Session26

The innocent email leading up to the session... http://brokendestiny.wikispaces.com/Midori%2C+the+dragon+in+the+orb%2C+meets+Wren+and+Mali :-)

**8-10-13 Midori Possess Mali and The Festival in Myth Coramanth** Thorn has been out carousing the town where he found the Hero's Rest Inn. It's wrapped around the trunk of one of the great trees. Wisps of light are floating around the area. In the bar room is a huge blue dragon's skull held in place by chains. Blue sparks of magic glimmer across it occasionally. Hot, young elven women scantily dressed in little barmaid outfits wait the tables. Thorn spends the evening here in a drinking contest with some dwarves. Afterward, he heads back to the palace smelling heavily of alcohol. As he passes Posy's door, Thorn notices Uther peeking out. "Hey!" "Shhh! She's finally asleep..." "Who?" "Posy" "POSY?" "Shhh!" "Ok, ok... I have a question for you though... I really gotta throw up... Can I do it in your room?" Uther walks out into the hall, covered in scratches, and nods to him, "Sure... there's a big tub in there." He wanders off. Thorn is left standing there looking at the moving doors... he goes in, crawls into a tub and passes out. Best Night Ever! Posy wakes up... sore, scratched up, and HUNGRY! Hmm wasn't there a ball or something last night? Oh well... She heads down to breakfast. Erevin and Azarius are already there. Erevin raises an eyebrow at the little gnome, "Good morning. Sorry you missed the ball... is everything alright?" Posy nods, grinning, "Superb!" "Have you seen Thorn?" She shakes her head, "Nope." Uther joins them for breakfast, dressed. Yuki and Axton are next, joining everyone at a big table. She's blushing a lot and not looking at Axton directly as he passes her a plate of food. Ursus comes down, carrying Thorn like a bag in one hand, and sets him in a chair at the table... "I got this strange note from Mali... but I guess it's not 2nd breakfast yet, so... I'm sure she's fine." Kale comes down, "Has anyone seen Wren? It's not really like her to just disappear in the middle of the night..." Yuki looks up at him questioningly, "It kind of is..." He frowns at her, "Well not without at least a note... perhaps she had some sort of witch business she had to run off to. I'll go and check Raven's Nest." Yuki nods, "I'll go with you! I'm a woman... if they wont let you in... I should be able to go in and find her." Axton stands up beside her, "Then I'm coming too." Yuki blushes again, looking at the floor, "A-are you sure?" Axton turns to look at her directly, "You're blushing a lot this morning... and why aren't you looking at me?" Yuki continues to blush even more crimson and seems unable to answer... He raises an eyebrow, "Something must've really effected you last night... maybe you should wait here. I'll help Kale get Wren." Yuki nods, "...okay." Midori and Mali converse inside the orb and as she starts to tell him part of the story, she can't remember what happened to make old Myth Coramanth become the new Myth Coramanth. Midori nods to her, "Ahh let me refresh your memory then... The original Myth Coramanth was in the dalelands..." Mali interrupts him excitedly, "Didn't a dragon fall in love with an elf? Like in the painting?! In the cavern?!" He looks at her for a moment, "That's still there?" She nods to him, eyes gleaming. He laughs, "Well... that's embarrassing... anyway... the gods were cast down for a time and the mythal which protected the city..." She interrupts him again, "Ohhh like mithril armor?" He frowns at her, but remains patient, "Not exactly... but sort of an armor, yes... anyway, when the gods were cast down, the magic of the mythal went all wonky when it attempted to protect the city... and it teleported the city away, leaving the people of the city behind, just standing there." Mali gasps, "Oh no!" He nodded, "It was 50 years later and many miles to the east when it reappeared in Rawlinswood where it's trees blended into the forest's trees that were already there. And when the elves rediscoverd it..." Mali interjects excitedly, "There was a dragon there!" Midori nods to her, "A brave and noble dragon who was protecting the city when..." Mali clasps her hands together excitedly, looking up at him dreamily, "Tell me about your love story!" He frowns at yet another interruption, "That's MY secret." She peers at him, "Then why is it on the wall?" He growls, "It doesn't matter..." Meanwhile the little possessed body of (Mali) converses with Wren outside of the orb, "Dreamspinner? That name is familiar to me... are you Peregrine's daughter?" Wren shakes her head, "Raven's daughter." Frowning in thought, "Hmmm." "Did you know my mother?" "I'm not sure...but I would like to see the rest of my cavern." the possessed little (Mali) walks out of the room with