Session+34

**Introduction to Tyrian Moonflower, The Appearance of Leira, The Kidnapping of Seri and the Reappearance of The Black Mark, and The Hunt with a Hydra Battle!**
 * 11-29-13 **

The next morning in the temple of Sune, Yuki is woken up by a knock on her door, "Mmm? I don't want to leave my princess bed yet." The knocking continues. "You can't make me go... nom nom nom..." She pulls a pillow over her head as the knocking gets louder and adds dreamily, "Yes, I'll be your queen..." A woman's voice comes from outside the door, "Wake up!" followed by more pounding! Yuki slips into her bunny slippers, dragging a pillow behind her sleepily as she answers the door in her little pink nightie. Catalina, one of the priestesses of the temple who often berates Yuki for her laziness and lack of drive, is smiling at the door. Upon recognizing her, Yuki casually closes the door in her face, calling over her shoulder as she walks back to her bed, "I don't need a seamstress this early in the morning." Catalina pounds on the door again, "I have a very important message for you, Miss Ashdown..." Yuki's shoulders slump and she turns around and opens the door again, "Yes... what is it?" Catalina smiles arrogantly, "High Priest Alain requires your... presence... in the chapel this morning." "The chapel?!" Yuki beams excitedly. "For disciplinary action..." Catalina continued with an uppity smirk."I can only assume that's why he'd be calling you there." "What?!" Yuki throws her pillow at Catalina! The smug priestess laughed, "Perhaps you'll finally get whats coming to you!" "H-hey!" Yuki furrowed her eyebrows, but the other priestess was already walking away. Catalina glanced back, "Message delivered." as she walked off with her head held high. "That's unbefitting of a priestess of Sune!" Yuki called after her, mumbling under her breath "Ugly old biddy!" She steps back into her room, waving her ribbon to dress to perfection. As she walks down the hall, she meets up with Axton who is dressed very formally.

She beamed at him, "Are you going to the chapel? ...not for disciplinary reasons?" He smiled at her, "Yes. I'm not sure why Alain has called me there." Yuki teased him, "You know there are no statues in the chapel..." He glanced over at her as they walked, "I'm sure we can find something for you to do." "Hey!" She whipped her ribbon at him, "You're so not nice! ...I'm supposed to be the woman you love." She looked at him uncertainly, "I-I am the woman you love... right?" He smiled at her, speaking almost too cheerfully, "Yes! Yes you are..." Her mouth dropped open, "That's not believable at all! You suck!" Axton laughed, "You're so easy to rile in the morning." "Well that's because... mmm nevermind... What do you think Alain wants?" "I think he's not happy about the current situation." Axton glanced over at her. She tilted her head, "Doesn't he want to thank us? Shouldn't we get like presents and stuff? I mean... you KNOW, right?" She gestured with her hands, bringing her two fingers together, raising her eyebrows at him suggestively, "Alain..." She leaned in quickly whispering, "What do you think he'll give us? ...for the rescue! We did so good! Do you think we'll get our own rooms? Like the nice ones reserved for the really cool priests? ... Wait! You have one already, don't you?! I KNEW IT! No one would confirm it, but I knew it!!" He glanced over at her again, "You have a perfectly fine room that you share with the other girls." She sighed, but then continued excitedly, "Do you think they'll give us rubies?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. She continued hopefully, "Sapphires? ...gems? ...our own personal seamstress!" Axton laughed, "You just keep dreaming, Yuki." "You're no fun at all..." she nudged him, but walked in with Axton into the chapel to smile up at Alain with a demure and downcast looking Helena at his side.

Yuki leaned over to Axton, whispering, "Demure and downcast isn't good, is it?" Alain looked up as they arrived, "Miss Ashdown..." Yuki brightened to her normal perky self, "High Priest Alain!" He continued, "and Mr. Axton... please step forward into the light of Sune." Yuki cheerfully walked up close to him, shimmering, and looking back and forth between Alain and Helena, beaming at them. Alain looked down at her, refraining from smiling at her expectant fluttering eyes, "So... what exactly happened last night with Miss Helena and the two of you?" Yuki smiled cheerfully, taking in a deep breath, "Well it all started when...!" Axton quickly shushed her with a gentle hand over her lips, "Apparently some forces of Talona decided to kidnap Helena last night..." as he explains, Yuki continues to try to interject, "But then! ...Oh but you forgot... And I... You're missing all of the colorful parts!"

Alain looked at the red-haired priest, "Axton you were supposed to have checked in two days ago... Miss Ashdown has been waiting for you... I assume she must have found you someplace?" Yuki nodded, "Yeah! It took me forever too! But I found him! and I brought him back! Like a good priestess ... of Sune!" She beamed and shimmered. Alain nodded, turning back to Axton, "We'll speak privately later about this... "investigation"... but I am happy that Helena has been returned to us safe and sound and I have no measure of thanks great enough to the both of you and your companions for bringing her back to us... although you might have come to find ME... first..." Yuki waved her hands as she spoke, "You were in very important meetings! We were very frightened and.... uh yeah...help me out here, Axton." Axton nodded, "We were just concerned about Helena... and we know how important she is to the temple." Alain nodded, "Yes, very important to the temple." He glanced over at Helena. Yuki nodded excitedly, "VERY important to the temple. Wow! And we rescued her! And brought her back safe to you - the...your temple of Sune." Alain nodded to her, "Yes. Thank you." She beamed, "You're very welcome!" He waved her forward and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, "Sune's blessing be upon you." Yuki chattered away happily to herself, "First kiss of the day... pretty handsome guy... and it's not like that guy gave me any kisses..." she shrugged and sighed happily. Axton turned to her, "That guy is standing right here... You really need to learn to not talk out loud. Keep that inside." Yuki blushed at him, "Oops! Soooo..." Alain nodded to her, "You're dismissed." Yuki looked up a little forlorn, "So no... presents... servants... room service... princess bed?" Alain raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled happily, "Right! I'm leaving now! Bye Axton!" She spun around to walk out of the chapel. Axton nodded to Alain, "You can debrief me later?" Alain nodded and Axton turned and walked out of the room next to Yuki. She teased him as they walked out the door, "I got a kiss! You didn't!" She stuck her tongue out at him. He leaned forward to kiss her but she dodged out of the way... "Are you dodging me? Do you not want a kiss?" "It's your fault! You didn't get me first." "I do know hold person you know..." "Hey I know that... oh... I didn't memorize that one today." Axton laughed, "That's too bad... Sune loves me better." "She does not! She has a personal room for me!" "That's because you die all the time!" She dodges him again, but he looks at her with a raised eyebrow, "I wasn't trying..." She sighs softly, "Prince Alain is really handsome, isn't he? Really high ranking too..." He spoke in monotone, "Really nice abs..." Yuki nodded dreamily and he grabbed her hand, "Come on." She followed, glancing over at him, "Aren't you just a little jealous?" He looked over at her, almost with a little warning as they walked, "Would you like to talk about him more?" "Mmm? No.. well.. yes... but no, that can wait." "To the supply closet!" "Noooo!" The closet door closes behind the two of them... a clatter of buckets and mops inside.

