RP:Nightmare in Shadow and Bronze

This is a Mage's Guild RP.

Summary: While investigating a series of suspicious break-ins in the shopping quarter of the hobbit burrows, Pilar and Odhranos uncover a hidden mechanical menace.

The Mage Tower

"And you're certain these reports are true? They aren't just figments of someone's overactive imagination?" Odhranos inquired sternly, reading over the letter once more. "I'm certain, I saw the damage done with me own eyes. I ain't one to be exaggeratin' now, you hear?" The hobbit huffed crossly, folding his arms and scowling at the mage. Odhranos frowned right back and skimmed the letter once more. "You can understand my scepticism, surely. A horde of metal men, simply "appearing" out of mid-air, raiding the blacksmithing storehouse and then simply vanishing again? With no explanation?" The mage rubbed his chin with an exasperated look on his face. "Listen, laddie, can ye help or not? I was told you were the man to ask about dealing with automma... autumnina...-", "Automatons?", "Yeah, those things!" The hobbit exclaimed, jabbing a stubby hairy-knuckled finger at the mage. "I was told you'd be the man for sorting out those whatchamacallits, wizard said you were some golem-researcher or whatever." Odhranos sighed and palmed his forehead, rubbing his tired eyes. "All right! All right, I'll go take a look. Give me a day or two to gather some tools and whatnot, and I'll meet you on Hamfast lane, I'll send word." The hobbit nodded firmly, his rounded and homely features spreading into a sudden smile; hobbits weren't particularly good at remaining angry for long. "That'll be mighty, Yer Magelyness, I'll see ye then!" He announced as he skipped out the door. When it shut behind him, Odhranos' head slumped and hit the table with a muffled groan. One accursed thing after another, the Guild seemed determined he would never have time to complete his research. Still, these things needed solving, and Odh couldn't help trying to solve them, such was his wa

Pilar had just dropped off a chest filled with fire-enchanted stones for research and containment when she decided to stop by and visit Odhranos. She hadn't seen him in awhile and would never turn down a chance to see a friend. When she found him however, she noticed immediately how not-happy he looked. "Odhranos? Is everything alright?"

Odhranos' head lifted off the desk at the sound of his name being called, and startled grey eyes looked at Pilar with a serious case of mage-in-headlights before his brain caught up and the terramancer smiled wearily. "Ah! Pilar! No, no, everything's fine. I'm just getting bogged down with work is all. I've been attempting to find time for my research, but it seems not a day goes by that I'm not needed for some hair-brained quest or other. It's exhausting." Odh huffed tiredly, half-lying/sprawling on his desk for dramatic effect. "I just got my latest task, it seems that a number of businesses in the hobbit burrows down south have been experiencing disturbances and break-ins. Normally I'd say that they should talk to the Xalious Guard, but apparently the perpetrators are -now, you'll love this description- "big metal clanky yokes that just appeared out of nowhere, that just appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as quick, bit like an unattended apple tart at a Yule feast."" The mage grinned, hobbits were such delightful folk, nothing compared to that boundless exuberance. "So, naturally, it falls to me to go out and hunt down these metal larcenists." The mage sighed tiredly against his desk.

"That does sound like a problem." Pilar walked over to him and patted his shoulder. "Would you like a hand?"

Odhranos lifted his head up and settled it in his palms, resting his elbows on the table. "To tell the truth, I would appreciate some help. Another set of eyes would be helpful, you could easily pick up something I'd miss. Plus it would be good to know someone has my back if things get hairy." The mage smiled amiably and sat up, stretching his arms with a jaw-cracking yawn. "Right, I need to hunt down some stuff, will I meet you tomorrow evening, on Hamfast lane? We can investing and see what we can find. The report says that all incidents happened quite late, after sunset, so if we meet up late evening, we can scout out the sites of the crime and then stake it out and see what we can find?" The mage got to his feet, tidying up a pile of books that lay around his desk. "Does that suit?" He inquired as he carried the books out the door to return them to the library.

Pilar followed along as he headed out. "It does. I'll see you then." Fast forward to the next night, and Pilar arrived at Hamfast Lane wearing a beige tunic, black pants, and brown boots. Around her waist was a belt with many pouches on it. She was ready for adventure!