Melleron at (his) side. S(he) growls looking at the pilfered treasure room and looks at Wren, "What happened to my treasure?" Wren quickly held her hands up defensively, "It was like this when I got here... someone else found it and took it. I don't know who... but you're really the green dragon?" S(he) nods to her and still looks at Wren skeptically. "Okay... I did take one thing..." Wren pulls out the little figurine and sets it forlornly back on the pile." "And that rainbow fork!" "What fork... Inali! Stop putting things in my pockets!" Wren set the fork back on to the pile, "I'm sorry... she really can't help herself... but I've always wanted to meet a dragon!" "This stature really doesn't do much for me..." Wren looked down at the little halfling and nods, "I was hoping for bigger... you want me to get you a box and you can puff out a bit?" (Mali) raises an eyebrow at her. "So where is Mali? Is she safe?" "That depends on how well she does at the game..." "Oh... did you ask her a riddle?" S(he) brightened up excitedly looking at Wren, "Oh! I like riddles!" Wren nodded and winced a little, hoping she didn't just make things worse for her druidess friend... but Argent had told her green dragons like riddles... They walk into the room with the paintings where s(he) looks them over and tenderly touches the elven woman on the wall.  "You loved her..." Wren nods to (him), "What happened to her?" "They banished her! For loving me..." Wren blinks surprised eyes at (him), "The city banished her for loving a dragon? That's... that's terrible." S(he) softens a little, "I'm glad to hear you think so. They banished her and turned their mythal against me. For that they will all pay." Wren frowned, "but none of the elves are from the old Myth Coramanth... there are new elves settled here now..." "Is Lionspaw still the queen here?" Wren nodded. "Her and her companions are the ones who turned on the mythal that was set against me for being in love with her..." Wren frowned "what happened to her? Perhaps she's still alive somewhere..." S(he) looked sad and shook (his) head, "No... I don't feel her in the world anymore. I believe she has passed." "I'm sorry..." "Has the city changed? Since before it moved... 50 years ago." "Well... I wasn't around then... but it's probably changed a little." "I would like to go and see it." "Umm... okay... but you have to be careful. You look like Mali, so you're going to have to act like her if you want to pull this off..." "And since I have your friend tucked away safe, I'm sure I can count on you not to break my cover, right?" She nodded and took the possessed (Mali)'s hand, "Mali usually rides on Melleron... did you want to ride him or make him small?" S(he) climbs on top of Melleron, "I can do this..." Looking awkward and tipsy... "Umm... squeeze on a little tighter and use your muscles from here to balance..." She pats her core muscles, "At least... that's what Kale tells me to do." She nodded encouragingly as (Mali) looked a little more normal. "What would you like to go see?" Wren asked as they entered the city together. "I think I would like to see the palace first." Wren nodded, leading the way, "Remember... you're Mali... bright and cheerful... big smile." After Kale and Axton head off, Ursus and Thorn both look at Yuki, "So what happened?" Yuki, still blushing, "Nothing!" "Oh... something happened! What happened?" She finally looked up, glowing happily, "He kissed me!" "And...?" "He kissed me again!" Thorn looks very disappointed, "Is that all?" "B-but it was my first kiss!" Yuki touches her lips. Ursus raises an eyebrow at her, "Your first kiss? How old are you? ... and you've never been kissed?" Yuki looks wilted, but brightens when she sees Wren walk in with (Mali). (Mali) sits down at the table and begins eating ravenously, Wren lingering close to her. Uther tells her good morning, and she quickly checks her cheat card, smiling up at him happily, "Hi... Uther!" Ursus comes over and gives her a big bear hug, and she makes a face but then smiles cheerfully, "Good morning, Ursus." He looked at her, "Boy you look really tired... I must've worn you out..." Wren smiled at him, "Oh, I don't think she slept much... She was with me all night after you." He stared at her, and Wren blushed waving her hands out in front her, "Ohhh! No, no! Not like THAT! We went for a walk in the woods." Posy looks up from her plate and sees an enormous green dragon filling the room and centered on (Mali). She points her finger at the little halfling accusingly, "You're not Mali!" Wren glances back and forth between the two a little worriedly. (Mali) smiles cheerfully, "Hi Posy! Of course I'm Mali." Posy sees the enormous dragon speak with a deep voice at the same time as the little halfling, "Don't you call me that!" "Posy? Isn't that