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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1372807" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #256] Epilogue at the Caves of Chaos[/PLAIN]Windstryder moved toward Ledare first, placing her bow beside the unmoving Janissary and drawing out her healer's satchel. She looked earnestly into the half-elf's eyes as she fumbled within her bag for the proper herb."Can you breath, Ledare?" the ranger asked. "Blink if you understand me." Of course, being paralyzed, Ledare could do no such thing. Windstryder frowned and placed her ear to Ledare's breastplate but could hear nothing through the heavy armor. She then pressed close to the Janissary's mouth and felt the faint tickle of breath against her ear. She popped a dark bit of fungus in her mouth and began vigorously chewing it into a soft paste. She then eased Ledare onto her back and hunched over the woman."Uh, Windstryder?" Ixin called. She was bent over Morier, and the expression on her face plainly showed that the sorcerer's assessment of the albino's health was not encouraging. "I don't think Morier's going to make it!"The ranger held up a hand a gave the gesture for 'hold position and wait' then she hunched over her current patient. She pressed her lips firmly over the Janissary's mouth and drooled the masticated herb onto Ledare's tongue before straightening up and wiping her mouth on her sleeve. She grinned down at the paralyzed Ledare."Hah, hah," she chuckled, her laughter sounding very out-of-place given their surroundings. "Lord Janissary, we call that the healer's kiss. Not a pretty gesture, I know, but necessary under the circumstances.""OOOH! I can help Morier!" Vade exclaimed as he trotted to the fallen warrior's side. He began rifling through the elf's belongings, adding, "I know he has a potion in here somewhere."Feln reached down and urged the halfling back with one hand. Vade looked up at the half-orc with a distraught look on his child-like face. "Don't you want to help Morier?" Vade asked. "Why are you stopping me?""To give you this," Feln explained, opening his hand to reveal a tiny potion vial. "It's not much, but it should stabilize him until we can aid him further." Vade took the philter and grinned at Feln before pouring the Cure Minor Wounds draught passed Morier's pale lips. Immediately, the albino's breathing evened out and became regular."I think this might be what you were looking for," Ixin offered, pointing to a vial bearing the same symbol she had seen on the door to Rherram Ongensleer's hospital, a circle of white flowers. It was one of only three vials remaining in Morier's potion belt. Vade nodded and reached for it, becoming distracted in the process by the potion belt's cunning craftsmanship."This is a neat belt!" he said as he palmed the cure potion. "I want one!""Step back, Vade," Windstryder said as she came up to them with her healer's kit ready. The halfling moved to get up, but emptied the potion into Morier's mouth before rising. Immediately, Morier awoke, sputtering and trying to get to his feet. Ixin pressed against his shoulders with her hands."Easy!" she urged and Morier's red eyes flicked up to hers."Is it dead?" he asked and the mage nodded."Thanks to Feln," Windstryder laughed as she hunted through her kit. "That was some killing blow, my friend. I have never seen you preform such a feat before."Compared to the elf, Feln's demeanor seemed almost somber. He looked at his still-bloodied fist and flicked the worst of the ichor off onto the floor. "We have never been in such dire need before," the martial artist explained. "I am trained to find weak spots in my enemy's defenses and strike with precision at their vital organs.""Well, after seeing what you're capable of I will never come near your dagger again," Vade said, holding both hands up to show that he did not have his fingers crossed. "I promise!"Feln smiled wanly and drew the dagger from its hiding place. He offered it to Vade saying, "I can think of no safer place for it, friend. You fought bravely. I am in awe."Vade looked at the offered black blade with something akin to reverence. Then he smiled and gave Feln a big hug. The half-orc smiled and patted Vade's slim shoulder with one calloused hand."Come, Vade. Let us search this area for any secrets it might be hiding," Feln suggested. "This lair reminds me of a basement I was in some time ago. The Maester I was sent to... talk with... had a cupboard hidden behind the wall. You had to push in on a certain spot to get it to pop open."Vade noticed the hesitation and guessed that there was more to Feln's visit than a conversation. But he had no intention of prying; he knew well enough what it was like to have something to hide.While Feln and Vade searched, Windstryder