Hamfast Lane

Odhranos strolled down Hamfast lane at a brisk pace, carrying a large metal staff that rang with a bright "clink!" every time it's base collided with the stony ground. The shaft of the implement was separated at regular intervals by deeply incised encircling lines, with the spaces in between divided up into shard-like shapes by lighter etched lines. Spying Pilar in the distance, he waved as he approached her, the tall man easily able to see over the heads of the multitude of hobbits crowding the bust street. Wading through the sea of people, the terramancer soon stood alongside Pilar. "Right! We have about an hour til the sun goes down, let's case the joint!" The mage grinned cheekily before leading the way down the street.

Pilar smiled at him, following along behind. There were a number of shops along the street, a couple of which had broken, boarded-up windows. "So, what happens when we catch whoever is doing this?" she asked.

Odhranos frowned at the boarded up shops, much as he had been aware of it, it really brought it home when you saw the sum of someone's hard work, their livelihood, just sitting there derelict after someone took it upon themselves to tear it down. It was heartbreaking. "We remain out of sight and attempt to detain one of them without alerting the others, to capture one of these "metal men" if possible. If that doesn't pan out, we remain hidden, follow them back to wherever they came from and see what to do then." The mage stroked his chin. "I can hide us underground, so you won't need to expend your energy constantly in order to keep us hidden, but if we need to move or follow them, you'll have to keep us invisible. Shouldn't be an issue for you, after the Duprees." The mage's voice dropped to a barely perceptable whisper for the last sentence, you never knew who could be listening.

Pilar nodded. "Okay. That works." The sun was nearly set, and the crowd thinned. Pilar looked around, listening intently. She thought she heard a metallic creak, then grabbed Odhranos's wrist. "I heard something," she whispered.

Odhranos nearly jumped when Pilar grabbed his wrist, he was on edge already as it was. Crouching down in an instant, tugging Pilar's hand to do so as well, the earth seemed to soften beneath them, as they sank rapidly into it. When they were up to their midriffs in dirt, a curl of earth looped over them like a wave, enclosing them in what would appear to be a small, low lying mound of earth, leaving a small, grass-fringed peephole for them to look through. Closing his eyes and splaying his hands out against the dirt, Odhranos let his terramantic senses permeate the soil, spreading out until the earth acted as a large spiderweb, any vibrations travelling through the mage's sensory area and alerting him to any presences. Which there were many. Big and heavy presences. "Bugger. There are multiple moving entities out there, bunched together, and they are all real heavy. Looks like that hobbit wasn't exaggerating at all. We should be able to see them by now though..." The mage puzzled, before his eyes widened. "Illusion magic. There must be a bloody illusionist out there leading them."

"Hmm." Pilar held up a hand and concentrated. A fine mist rolled in. She hadn't the skill or knowledge to disrupt a spell, but lowering the temperature to cause condensation to appear, that she could do.

As the mist rolled in, vague shapes began to form in the gloom, as the beads of condensation clung to the hidden forms. Odhranos grinned at Pilar, he had used a similar technique in their last spar, he was happy to see it used again, but this time with mist drops rather than sand. "Nicely done." The mage whispered as a foul string of curses rang out in the air. "-ing bloody mist! Of all the times for there to be mist. I hate the Overworld!" The voice growled shrilly before the illusion was dispelled, now clearly pointless. Looming out of the mist, great bronze automatons, clockworkings poking out from their joints and visible within their torsos, the hulking metal menaces marched with an eerie silent and jerky gait, as their immobile features scowled forward. At the middle of the group, a taller construct strode from the darkness, with a small passenger perched between it's shoulders where it's head would have been. Wrenching back a lever with a savage tug, the shadow gnome stared around with a squinty and shifty grimace, as it's beady eyes sought to peer through the gloom. Odhranos instinctively crouched lower, shadow gnomes, being denizens of the upper reaches of the Underdark, had exceptional eyesight in the darkness, it was only thanks to Pilar's fog that their hidey-hole was... well... still hidey.

Pilar crouched beside Odhranos, listening for additional voices. She could only hear the one, and hoped that meant there was just him.