your name?" "You are not Mali!" Thorn looks at Posy like she's gone crazy and she hands him her nose ring to see the dragon for himself. He looks a bit disgusted, but wipes it off and puts it in his nose... it still just looks like (Mali). He pulls it back out and hands it to her, stringing along a bit of snot. Eww! Wren pets (Mali) a little, as she looks at Posy "Be nice to Mali... we want her back. Nice Mali. Good Mali." "What do you mean we want her back?" (Mali) nods up to Wren, "I think I'd like to go see the white tower. Can we go there?" Wren nods down to (Mali), but Posy doesn't look like she's willing to let them leave, "Where is Mali? Spill it, Wren!" "Get her, Melleron!" (Mali) points at Posy. Wren pales, "What?!" (Mali) gets up and bolts out the door as the gigantic lion leaps on top of the little gnome squishing her as he licks her face. Wren takes flight and chases (Mali) running with her little legs. Yuki chases behind Wren. Mali walks with Midori, who now appears as an enormous green dragon to a little clearing where he has a great pile tree trunks stacked up tall in a cross hatch kind of way... He looks down at her, "I'm not sure the name of the game..." Mali interrupts him, "I think this is called Jenga." "I'm unfamiliar with the elven name..." "No... I think that's the human name... I mean what kind of word is jenga anyway... it's very strange... jenga... even the sound.. jenga... who would name something like that?" He stares at her, a very brave display of patience, "Anyway... you have to pull out the logs and whoever makes it topple first loses." "It's too big! I can't pull out one of those logs!" She's standing next to it... if it topples, she'll likely be crushed. He nods to her, "You just tell me which one to pull, and I'll pull it out for you." "No! Part of the game is being able to not shake when you pull one out... nice and steady. If it falls, I'll know you're cheating!" "It's a game of knowledge and wisdom... picking the right log." "You can be smaller! Just shrink back down and I'll shrink the logs too and we can play." "You wanted a story... These are my rules." Mali folds her arms in a huff, "Then I guess I wont get a story! I'm not playing!" "Mmm... well... dinner time then," He reaches down to gulp her into his mouth as she hollers out at him, "Too bad you only have popcorn!" Mali is swallowed into darkness. Wren grabs (Mali) in flight, holding on to her, "I told you to act like Mali! You can't just go sending her lion after people!" "I DID ACT LIKE MALI! I WAS CHIPPER! She wasn't going to let me leave!" "Okay, Okay... calm down... hold on to me tightly... and don't breathe a sound." Yuki was coming up quickly, but Wren and (Mali) vanished from sight before she could see where they went. "Wren! Wreeeen! Oh... Come on! I NEED to talk to you!" (Mali) was starting to turn blue from holding her breath, and suddenly took in a big gasp of air as Wren frowned down at her. "I heard that!" Yuki shouted, looking around, "I know you're out here! Wren! He kissed me!" Wren's voice came from nowhere, "He kissed you again?" "AHA!" Yuki pointed toward her, "Can't you please be visible... I need to talk to you." "Okay... but only if you promise not to give us away..." "Umm... okay... you're invisible with Mali... whatever... I like boys, but if Kale's okay with it... I'm okay." Wren laughed as they faded into view, "It's not like that!" The three walked together, Wren holding two conversations that each of the others seemed oblivious to the second conversation going on. Yuki chatted into Wren's ear about Axton and kisses, Wren nodding and interjecting little comments all the while watching (Mali) look around the city wondrously. "So?" She looked down at (Mali). "It's beautiful..." s(he) nodded up to Wren. "Has it changed?" S(he) shook (his) head, "It looks exactly the same." Wren nodded. Yuki nodded to them as she started to prep a spell, "She seems fine... but they told me to put a protection from evil on Mali." "He just wants to see the city. Not yet. You can cast on her soon..." "See the city? You just seen it this morning.... He? ... so that's not!..." "Shh!" "Yeah, but..." "Shush!" "If it's not Mali..." "Shh! You promised you wouldn't give us away... no... it's not Mali... it's the green dragon from the painting, but we want to keep our Mali safe... so just shush!" Yuki stared at her with wide eyes, "Dragon?!" "Shhh! They banished his lover for being in love with him." She looked pleadingly at Yuki who was instantly on the side of love. Posy followed behind them, watching. (Mali) smiled up up at them, "Okay, I seen what I wanted to..." She leaps off of the rope bridge, Wren screaming after her, arms extended, "Mali!" Mali rants and raves inside the darkness, a tiny pin prick of light in the distance, "You're a