ScrollAndSwordCircle/StormingTheTower

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ScrollAndSwordCircle/InKhirigast

Infiltrating the Chorus at Midnight's Palace

The Circle huddled together near the base of the Chorus' dark tower. Its bricks are an odd, ugly brown, and smell of rust and decay. Just a few yards away along its wall, its door stands open, guarded by six ghosts.

<Malic> "Right. Head on in, Ladies. Enjoy! Pick me up some soulsteel?" Osprey ignores Malic's whistling-in-the-dark. "Be careful."

Malic whistles.

Gia nods. "You too, Brother Osprey."

Gia just makes a face at Malic.

<Arkadi> "Good luck in there...don't do anything stupid like getting killed."

<Arkadi> "The paperwork will be a bitch."

Hollow Moth bites her lip, looking at the guards.

Malic smiles happily and waves the women on into the dark Citadel of the Deathlord and his Many Deathknigh Minions. "So..what should we do as a distraction?" Malic looks questioningly at Arkadi. "Would you like to juggle oranges? Or Osprey?"

Osprey briefly squeezes Gia's shoulder, then nods to her and Moth.

<Arkadi> "Well, we could try to sell them some fine leather jackets."

Hollow Moth grabs up a wide shadow and wraps it around herself like a shawl.

<Malic> "Well, they're going. We better get distracting before they need it."

One of the circling mortal guard companies is on its return route. It's likely that they'll be asking the Exaltes to "be moving right along" once they get here.

Osprey turns to Arkadi and Malic.

<Osprey> "The guard company we saw earlier will soon return. We need to make haste."

Gia veils her face, and is surprised to feel no sign of the spiders' displeasure. "Do we have any idea where this is?" Gia whispers to Moth.

<Hollow Moth> "I figure we'll just follow the sound of the singing," Moth whispers back.

Gia opens her mouth as if about to respond, but just sort of pauses for a moment before shutting it. She is obviously surprised by the logic of the response. "See, that's why you're coming along too." She grins and begins working her way towards the sounds.

Hollow Moth smiles and follows Gia as best she can, keeping low to the ground and holding the shadow over her like a frightened child's blanket.

Osprey nods to Arkadi and Malic. "You deal with the men. I will deal with the ghosts." He moves away from the rusty wall, using the dead, stunted trees as cover as he circles toward the gate.

Arkadi shrugs

<Arkadi> "Wish he'd tell us before he does that."

<Malic> "I rather hope he doesnt try to kill them. It might irritate the deathknights, you know."

Malic considers. "Arkadi, can you watch the both of us for me? And hold this?"

Arkadi blinks

Gia stops and listens intently for a moment before turning back to Moth. "Are we going the right way, do you think?"

Malic shrugs off his vest and strips his shirt off, handing it to the confused Red. Dropping to the ground, the Southron works at scuffing his shined boots and making his trousers look more worn then they truly are. Shrugging back into his vest he loosens his belt a bit and hands his hat over to Arkadi as well. "You better not lose my hat.."

<Malic> "Anyway, I'll be back soon. I think. Or dead."

Arkadi blinks

<Osprey> Moving quietly through the brittle underbrush, Osprey reaches the road which leads to the fortress. Its unpaved surface is the same sickly ochre as the lichen which scab the trees and castle walls.

The music coming from the top of the tower seems to be getting louder. Maybe there is a stairway in this direction.

Malic uses his scabbarded Daiklave to smack himself in the stomach. With a great whuff, the breath in Malic leaves him suddenly. So winded he tosses the sword and his Firewand to the Red and starts trotting over to the quickly-closing mortal patrol. "Guardsmen! Captain!"

<Osprey> Crouching behind a fallen tree with roots like broken fingers, Osprey closes his eyes and breathes deeply, composing himself.

The guardsmen look askance at Malic.

Malic wheezes and affects the strong accent of a Varang Dockworker. "I need..to tell..someone...incharge.."

The "alpha male" of the guard pack shoulders his way forward, eager for an opportunity to look important. "What do you want, commoner? Make it quick."

