribed themselves on the floor. She processed the warning, and looked around the room for anything else that might be different. “Tessa?” Her daughter’s name was much louder this time. Of course, she’d get no verbal response. Khitti sighed, then looked to Val and Kanna, “I think we have a problem…”