cheater! And a liar! You didn't keep your word! Evil dragon! Dragons are bad if they're all like you! You're such a cheater! And a liar! No wonder she left you!!!" A tiny pin prick of light in the distance suddenly starts rushing forward quickly as she feels his anger flare up. Mali falls into her own body as she's falling quickly toward the ground. She activates her feather fall ring, still cursing, "Where is that lying, cheating, no good dragon?!" Wren beamed at her, "MALI! He let you go?" "He CHEATED! I was trying to ask him about the love story... and he wanted to play a game... but he lied and he cheated!!" She continued to rant on about the jenga game and how it was so big and set to topple over and squish her. Posy catches up to all of them. Wren apologizes to her, "I'm sorry I was trying to keep it all a secret... He had Mali and I wanted to keep her safe... and he just wanted to see the city." Thorn, Ursus, and Uther catch up to the girls as Kale and Axton return. Wren blushes at Kale and apologizes for the lack of a note. She suggests going somewhere more private to discuss everything that happened. Thorn looks at her, and where would you suggest? Wren ponders for a moment and then beams, nodding, "The coven ring! We'll light a fire and have tea and we talk about everything... and maybe do a little dancing."

As everyone heads toward the gate, one of the dwarves Thorn had been drinking with the night before comes up to him and starts conversing with him behind the others. "Since you're such a good drinker, the dwarves of Eisenhammer would like to invite you to the little brewing competition we have every year.... kind of a 'fuck you' to the elven nobles. I mean what would you rather have... Dwarven Ale or sissy elven wine?" Thorn laughs and nods, "Well I'd just pick whatever is closer... but dwarven ale sounds great!" "So you want to come join us and do a little taste testing? ...rememer Eisenhammer is the best!" He winks at Thorn. Thorn nods, "Count me in. When and where?" "Tonight... in the more seedy part of town... well elves don't really have a seedy part of town but..." Thorn nods,"More down to earth?" They both share a hearty laugh and the dwarf nods to him, "You ought to grow a beard." The dwarf gestures toward Posy walking ahead, "Who's the hot gnome chick with the rack?" Thorn nods to him, "That's Posy... but you don't really want to go messing with that." "Bring her to the contest too!" Thorn laughs and nods, "I will!" "And the halfling up there... wait... are you traveling with all of those women?" Thorn nods and they share another hearty laugh. The dwarf nods to him, "Invite them all!" Thorn catches up to the others and fills them in. Yuki brightens, "Oh! Like a party?" Thorn nods, "Yeah... like a party." Axton nods to Yuki, "We should go... We didn't get to dance at the ball." She blushes, "but we... oh... okay!" Everyone agrees to go. Wren guides everyone through the thicker part of the forest through the secret bramble trail to the meadow with the great coven tree. A large ring of stones is set up for large bonfires with plenty of room around it for dancing. Oriole, a young human witch, greets everyone coming into the meadow, "Wren! You've brought so many... men." Wren giggled and nodded to her, "Delicious, aren't they?" "Are they all available?" Wren shook her head and pointed to Kale, "Not that one. He's mine. The others you're welcome to ask... and he's available." She pointed to Thorn. "Oh!" Oriole smiled cheerfully at Thorn, "Herbal soap?" She offered him a pretty bar of soap. Thorn nodded, accepting the soap gratefully, "Sure! I'll just put that with the others..." He dropped it into a bag filled with bars of soap. Wren laughed and nodded to Oriole, "We're going to light a fire and I'll make welcoming tea." Oriole nodded, "I'll fetch the kettle." Wren lit the fire and passed out hot cups of tea, "Welcome... to Raven's Nest. Drink and feel warmed and welcomed to our coven." Mali nodded, "I think we're required to dance naked to be here... I seem to recall stories of welcoming tea, fires, and having to dance naked." Axton shook his head at Mali, "I don't think we have to dance naked..." Mali nodded to him, "I'm pretty sure it's in their bilaws. You have to dance naked to be here." Axton shook his head again, "I don't think it's really a requirement." Wren laughed, "No... you don't HAVE to dance naked to be here... we just laugh at the ones who don't... relax, and drink more tea." She refills everone's cups. "It really is good tea..." Axton nodded, sipping, and put his arm around Yuki who smiled and nodded and snuggled closer to him. Mali and Wren fill everyone in on everything that happened inside and outside of the orb. Yuki suggests going to talk to Sonaris and the temple of Hanalil since this is a story of