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<blockquote data-quote="Aristoi" data-source="post: 2675053" data-attributes="member: 32975"><p>"Did I miss something? Kilmor asked, looking at the others. </p><p></p><p>"Always dear," she replied not-quite acidly. "You," she pointed at Adama, "have had your vitality attacked and damaged. You are also slightly mad, aren't you?" without waiting for an answer she turned and looked at the others, "The rest of you are not in the best shape. I will Heal you but I want something in return." </p><p></p><p>"What?" Adama asked flatly. She did, after all, work for Bloodtwist. In some fashion she almost assuredly had to be as bad as he was. He figured he wasn't going to like this at all. </p><p></p><p>"'Take me with you," she demanded quietly. "I am a Daughter of Kossuth and the Eternal flame gutters here, the embers of my soul are being smothered in this deep place." She gestured helplessly, her rigid control almost slipping, ineffable grief almost bursting out. "I long to see the sun." </p><p></p><p>"So." Elim wasn't terribly sympathetic but he understood the Children of Kossuth, the Fire of Struggle. He understood they respected strength and that winning meant everything but that didn't mean he had to like it; especially when it was applied to him without his consent. "Agreed," he offered, looking at S'lann, Kilmor, Adama and Yolen, each in turn. </p><p></p><p>One by one he elicited nods and he turned back to her, "You can come." He held up an arrow, point up to emphasize his words, "But at the merest hint of betrayal, I will put this through your eye." </p><p></p><p>"Understood," she smirked her reply, contemptuous of his threat. "Come. We need to get to the infirmary." And with no more ado she rose and led them, regally one might have said, to her domain. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately the Pits were deserted as even the attendants had fled. Flesh blood decorated the stones out in the arena and chunks of what appeared to be raw meat. Elim looked at it hungrily for a moment and wiped at his mouth where he had started to drool. His people were omnivorous but he craved meat like very little else. Especially after nearly thirty years of being here and eating the Sludge, he barely remembered meat. </p><p></p><p>In short order they had entered the Healer domain, the Infirmary, with it's sparkling clean treatment area and warm little stove which never cast any smoke. Upon some shelves near at hand were salves and pots, small ceramic bottles like the ones they carried and poultices for festering wounds. S'lann started to reach for them and she stopped him, shaking her head. </p><p></p><p>"What you need is far more serious than what those are capable of," she said softly and gestured to a small but heavy stone door off of her herbal work-area. The smell of herbs and distillations and pure water was both distracting and pleasant and managed to banish the stench of the charnel pits and the rotting mess in the corridors and arena outside. She strode to the small door and laid her hand on it, whispering something and then waited a moment, he hand still pressed. </p><p></p><p>A moment later the entire slab of stone turned molten, spreading from her hand, and receded back into the wall as if it had evaporated. </p><p></p><p>"Nice trick!" S'lann breathed.</p><p></p><p>"Kossuth is generous," she replied absently and walked into a far larger room that the door led one to believe existed. Floor to ceiling racks held potions, pots, unguents and jars some transparent but most opaque. On a peg by the door she took down a shoulder back decorated with designs of burning flames, similar to the tiny pendant of what appeared to be a live flame she wore around her neck. Into this sack she placed nearly half the contents of the room, murmuring what sounded like the names of each as she placed them inside. </p><p></p><p>A few moments and she was done, turning with small potion vials and handing one to each of the others and held to in reserve as she turned to Adama. "You are broken," she said, almost as if she were invoking something. With care she handed him a tiny vial filled with a glowing white liquid. "Be mended."</p><p></p><p>Looking at it curiously, he quirked an eyebrow at her. She failed to respond and remained standing, looking at him expectantly. A pause, a shrug and he popped the tiny cork and swigged the contents. For a moment he looked pole-axed, cross-eyed as whatever was in the potion went to work on him before he shivered all over and staggered slightly, his pupils becoming pinpricks. "Whoa," he murmured and looked at the tiny vial and then at the Healer, "that wasn't your run-of-the-mill healing potion was it?" </p><p></p><p>"Well," she replied demurely and cryptically, "it certainly was a Healing potion." The emphasis on the word was odd and she seemed unwilling to explain. Adama shrugged and let it slide, the wildness having faded from the backs of his eyes. "This next, to replace your missing vitality," she offered him a larger vial, this one a slushy gold like the purest honey from celestial bees. For all they knew, it could have been. </p><p></p><p>Toasting her gallantly, he tipped up the potion and swallowed the sluggish liquid, swishing it around his mouth with obvious gusto as he drank it, savoring the taste. Once he'd drained it and leaned back against a counter and shook his head, the whiteness fading from his eyes and his nose. "'Like the mead of the gods," he murmured and smiled. </p><p></p><p>"Well," she replied with her own smile, pleased with his response, "maybe not of the GODS…"</p><p></p><p>The others ceased being quite so tense and took their potions, feeling aches and pains fade and wounds and scabs close over. Vitality flooded them and Elim chuckled, his body humming like he had slept for weeks and been fed well the entire time. His body swelled and he stretched, his joints cracking as his lean muscles regained some of their wasted vitality. </p><p></p><p>He glanced at S'lann, Kilmor and Adama in turn, each of them looking similarly flushed and restored. </p><p></p><p>"Now that we're all ready," she offered, "can we go?"