Odh leaned across and whispered to Pilar "There are too many of them to take by force, we'd be overpowered in seconds. This'll have to be stealthy." The mage studied the constructs as best he could in the misty gloom. Large bronze plates covered the larger components of the torso and upper arms, while the legs below the knee were comprised mainly of struts with complicated mechanisms running the internal length of the limb. In the centre of the golem's chests, lay a large circular hole, closed over by a mesh grill, but behind that grill sat a large roughly cut crystal, which pulsed with a faint light like a heartbeat, while wisps of steam curled out of the grill. With a frustrated snarl, the shadow gnome pushed a set of levers forward, and as one, the party of automatons stalked forwards, towards the nearest shop that wasn't boarded up, an armoury. It was unfortunately the same direction that Odh and Pilar were. "Take a deep breath!" Odhranos hissed before the ground opened and sucked them downwards, just as a large bronze foot crunched down on their hiding spot on its way to the shop.

Pilar didn't have time to remind Odhranos that she didn't need to breathe before they were sucked under. She wasn't worried about herself as much as she worried about him.

The thought actually occured to Odhranos as they dropped, in one of those curious moments of calm detached thought that one experiences during a highly stressful situation. Once they stopped, the mage let his breath out into a small cavity-bubble he formed in the ground, which slowly ascended through the dirt as it would through water, while another bubble of fresh air was dragged down through the earth from the surface. It was a bit stuffy, and probably wouldn't have worked long-term, but it did for the time being. Between terramantically delivered breaths, the mage focused on the disturbances caused by the golems on the surface. Envisaging the weight they applied to the stone and earth as silver footprints, the mage looked up and watched as they converged on the shop. Another minute or two of stomping around, then a substantial weight was removed from ground (presumably whatever goods the automatons were stealing) and the silver footprints converged in front of the house before collectively heading westward. Odhranos reached through the stone and tapped Pilar's hand twice to get her attention, before taking her hand and they both ascended to the surface, breaching quietly a number of metres behind the now invisible constructs, hidden by a small amount of shrubbery.

Pilar was glad to get out of that claustrophobic chamber. It had been quite uncomfortable. As the constructs walked away, she looked to the building, frowning. Another broken house. Hopefully it would be the last.

Odhranos glanced at the house and frowned unhappily, it was unfortunately that another business had to suffer so that the issue might be resolved, but if they could find the golems and stop them, they could retrieve the stolen goods and make everything right again. As Odhranos watched, shadows appeared to swathe the retreating metal forms, until they disappeared from view, hidden within an illusion. "I can still track them, the same way I tracked you during our duel. It's up to you to hide us though. Don't worry about it, just trust your abilities, it'll work." The mage reassured Pilar with a whisper, then waited for her to cast her illusion before sneaking off after the automatons.

Pilar nodded. "Right." The duo disappeared from view, and the sounds of their movement would be muffled. Pilar had her hand on Odhranos's back, so she didn't lose him.

Odhranos felt a distinct disorientation as the spell took effect, looking down and not being able to see ones body just messed with your head if you weren't used to it. In order to keep himself from stumbling, almost ironically, the mage closed his eyes. Seeing with his terramancy, the mage walked forwards slowly, ensuring that Pilar wouldn't lose him. The two mages trekked off into the shadows, following a trail of invisible footprints from the hidden automatons. The trail led away from the Burrows and into the upper reaches of the valley that Xalious Village was nestled into. After nearly a half hour of walking in the freezing cold, Odhranos stopped abruptly, the party of constructs had arrived at their destination it seemed. As the fragments of the invisibility illusion fell away like wisps of fabric, the shadow gnome's automaton stepped forward. "Open up, you half-brained scum-sucking weevils!" he shrieked, seemingly at a blank stone wall. With a grinding rasp, a section of the stone slid back into the wall and then aside, revealing the same intricate clockwork mechanisms that powered the golems. "Ahh, Veraan, you mite-brained arse-pimple, what have you gotten for us on this disgustingly bright night?" came the reply as another shadow gnome stepped out through the portal. "Just what our esteemed houseguests asked for!" came the sardonic reply, to which both gnomes laughed nastily, before Veraan lead his construct inside, followed by the others. "Here's our chance, we need to get inside before it seals!" Odhranos hissed, before making a dart for the now slowly closing door.