Erevin wakes in the embassy with a smooth, ebon-skinned arm draped over him, "Good morning." He smiled up at Shri, "Mmm good morning." "What plans do you have for today? I'm hoping you're free?" He nodded thoughtfully, "For the most part I am.. but I do have to script a letter and arrange for some kind of gift to be sent to Lady Vivian's estate." "How DID your evening go last night? I look forward to hearing about it... but you weren't very... talkative... last night." She grinned over at him. He grinned, "It was a busy night..." "Wasn't it?" She rolled him over and straddled his chest with sultry eyes, "So tell me about this Den of Sin you went to..." Erevin tells her the full story in excruciating details... "So you just left her there with this Baeliss?" Erevin nodded, "Yeah... In fact I gave him the drink that she wanted... that may be gift enough, I don't know." Shri nodded, "That could've gone well or ... not so well. You might have to see... I wonder who that gentleman is... It sounds... very interesting, the games these humans play." Erevin nodded up to her, "It is certainly odd..." "Mmm with the way you described it... I think you liked it a little bit, Mr. Pride..." "Well... with the right company..." "I wonder if I can get a mask... mmm but I would like to dance with you this evening." "You mean there? or somewhere else?" "Somewhere else... I doubt we could get me a mask on such short notice unless your lady Vivian really did have a great time... And Yuki enjoyed the experience?" "After I tossed her into the curtain? Yeah. Her and Axton are doing quite well... apparently he is her "boyfriend" now." "Ahh... Does he know that?" "I don't know... but I don't think it really matters." Shri nodded, "She is very determined." Erevin writes a letter to Vivian, thanking her for the mask and the evening and apologizing for his early departure... he got caught up in the tussle and had to see to someone's well-being. "Always the noble hero..." Shri leaned on him, reading over his shoulder. Erevin smiled, "So they keep telling me..." "Mmm... hero, hero, hero... and that thing you did last night... mmm very heroic" "No act is too great for my lady."

Wren wakes up listening to a familiar heartbeat beneath her pointed ear with her head on Kale's chest.. his arms wrapped comfortably over her. Something warm and wet, licking her fingers, and nibbling lightly... Wren giggled drowsily and then opened her eyes, jerking her hand back as she felt a quick sharp bite on her finger. Inali's fur stood up and she growled at Wren with glowing eyes and bolted out of the room! Wren blinked and shook her head, "What the hell is wrong with her?" Wren slipped into her little nightie lying by the bed and woke Kale, "Something is wrong with Inali... I'm going after her." He opened his eyes, "Mmm alright... hurry back." "I will." The sheet falls down to reveal his chiseled elven perfection and Wren sighed at him, "That's not fair... that's cheating!" He stretches his arms up and smiles at her. Wren covers her eyes and turns to the door, muttering "I'm not looking... Ugh, stupid fox!" She chases Inali through the elven embassy and then the little black fox dashes out the gates with Wren calling after her, "Inali! Stop!" She chases her through the city, Inali pausing for a moment to stare at her with glowing eyes until Wren gets close and then she dashes off again, leading her to a small boarded up and abandoned shop, "L's House of Illusion". Broken window, looks like a shop that was damaged during the undead invasion but not sure what happened to the proprietor... Inali slips between two boards and through the broken pane into the shop. Wren burns away a few of the boards, getting it loose enough to go in the door after her. Old curios in the shop. Early morning sun beams shine through the stirred up dust. Inali stops over by a closet door, Wren looking down at her, "What has gotten into you?!" The little fox runs in a couple of circles, stirring up dust until she sneezes, transforming to her fox-girls self to open the door and she dashes through costumes and racks inside the wardrobe until it starts to get foggy and they come out into a briar hedge maze. Inali beams at her, and speaks in a different woman's voice, "You came! You came! Wonderful! Splendid!" Wren nods to her uncertainly, assuming that somehow the goddess who grants her her power has led her here through her familiar... "I'm here... and you are?" "I think you know who I am... we do not say such things aloud for that would be speaking the truth." "So this is your little hidden place?" "It is A hidden place... I have many. I've hidden certain parts of myself to avoid certain ... unpleasantness...I'm sure you know the tale." "You could tell it to me... I don't know much about it." Leira spins her a tale about the magnificent goddess, lady of the mists, beloved by all the gods, and yet there were those who were jealous of her and sought to undermine her and the most evil god... Cyric ...Lord of lies sought to usurp this wondrous lady's powers with his sword, The Gods Bane... and so this wise and beautiful woman hid herself away so the evil wicked man could not find her. Wren smiled at her, "You're obviously a much better liar then." "However... to make this ruse complete, the wise lady lost the ability to influence the world and restore herself." "Alright... I assume that's why I'm here." "Certainly a young witch such as yourself wouldn't mind a kind and benevolent patron, one who could show her such secrets... and power... oh the rewards would be great... you just have to get to the end of the maze and find the key... the key of me." Wren raised a skeptical eyebrow, "That's ALL I have to do? Go to the end of the maze and find a key? ...such lies and deceit." "Of course, Miss Dreamspinner..." she smiles and sneezes. The black fox shook her head, looking around, "What am I doing here?" "Oh good! You're normal!" Wren picked her up and hugged her, "You got possessed for a little while." She patted her head. "Nuh uh... you played some kind of trick on me." "You think I slept you and carried you ... HERE?" "...maybe..." Wren laughed and looked at her knowingly, "I have better things to do in the morning than that." Inali rolled her eyes, "You know I have ears! and they're pretty darn sharp!... why don't you find me a nice boy fox." "A boy fox? You want a boy fox? You know Yuki was just talking about finding you a boyfriend..." "Doesn't she have to find herself a boyfriend first?" Wren laughed, "They have a very interesting relationship..." "Let's get out of here.. it's creepy." Wren nodded, "It IS creepy... but we've been called to help the goddess... be able to breathe into the world again... she wants us to go to the end of the maze and get a key..." A deep cry of a bull sounded in the distance... "Oh... that doesn't sound good." Wren looked at Inali.