Osprey smoothly rises to his feet, and steps out onto the road. He strides purposefully forward, his cloak flowing behind him, eyes gazing steadily at the tower and the ghostly phalanx guarding it.

<Malic> "Some crazy old man at the docks..he was preaching about how he'd destroy the city for following the Deathknights. And when the patrol came to get him, he turned into a giant of golden light and killed them all. I saw it. And he screamed and went crazy, started killing everyone..."

Gia frowns at Moth. "Do you hear that?"

Hollow Moth blinks. "Hear what?"

The guard captain looks uninterested in this until one of the other guards gasps, "Anathema!" Then a greedy smile crosses his face.

<Gia> "A definite lack of commotion." Gia sighs quietly. "This is not good."

"It's good of you to report this. Where did you say it was going on again?"

<Osprey> Blue fire pools in Osprey's footprints, dripping from his boots. The azure light swirls upward, slowly climbing his legs and limning the edges of his cloak.

The ghosts eye Osprey suspiciously.

<Hollow Moth> "Just be patient. The boys will do their part, as long as they don't put Malic in charge."

<Gia> "Or Arkadi."

<Malic> "In the docks. He had friends, too. Four of them. They didn't glow though...they just sort of stood there. Smiling.."

Malic shudders, for good measure.

<Osprey> With a quiet flare, the blue light engulfs Osprey completely, billowing outward across the ground. As it subsides to a gentle, steady halo, he come to a halt. Drawing a breath, he begins to sing.

Arkadi sighs and sits down on a large hunk of obsidian

<Osprey> His tenor voice rings out pure and strong, echoing from the tower's stained walls. His aura pulses in time with the notes.

Osprey sings a song of sorrow and falling stars, a song of all the beauty to be found in life, and its ending.

The guards are too excited by the prospect of glory to check their facts. They rush off, oblivious to the blue spectacle happening behind them.

<Osprey> He focuses all his will and emotion into the dirge, reaching out to the ghosts' dead hearts, reminding them of what it was like to be alive.

<Osprey> Reminding them that they can be alive again, and taste all its joy and sorrow... but that first, they must let go of their bleak half-existence, discard the pallid imitation passions of the dead.

<Osprey> As he reaches a crescendo, his voice trembling at the top of its range, he reaches over his shoulder, unsheathing his daiklave in a smooth arc.

<Osprey> As he raises the glass blade above his head, shining in the blue light of his anima, he falls silent, letting the sword continue the song for him.

<Osprey> Its keening voice rings out like a diamond cutting glass.

Osprey catches his breath, then begins singing again, in counterpoint to the blade's melody of heartbreak and despair.

<Osprey> The two voices, of man and blade, meld together in a harmony of loss and sadness, beautiful in its completeness.

Malic peers at Osprey, eyeing him oddly. Moves back to Arkadi's side as he peers strangely at the Blue. "So..what's he doing.."

<Osprey> No dead soul could hold such feelings, and none could fail to be moved by them.

<Arkadi> "Do I look like a maestro of the mind? How the hell should *Iknow?"

The ghosts, entranced by the song, begin to sob. At least two begin to fray along the edges, releasing their will to contiune existing

<Osprey> Venus' sigil, shimmering on Osprey's forehead, beckons the ghosts toward the sweet release of Lethe.

They are rendered helpless. As the song's last measures close, the last few ghosts fade from sight.

<Osprey> As the last ghost disappears, Osprey lets his voice trail off, and lowers the sword. He draws his hand gently along the edge of the blade, almost caressing it. The sword's keening subsides as it tastes human blood; he resheathes it and stays standing in the road, subtle waves of blue light rippling around him.

<Malic> "Well that was an interesting, inspiring and all around ghost-banishing song. You should do that for a living. You'd get all the girls."

<Gia> "Maybe they're just doing a really quiet distraction," Gia mutters as she slips down the hall, darting from shadow to shadow.

Malic starts poking around at the items left behind by the banished spirits.

<Osprey> If Osprey were within earshot of Malic's wisecrack, he would have refrained from mentioning the tear he saw the Chosen of Journeys surreptitiously flick from his eye.