Pilar was much faster than Odhranos, and had to remind herself that she couldn't hurry too much, lest she leave him in the dust. She followed him into the chamber, her vampire eyes well-suited to the darkness.

Odhranos sidled through the door, quickly followed by Pilar just before the heavy door crunched back into position and slid forward with a grinding series of clanks and clicks. Crouching in the shadows near the door, the mage opened his eyes to survey the room they had just entered. A vast hallway had been hewn from the rock itself, the rough rock planed into smooth sharply angles surfaces, with large bulky contraptions comprised of exposed cogs and gears, interlaced with pipework leaking gouts of steam protruding from the wall. The purpose of these contraptions was evident as some of the automatons not burdened with materials stepped up to them and then turned around, until their backs met the contraptions. With a rattling clank of machinery, steam flooded out of the contraption as the back of the construct's torso seemed to mesh with the contraption. "They must be some sort of... dock? For the automatons?" Odhranos whispered to Pilar. Perhaps if they knew how this intricate mechanism worked, they might be able to sabotage it? Xalious damn him, why hadn't Odhranos thought to study flectomancy?!?

Pilar nodded in agreement. "What do we do now?" she asked. She searched the room for the gnomes and the stolen goods.

Odhranos squinted through the gusts of steam towards the end of the coridoor, where a large arched doorway led into another room, the same doorway through which the shadow gnomes and their laden automatons had gone. "We follow for now. Keep your eyes out for anything that might give us clues to how to stop these things. I'd rather we didn't have to fight our way out." The mage whispered before padding slowly past the slumbering automatons, inching one hesitant footstep at a time. When they reached the doorway, Odhranos leaded around the cut-stone drafe of the passage, then quickly darted inside, keeping his back to the wall. Within the chamber, piles upon piles of metal, stone and timber were scattered everywhere, while a walkway was cleared between the piles leading to the centre of the room. Taking up the majority of the central space, was a large bronze sphere, about the size of a man in diameter, hanging from a multitude of pipes and chains, with a central porthole open, revealing a roaring fire at the contraptions heart. The shadow gnome they had tracked had disembarked from his automaton, while the rest were dumping the materials they had carried into the respective piles. "What do you mean, you're working as fast as you can, you worm!!! Did I not tell you I wanted four more units before tomorrow morning!?!?! Remind me why I should keep you alive if you dont deliver!?!" The shadow shrieked, before the crack of a vicious slap echoed around the room. Inching forward, Odhranos tried to see what was going on. Cowering on the ground, three small gnomes seemed to be in a state of great distress, as their shadow gnome brethren towered over them like a terrible taskmaster. "Slavery..." Odhranos growled under his breath, disgusted.

Pilar's hands balled into fists. "We must save them," she said. She looked around the room, examining the automatons. "Maybe if we jam the gears with ice or stone...?" She didn't know a damn thing about robots.

Odhranos gritted his teeth angrilly, he agreed with Pilar, they couldn't just let this stand, they had to help these people, but a full frontal assault might not be the best way to go about it. "It might work, but we need to depend on something much more concrete than a possibility, especially now that other's lives are at risk." The mage was then reminded of what he had noticed about the construct's cores, how they seemed to throb with heat and light. Perhaps there was a way they could destroy the cores powering the machines? "We need to know more about how they work, so that way we can come up with the best way of destroying them. I think we need to question the people who made them..." The mage set his gaze on the gnomes, who at this point had crawled unhappily to their feet and returned to work, as the two shadow gnomes growled at them before striding to the far side of the room and the large brass door set therin. The remaining automatons took up positions at the edges of the room, interfacing with their own docking stations and soon, they were wreathed in steam. Tapping Pilar's hand to get her attention, the mage crouched and snuck up the central aisle. Upon reaching the gnomes, who were working at a feverish pace, the mage reached over one of their shoulders and pressed his finger to the metal plate of the construct they were building. Slowly, as the mage's mastery over metal was not as advanced as that of stone and earth, words began to form on the metal plate, etched lightly into the bronze. "Keep your voice down, we are here to help..." The message read.