A knock on Thorn's door, "Breakfast, sir. Sausages... fried in bacon grease just the way you like..." "Thank you! You can leave it there, I'll get it in a minute." He rolled over to smile at the maid in his bed who was getting up and slipping into her uniform. "Sausage before you run off?" "Oh, it wouldn't be proper for me to eat with... Oh!" she giggled and blushed at the double meaning, "Sir! The mrs will be upset with me if i don't have all of the linens clean by 9..." she leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I understand..." She saunters out of the room and he picks up his breakfast as he watches her walk down the hall. Eggs, sausages, cinnamon rolls all cooked to perfection... mouth wateringly delicious. He takes it in to enjoy it, knowing that this is all too good to last. As though on queue... a knocking is on his window. He picks up his dagger, Rose, and slinks over to the window. A bright macaw at the window, "Open up, Fucker!" It comes in with a wounded wing. Thorn tosses him some toast and it squawks at him, "Sausage! Give me your sausage, bitch!" Thorn whips a sausage link at it, "Well clearly you speak... you have some intelligence." "Smarter than you, fucker!" Thorn grits his teeth, "What can I help you with... pretty bird?" "Bad man. Hurt Mommy." "Who's your mommy?" "You aint my daddy!" "It's too early for this, bird..." "My owner. Wavecrest." Recognition crosses Thorn's face of the foul-mouthed bird at Seri Wavecrest's shop in the city, "Who hurt her? Can you take me there?" "Bad man. All dark... mark." The Black Mark... Thorn winces and quickly gets dressed, eating his breakfast on the way, the bird riding his shoulder... At the shop, things are overturned and wrecked, cases broken, spatters of blood... as he searches for any clues, he finds... hidden in the back... a green mask in a box. He takes it with him and retrieves Mr. Piddles who has grown a little pudgier in the luxury of the Vastel estate. "What an ugly dog!" the parrot called from his shoulder. "Shh! He's sensitive about his appearance." "I would be too." The bird squawked. Mr. Piddles helps him track Seri by scent out onto the docks where a ship is docked with a burly looking man guarding the gangplank.

Posy wakes up a large leg draped over her. Uther gets up and opens the window. The season has turned to winter, there is no snow here, but it's cooler and rainy. Uther turns around and smiles at her, "From what I reckon it's been about a year since you came out of the woods here to Lyrabar." She nodded, pondering it, "That's a long time..." He smiled, "Are you citified yet?" She laughed and shook her head, "Nope." "Good." He throws on some clothes, "Got any plans today?" "Just gonna wing it... til the others come to get us ... might as well enjoy the day while we can." "You're not just the muscle..." She nodded to him, "We both are." He laughs, "So you want some breakfast? Wanna go out and hunt it down?" She nods, "That sounds fun... why don't you see if your dad wants to go... he's been held up here for a while." Uther gathers Uthgart and a few barbarian warriors. Thorn walks in the bar with Mr. Piddles and the parrot. The macaw squawks on his shoulder, "Who's your friend? She's a cutie!" Thorn shakes his head, "Don't let him fool you... he's a bastard." Thorn talks Posy and Uther into taking Mr. Piddles hunting with them, but the bird promises to be quiet to go with him. He warns Posy that he's going to rescue a friend on a ship and to make sure he comes back. They agree to go looking for him if he's not back when they get back from hunting breakfast. Thorn nods his thanks, "Happy hunting..." Uther glances down at Posy, smiling, "Oh... it will be." She looks up at him, "Your dad is coming too, you know." "Eh, he's half blind..."

Axton takes Yuki out in the garden as she whines and cries, "So tired! No more cleaning! My hands! They're shaking!" He laughs, "No more cleaning..." "Woohoo!" "Though your feigned hand wringing there did not factor into that." "Oh but I was good though, right? Believable?" He shrugs and nods, "It was pretty good... walk with me." He offers her his arm and surprised, she looks around but they appear to be alone... she takes his arm and he leads behind the shed. He puts his hand on the shed beside her and leans in... She blinks at him, "Close... a little close...ser." He smiles, "I've been looking forward to getting you alone all morning..." "You could've fooled me!" "I am a spy... we're good actors, you know." "I knew it!" she glanced around, "And no one is here to hear it...I'll have witnesses soon!" "I'm sure Sune knows." "Ahh that was clever!" she laughed. "I wanted to ask you something... but first..." he leans in quickly and kisses her lips, "Ha! Not quick enough, Miss Ashdown." "Oh! You want to make it a competition now do you?!" He laughed, "Actually I just wanted to ask you to the Solstice Ball coming up..." "With dresses? and dancing?" She blinked at him. "Yes... dresses... dancing... and moonlight." She babbles on and on about how he must be just kidding her, that something will happen...and she'll never get to dance with him... "Well you didn't feint when I kissed you that time... I must be losing my touch... perhaps I should try again." "N-no..." but before she could protest much, his lips were on hers and she was melting...into him. "Would you accompany me to the ball? I promise to stay at your side all evening." "You're not going to be doing some spy thing are you? I'm not going to just be your cover or something... am I?" He smiles and leans in closer, "You're my... girlfriend." She beamed, "R...Really? You need to tell other people that because no one believes me!" He tells her it's a date and she looks him over skeptically, "A date date? where we go out and other people see us together and we hold hands date? ...what's the catch?" He laughed, "there's no catch." "You're not planning on leaving the temple are you?" "Just for the ball." "You're not plotting stuff are you?" "That's a bit vague... I 'am' plotting stuff... but no, I don't think Alain has much of a leg to stand on with his relationship to Helena and what the temple in waterdeep doesn't know wont hurt us..." "Alright! I'm game! Now that I know you don't have any plan whatsoever..." "Of leaving the temple. ...But I do have a plan..." He offers her his arm. "Do you? I bet mine is better!" She takes his offered arm. He smiled at her, "What's yours?" "I'm going to start a new order... an order for Sunite priest and priestess lovers!" "Oh..." He turns to her with a smile, "Can I be your first convert?" "Oh yeah!" She flashes him a pleased smile. He walks her out, and politely disengages from her with other priests and priestesses around. "You're not going to go all sadistic on me now are you?" she whispered to him. "Well we have to keep up appearances..." he whispered back. "but...but... sadistic...mentor...is SO MEAN....!" she whines in whispers.