<Hollow Moth> "Loud ones tend to get the attention of deathknights," whispers Moth as she scuttles along the wall beneath her portable shadow.

<Gia> "Perhaps you should have explained that to them before we left." She pauses at the end of the hallway, disappearing into the space between breaths as she glances around the corner to see if the coast is clear.

<Arkadi> "So, now what?"

<Malic> "Well, I think they're distracted. Or dead. Deader."

The coast seems to be clear.

Arkadi sighs and lights up

Gia reappears and begins her way up another impressively grand spiral staircase. "You know, it's a good thing I just spent all that time training in the mountains. I'm getting sick of the stairs."

<Hollow Moth> "Mountains, huh? Maybe I should try that sometime," Moth groans quietly.

Malic sits himself down on the ground and, after reclaiming his gear from Arkadi, puts his shirt, weapons and hat back on. Pulling a bottle of beer from somewhere he starts taking drinks every so often. "Anyone got food?" He looks expectantly at the other men

The stairs spiral up to a deserted landing, where the two Sidereals find arched windows that look out in every direction. The largest window is set in an even bigger framing arch, and looks to Cold House farther north.

Gia chews on her lower lip, disconcerted by the lack of shadows. She glances over at Moth's port-a-shade, and wonders if she'd be able to squeeze under there too. Probably not. Damn.

Arkadi shrugs "Nope."

<Hollow Moth> "Well, I'm lost. Where are we now?"

Further stairs, hovering oddly away from the walls, spiral upwards.

<Gia> "Hey, just because we've been on four other landings just like this does not mean we're lost.

Gia listens intently for the song.

The music is coming from directly above.

<Osprey> They can see Osprey's blue glow at the foot of the tower. Not wishing to draw attention to the other two men, he has held his position, a dozen yards from the gate.

<Gia> "Up we go," Gia sighs before catching eye of the blue glow. "Dammit, Osprey's anima is showing. I hope they know what they're doing."

Gia is disconcerted that the blue glow is not accompanied with a red and yellow one, but doesn't mention that.

Osprey thinks he catches sight of a familiar face peering from one of the tower's upper windows. He mouths a silent prayer of good luck for Gia and Moth.

<Hollow Moth> "Osprey's no fool..." Moth grunts. "Let's go."

Gia nods and continues swiftly up the stairs.

Hollow Moth follows, taking quick dashes through each patch of window-light to keep her shadow from decaying.

The stairs all meet in a final landing, a semicircular chamber. The wall separating it from the other half of the tower is interrupted by an ivory door.

Gia disappears into the keyhole to survey the scene within.

A half-dozen silver flames dance within the chamber,

Their flickering shapes have no defined form, yet in some strange way they look human to Gia.

Beholding their dance, she feels a chill in her soul, as if their jerky, graceful motions are eroding her very life essence.

Behind them, the demon flame-pillars leave scorched tracks on the stone floor. As they dance, their blackened trails weave together, slowly drawing out an alien, yet disturbingly familiar, pattern.

StarOfDirtAndDoubt settles her lithe form against Chorus At Midnight, smiling at the musical demons before her. Running long, white-laquored nails through her silky hair she watches, entranced by a beauty of song that rivals her beauty of form

The lights of the six gilmyne demons flickers over the countenances of the two pale women standing in the room, illuminating them in harsh black and white.

    • willows-ST is now known as Harpist

<StarOfDirtAndDoubt> "Your plan is simply splendorous, dear Chorus. They sing with such passion and beauty..it is like the stars falling to silver dust."

Gia flits out of the keyhole and returns to Moth's side and swallows thickly. "Crazy demons and two big-bads. Would you be offended if I asked you to wait here?"

<Gia> she whispers almost inaudibly.

Hollow Moth smiles.

<Harpist> In the two corners of the room and its circular extreme, three angyalkae are impaled by their elbows and knees against the wall. Their eighteen dozen straining fingers produce the rhythm the gilmynae dance to.

<Hollow Moth> "Please, go ahead." she whispers back.

ChorusAtMidnight doesn't so much sit as she does utterly *loungein an ornate basalt and iron chair to one side of the room

<Gia> With a deep breath, Gia enters the room, Everywhere and Nowhere. She dances between the fingers of the demons, pauses for breath in the stops of the Gilmyne's dance.. And listens to every word the couple says.