love, and surely they would be on the side of love and something can be done. Wren suggests leaving out all parts of the orb and the possessed Mali out of the story to the temple. Everyone fears what the city might do if they thought Mali was still possessed by a dragon who wanted revenge on their city. As evening settles in, Thorn looks around, "We should probably ease up on the tea if we're going to make that brewing contest..." Wren nods to him, "Well then... we should burn some of it off." She pulls out bottles of oil and removes her clothes, layering her skin in a spicy oil and handing the bottle to Mali, "It makes your skin all spicy when it's warmed by the dance." She started dancing around the fire happily. Thorn looked up at her, "It's like she was just waiting for a reason... like oh look... that leaf just grew, we should get naked and dance." Kale shook his head at Thorn and laughed, "She really doesn't even need that much of a reason." Wren laughed, dancing happily around the fire, "Dance with me Mali!" She extended her hands out to the little halfling who stripped happily and joined her. The two twirled about in the circle until they reached the little gnome woman, "Dance with us Posy!" She stripped out of her armor and shrugged, leaping into the circle to join them as they danced. Wren extended her hands out, "Come and dance with us Thorn!" He stripped down and joined the women frolicking in a circle around the fire. Thorn extended his hands to Yuki who came to dance with him with her clothes on. After getting most to come into the circle with her, Wren turned and smiled at Kale, motioning for him to come join her with mischievous eyes. He smiled, and stripped down to dance with her. Everyone danced happily around the fire and Yuki returned to Axton's side and cuddled together watching the fire and everyone having fun. In the city, we come to a small neighborhood on the ground level. When the city moved, some of the homes fell and are leaning on the trees. They've strung little lanters between the homes to make it look nice and happy festival music is playing. 100 or so people, dressed festively, are dancing. Yienshul is there, welcoming people to the festival with garland strings of flowers, "With your connection to the Lionspaw family, I'm surprised you all came..." Wren laughed, "Aww, it's not like we're all uppity... we're excited to attend. It looks like so much fun!" Yien smiled and nodded, "Alright then... welcome to the festival." She put a string of garland around each of us. She's very pretty and Thorn looks like he's about to hit on her when Kale just glares at him and shakes his head, "No." Yien leads us around the area, "Will you all be participating in the events?" "What kind of events?" "Well the first is a race... and then there's a dancing contest, and a drinking contest and brewing competition... anyone can enter any of the events. You don't have to enter all of them, but you're welcome to." "It sounds like lots of fun! What do we have to do for the race?" "Well it's got a little challenge to it... because you have to race with a partner inside a big sack. In past years, we used to have the drinking contest first... but it didn't really end well." Wren laughed and looked to Kale who nodded that he would go with her. Uther and Posy, and Ursus and Mali also join in. Axton extends a hand to Yuki, "It sounds like fun." Yuki nods to him, "Let's win!" Yien slips up next to Thorn, "I'll be your partner if you'd like to race." Thorn accepts happily and Kale is very upset. Wren holds him back gently and tries to keep him calm. Yuki and Axton fall over in the first few minutes, but Axon manages to make them land so he cushions her fall. "Cat's grace," he whispers to her as they get back up. She nods to him and casts on herself. Kale and Wren fall behind, uncoordinated as Kale is obsessed with catching Thorn. He growls at her about Thorn's hand being on his sister's ass and she tries to calm him down and bring his focus back. While most partners have the sack drawn around their waists, Ursus and Mali, along with Uther and Posy have the sack up to the girls' necks and around the thighs of the guys. Despite their huge size difference, the two couples manage to hop well together. Mali wrapping herself around one of Ursus's legs. Posy and Uther hop into 2nd place. Thorn and Yien shoot off to the front, hopping together in synch beautifully. Passing the first lantern, everyone seems to do better through the second section. Thorn and Yien still hold onto the lead firmly. She beams at him, "Wow! You're really good at this!" "I'm the best baby! Let's win this!" "Why do you keep looking back?" "I'm watching for your brother. We need to beat him, together!" "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The third round is