A halfling walks up the mountain (2)

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Tadelin
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Post by Tadelin »

A soft, wet, popping sound can be heard from the darkness. Shortly afterwards, Albert lets out a snarl of pain. The glowing of his eyes can finally be seen, and he is a good distance away from Desilda and Rook. He is again close to the ground, and doesn't appear to be moving very quickly.
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Post by Bela »

Desilda looks into the one good eye of Rook, and he stares back, a hint of lucidity in his gaze. His skin is even paler than usual, and blood pours in rivulets out of his mouth.

"It is...well...that you are...well..." he gurgles. Desilda could tell that if he was going to survive the next few moments, he'd require magical healing.

As Albert staggers to his friends, he trips and falls. He turns to see the barely-breating body of the priestess Biaca, minus an arm and a large part of her midsection
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Albert rolls to one side as he lands, keeping himself off of his wounded and hurting ribs. Pushing himself back up to his knees, he looks over to Bianca. Scanning the rest of the area, he quickly spots Xylia's form laying off to the side. From here, he can't tell the extent of her injuries.

She's alive... Barely... Though I don't know who she is.

Albert makes the effort to crawl over to Bianca, and tries to see if there's anything more he can do for her. He's no expert in healing, and he barely understands how the human body works. But if the wounded woman knows anything on the subject, he may be able to help out.

Madamoiselle... You still with us?
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Post by Xanthippe »

Xylia struggles to consciousness. While her first instinct is to go to Bianca, it was Rook who helped her get here, and she owed him. Stumbling over to him, she kneels by his side and places her hands on his chest. She begins speaking a prayer, and soon a glow emanates from her hands and spreads to Rook's injuries, both external and internal. The wounds close and his breath becomes much more regular. Leaving him in Desilda's care, she then crosses over to Bianca. Struggling through her tears, she tries to heal her companion cleric. Bianca's eyes flutter open and focus on Xylia's face.

"Bianca, my dear, I don't have the ability to grow your arm back. You've also sustained major damage to your organs. I'm sorry, dearest, but I'm not sure how much more I can do for you..."

Breaking down in tears, her mission accomplished, Xylia bends over the prostrate form of her friend and weeps.
[size=84]"Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain." -Friedrich Schiller[/size]
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Albert backs away, crawling still. He settles himself against a rock for the time being, and just watches over everything. They managed to catch up with Rook's friend, and Xylia's friend. The next task that all of them have to face is getting out of this hole in the ground. The only think he can hope for is that they have time to sit here and rest for a while. Rook is in no condition to move, that much is obvious. Of the three women, only Xylia appeared easily able to move, but there was no way she could carry around everyone else. Perhaps time would be helpful to them here.

Albert reached up and tore the right sleeve off of his shirt. Wrapping it up a bit, he held it over another rock to his left, and then it set ablaze in a fashion similar to the dried leaf from earlier. There was no telling how long they were going to be down here, and Albert knew that most people did not have his vision.


Perhaps a bit of light to make the darkness a bit more bearable.

With a light source by him, anyone looking at Albert can make out a moderately-sized stain on the front of his shirt. Something that was never there before, and can only have been made worse after being thrown.
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Post by Bela »

Rook stands, mostly healed of his deathly injuries. He waves his hand in front of his left eye. "Hmmmm. I seem to be half-blind." He doesn't seem to be particularly upset by this. Rook puts his hand on Desilda's shoulder. "It is good to see you, as wel I can."

Albert's flames bring light to the cavern. Several dead Fir Darrig litter the room, and the entire place reeks like a charnel pit. Xylia kneels to her friend, who seems well beyond the help of any healing magic. Bianca's hand reaches up to Xylia's cheek. "Oh, Xylia...I'm sorry...you're the last of or band now...and...and...you need strength you do not have...not yet...." Her words are almost a whisper. Bianca reaches down and pulls a dagger from Xylia's boot. With it, Bianca cuts her palm and holds it up to Xylia. "Do as I do...give me peace before I die..." Xylia is unsure why Bianca is doing this, but the dying priestess was of a strange, extremely orthodox sect of the Morninglord. Clearly, Bianca wants her to cut her own hand and press palms together.
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Post by Xanthippe »

Stifling her sobs for a moment, Xylia respects the fianl wishes of her dying friend. Taking the dagger, she hesistates only slightly before sliceing her own palm open and holding it to Bianca's crimson hand.