The fiery dancers continue spiraling toward the center of the room, twisting through alien motions in rhythm to the angyalkae's melodiously discordant music.

StarOfDirtAndDoubt lounges as well, not only in Chorus's lap but in the sheer silken garment that is drapped across her form in what would be concealment if it did not caress her every curve and moonlight was not more substantial. Idly, she caresses Chorus's cheek with her talon-like figernails

Star of Dirt and Doubt's diaphanous garment seems to phase in and out of visibility as the silver light shifts with the dancers' movements.

StarOfDirtAndDoubt times her occasional movements and stretches to coincide with the fading of her silken shift in a manner that is so casual it seems somehow obvious she spent years learning it.

The tempo of the angyalka song increases, the gilmynes' dance becoming more urgent and frenetic as they draw closer together, approaching the center of the floor.

The pattern they have scorched into the marble tiles is almost complete, spread out like a delicate occult spiderweb.

Gia slips into the phrasing of the song the angylaka plays, only hiding at first, but soon begins nudging the demon's long fingertips, causing them to fumble and fail.

<Harpist> The gilmynes struggle painfully in their bonds, just barely tearing their music from points of the air that is at the edges of their reach.

ChorusAtMidnight blinks and stops for a moment "Wait...that didn't sound ri-"

The gilmyne dancers pause, stumbling momentarily.

The pillars of flame flare and flicker in uncertainty.

Gia siezes the moment and siezes one of the fingers with all of her strength, hopefully causing it to stop playing.

Hollow Moth perks her ears outside the room, noting the change in the music.

<StarOfDirtAndDoubt> "What troubles them, Chorus? What disrupts this beauty? What fouls this place?" The lovely ghost looks annoyed, enraged even.

<Harpist> The harpists whine; the imperfect performance of their dance pains them.

<ChorusAtMidnight> "They are not supposed to...

ChorusAtMidnight seems lost in thought as she rises from her...well...throne, the silken funeral shrouds she wears unfolding and trailing behind her

The gilmynes, instinctively following the music, begin meandering, their paths tracing random, disharmonious arcs.

Hollow Moth whips off her shadow on a sudden inspiration and begins braiding it into a thick rope.

<ChorusAtMidnight> "What sorcery is this??"

ChorusAtMidnight eyes the Harpist6 who first started this discordant mess "What is the meaning of this ?!"

StarOfDirtAndDoubt slides along behind Chorus, eyes flickering around the room dangerously, searching for the source of the disharmony. Her talon-nailed hands hold Chorus's arms as she presses herself against the Deathknight, but her eyes are cold ice set in ivory.

<Harpist> The demon stares at Chorus uncomprehendingly. It continues to struggle along its melody desperately, as if to say, "This is none of my doing!"

Gia holds on to the fingertip with all of her might, praying to as many gods as she can think of. The harpist-demon seems astonished as she pauses in her song for just a moment, and then disappears in a whisper of inconclusion.

By now, the six blazing dancers have begun wandering back outwards, their passage defacing the carefully-inscribed pattern.

<ChorusAtMidnight> "WHAT?!"

<ChorusAtMidnight> "Stop! All of you, stop!"

<Harpist> The other five angyalkae change the tune of their song; seeing one of their own end in such a way must be mourned, and they cannot continue this other music.

ChorusAtMidnight seethes, trying to find the...interloper, the FOOL who caused this chaos

Gia realizes in an instant that she is visible, and then hides back in the keyhole before joining Moth. "I hope you can fly."

The gilmynes immediately stop dancing.

Hollow Moth ties each end of her rope to a protrusion from the wall on either side of the door, taking care not to block the keyhole.

Hollow Moth finishes her knots just as Gia slips through, and blinks in surprise.

<Gia> "GO!"

ChorusAtMidnight blinks as her eyes notice the brief flicker of Gia's form...

<ChorusAtMidnight> "INTRUDERS!"

Hollow Moth leaves her rope and bolts.

Gia hides in the elegant groove of the banister, sliding down in abject terror.