puddly and muddy and fully distracted, Wren and Kale splash deep into a big puddle of mud, splashing mud all over Yuki and Axton. Yuki squeals, wiping mud off of her, clearly distressed. Covered head to toe in mud, only Kale's glowering green eyes can be seen as he glares at Thorn. Exhausted, Yien and Thorn fall over together at the winning finish line. She lands on top of Thorn and points at Kale, "In your face!" "And this year's winner is a favorite of the town, Yienshul, and her partner in the sack, Thorn! Everyone is cheering! Kale is growling. Yien and Thorn are presented with little sack trophies. Large tubs of water are available to clean off the mud... Yuki uses her ribbon and Axton looks at her, "That's just not fair..." Wren strips out of her fully muddied clothes and climbs into one of the tubs naked to rinse off with several staring at her, though she doesn't really seem to notice. "The dance contest is next... also done in partners, there's 20-30 poles with colorful ribbons. Each couple takes a ribbon and dances around the pole in their own creative display of dancing. Those who can do the most aesthetic display wins... again we tried to do the drinking competition first in previous years, but it just really didn't end well." Yien steps next to Thorn, "We won the last one... care to try again?" He grins and nods to her. Axton and Yuki look beautiful together, dancing around the pole with their ribbons weaving in and out as they just barely touch each other, crossing paths. Wren and Kale are graceful, matching each other's movements and timing as they dance their ribbons above their own.  Thorn and Yien struggle for their rhythm in the first round, but once the music's pace quickens in the second, they hit their stride and dance joyously. Posy and Uther can't seem to find their right steps and get caught up in the ribbons. They get tapped out in the second round. Ursus and Mali also struggle to find beauty in the dance, and just avoid being tapped out as Ursus glares at the judge, Melloran and Black Fang growling from the sideline. As the third and final round starts, the music changes to a slow, intimate dance. The judge taps out Mali and Ursus, running for cover after. Thorn ducks to avoid Kale only to have his ankle wrapped up in Yien's ribbon and he falls to the ground. Yienshul bends over him, "Oh! Are you okay?" Looking up at her beautiful body bent over in display before him, Thorn clutches his tiny wound, "Ow! My ankle!" She helps him up gently, "Aww, let's go get you something to drink..." The two wander out to the sidelines together. Yuki and Axton continue to weave beautifully as Axton wraps her gently in his ribbon and pulls her close. As Kale growls slightly to his sister and Thorn wandering off, Wren brought Kale's attention back to her with with a dark seductive glare, "that growl had better be meant for me." The last two couples finish brilliantly together with a very close call for the judges. Kale and Wren are rewarded with ribbons woven into their hair for the slightly more intimate and aesthetic dance. Yienshul smiles at all of us, "So who will be entering the drinking contest?" Wren smiles at Kale, "You go ahead... I'll cheer you on." He nods to her and glances challengingly at Thorn who enters. Posy, Mali, Uther, and Ursus all enter as well. Yien cheers, "Go Thorn! Go big brother!" Axton and Yuki follow behind, holding hands. Yuki cheers for Posy to win. The dwarves cheer as the contestants line up, "Welcome to the drinking contest! Strong ales are waiting for you..." A small elven voice alone in the crowd echoes out, "...and wine." as he holds up his entry. Mild laughter waves through the crowd. The first table is an elven wine... Wow! Much stronger than the contestants are prepared for... but they're just getting warmed up. Kale drinks it without blinking an eye. The next table has perfectly clear liquids... vodka and rums. Mmm they are all delicious. Some of the other contestants start to drop, but the barbarians, halflings, and gnome are all more prepared for this table. Kale slams down his mugs, looking directly with a challenge to Thorn who keeps up fairly well. Welcome to the Eisenhammer table! Tall steins of ale, the good strong stuff! Lanterns in the area start to look a little fuzzy, must've been mushrooms or something in that! More contestants fall over. Axton and Yuki walk through them easing their pain with poison removal. Only a few contestants remain... "We didn't think we'd have to resort to this!" Some of the dwarves are nodding to do it, others are shaking their heads not to go that far! An Eisenhammer dwarf puts on a glove and carefully opens a keg, a foul odor wafting from the barrel. He pours a thick, more like syrupy drink into tall mugs that create thick foam along the top that looks