A deep masculine voice comes from behind them, "Lady Arabelle... it IS you!" His hands grasp Yuki, spinning her around and, pulling her into his arms, her kissed her fervently! "Wha...What?!" Stunned, Yuki blushes brilliantly! His amazing kiss filling her with such passion and love...she finds herself melting in his strong arms. "Ahem!" Axton clears his throat next to them. Yuki looks up into the face of the very handsome elven man who embraced her. He is wearing the finest and most ornate elven armor... looking very formal, like Erevin...like a Prince. He cups her face gently and strokes her hair, "It 'is' you..." Yuki stared up at him, starstruck and murmurs breathlessly, "I...I'm anybody you want me to be Mister..." "Oh Arabelle... How I've missed you..." He embraces her warmly in his arms. Axton clears his throat, "Umm Yuki... would you perhaps like to 'introduce' me to your... 'friend'?" She glances back to see Axton's eyes that have the fervor of a thousand scrub brushes and she blinks back to reality, trying to disentangle herself from the strikingly handsome elven man's strong arms, she murmurs softly, obviously still reeling, "Uh, um....uh sir... that was... whoa... probably the ..." He smiles warmly at her, "It's impossible! You haven't changed at all. Still as beautiful as always.." "Th...thank you..." Yuki blushes, "I... I mean I don't think I'm who you want me to be... while that..." "Don't you recognize me? It's me... Tyrian." "Tyr..rian...? Tyrian!" Yuki gasps as she recognizes his name as the one murmured by the exhausted priestess atop the snowy mountaintop. The one Sune had sent her to help against hte black dragon...mourning her comrades...fighting fiercely on...alone. "You're TYRIAN! Axton!" She turns excitedly to her lover, "I..It's 'Tyrian'!" Axton looks at her, "ohh kay..." She looks at the elven man with awe, "You're Tyrian... You're alive! ...you... died." Tyrian took her hand, "No, my love..." "I...I don't think...I'm your love..." "You're wearing the shawl that I gave you." "This was my dad's ... and he's not a cross-dressing pervert really! but... maybe we should go somewhere more quiet..." "Yes, quiet and dark." Axton nods. Yuki slugs his arm and leads them off to a quiet alcove.

"Tyrian... I...I'm Yuki Ashdown. I know I look like Arabelle Valentine..." "You look JUST like her." "I'm not really...her...but I...I think I know...how she felt. Well it's complicated... you see that guy over there? He is my first ever boyfriend... and he kissed me... and when he did... I fainted.... Well really...Sune took me out of my body..." "He 'kissed' you?" Tyrian's hand moves down to the sword at his waist. Yuki reached out and placed her hands gently on his sword hand, "I...I'm...'Yuki'." Axton and Tyrian stare at each other with competitive anger. Yuki glanced back and forth between the two men and wrung her hands, "N-noooo...This is why I'm only allowed to clean stuff..." Yuki sighed, "Right.. um..." Tyrian turns back to her, "You are Arabelle... We met in Evermeet. Don't you remember?" "But," Yuki shook her head, "That would have been a 100 years ago, right? I...I'm human..." her hand drifted absently to her round ear, tucking a lock of hair behind it, "I would look old. We don't live very long...Humans..." "You look fine to me, my love." Yuki blushed and giggled, "Th...Thank you... I...I mean um..." "I remember you disappeared... I've been searching for you for 100 years." "Y..You have? That's... so romantic...!" "You even have your ribbon..." "R...ribbon? Arabelle's?" Yuki glanced down at the ribbon wrapped around her waist and frowned, "B...but...I...I was given this by the High Priestess in Waterdeep when I graduated a couple of years ago... I'm only 17... and a little bit... but I look older than that, right? I mean NOT 100 years older... but anyway... he, Axton..er...kissed me... there was this vision... and I was fighting a big black dragon inside...your Miss Valentine." "Oh..." Tyrian nodded a little sadly. "Does this sound familiar to you?" "Yes... that was the last time that I saw her... The great battle with The Harbinger." "What? What did you just say?" "The Harbinger of Shar." "N-no... That's not the Harbinger.... The Harbinger of Shar is a friend of mine. He's a nice man. He's not 100 years old either." "Are you sure you're alright? I think perhaps you hit your head?" "Well I 'have' hit my head and I've even died a couple times before... but that's neither here nor there! What's more important...is... I fought inside your... lover...though I do not believe she was aware of me...I could feel...what she felt. She used my power to defeat the dragon." "Yes..." Tyrian sighed quietly and shook his head, "I was gravely wounded that day... When I crawled up to the summit of the snow mountain.... I found nothing but a giant black stain on the earth and this..." He held out a golden locket then placed it gently into Yuki's hands. Inside was little ruby heart and coming from it was a sweet and haunting melody. A rush of impressions flit through her mind of a woman that looks just like herself on an island of elves... A romantic ball... dancing with this handsome elf, a prince... the son of the Queen of Evermeet. "That's you?" she looked at the locket in her hands and back up to Tyrian. He smiled with a nod, "I gave you that locket when we first fell in love." "First...fell in..." She looked down again at the locket in her hands, "I...Is this some sort of elven magic that lets this locket recall memories of the past? ...When I opened it, it's like it captured all of the memories of that moment for her... That's so romantic." He shakes his head, "No... it just plays music... You're starting to remember?" "Wh...at? ...What?! ...WHAT?!" Yuki handed him back the locket, horribly confused, "I...I don't understand this... Axton? I...I don't understand this." "I don't understand it either... I've never seen this elf before in my life." Axton shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "And I don't like him..." Yuki shook her head, "I don't understand... M...Maybe we should talk to Alain." Tyrian looked at her curiously, "He is your high priest?" She nodded and added...gently, apologetically, "Because I...I don't... know you...Tyrian..." Tyrian looks crest fallen... Yuki quickly took his hand, "No, no... But I KNOW she loved you very much!" "And I love her..." "I was inside her when she fought ...the Harbinger? of Shar..." "That's how we knew him, yes..." "Did he always look like a dragon?" "No... he was able to take human form as well... smug bastard." Yuki describes the Harbinger she knows..."and he has this great way of smiling like he always has all of the secrets of the world in his back pocket... well he probably does have all of the secrets in his back pocket..." "That's him." Tyrian nodded, "Bastard." Yuki's eyes widen at the vehemence in the elven man's voice, "Mr Harbinger was a black dragon... how...can that be...? I'm confused." She sends a runner to the elven embassy to get him a place to stay and goes off to see Alain.