StarOfDirtAndDoubt sounds the alarm, eyes full of dark fury. For just a moment, something more then a ghost's power shines in those eyes, while Chorus is looking another way.

ChorusAtMidnight blasts through the door, blade in hand

Hollow Moth patters quickly down the stairs after Gia, grabbing handfuls of shadow and tossing them in disarray behind her.

Outside, Osprey hears the song falter, and the angry yell of the deathknight. He snaps to attention, hand reaching over his shoulder to grasp the hilt of his daiklave.

Three gilmynes follow Chorus at Midnight. The touch of their silvery fire dissolves the shadows which have entangled her.

ChorusAtMidnight bursts after those who had the gall to intrude upon her, howling in fury every time another one of those blasted shadows slows her down

The spitting columns of white flame speed down the stairway ahead of their enraged mistress, punching through the shaow curtains like hammers through rice paper.

Hollow Moth is momentarily distracted in her run by a small dragon appearing out of nowhere with a scroll. She slaps it aside in fury, hissing "LATER!"

StarOfDirtAndDoubt seems to have disappeared, perhaps uninterested in the physical exertion required...or headed elsewhere to remedy this situation? Regardless, Chorus chases the intruders alone

Gia pops out into the open when she reaches the end of the staircase, and then slips across the mortar between the stones in the walls at breakneck speed.

    • Harpist is now known as willows-ST

Behind her, flickering shadows announce the swift approach of the gilmyne demons.

Malic draws the Burning Wind as well and lets his left hand drop down to the firewand at his belt. Standing next to the Easterling, Malic prepares himself to help the women fight off any persuit or flee if it is too powerful

Arkadi frees his blad,e hearing the halt of the music and the howl of fury

<Arkadi> "I think she's mad."

<Malic> "It would seem they have been successful. Although to truly succeed, we should slay the Deathknight."

<Arkadi> "To truly succeed, we should stay alive."

<Malic> "It's just one Deathknight.."

<Malic> "You don't think three big, strong men and two big, strong women can kill one Deathknight?"

ChorusAtMidnight bursts out of the doors in snarling pursuit, trailing rapidly fading shadow tatters.

Osprey softens his stance, ready to dance out of harm's way.

<Arkadi> "I prefer to err on the side of caution whenever possible."

Arkadi closes his eyes and activates water dragon form, waiting for the inevitable clash

<ChorusAtMidnight> "You!" She points at Moth while blood starts to pour from her forehead and a pool of darkness splashes at her feet. "I saw you running out of my tower! What are you doing here!?"

Hollow Moth glances over her shoulder as she runs and thumbs her nose at Chorus.

<Osprey> The gilmynes burst out of the gate just behind Chorus, arraying themselves behind her.

Hollow Moth dashes past the guys and skids to stop just behind them, turning around to face Chorus and her posse.

<Malic> "They are luring you out of hiding so you and your taint upon all the world can be purged forever. And they were getting some knitting they forgot."

<Arkadi> "Hey babe, how'sabout you turn around right now?"

Gia has materialized again, this time with a quick prayer of thanks to the spiders for help. When Moth stops, Gia turns, power flooding her body as she prepares to fight.

Osprey says nothing, but moves his feet apart and raises his hands, ready to fight.

<Osprey> The blue aura surrounding him burns brighter.

Malic glows with a firey aura that cascades around him, licking at his shirt, hat and hair. Nothing ignites, but the fire hungers for fuel to feed its ravenous appetite. A low, hot breeze stirs from Burning Wind

<Arkadi> "Really don't want to fight right now, but so help me, don't push it."

Arkadi 's chopping sword is pointed squarely at Chorus' throat, and is remainign rock-steady

<ChorusAtMidnight> The blood coils around Choru's limbs and joints, turning itself into a dark filigree of pulsing currents which looks suspiciously like a suit of armour.

<Malic> "If Moth and Arkadi would oblige, the favor of Red and Purple might be useful here."

<Arkadi> "Lady, I'm going to ask you one last time."

<Arkadi> "Back. The fuck. Away."