like little screaming skulls. A fly lands on the foam and falls away dead. Mali feels a great pain as her head suddenly impacts the table. Uther falls over, passed out, and Ursus hurls as they drink down their mugs. Posy barely holds it together, and Thorn weaves slightly as he looks at four Kale's sitting next to him. Kale nods to him, "You're pretty good." Thorn slurs a little as his finger weaves back and forth in the air, "My secret... I didn't sober up from last night..." The dwarves huddle up, there's still 3 standing! This has never happened! It's time to do the ancient dwarven test... A dwarf steps up to the three still up, "How many fingers am I holding up?" Posy squints her eyes as she weaves back and forth, "Five!" Thorn tries to count and subtract for how many hands he sees, "Three." Kale sits back and nods, "Two." "Five is correct!" Everyone cheers for Posy who finally turns and hurls onto Thorn's boots. They present her with a nice ivory drinking mug, carved with the face of a dwarf with gems for eyes. She beams, "I will treasure it always." Thorn, Mali, and Kale receive pint mugs with Eisenhammer embossed on them for holding out for so long. Axton and Yuki gather with some other priests to help bring the contestants back around. "Thank you everyone for their participation... it's been another great year of festivities! Let the dance begin!" A grand celebration party with festive music and a different style of dancing. Axton brings 3 different colors of wine glasses for Yuki to choose from. She picks purple and they go out to dance. Her ribbon creating a festive dwarven style outfit to dance in. Axton leads her very well in the dance. She beams at him, "Where'd you learn to dance like this?" He laughs, "In my youth, I did my fair share of dancing with the poorer people in the streets." "Oh... my parents never allowed me to go there..." He nodded, "Best that you didn't. A little more of a rough style of crowd... with a little too much drinking." He takes her to a private area, closer to the trees... She blushes, "I... thought we were dancing?" He smiles at her, taking her hand, "It's a little crowded over there." Yuki is blushing and her little fairy shows back up, giggling. She lands on Yuki's shoulder, squeaking into her ear, "He's very handsome!" Yuki smiles and nods to her, "He knows it too." "Is he going to kiss you?" Yuki looks at Axton. The fairy moves behind him, to nudge him forward. Axton smiles at Yuki, "I feel like I'm getting a sign..." Yuki nods, "Maybe you should explain yourself..." "About the kiss?" She nods. "It's something I've wanted to do for a long time... so I did..." He smiles at her, "Want to do it again?" She nods slowly, staring up at him. The little fairy pushes him forward as he leans down and kisses her. The fairy behind him cheering with a little victory dance. Ursus and Mali dance for a long time before he picks her up, kissing her, and carries her off in his arms as she falls asleep. Uther blushes sitting next to Posy, "I'm so embarrassed... that was strong stuff!" Posy pats his shoulder, "It's okay... I barely held it together myself." He smiles at her, "Should we go dance? Or... you just want to go to the woods?" "Let's go back to the palace..." "...but the woods are right there!" Posy laughs, "and Ursus and Mali just went that way..." A dawning thought flickers over his face, "Oh! You're right. The palace sounds great." Yien smiles sweetly at Thorn, "Will you be going back to the palace with the others?" He nods to her, "If I can make it that far..." "Well... our home is right over there." She gestures to a quaint little home with a picket fence and modest garden. Thorn nods to her, "I might just have to take you up on that..." Kale pulls Wren close, gently kissing her ear as he whispered, "If he stays the night... I'm going to kill him..." Wren started giggling as he intimately moved to her other side caressing her neck and brushing his lips over the tip of her other ear, whispering, "You'll help me hide the body, right? I can count on you?" Wren laughed softly, nodding, "Of course you can... but she's a big girl now... and it's not like she's unwilling." She nudged him and kissed his lips. "I'm sure she's only invited him to SLEEP over... or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself." Wren giggled, "Come on... I'll help you believe that... or better yet, forget all about it." "Mmm that is certainly going to be a challenge for you tonight." She grinned, taking his hand, and the two of them walked away. Axton smiled at Yuki, "Shall we go back to your room?" Yuki gasped as she looked at him accusingly, "You're not thinking perverted thoughts, are you?" He shook his head, "No... no... of course not. That's way too fast... I simply meant for me to escort you back to your room." She