</p><p></p><p>"Well see," S'lann said as the others kind of looked at one another, "we were pretty sure 'down' was the best way to go since it was probably the path of least resistance," he shrugged, "but we're not sure exactly how to get out from here." </p><p></p><p>She heaved a huge sigh and cocked her head, considering. "The easiest way is also the worst," she said slowly. "The oubliettes empty into a vast waste cistern and from there it all flows into the southern river." </p><p></p><p>"'Nice for the fish and the people downstream," Elim muttered, "humans!"</p><p></p><p>Adama just gave him a look and looked away, shaking his head.</p><p></p><p>**They ARE filthy creatures** came the same voice, a little primly. </p><p></p><p>"Can we not have this discussion now?" he whispered to the bow on his back. S'lann looked at him oddly. "'As much as I agree with you." </p><p></p><p>**Sooner or later Elim** the voice replied **we're going to have to have a chat. It would best be sooner but I don't think my purposes will be served while you're still here. So in the meantime** it paused **I will serve for now** </p><p></p><p>"Thanks," he muttered and glared at S'lann who looked away quickly, embarrassed or fearfully, Elim couldn't tell. </p><p></p><p>"I know the way to the closest oubliette which is in the Chamber of Blood below us," Ayanna told them with a frown. "There is a passage we can use to get there unseen and unmolested." </p><p></p><p>"I'm all for that," S'lann spoke up to nobody in particular. </p><p></p><p>"That means we're going to have to land in..?" he started to ask. </p><p></p><p>"Yes," she replied shortly. </p><p></p><p>Yolen, who had remained silent and watchful the entire time, clapped Adama on the shoulder and said with a laugh, "So what's a little muck between friends!?"</p><p></p><p>Adama just growled and gave him a scathing look, hefted his gear and motioned for them to do the same. </p><p></p><p>"This way," she said as she touched a part of the racks in her store room, swinging a secret door that revealed a corridor large enough to admit Kilmor if he crouched and sucked it in. </p><p></p><p>Without a backward glance she led them into the darkness.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aristoi, post: 2675053, member: 32975"] "Did I miss something? Kilmor asked, looking at the others. "Always dear," she replied not-quite acidly. "You," she pointed at Adama, "have had your vitality attacked and damaged. You are also slightly mad, aren't you?" without waiting for an answer she turned and looked at the others, "The rest of you are not in the best shape. I will Heal you but I want something in return." "What?" Adama asked flatly. She did, after all, work for Bloodtwist. In some fashion she almost assuredly had to be as bad as he was. He figured he wasn't going to like this at all. "'Take me with you," she demanded quietly. "I am a Daughter of Kossuth and the Eternal flame gutters here, the embers of my soul are being smothered in this deep place." She gestured helplessly, her rigid control almost slipping, ineffable grief almost bursting out. "I long to see the sun." "So." Elim wasn't terribly sympathetic but he understood the Children of Kossuth, the Fire of Struggle. He understood they respected strength and that winning meant everything but that didn't mean he had to like it; especially when it was applied to him without his consent. "Agreed," he offered, looking at S'lann, Kilmor, Adama and Yolen, each in turn. One by one he elicited nods and he turned back to her, "You can come." He held up an arrow, point up to emphasize his words, "But at the merest hint of betrayal, I will put this through your eye." "Understood," she smirked her reply, contemptuous of his threat. "Come. We need to get to the infirmary." And with no more ado she rose and led them, regally one might have said, to her domain. Fortunately the Pits were deserted as even the attendants had fled. Flesh blood decorated the stones out in the arena and chunks of what appeared to be raw meat. Elim looked at it hungrily for a moment and wiped at his mouth where he had started to drool. His people were omnivorous but he craved meat like very little else. Especially after nearly thirty years of being here and eating the Sludge, he barely remembered meat. In short order they had entered the Healer domain, the Infirmary, with it's sparkling clean treatment area and warm little stove which never cast any smoke. Upon some shelves near at hand were salves and pots, small ceramic bottles like the ones they carried and poultices for festering wounds. S'lann started to reach for them and she