The gnomes jumped as the message appeared, and looked over their shoulders at nothing. Pilar and Odhranos were still invisible. "H-Hello...?" one of them whispered.

Odhranos tapped his finger on the plate again, in order to get the gnomes' attention again. "We are going to set you free, we need to know how the automatons work so we can stop them." was etched into the metal plate, as the previous words faded away. "The cores, how do they work? Can we destroy them? Are there any weak spots?"

The gnomes looked at each other. "You think this is a test?" "I-I don't know..." "I don't wanna risk it." "I do." Two of the gnomes looked at the third in horror. "You're gonna risk all our lives for--" "For a shot at freedom? Hell yes I am!" "I don't wanna die!" "Be quiet!" Pilar hissed, causing all three to jump.

Odhranos grimaced, they were running out of time, the shadow gnomes could return at any moment. Placing a hand on the shoulder of the gnome that had expressed a will to escape. "We don't have much time. Those automatons must have something that powers the clockwork. Those crystals, they had a metal grill over them instead of a solid metal plate, that must mean something. They let off heat, those interfaces provide heat from steam, where's the connection?" The mage whispered quietly, reaching forward and tapping the chestplate of the half-assembled automaton lying on the table.

The gnome flinched at the sudden weight on his shoulder, then looked to his fellows. "O-Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Ghostie... The crystals let heat out in bursts, and it makes pieces inside get bigger and smaller, and that makes them move." Pilar could hear footsteps approaching, and whispered, "They're coming back!" The gnomes quickly went back to work.

Odhranos smiled despite himself, you had to admire the elegance of the technology, even if it was designed under extreme duress, and against the designer's free will and... let's just stop there. "So heat is the key. They depend on oscillating heat in order to function. If we can keep them at a constant heat, the clockwork will sieze up." Odhranos whispered, before his head jerked towards the doorway that the shadow gnomes had disappeared through. Damn, so soon?! Odhranos darted away to the far side of the table as the door opened, crouching down low. "Did I hear voices from you maggots? You're supposed to be working, not gossiping like tavern wenches!" Veraam shrieked, as he stomped out towards the gnomes.

Pilar didn't follow Odhranos, instead turning to face the gnome. Her instincts screamed at her to protect the gnomes, but she couldn't reveal themselves. So, she stepped aside to let the shadow gnome pass... Though she couldn't help sticking her foot out and tripping him, letting him fall on his face. She then hurriedly backed away.

Veraan collapsed with a very high pitched squeal as his small form pitched over head first into the ground. The gnomes all flinched away frightened, Veraan had a savage temper and an even worse cruel streak, it was all but certain that this would be taken out on them. While his companion laughed at his misfortune, Veraan scrambled to his feet before stamping towards the nearest gnome. "What was that?!? What did you do?" The gnome whimpered and shook his head. "Don't mumble, you ignorant cretin!!! Something tripped me, and there's nothing there, what scheming have you been doing?" The gnome's eyes welled up with tears as he began to shake violently with fear. "Useless waste of flesh, I'm done with you." Veraan spat vehemently, throwing the gnome to the ground before drawing a long serrated blade from it's sheath behind his back, raising it above his head with a sadistic smile. Odhranos gritted his teeth and threw out his hand, sending a bolt of stone flying from his grip, which collided with the blade, binding to the darksteel and continuing onward, tearing the blade from the gnomes hand. Glancing around wildly, the gnome looked for the origin of the projectile. "Intruders!!! Automatons, attack!!!!"

Pilar didn't drop the invisibility, not yet. Even if they were found out, it gave them an edge. She swooped in and grabbed Veraan by the back of his shirt and lifted him up. It was tempting to drop-kick the bastard right there, but she resisted. Instead she threw him across the room at this companion. "You three, hide! We'll handle this," she whispered, and the gnomes hurriedly found a table to crouch under. Pilar then faced the automatons and cracked her knuckles.

