RP:Revenant-Skin Throw Rug
Part of the The God of Undeath Arc
Summary: After Kasyr leaves Quintessa for dead on the ruined House Dragana clearing, Karasu comes to the warlock's side to prevent her imminent death, and her resolve against Kasyr hardens.
Dark Arena
The arena is filled with various corpses, both dead and undead alike. Several zombies seem to be carrying the corpses out of the arena, returning them to the masters they served. Many bodies here look disfigured and ill, clearly abominations constructed by necromancers to serve in the gladiator-like battles held here in the arena. Several of the other bodies though are completely normal, those of which were likely living participants that did not succeed in winning their matches. A battle must have recently gone on here, as the crowds of people step out of the entrance of the area. To the south is the way out, while to the north is a path leading to the back of the arena, and the castle beyond that.
Karasu had only taken her eyes off of Quintessa for a moment. A rather disgusting commotion from the audience stands had forced her to look away, to instruct some hired hands to drag a familiar and yet somehow more obnoxious drow down to the healer’s beds, to chastise those in the stands for enabling him by acknowledging his behavior, which only resulted in lighthearted jeers from Meri and Magik. Turning to look over the results of the match, her brows furrow in frustration at Lita’s restraint. Why had she spared Mathollak from death? Is her showing mercy an act that she expected Mathollak to return one day? Karasu doesn’t understand the act and grimaces at it. Lita must be weaker than she lets on, she rationalizes, though that could not be further than the truth. Karasu would not learn this for quite some time, though. That’s when the black-gold ring she had exchanged with her soon-to-be-wife activates with a spell she hoped would never be needed, turning her blood to ice. “I only looked away for a second.” She whispers, fetching a golden compass from her pockets. “Take me to Quintessa.”
Dark Forest Deadfall
Once, a massive estate stood here, towering over the twisted treetops which populate the forest. What's taken it's place is a blackened crater which delves into the ground, as though the heavens sought to scorch all evidence of this place. Already, the woods encroach upon this place, twisting limbs arching over the crevice as though they seek to erase the lingering evidence of civilizations' attempt at conquering this place. Though, given the chittering that emanates from within the trees- it's possible they may have more malign intentions, obfuscating where the drop begins in order to feed the soil with the fresh blood of the fallen.
Quintessa sits crumpled but still conscious, focusing on the pain she was feeling until the sensation became a dull buzz. She had learned this trick long ago, as a child, as a way to cope with the physical abuse her father put her through. Pain had always been a part of her life and her defiant nature would never allow her to give into it. She just focuses on breathing, in and out, slowly. Eventually four shadow-portals open, each on the edge of the clearing, six undead beings known as Glooms exiting to encircle Quintessa, daggers drawn. They look around for a threat, each turning their backs to the changeling to form a protective ring. “Idiots…” Quintessa insults them, “He’s already gone…” With another coughing fit the changeling expels more blood into the dirt, the pain reminding her not to talk more than necessary.
Karasu crashes through the twisted forest's brambles, paying no heed to the spiderwebs and burrows destroyed in the process. "Quintsesa!" She calls out as she enters the clearing where the Dragana manor once stood. The undead creatures all turn to face Karasu, and take stances as if to attack should she step closer. There's a twinge of doubt as Karasu hesitates. Are these beings friend or foe? They looked undead, but that meant little in a city of the undead. The metallic stench reaches her and her sight focuses on the warlock's crumpled form, reminding her why she has come. Karasu puts a hand on the hilt of her Sagaribana, staring down the Glooms. She is outnumbered and outmatched, but the demifeline cares little for logic at the moment. Only the shifting of feet so that the undead block Karasu's view of her does it make sense. They're protecting her. Karasu drops her hand to her side. "Step aside. I bear no ill will to Quintessa nor Alithyk Caluss." That was a lie, and she hopes it's one that reaches their rotted brains as she strides towards them.
Quintessa turns to look in Karasu’s direction, hissing the order to “Step aside fools!” in another harsh whisper. This time there is no coughing fit and the hope that fills Quintessa’s eyes is shown when the Glooms part ways like a dark curtain to allow the demi-feline to pass. Knowing that Karasu was here to help, the undead assassins move to the edge of the clearing in opposite directions, standing sentinel for the two women. Quintessa tries to stand up to meet Karasu, but she struggles, the threads of false life glowing brighter as they work to keep Quintessa alive. “Potion…” The warlock weakly requests, pulling herself up to a knee, but that’s as far as she can get. “I’m dying…”
Karasu scans Quintessa's body the moment she's close enough to see her clearly, the Glooms almost immediately forgotten. A string of curses is muttered as she quickens her pace to kneel in the blood by her lover's side. "Xalious have mercy on us." She prays as the twin moons' light illuminates the hole in Quintessa's chest. A bundle of red mass is pulsing quickly, fueled only by adrenaline and necromancy, and as Karasu rummages through her bag, another wave of horror besets her. She was looking at her heart. A wave of nausea roils through her as she withdraws the glass bottle. "Do you know how godsdamned lucky you are I had one on me? This stale healing magic won't be enough this time, you need something stronger..." The spellblade's hands are shaking as she chastises her while uncorking the bottle. Karasu shifts and swears again as the contents of her bag spill out onto the mud. Rougher than she expected herself to, she forces the bottle between Quintessa's bloodied teeth with an order to chug. If she could just get a little more stabilized, she could think long enough to think of a healing spell with no possible adverse interactions.