aided both Morier and Ixin, using her not-inconsiderable knowledge of healing to dress the eldritch warrior's arm and eliminate a portion of the pain in the sorcerer's leg. Once she was back on her feet, Ixin moved about the room, casting a spell that the Dragon's Claw had put to good use in Highgate both to locate people who didn't want to be found and to avoid The Five's law enforcers.She cast Recent Occupant at several spots around the chamber and discovered an interesting fact: the two individuals who had been in this room last had kept themselves discretely separate. The first presence revealed by her divination was Braath the Lesser, and the magic identified his race as a Skag. He had kept himself exclusively on the northern half of the room, skirting the various workbenches as if he were purposefully avoiding the machine that dominated the south west corner of the chamber.The other half of the room bore the psychic remnants of another: Nicetas RedFair. The spell marked him as human, although there was enough ambiguity in the response that Ixin was sure that there was something more to it than that. He apparently moved freely about the room and approached the machine with impunity. It wasn't until Vade found the lead box that she found out why.It had rested inside one of the machine's larger glass globes, and once Vade was confident that the device was untrapped, he had opened the hatch set into the side of the globe and moved to retrieve the plain box. It was corroded and heavy - too heavy for him to move - but the lock was a simple one and he popped it open after only a moment's fiddling. The box's contents made his jaw drop open and his eyes bug.Platinum! And not just a few coins either! There had to be several hundred royals within the box! Maybe several thou-"What's that scroll?" Morier asked, startling Vade out of his reverie. The halfling hadn't even noticed the rolled piece of vellum. Using the blade of his dagger, Vade removed the scoll and handed it to the albino.Morier intoned the words to a minor spell and his eyes glowed violet. "Not magical," he said. "For that matter, neither is this machine.""What does it say?" Feln asked, indicating the scroll. Morier unfurled it and read the letter aloud."To my apprentice,If you are reading this, it can only mean that you have bypassed my guardian. Congratulations! You have proven yourself to  be a better wizard than your father was and I applaud your skill and tenacity! I built that scorpion as a final test for him when he was my apprentice and I know well its capabilities. Your skill in the art must be great indeed.I fear that you will be disappointed to discover that my apparatus is no longer functioning. I am sure that it has sat in the laboratory mocking you with its inaccessibility and the promise of power beyond your current means. I know that feeling as well. It can drive an apprentice to strive for greater and greater skill. It was that which instilled in me a drive to become the greatest transmuter Oreune has ever seen. Do not be disheartened to find the power beyond your grasp at the moment. Rejoice in the fact that you have passed my final test of worth.You may join me at my tower in Rhadcliffe. Use this money to purchase whatever you will need to make the journey and leave the hive to fend for itself. Fomenting a war with Hule was ever my master's dream not mine and I grow weary of following his orders any longer. We follow another path, you and I - one that will see such changes wrought across the face of this world, that our names will be forever remembered!As it says in The Sanction of Transformation: 'All hail the blessed mother of change! In her infinite glory she has seen fit to warp that which was straight and bring asymmetry to that which was caught in the tyranny of redundancy. Conformity is the enemy. Distortion is the key to freedom and joy! All hail!'Your master, Nicetas the Weaver"Morier rolled the scroll back up and sighed. "Anybody ever hear of Nicetas the Weaver?" he asked."I have," said Ledare as she got awkwardly to her feet. The paralysis had taken a long time to wear off and her joints ached from being locked in the same position for so long. "According to those spellbooks that Kirnoth studied for so long, Nicetas was the name of Andamacles' apprentice.""Remind me," Windstryder said. "Who is Kirnoth again?"The rest of the lair held little of immediate interest to them although they did find the real object of their quest: a padded wooden box that held two crystal vials. One was filled with a thick red liquid and the other held a clear brackish fluid. Ilea's blood and tears were theirs at last and with it came the promise of a cure for the plague that was currently decimating Barnacus.</blockquote>

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