Erevin receives a card in reply from Lady Vivian, a light smell of perfume wafting off of it... "Apology accepted, you devil!" Annaisuru pays him a visit, complaining about another Lyrabarian winter, "Wet, wet wet... every morning the smell of rain and cold." He tells her that we're doing some research and still trying to save her life... "I hardly need sparring, little brother... I seem to recall that last time we sparred, I kicked your butt." Erevin smiles at her, "That was some time ago..." She returns his smile, "Care to try again?" "Try?" Erevin pulls his sword free of his sheath, "There is only do." The two of them break into a sparring competition throughout the elven embassy, blades ringing against each other! Pages leaping out of the way as the two of them move from room to room! Anna is fast and strong with her two-handed swings... and is surprised by how well Erevin keeps up with her, and then he pulls his second blade, raining more blows upon her! Annaisuru smiles, "You've gotten a lot better, little brother." "I'm forced to improve, " Erevin countered, still swinging blades with her, "so that when we spar, you improve... hopefully saving your life in the near future." Erevin glows with pride feeling that his skill really has improved... she has always been substantially better but now he can... almost... match her skill. They two of them continued to spar for quite some time with Kale eventually wandering in, dodging between them as they continued to fight around him, like he was just another obstacle in the room... between strikes and dodges, Kale looked back and forth between them, "Have either of you seen Wren? She went chasing after Inali awhile ago, and never came back." "Haven't seen her all morning, no..." Erevin shook his head at Kale, keeping his eyes on Anna as he parried her strikes. "God d..." Kale paused, taking in a deep breath and sighed it out heavily, "I can't take my eye off of her for a MINUTE!" Erevin struck back Anna, "I didn't think you ever did..." Kale sighed softly, "She escapes sometimes... I swear." "Well you know what they say..." Erevin dodged and parried, moving around Kale as he battled with his sister, "If it runs away... and doesn't come back..." Kale and Erevin spoke in unison, "You hunt it down!" A broad smile crossed Erevin's face as he nodded to Kale, "It's good to know that Eltrue hasn't lost his sense of humor." Blades continued to clang together as Erevin and Anna kept up their battle. Kale smiled and nodded, "Well I better go and find her..." Despite his enticing reasons for Wren to come back quickly this morning, she hadn't returned... he figured it could really only mean one thing... "Somehow I think she's gotten herself into trouble." "Alright," Erevin nodded as he struck out at Anna, "Need help?" He managing to land a light blow against her, and as she parried Erevin's second strike, she called out accusingly, "Ow!" He grinned, "Ha!" Kale shook his head, "Nah, I should be okay." He started to back out of their sparring dance, as Erevin nodded, "Alright... shield if you would!" and Kale turned so that his shield blocked Anna's fierce incoming blow. Erevin nodded to him, backing Anna up with his strikes, "Thank you." Shri, standing in the doorway watching the the last couple of minutes, walked the rest of the way into the room, "I think you should go with him." Hearing her voice, Erevin turned to look at her, distracted into a much longer look than intended. Anna seized her moment, striking his chest to slice him open, "Aughh! God Anna!" "You take all of the advantages that you can," she grinned. He placed his hand over the wound, bringing it back off to see blood smears and turned to look back up at Shri, "My love... my heart bleeds for you." Shri smiled and whispered a prayer over him, healing his wounds. Anna flashed him a wide smile, "That was a nice pair of distractions..." Erevin nodded to her, "You noticed..." Anna laughed, "No... you noticed... I took advantage." He laughed, sheathing his blades, "Very well... let me pack a few things, Kale, and I'll go with you." Anna sheathed her weapon as well, nodding that she clearly won.

Erevin and Shri walk with Kale searching for Wren, asking a couple of people as they go, "Anyone seen a crazy woman go by chasing after a black fox? Wearing black cat slippers?" One of the people on the street nodded to them, "Oh! Wearing practically nothing! Yeah, yeah... she came by! I think she was a looter!! She was prying off the boards from that shop over there! Then she kicked the door in and went inside... I never seen her come out." They looked at the boarded-up abandoned shop, L's House of Illusion, and Erevin looked at Kale confused, "Did she have a reason to come here?" Kale shook his head, "She's not really a looter... Maybe Inali ran in there and she chased her?" "Why would Inali come all this way?" Kale shook his head, "Maybe she made some bad tea? I'm... not really sure." He walked up and looked inside, seeing the trails of dust of Wren's footprints and little fox tracks mixed with the smaller bare footprints of her fox girl form by the wardrobe. Erevin shook his head, "I have a bad feeling about this... I'll take point. You watch my back." He took out his bow, walking into the wardrobe, Shri and Kale following.

Wren is inside with a foggy passageway blurring the way back as she stood within a razor-sharp hedge maze, "Well Inali... you've certainly roped me into a mess this morning." The little fox protested, "I didn't do it. It wasn't me! Lies and deceit!" Wren laughed and rubbed her little fox head, walking slowly through the maze... the smell of some kind of animal growing stronger, "It was still your body." "This wouldn't have happened if I'd only had a boy fox boyfriend... I'd be waking up with him instead of having to listen to you two..." Wren laughed and shook her head, looking for something to drop to tell which way they went... she shrugged and tore little pieces of her nightie, dropping them as they walked. Inali looked down at the pieces drifting about behind them and flicked her ears, unconvinced that was going to work. As they round the corner... they see a big Minotaur ahead, sniffing about him... his big cow tongue comes out to lick the air as he lowers his head. Wren swallows and whispers to Inali, "That does not look like the lady of the mist..." Inali patted Wren's shoulder with her paw. His head lowered slightly, axe out, he started walking toward her. "He doesn't look like he's coming over to make friends..." She casts her vanishing invisibility spell, obscuring her and Inali from view... stepping very carefully as he sniffed the air, confused. He roared with a bull-like call and in the distance she could hear more calls echoing him. Wren's shoulders sank, //Oh crap... we're in so much trouble.// She lifted in flight just above the hedges into the fog... seeing paths lead to a circle ahead all cleared out. As she moves in slowly, she sees about a dozen minotaurs about the maze. 2 stand in the circle, guarding a pedestal with a key that appears to be made of mist. The two of them turn to look at her and she realizes that she's visible.... a soft laugh and a whisper comes from the mist of the key, "In the center there are no lies or deceit." The two minotaurs raise their axes and rush her!