stopped him, shaking her head. "What you need is far more serious than what those are capable of," she said softly and gestured to a small but heavy stone door off of her herbal work-area. The smell of herbs and distillations and pure water was both distracting and pleasant and managed to banish the stench of the charnel pits and the rotting mess in the corridors and arena outside. She strode to the small door and laid her hand on it, whispering something and then waited a moment, he hand still pressed. A moment later the entire slab of stone turned molten, spreading from her hand, and receded back into the wall as if it had evaporated. "Nice trick!" S'lann breathed. "Kossuth is generous," she replied absently and walked into a far larger room that the door led one to believe existed. Floor to ceiling racks held potions, pots, unguents and jars some transparent but most opaque. On a peg by the door she took down a shoulder back decorated with designs of burning flames, similar to the tiny pendant of what appeared to be a live flame she wore around her neck. Into this sack she placed nearly half the contents of the room, murmuring what sounded like the names of each as she placed them inside. A few moments and she was done, turning with small potion vials and handing one to each of the others and held to in reserve as she turned to Adama. "You are broken," she said, almost as if she were invoking something. With care she handed him a tiny vial filled with a glowing white liquid. "Be mended." Looking at it curiously, he quirked an eyebrow at her. She failed to respond and remained standing, looking at him expectantly. A pause, a shrug and he popped the tiny cork and swigged the contents. For a moment he looked pole-axed, cross-eyed as whatever was in the potion went to work on him before he shivered all over and staggered slightly, his pupils becoming pinpricks. "Whoa," he murmured and looked at the tiny vial and then at the Healer, "that wasn't your run-of-the-mill healing potion was it?" "Well," she replied demurely and cryptically, "it certainly was a Healing potion." The emphasis on the word was odd and she seemed unwilling to explain. Adama shrugged and let it slide, the wildness having faded from the backs of his eyes. "This next, to replace your missing vitality," she offered him a larger vial, this one a slushy gold like the purest honey from celestial bees. For all they knew, it could have been. Toasting her gallantly, he tipped up the potion and swallowed the sluggish liquid, swishing it around his mouth with obvious gusto as he drank it, savoring the taste. Once he'd drained it and leaned back against a counter and shook his head, the whiteness fading from his eyes and his nose. "'Like the mead of the gods," he murmured and smiled. "Well," she replied with her own smile, pleased with his response, "maybe not of the GODS…" The others ceased being quite so tense and took their potions, feeling aches and pains fade and wounds and scabs close over. Vitality flooded them and Elim chuckled, his body humming like he had slept for weeks and been fed well the entire time. His body swelled and he stretched, his joints cracking as his lean muscles regained some of their wasted vitality. He glanced at S'lann, Kilmor and Adama in turn, each of them looking similarly flushed and restored. "Now that we're all ready," she offered, "can we go?" "Well see," S'lann said as the others kind of looked at one another, "we were pretty sure 'down' was the best way to go since it was probably the path of least resistance," he shrugged, "but we're not sure exactly how to get out from here." She heaved a huge sigh and cocked her head, considering. "The easiest way is also the worst," she said slowly. "The oubliettes empty into a vast waste cistern and from there it all flows into the southern river." "'Nice for the fish and the people downstream," Elim muttered, "humans!" Adama just gave him a look and looked away, shaking his head. **They ARE filthy creatures** came the same voice, a little primly. "Can we not have this discussion now?" he whispered to the bow on his back. S'lann looked at him oddly. "'As much as I agree with you." **Sooner or later Elim** the voice replied **we're going to have to have a chat. It would best be sooner but I don't think my purposes will be served while you're still here. So in the meantime** it paused **I will serve for now** "Thanks," he muttered and glared at S'lann who looked away quickly, embarrassed or fearfully, Elim couldn't tell. "I know the way to the closest oubliette which is in the Chamber of Blood below us," Ayanna told them with a frown. "There is a passage we can use to get there unseen and unmolested." "I'm all for that," S'lann spoke up to nobody in particular. "That means we're going to have to land in..?" he started to ask. "Yes," she replied shortly. Yolen, who had remained silent and watchful the entire time, clapped Adama on the shoulder and said with a laugh, "So what's a little muck between friends!?" Adama just growled and gave him a scathing look, hefted his gear and motioned for them to do the same. "This way," she said as she touched a part of the racks in her store room, swinging a secret door that revealed a corridor large enough to admit Kilmor if he crouched and sucked it in. Without a backward glance she led them into the darkness. [/QUOTE]
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