The mechanical nightmares detached from their mountings with a rattling of cogs and a hissing of steam. One by one, they straightened and faced the centre of the room, solemn metal faces staring towards the empty air where Odhranos and Pilar stood. "There, next to the table!! Get theeeeeem!!" Veraan screamed, before shrieking with alarm. The ground beneath the two shadow gnomes had collapsed and they fell into the open maw of the earth feet-first, scrabbling at the floor desperately. When they was buried up to their necks, the earth snapped shut, imprisoning both of the evil taskmasters. "Right, they're out of the picture. Focus on the cores with your cryomancy." Odh called out to Pilar, before he swept his arms out wide, shards of stone flying up from the floor and darting towards the clockwork constructs, aiming for open joints and exposed gears.

Pilar dropped the invisibility. She was starting to get tired, and she needed to focus. She held up her hands and slowly, ice began to encase the crystal cores. The automatons stomped towards the two mages, stuttering as rocks slammed into them and jammed their inner workings.

Odhranos focused on working the stone right into the little crevices between cogs and struts, before he splayed his hands wide. With a loud bang, the stone forced itself outwards, making the shins of the lead automaton explode, pitching it headfirst onto the ground, where it began clawing it's way along the floor towards the mage. Repeating the same technique with it's elbows, the mage immobilized the automaton, before turning his attention to the one Pilar had frozen. The pulsing glow of it's crystal core slowed with every throb of light, as the construct ground to a halt, until with one last dying wheeze of mist, the core let out the last of it's stored heat. Odhranos was about to cheer, when with a colossal bang, the bronze doors leading to the entrance bent inwards with the force of the blow from behind; the automatons in the corridor had awoken. "Damn, we need a quicker way of taking them down, or they'll overrun us." Odhranos hissed, before running across and splaying his fingers against the door. Stone crept across the metal in thick bands, bracing itself against the floor with buttresses, while the mage glanced around for a way to stop the automatons trying to beat their way in. His gaze fell on the large metal sphere at the centre of the room, a large fire burning in it's heart. "A boiler... to produce steam for the constructs... PILAAAAR!!!" Odhranos roared. "Freeze that boiler! It will travel through the pipes and cause the interfaces to emit ice cold mist, enough to freeze the cores!"

Pilar almost felt bad for the automatons as they fell apart. She had to remind herself that they weren't alive. She whirled around to face the swarm, eyes wide. She had almost started to panic when Odhranos called out his instructions. "Got it!" Pilar replied, and she turned her attention to the boiler. She held up her hands and a film of frost began to form, but it melted quickly. Pilar exhaled and pushed more magic into her spell, causing the boiler to freeze faster. It was a fight to keep the ice ahead of the fire; Pilar was no master cryomancer.

Odhranos gritted his teeth as he set more and more stone struts against the door, but with each blow, more crumbled than he could put in place. "Put everything you've got into it, we're running out of time!" The mage cried out, as another ringing blow beat against his barricade. A few more of them and they'd have clockwork menaces piling through the doorway, with no way to escape.

"I'm trying!" Pilar said. Her head was beginning to pound and her hands were shaking. The ice, finally, began to overtake the fire, and the boiler was encased in ice. Pilar kept it up, and the ice became thicker and thicker, and the freezing mist began to pour through the pipes.

A whistling hissing noise started on the far side of the door, growing louder with each second until it sounded like the mother of all teapots was boiling beyond the barricade. Each blow against the metal door became weaker and the gaps between stretched out longer and longer until with feeble clank, all sound on the far side other than the hissing ceased. With hesitant movements, Odhranos peered out through a crack in the doorframe, before breaking into a grin. "You've done it!!!" He laughed ecstatically, pulling the doors open with claws of stone and revealing the scene beyond. Piled up like shambling corpses, the automatons appeared to be frozen in the act of scrambling over each other in the feverish attempt to break through the door. However, each and every one was frozen still, icicles hanging from every outstretched hand and joint, crystal cores lifeless and cold. Reaching up with one hand to flick the headplate of the nearest automaton, Odhranos turned with a grin. "I think it's time we get out of here."

Pilar had taken a knee and was panting from exertion. The gnomes peeked out from under the table, then burst forth, cheering. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" they cried, tears of joy and relief streaming down their faces. Pilar smiled at them, then struggled to her feet. She looked to the trapped shadow gnomes. "What about... them?"