looks at him, a little confused, "You were mean. Now you're nice. Who are you? Which one are you?" He looks at her softly, "Was I really that mean?" Her jaw dropped, "You made me scrub your boots! ... and... and the bathroom after ... after the dwarven visit! There was so much hair... and it got all stuck... And you were always commanding me in a mean, sexy kind of way..." He perked up, "You think I'm sexy?" "I didn't mean to say that out loud... Is that all you got out of that? You're..." She started in on another rant but he leaned forward and kissed her lips to shush her. He smiled at her now that she was quiet again, "I'm confused too... all of the sudden you're a beautiful woman." "You think I'm beautiful?" "Well you think I'm sexy." "Beautiful! You said it! I'm beautiful." They banter back and forth a moment, sexy, beautiful, sexy, beautiful... until he kisses her. He takes her hand and escorts her back. The next morning we head to the temple of Hanalil. Moss covered stone steps run along cascading pools. Naked, beautiful elves are all over the place laughing and giggling. Yuki points out a few of them with names... the pool of young love, pool of marriange, various relationship stages for kind of a meeting ground. A golden inlaid temple lies beyond the pools with a beautiful flower garden. Beautiful voices are doing prayers inside. Two blue-haired elves are leading the choirs. One is leading the males with a rich masculine voice and the other is leading the females with a sweet, feminine voice. The two share family resemblances. Sonaris, the lead male, welcomes us. "Thank you for looking after my wife, Kinu, in Lyrabar. Priest Tamaraith said that you were here. I'm glad you've come to the temple." The lead female introduces herself as Dulcet, the high priestess, "Welcome to the temple. Did you come to discuss the virtues of Sune vs Hanalil today?" Yuki smiles, "No... not today. Can we talk to you more privately?" "Of course." Dulcet and Sonaris escort us to her office. Adventuring style trophies are on the wall. A lovely painting of Dulcet with a handsome warrior is also hanging on the wall. Wren and Kale recognize the warrior as Eltrue. We discuss the story of the dragon and the elven woman. She tells us that his lair and the city were once side by side and dragons tend to be territorial and he had killed some of the elves of the city. Many believed that the dragon had seduced the woman to get into the city to destroy it... when they questioned her, she said he just wanted to be with her. The officials didn't believe her and so banished her from the city and adjusted the mythal to be against that specific dragon. Yuki was very upset by all of this, "And how did the temple of Hanalil stand?" Dulcet frowned, "The temple was split. Half left the city with her... and the other half sided with the high priest at the time who did not believe in their love... We thought it was just a story... until you brought it to our attention today." Yuki, still clearly upset by this, shook her head, "and how would the temple handle it if the dragon returned?" Dulcet thought for a moment, "That would depend on his attitude." Yuki was furious, "With all due respect, high priestess... If your lover was torn away," She pointed at the painting on the wall, "What would soothe your soul?" Dulcet glanced at the painting, "The return of my love." "And if he was already dead in that missing time... what else might soothe your soul?" She shook her head, weighing her heart, "Revenge..." Yuki frowned, "Is that all? Are we not taught to love?! This is a matter of LOVE! Am I wrong?" Wren set a soft hand on her shoulder, "It's also a matter of an entire city of elves vs one very hurt dragon... I want this remedied too, but if he comes in a rage, we can't ask them to simply jump into his maw crying out, Take me to fill your vengeance!" "Can we at least try to bring him her body... a story of what happened to her... something?" Wren nodded to her that it was a good idea. Sonaris volunteered to take up the quest personally and try to find out what happened to this elven woman banished from the city 50 years ago. Wren bowed to him, "We would be honored for you to do this personally." Sonaris nodded to her, "Let us know if you find anything as well." Wren nodded, "Of course." With the plan of rescuing Thorn's family, we return to the ship. Erevin should be done with his princely duties and it was time to move on. * After a passionate night with Wren in their home in Heroes' Rest, Kale slips out of bed and goes to her pack. He touches the orb and gently puts it back. He crawls back into bed. When Wren wakes in the morning in his arms, no lies and deceit alarm goes off... he's still Kale. When Posy sees them at breakfast, there is no spirit of a dragon looming over him. *