Thorn returns to the dock to see the burly man kicking away the gangplank, "Hoist the sails!" He dives into the sea and swims up to the anchor to climb the chain as they start drawing the anchor up to the deck. He quickly downs his potion of invisibility and comes on to the deck to see the "sailors" prepping the ship to leave... but the look in their eyes is cold and dark and they move with too much finesse. He leaps down to bags of rice, sneaking in the lower decks, finding a room full of dark hooded assassins sparring... a few sitting around a table playing games, "It's about time we're getting the hell out of here! That pussy is never coming back. I don't know why we've been wasting our time these last couple of months... that punk bitch. I can't wait to get back to Raven's Bluff! Too many god damn independents in this city!" Thorn sets up a partial candle for a timer in the cargo area and watches a few of them throwing knives at a halfling sized outline on the wall, cursing Thorn and his group for killing Fritz and George, etc. "At least we got his girlfriend..." Wanting so badly to mess with them, but knowing he was on borrowed time with his potion... Thorn manages to slide by unnoticed and heads up to the captain's quarters. He walks along the slippery outskirts to peek into the window of the captain's quarters only to be eye to eye with the captain inside! Adrenaline shoots through Thorn as he auto reacts to duck back out of the way, but catches himself, remembering he's still invisible. He recognizes the man inside looking out through him at the water and landscapes passing by the ship... Marco, the "nobleman" he'd seen at the Vastel estate, long ago with Azarius. Thorn hears commotion behind him and smells smoke from his candle below. Marco leaves the window and Thorn slowly pries the window open to slide himself into the room... a nice mahogany walled room... a footlocker sits on the floor by the foot of the bed, a struggling voice inside it. Restraining himself greatly from looting the room, he goes to the footlocker and picks the lock. A furious bound and gagged halfling woman laying on top of a pile of gold. Thorn whispers to her, still invisible, "Seri... it's me. I've come to rescue you. The ship has left... I hope you can swim!" He gets her binds off... and the two of them throw gold into their packs! "Of course I can swim!" The young pirate dressed woman looked almost offended. Marco comes in to the room, "What do we have here? I knew paying that wizard for that alarm spell on the footlocker would be worth it in the end..." Thorn whispers to Seri, nudging her protectively behind him, "Go for the window, I'll handle him." He stays real quiet, using his invisibility to hopefully catch Marco unaware of his presence. Marco eyes the halfling woman, "You're better than I thought, Miss Wavecrest... I thought you were bound quite securely. You're practically a magician... I would expect no less from one of the masks." She puts her hands on her hips, haughtily, "You better not make any more trouble then... or we'll make your life a living hell!" Thorn whispered quietly beside her, "Seri... Window. Go!" Marco walked toward her, "Oh will you now?" Thorn circled around to flank him as he walked. "Apparently your Mr. Thorn didn't think much of you after all, leaving you to our tender mercies... not surprising, the little coward." Thorn was furious behind him, barely resisting stabbing him in the back. Marco continued, "I heard he had a little dog... Mr Piddles... who was the master and who was the mount?" Thorn was white knuckled holding his daggers, waiting for Seri to get out to safety. She moved to have her back to the window, "He might surprise you... he's pretty resourceful." Marco laughed, "The smartest thing he ever did was keep his cowardly ass out of our city!" Seri dove out of the window into the sea below as Thorn rushed forward to stab Marco in the back repeatedly, "Die!"

Posy and her burly group of barbarians walk through the woods, snapping twigs and trudging through mud. There's a thick smell of wet leaves and the air is cool. Uther looks up at Uthgart, "Posy and I will bring back the largest deer!" Uther laughs, "You're 20 years too young to make such a boast, boy! I know you just want to get this one off in the forest and do a little different type of hunting..." Uther pulls Posy with him on the scent of a deer, running low to the ground. Limbs that are one simple bound for Uther, Posy has to climb... and Uther is fast, but she works hard and manages to keep up. She throws her axe at the buck ahead, decapitating it in one hit, dropping the body to the ground. As they approach the deer, a scaled head comes out of the water and snatches up the fresh kill! "Hey! That was my kill!" Posy watches one head after another pop out of the water and she leaps in to the pond after it!

Alain speaks with Yuki about Prince Tyrian... She explains it to him a few times, but he still looks confused as she talks about being the other priestess in her vision and that Tyrian believes she 'is' that other priestess... "While he's very...er...'persuasive'..." Yuki blushes brilliantly, "I...I don't think it's true... I'm just Yuki..." she shakes her head. Axton shakes his head beside her, "I don't think there's anything 'just' about you, Yuki..." "Aww!" she smiles over at him. "...Axton..." Alain looks back and forth at both of them, "I don't understand any of this... but if it's alright with you, I will seek Sune's guidance. Follow me." He escorts Yuki to his inner chamber. He has her sit in the beautiful statue of Sune and lights rose candles all around her. Alain chants near her, beseeching Sune for her wisdom. Yuki doses off.. hearing "Wake up! Wake up!" as she opens her eyes to Tyrian gently tapping her cheek on top of the snowy mountain, he's bleeding. She starts to heal him as he continues to nudge her up, "Get up... Don't waste time on me... You have to get away." She looks at him confused and then hears the roar and sees a looming shadow dragon coming closer! Her eyes widened, "N...Not again! I killed it already!" Tyrian stands up, drawing his blade and Yuki stood up behind him, healing him.

All of our companions battle in various places at the same time!!!

Posy slices through the scales of the hydra from beneath the water, spilling black blood into the pond and grabbing hold of a bit of his guts... The multiple heads of the hydra all dive under the water biting her rapidly! She tries to shove it's own guys into it's mouth to bite, but it grabs her arm with one head and her leg with another... all of the heads fighting over tearing her apart! Uther stands on the shoreline watching the chaos of splashing water as the hydra's heads dive in! He can't even see Posy!