Hollow Moth licks her lips and smiles at Chorus, a faint purple glow appearing around her and growing brighter.

<Osprey> The gilmynes spark and hiss behind the Abyssal, appearing to be fierce, pale-skinned martial artists even though they are also pillars of flame.

Malic bows to Moth as the Sign of Saturn glitters on his blade, reflected from the spreading pool of violet fire from Moth's Anima. As the violet tinges his own amber and gold glow, Malic rises from his bow and launches himself at the Deathknight with a howl of fury and a billowing, sand-filled wind. The blow from Burning Wind leaves not only a bloody gash in the Abyssal, but sand-scoured skin and blasted armor in its wake.

<Osprey> Baleful red fire flares around Osprey's raised hands.

<Malic> ::Later, in Gia's palatial home...::

<Osprey> The gilmynes rush forward in burning silence.

<Osprey> (before the scene break)

<ChorusAtMidnight> ----------------

Malic sits, sulking. His ruined hat in his hands, the Southron sulks over it and its black-edged burns. "My hat.."

<Arkadi> "You can get a new one..."

Arkadi winces and rubs his side "I think that kick of hers popped a rib or two."

Gia passes a drink to Arkadi. "I don't mix these as strong as you like them, but here."

<Arkadi> "Thanks."

Arkadi sniffs it dubiously, and downs it

<Malic> "Your ribs will heal..my poor hat.."

<Arkadi> "Not bad..."

<Arkadi> "If you don't want it destroyed, don't wear it to a fight."

Malic sighs and throws it to the floor, where it crumbles into leather scraps and ash as the entropic wound finally has its say. "I liked that hat. I suppose it did save me from needing a haircut though."

Osprey shakes his head at Malic's ostentatious moping.

Arkadi winces

<Gia> Whisper pounces on the leather scraps as they bounce off of the marble floor, attacking them with fervor.

<Arkadi> "I think she managed to dent my armour."

<Gia> "Malic," Gia begins in her most empathetic voice, "the hat may be gone, but you still need a haircut."

Malic checks the chain shirt now visible through tears in his blue silk. "Mine looks fine....and I do not need a haircut. My hair is just fine."

Malic idly scratches at said hair, which has come mostly out of the braid he normally wears it in

Osprey sits off to the side, watching the others talk. He nudges Whisper with a toe, prompting the cat to begin attacking his foot with largely harmless gusto.

Malic peers at Osprey's stomach. "How's that burn from the head-butt the flaming demon gave you?"

Hollow Moth clucks at a tear in her top, even as the scar visible in the flesh beneath it fades away.

Malic reaches over to prod at it.

Arkadi sighs

Osprey gracefully avoids Malic's poke.

<Osprey> "It was only a glancing blow."

Arkadi pulls up his shirt a bit, revealing a rather nasty-looking bruise roughly the size of a grapefruit on his left side..."I don't dare look...is it as bad as I think it is?"

<Osprey> "Nowhere near the grievous wound your hat suffered."

<Gia> "It was kinda fun, I have to say." Gia does shoot a sidelong glance at Osprey, however, to ensure his assertion is more than bravado.

Osprey raises an eyebrow at Gia's characterization of a life-and-death battle as light entertainment.

<Malic> "Indeed. Er, was your side normally the color of Moth's wardrobe? If not, yeah, its pretty bad. She's had this thing for purple-laquered black going on recently, you know."

<Arkadi> "Fuck...Gia, got any bandages around here?"

Gia blushes slightly at Osprey. "I still get a kind of rush remembering it," she admits with embarassment.

Hollow Moth goes over to Arkadi to inspect his bandage-needing wounds.

<Gia> A servant brings some bandages and drops them unceremoniously in Arkadi's lap.

<Hollow Moth> "Let me take a look at that."

<Arkadi> "Thanks."

Arkadi strips off his tunic, painfully...revealing some very nasty-looking scars dotting his torso

<Malic> "Ya know that sort of looks like a face. The stab wound would be the right eye, and the short axe wound is a closed left eye and the sword slash across your stomach is the mouth."

Gia averts her eyes, not fond of looking at Arkadi's torso under the best of circumstances.