Quintessa accepts the bottle, feeling a bit like a baby as Karasu demands she chug the contents of the bottle. The flesh that had been held together by the false life spell slowly heals over, though the internal damage was still severe. With the bottle empty Quintessa pulls away to breath, gripping onto Karasu’s arm as she again tries to get to her feet. “We make our own luck, do we not?” Quintessa could at least talk now, her gaze cast in the direction of the crater. “The Eye-” she blurts out, pointing into the hole, “The necromantic gemstone… He threw it down there.” She seems frantic, “I can’t leave it.”
Karasu feels a well of frustration bubbling over, and before she’s realized what she’s doing, she smacks the leg Quintessa is trying to position on the ground to stand up with. Her lips curl into a snarl. "Stop! Don't put stress on your heart, you don't have enough blood to focus on legs and injury!" Karasu's expression softens as she carefully moves back. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, you're hurt, and I'm scared." Karasu admits, though more to herself than to Quintessa. The other two times she had seen Quintessa so severely injured, Karasu had fainted on the spot, but there had always been others nearby to assist. Here in the lonesome forests, only the ghosts of those who used to call the Dragana Manor home could see the two. Karasu had to be strong. "I'm really freaking scared right now, Quintessa, I don't know what's going on or what else I can do to fix this and that really freaking scares me. I need you not to move. I'll get the stone, but please don't move." She begs, gingerly brushing hair matted with sweat from the warlock's face before standing up. Karasu takes a deep breath to steady herself, trying not to think of the fact that she's covered in blood, Quintessa's blood, and not for the first time. Karasu dissipates into black smoke that stays concentrated in one spot for a moment. Instead of disintegrating into the air, the smoke moves cohesively down the jagged edges of the crater in search of the glittering gemstone. Only a few breaths later, the smoke returns and Karasu steps out of it, gemstone in hand. "Here, hold this. Now talk while I look up a spell, don't go to sleep yet." The spellblade orders her, though in a much gentler tone this time around. Retrieving the contents of her bag from the mud, Karasu flips through a small notepad of spells she has yet to memorize. There had to be a healing spell among these.
Quintessa obeys Karasu. Anyone else in the world she’d argue with, but not her. Not in a moment like this. The changeling knows Karasu is right, that she will only make things worse trying to move. “No I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have trusted him… I thought he just wanted to talk, I…” She sits, taking a moment's breath, her heart straining under the effort Quintessa was putting on it just like Karasu said would happen. By the time her partner returns Quintessa is losing focus, but she takes the gem and resumes talking, keeping her mind focused on something. “You might be able to find something under conjuration… Wizards don’t really heal people though do they? Witches have some healing though… bards too… There are arcane methods of healing out there…” Quintessa was rambling now, but she wasn’t sleepy. “Who the frak attacks someone during a peaceful negotiation?” Quintessa was starting to get angry now, indignant. The spark of emotion causes the false life spell to reinvigorate, the threads sinking into her flesh like worms in search for internal wounds.
Karasu narrows her eyes. “You know who did this to you.” Not a question, a fact. She’d put out a bulletin as soon as she got back. A bounty. Whoever did this was going to die, left to bleed out the way they tried to leave Quintessa to bleed to death. She stops at a page and taps it twice with her finger. “You forget that I passed magical theory without blinking twice. This one hasn’t been tested yet, the concept is a reverse parasitic touch, but transmutation to make up for a lack of necromancy.” Karasu holds up the notes, though they’re half smudged with blood. “See? Even if I’m just holding down the fort in Xalious while everyone does their part, I can…” Tears roll down her face now. “I can still be useful to you if I design spells like these, right?” Karasu hiccups and sets her jaw, trying to stop the flow as she utters the spell’s incantation, her hand over the hole in Quintessa’s chest. The spellblade winces as it starts to take effect, flesh regenerating enough to keep her out of the danger zone, but at a cost. Karasu takes a shaking breath as blood starts to seep through her own shirt, a surface wound mirroring Quintessa’s own. “That should make you stable enough to carry back.” She says wearily, wiping at her face with the back of her hand.
Quintessa nods solemnly at Karasu. “It was Kasyr. He did this to me.” She knows what this means, what has to happen now. “But we have to be careful in our response…” Quintessa was committed to killing him now too. Caluss had nothing to do with it. “You always were a better scholar than me… and always a better soldier too…” She closes her eyes when Karasu transfers the damage over to herself, she couldn’t watch. It made her feel too guilty. When it was over she knew before Karasu had to speak. The pressure that felt like a barrel of water sitting on her chest had been lifted. She’s able to reach up and lean forward on her knees, taking Karasu’s face into both of her hands. “I love you,” Quintessa cannot help but blurt out, “For the first time in a long time I didn’t know if I’d get to see you again…” Tears are flowing from Quintessa’s eyes now too. The Glooms watch on emotionlessly. “Help me to my feet…” She continues, trying to not look so pathetic out here in the middle of the woods, “I can hold on to your shoulders.”
Karasu does not react to the admission of name, but internally, she is fuming. Another person she has looked up to has betrayed her. Quintessa’s show of emotion is overshadowed by the play in Karasu’s mind’s eye of Kasyr being ambushed by a tidal wave of dragon blood, of having his limbs torn bone by bone, and having the pieces sealed in anti-magic boxes and thrown into the sea. How many rogues does it take to kill a revenant? “You’ll love me more when we exchange vows on a revenant-skin throw rug. Now be careful.” She says, helping the warlock to her feet. With the height difference, Quintessa can easily hunch over and rest her arms on Karasu’s shoulders. Looking out at the dark path ahead of them, Karasu gives the knuckles of Quintessa’s good arm a light kiss. “Let’s leave here together.”