Thoughts run through the elven witch's head, //I'm in so much trouble... if i survive long enough, Kale is so going to kill me...// Wren backs up slowly as the two minotaurs advance with the axes, "I was invited here by the Lady of the Mist..." she starts fading between reality and the ethereal world. The minotaurs continue to advance, "There can only be one lord of lies... and that is Cyric." She pauses her steps to hold her ground, "Not for long." "Die witch!" one of the minotaurs strikes out with his axe as he charges her, and Wren screams! but she fades at just the opportune moment... his axe passing through her. Wren breathes out as she realizes she didn't feel the pain she was anticipating.

The black dragon advances quickly, speaking a little raspy but with a voice that sounds startlingly like Harbinger's, "Die, Prince of Evermeet! Join so many of your people in death! The time of the elves is passed." He sucks in a deep inhalation of breath! Yuki whips out her ribbon and waves it around her and Tyrian, "Heart, Power, Make-up... Shield of Sune!" It forms a pink globe around them in time to see utter and complete blackness come out of the dragon's mouth... left as a single, tiny, pink light within the consuming blackness! "Mr Harbinger! Get ahold of yourself! Th...Thiis isn't like you at all! We're supposed to be friends! That isn't something that friends do!"

Kale, Shri, and Erevin move through the razor-sharp hedge maze and ahead in the distance they hear a woman scream... Kale looks at Erevin, "I know that scream." They look around, seeing several minotaurs in the area, but they are all looking toward the scream... Erevin nods to Kale, "You go. Get to her as fast as you can... I'll try to pull some of them away toward me." Kale nods to him and bursts into a run, cutting corners, the sharp hedge tearing at his skin, until he arrives to step in front of Wren, between her and the minotaur! Wren beamed in surprise as he pushed her behind him, "Kale! You're here! My hero!" He drew his blade and shield, talking to her over his shoulder, "How did I just know you were in trouble?" Erevin raises his bow and steps over to fire 3 arrows into one of the minotaurs, piercing it in the back as it stared off in the direction of the scream.

Hearing a splash into the sea below, assuring him that Seri was out and safe, Thorn charged forward with a burst of speed from his boots to stab with fury into Marco's back! 3 piercing wounds that should have shredded his insides, but Marco turned with his uncanny rogue reflexes, avoiding the vital death blows... but he's still surprised, whirling around, "What the hell?" seeing Thorn behind him, "So you did come back... you've got some little halfling balls after all." "Oh I have some big halfling balls! Wanna see?" Thorn looked at him fiercely, a dagger in each hand. Marco looked up at the immense shadow of a man in the doorway, "We're gonna have some fun, aren't we?" Thorn scoffed, "Really? You need backup? Now who's the coward?" "The coward is he who lives to tell the story of who the coward was..." Marco laughed. "You always were a son of a bitch, weren't you?" Thorn growled at him.

Posy, unable to breathe as the hydra heads continue to hold her underwater fighting over her! She pulls on the guts from it's wound, as she struggles to get away... the hydra's wound starts to close and heal on it's own. Crap!

Wren stands behind Kale, putting her hand up over his shoulder, and casts forth a lightning bolt into the minotaur, vaporizing him! The second one in the circle already on it's way over, charges into Kale with his axe, but Kale raises his shield, blocking the strike! Down the hedgeline, the minotaur with the arrows in it charges toward Erevin, but Shri intercedes as she dances lively with two small blades, slicing into it's abdomen! It brings down it's axe hard, but she dodges out of the way! Half of the minotaurs turn toward Erevin and Shri while the other half starts to move toward Wren and Kale.

Marco steps behind the enormous man as he lumbers toward Thorn, "Soften him up a little... I'll finish him... to make it look good for the men." "Pussy!" Thorn yelled at Marco as he backed up a step from the warrior. The large armored man swung a large sharp sword, but Thorn dodged out of the way in time for it to cut straight through the mahogany table in the room! Marco yelled from behind him, "I said to get HIM! Not my table, you idiot!" Thorn glanced at the broken halves of the table on the floor, "That was a nice table... What kind of people do you hire here?"

A black claw comes through the pink domed shield, stopping her ribbon and grabbing onto Yuki, bringing her up to his face as she demanded, "Mr Harbinger! Put me down!" His raspy voice reverberated over her, "Blessed of Sune, Miss Valentine... are we still... 'friends'?" Yuki looked at him confused, "What..." she shook her hands in the air her voice growing louder, "What?! ... WHAT?! You mean this has happened before?! We're supposed to be friends! You said you'd be my friend... Forever! That you'd ALWAYS been my friend..." The enormous shadowy black dragon smirked, his purple eyes almost laughing, "I ALWAYS say that I'll be your friend... and you ALWAYS believe it!" "What?!" Yuki stared disbelievingly up at him. He chomped down on her with his big fangs, the mantle on her shoulders protecting her slightly as he smashed into her!

Seeing Shri holding back the minotaur and handling herself well, Erevin launched 3 more arrows... piercing one above her head into the minotaur's chest and two more into the next one approaching. Shri took advantage of the arrow opening up the minotaur and slid under it in a move that made Erevin wince as she sliced away it's manliness to drop it to the ground!

The thick-armored warrior yanked his sword out of the table and lumbered again toward Thorn,"Mongo smash!" The agile halfling throws out his last bit of flash powder against the warrior's helmet! Mongo brought both of his hands up to his face roaring out, "Aughh! Can't See!" but Marco managed to throw up his arms and close his eyes, blocking most of the bright light from the flash!

Yuki, realizing she is stronger as Arabelle, she throws out a powerfully bright searing light, "LIES and DECEIT! ...as my VERY good friend would say!" spearing light delves into Harbinger's mouth, spilling out between his teeth! In pain, he rears his arm back and launches her up into the mountain, her blood splashing on the precipice behind her! Leaving her still alive, but knowing he would be coming for her!

For a brief moment, one of the hydras heads whips out of the water, victoriously clutching Posy and as Uther calls out from the shoreline, "POSY!" the head swallows her whole! Holding her breath, she ignites her ring of righteous fury, exploding out a wave of flames within the hydra! BOOM! Posy is flying through the air among fried hydra chunks, "Hey Pops! Come see what WE got!" Uther takes a few steps back, carefully judging, and leaps up to catch Posy into his arms! Smoldering and hot to the touch, he holds her close as he tumbles to the ground, keeping her safe and she rewards him with a big kiss on his lips and a winning smile as hydra chunks continue to fall romantically around them. Posy grabs one of the heads, bringing it up by Uther and makes it's mouth move as she makes little noises like it's talking!