"Don't go yet, Bianca. Don't leave me alone!"
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Post by Bela »

Bianca's dimming eyes stare into Xylia's. "Would that the choice were mine. But the Morninglord calls me home, and who am I to refuse his summons?" She puts her other hand on the one that Xylia has offered, squeezing their palms together. "You must carry on where we have fallen, and with this gift I give you, you may yet survive the coming battles whole. Oh my friend....my friend...the dawn rises for me...just for me..." and with that, Bianca passes from this world.
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Post by Tadelin »

Death and destruction have always been common things to Albert as he grew up. He always seemed to encounter it everywhere, to the point that neither interested him very much anymore. What he rarely had a chance to see however, is how other people handle such things. His gaze seems fixed on Xylia and Bianca as they speak their final words to each other.
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Post by Bela »

Rook gently motions Albert and Desilda away from the pair of Barovian priestesses. He motions for Albert to raise the light if he can, to give them a better look around. The soul-less man rips a strip of fabric off his cloak, using it as a temporary eyepatch.

Xylia and Bianca lie more or less in the center of a great cavern, with the ceiling hole almost 100 feet above them. A small tunnel leads out of this chamber, to the left.
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Post by Xanthippe »

Xylia wipes her eyes, removes Bianca's rose-gold disc, and rises from her friend's side to approach the rest of the group, who are standing some feet away in quiet conversation.

"Please, would you help me to bury my friend?", she asks in a broken voice. In a stranger voice, she continues, "After that, I suppose we should try to find a way out of this mountain. Climbing back up is possible for one in perfect health, but that describes none of us here. There seems to be a slight draft coming from the farther side of this cavern, but that leads farther into the mountain."

As she talks, she and Albert carry Bianca's body to the side of the cavern and begin piling stones on top of it. Finally, the burial is complete. Xylia speaks a quick prayer over the grave and turns resolutely back to the group.

"So, any ideas?"
[size=84]"Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain." -Friedrich Schiller[/size]
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Post by Bela »

Rook casts a glance across the others, taking in everything around him a bit slower than usual.

"We take the tunnel. It's the only potential way out of this place." He begins moving forward a bit slowly, limping a bit on one of his legs.
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Post by Xanthippe »

Xylia grabs a spear from under the corpse of a Fir Derrig and hands it to Rook.

"Here, you can use it as a bit of support. And don't quibble - you'll need to save your strength for later on."

Stepping to the front of the line, she begins examining the tunnel. It's very dark, and she has a hard time making out details in the flickering torchlight.

"This tunnel appears to be a natural formation, but I can't be sure. I haven't noticed any signs of manufacture yet. Albert, your eyes see in the darkness better than mine, it seems. Do you see anything of interest?"
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Post by Tadelin »

While he's not put up much of an argument with the burial, Albert's body isn't moving much faster than Rook's. Xylia can also notice that like Rook, Albert is bleeding, but not really enough to worry about at the moment. The man with the glowing eyes steps over to the corner he was tossed into and recovers his halberd. A few moments to stand there and resteady himself, then he turns back towads the tunnel.

Let's hope we don't see any more of these filthy beasts.

Albert spits on one of the corpses, then heads into the tunnel. He knows he can see, and he's not concerned with leading the group into the darkness.

Just more tunnel...
One of these days, I'm going to get it right. Until then, I guess I can just keep being a fool.
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Post by Xanthippe »

Xylia notices Albert's wounds all of a sudden. Blushing at her ignorance, she approaches him and asks, "Would you like me to heal you? I'm sorry I didn't notice before."
[size=84]"Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain." -Friedrich Schiller[/size]
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