<Arkadi> "That's not a sword slash, it's from a broken bottle."

Malic notes Gia's aversion and smiles at her. "Don't like Arkadi's display? He really should put his shirt back on, yes. But for medical emergencies we can bear it."

<Malic> "Well, that's hard to tell."

Osprey reaches down and picks up Whisper, who has tired of mauling his foot. The furry black lump of feline purrs as the Sidereal reaches over and deposits him on Gia's lap.

<Gia> Gia distractedly scratches behind Whisper's ears. "So what now?"

<Osprey> "Battles are inevitable, but their best value is that they allow us to better appreciate the peace between them."

<Arkadi> "You know, these things make me self-concious enough, all right?

<Arkadi> "I don't need it rubbed in my face."

Osprey leans back in the sofa, only slightly stiffly.

Hollow Moth pokes at Arkadi's wound, her hand glittering with a faint violet.

<Osprey> "With Chorus at Midnight silenced, it seems unlikely that the Eye will be able to proceed with his plans any time soon."

<Malic> "That sounds poetic." Glancing at Arkadi, Malic gives him a funny look. "Why? You earned them doing your job that you loved so much, keeping the peace and enforcing just laws on those who would otherwise have harmed people. Scars are to be proud of, not to be hidden."

Arkadi winces

<Arkadi> "OW!"

Malic points at the scar running along his right arm from shoulder to elbow. "This, I got protecting my caravan from raiders. I saved lives. Why should I hide it?"

Hollow Moth tsks. "Hold still!"

<Osprey> "With any luck," Osprey goes on, "the baleful astrology clinging to young Phion will have dissipated, allowing us to set him back on the correct path."

<Arkadi> "I'm sorry, but pressure on bruised flesh and broken bone is not something one usually sits still for."

<Hollow Moth> "Well, do you want me to fix it or not?"

<Arkadi> "Yes!"

<Hollow Moth> "That's better."

Hollow Moth withdraws a thick, hollow needle from one of her pouches and deftly inserts into Arkadi's flesh, right in the middle of the bruise.

Arkadi 's mouth opens in a soundless scream

Hollow Moth inhales deeply, breathing in the destiny of Yu-Shan, then leans over and blows onto the end of the needle, pouring the implicit structure of the Loom into the fate-defying wound.

Hollow Moth empties her lungs, and the wound begins to reshape itself into the healthy flesh it was destined to be.

<Gia> "You really get into your work, don't you, Moth?"

Arkadi grits his teeth...he really should be biting down on something for this...

Hollow Moth smiles at Gia.

Malic offers Arkadi a hard biscut. "Bite?"

<Hollow Moth> "Just be glad I didn't need the hot irons for this one."

Arkadi gratefully accepts it

<Arkadi> "...oh God, I've been through those before."

<Arkadi> "Don't remind me."

<Malic> "I can let you use my firewand, if you'd like. Or my daiklave."

<Arkadi> "I have a knife in my left boot if it comes to that."

<Malic> "Or we can get Ember over here. She can cauterize you all better."

Gia snickers.

<Arkadi> "Sorry dude, she's only got the hots for you."

<Arkadi> gyah *dude = bud

<Malic> "She'd kiss you better. She's got an altrusitic streak."

Arkadi winces a bit more "I'll take your word for it."

Arkadi looks at Moth You done yet?"

Osprey closes his eyes and lets himself sink into the soft padding of the couch, letting the others; words wash over him.

<Malic> "We should find you a girlfriend, Arkadi. You need someone who isnt a slimey corrupt ball of flilth. And divinity."

Hollow Moth glances over at Arkadi. "Oh, yes. For a while now."

Arkadi , somewhat stiffly, pulls his shirt back on and blinks "Hey...it feels better...thanks!"

<Gia> "You know, I know we did the right thing, but I cannot help but wonder which of the Silver Prince's schemes we just made easier."

<Arkadi> "Almost all of them, I'd wager."

<Malic> "I still suggest we rouse some of his enemies in Skullstone. A Solar or some of the outlying Lunars."

<Arkadi> "Works for me."

ScrollAndSwordCircle/ThingsToDoAtParties

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