Odhranos smiled at the celebrating gnomes as he strode across to help Pilar to her feet. Rolling back his sleeve, he proffered his arm to her, with the words; "Here, drink, regain your strength, wouldn't do to have you collapsing on me just after we've won." The mage quipped with a smile. When Pilar asked about the shadow gnomes, Odhranos turned his head to level an icy glare at them. "They can stay there for now. We'll inform the Xalious Guard when we get back to the village and they can deal with them from there." he growled in a low tone. "Thank your gods I'm feeling kind. Otherwise you'd be six feet deep without a coffin, and Xalious knows you deserve it."

Pilar hesitated to feed. "Have you ever been... fed on before?" It was an intense experience, and she didn't want to knock him off his feet.

Odhranos raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Once, and while it threw me off-kilter for a minute or so, it passed quickly. Besides, we have a long walk back, and you are probably pretty burned out after holding that invisibility for so long, then having to pump out some pretty strong cryomancy right after. Better we balance out the strain between us and both walk back than you bearing it alone."

"O... okay..." Pilar brought his wrist to her mouth and, as gently as possible, she sank her fangs into his flesh. Warm blood flooded her mouth and she moaned softly. Feeding just felt so good. But this was a snack, not a meal, and she withdrew her mouth after only about thirty seconds. She pulled a vial from a pouch on her belt and removed the cork. She poured a bit of the liquid inside on the wound, then re-corked the bottle and put it away. She rubbed the liquid in. It would sting, but the wound would close, as if it hadn't been there.

Odhranos' head spun as Pilar's fangs sank into his arm. "Woo-oah, tha's stronger than I rem'mber.." he mumbled softly as a strange blissful sense of euphoria stole through his mind. Roused from his "sleep", S'erok's consciousness lazily unwound it's way from it's safe little spot at the back of Odhranos' mind, awoken by the disturbance. A sense of alarm flushed through the dragon-soul at the sense of vampiric feeding; an experience little or no dragons had ever gone through, due to the poisonous nature of their blood to vampires. <"I leave you to your own devices and this is what you get up to? Honestly Grey One, you - wait.... she can hear me now, can't she?"> The dragon-spirit racked it's own memories, recalling what it knew of the vampiric race. Feeding on humans, resulted in a strong euphoric sense and also a brief mental link. <Oh Odhranos, do you ever think in moments like this?"> the consciousness sighed, before turning it's attention to the newcomer to their mental space. <"Hello Pilar, we meet again.">

Pilar jolted at the strange voice, before she remembered that he shared his body with another mind. ~H-Hello... S'erok, yes?~ Pilar kept her hand on Odhranos's shoulder, to keep him upright. "Odhranos, are you alright?" she asked aloud.

<"Indeed. As for Odhranos, let me give him a nudge.">. In an instant, Odhranos' eyes cleared and he shook his head rapidlyx as if to clear fog from his mind. "Xalious bless, that was a bit stronger than I remembered. I'm alright now though." The mage got to his feet and rubbed the bite mark on his arm, which was rapidly healing, leaving two faint silvery puncture marks of scar tissue. "What about yourself? Did it do the trick?" He asked, as he turned to face the door. <"What were you going on about just there? I was a bit out of it."> Odhranos' mental voice inquired of S'erok. <"I was talking to Pilar. She can hear out thoughts now, thanks to the mental link caused by her feeding on your blood. I thought you were aware of that."> the dragon replied, almost smugly. Odhranos' eyes widened as he turned to face Pilar. <"Oh... I... uh... wasn't aware, this didn't happen the last time, or at least I can't remember."> Shaking his head again, the mage focused on where he was. "Right, we can figure this out later. Right now we need to get word to the guard."

Pilar gave him an awkward smile. ~If you practice, you'll be able to block me out, and keep your thoughts to yourself.~ She looked to the freed gnomes and nodded. "Yes. Let's go." The group returned to the village proper, making a quick detour to Enchantment to return the gnomes to their families before finding the Xalious guard and bringing them to the cavern. The two shadow gnomes were promptly arrested, and Odhranos and Pilar went to the Mage's Guild dormitories to rest after their long, trying night.