Wren spins around as she feels hot breath behind her, and puts her back to Kale as three minotaurs parade up behind her through the narrow hedge maze. Raising both hands up to cast out a powerful lightning bolt, she shoots through all three, dropping two of them! The third continues to charge her, smoldering! It slices into Wren, catching her in phase, and blood drips from her outstretched arms! Around the corner, the other two minotaurs charge toward Erevin and Shri, but with the narrow hedge... only one can get to her and it slices her deep with it's axe! (The other has to wait in line... damn queues! LOL!!)

Marco, frustrated with his less than intelligent guard, moves in on Thorn, "If you want something done right... you have to do it yourself!" He pulls out a pair of thin stilettos and slices into Thorn, though he is met with the cunning and uncanny reflexes of the halfling rogue, only able to nick him where it should have been a vital blow!

Erevin releases three more arrows into the minotaur, piercing deeply in him after they fly over Shri's head as she dances and weaves with her daggers, slicing it's knee and then pirouetting up to come down, again slicing off this one's manhood! Erevin winces, "Such a hateful woman..." and the minotaur falls to the ground!

Mongo shakes his head, clearing the last of the blindness brought on by the flash powder... and Thorn knew he was facing an outnumbered, no-win situation... He tossed Rose, his dagger, out through the window, feigning a miss, "Oops!" "Looks like this is it for you, Thorn..." Marco advanced slowly. "Well that only leaves me one last thing to do..." Thorn shrugged. "Be a mounted head on my wall?" Marco smirked. "Nope... this isn't finished!" Thorn growled at him and activated his dagger to port him into the sea! Marco's voice came angrily screaming from above, "What the fuck?!" Thorn and Seri swim to the shore as the Black Mark ship continues out to sea, Marco shaking his fists in the air.

Finishing off the minotaurs in the hedge maze, Shri heals us with her prayers to Eilistraee. Wren smiled up at Kale, who put his cloak around her, noticing how little was left of her torn and sheer nightdress, and she thanked all of them for coming. Erevin turns to her, "Where are we and why are you here?" She explains briefly her discovered source of power comes from a human goddess who was believed to be dead, The Lady of the Mists... killed by Cyric to take her power... but she had hidden herself away in pieces in the world to protect herself... and she has asked Wren to help her reattain her power. Erevin tilts his head, "So.. this could potentially take power away from Cyric?" Shri nods, "Only one god or goddess has the right to a title." Erevin nods, "Then I'm all for it." Wren nods, glancing to Kale as she picked up the fog-like key. The mist swirled around everyone and we tumble out of the wardrobe back into abandoned illusion shop.

Yuki prays on top of the mountain, begging Sune for help...for a miracle... knowing that the dragon was tearing Tyrian to pieces below... The same vision she had before now plays out before her, with her in control, as Yuki...not Arabelle. Sune's power rushing out through her, falling to the ground as the world seems swallowed in a pink glow around her...as falls... She wakes up, still surrounded by the now much lower rose scented candles... The sun no longer shining through the windows... It must be late afternoon. A whisper comes to her ear in Harbinger's sweet, soft voice, "Are we 'still' friends?" Yuki wails, suddenly crying inconsolably! Axton rushes to her side, pulling her into his arms, "Are you alright? What happened?" "Th...The same! Only I was Yuki as Arabelle... first person... instead of third... I...I don't understand what's going on! It...It d...doesn't make any sense to me!" She cried on his shoulder. Axton rubbed his hand comfortingly over her back, still holding her close, "I think we should get to Waterdeep soon..." He murmured, gently against her ear, "...Only the high priestess who gave you the ribbon would know the story." Axton swept her up into his arms, princess style, holding her close, consoling her as best as he could as Alain wakes from his trance. All he hears is Yuki crying...murmuring over and over... "I don't understand! Mr Harbinger... We...We're friends." Confused and heart broken she just hides her face against Axton's shoulder and sobs as he carries her to her room. Amynta gasps, bringing her hands up over her mouth as she watches Axton bring in Yuki and try to lay her on her bed As he begins to pull away, her hold tightens, so he sits, comfortably stretched out on her bed, his back against the headboard and holds her tightly as she cries.

Thorn and Seri wring out their clothes and she nods up to him, "Suffice it to say, from now on... you'll be getting a big discount." He smiled at her, "I'm just happy that you're alright. ...You can thank your bird there... as much of a prick as he is... he did help me find you." The parrot squawked from Thorn's shoulder, "Can I talk now, dick?" "Aww! You poor thing!" She took the parrot onto her arm, looking over his wounded wing. He squawked at her, ruffling his feathers, "I was so worried. I'm a pretty boy." Seri looked up at Thorn, "Do you know any clerics?" Thorn nodded to her, "I know a few..." "We should take Polly to get him healed..." she petted the parrot's head, seemingly not noticing the gash in Thorn's side. "Great..." he shook his head. "Oh! I don't know if you've heard about it yet... but there's a solstice ball coming up..." She smiled a little hopefully. "Let's get you and Polly fixed up first.... why did they take you?" "I guess they figured out that I was your fence... I was just able to get the window open, hoping that Polly could find you... staying at the Vastel estate huh? That must be pretty nice... I still have that necklace by the way." "What necklace? I know nothing about it." "Oh that's right..." He walked with her to the Temple of Sune where they all got healed. Seri continues to hint that she'd sure like to go to the ball... and Carus Vastel also tells Thorn about the solstice ball upon his return and tells him that he is invited.

Posy and the barbarians set up a little camp around the lake, eating spicy fried hydra chunks for breakfast... Uthgart putting up a little argument about how big the kill was since all of the chunks are hard to put together for sizing... Posy glances at him, "It ate me, you ass!" "I could eat you! You're tiny!" Uthgart countered, "Hell even my son could eat you! ...wait." He frowned. Uther tells the grand story of how they hydra swallowed her whole and she blew it apart from the inside as they sat around eating.

The elves return to the embassy... as we walk into the room, Annaisuru is down on one knee, "It is such an honor to have you stay here at the embassy, Prince Tyrian." With the title and being down on one knee... Erevin and the others can only assume that this is the prince of Evermeet. Anna stands and introduces her younger brother and the others to Tyrian who is dressed in a high elf style, wearing symbols of Evermeet. All of us bowing and paying due respect. Tyrian clasps hands with Erevin, "I've heard great tales of your exploits from the city." Erevin clasps his hand, "Greatly exaggerated, I'm sure... We didn't know you were coming... we could have arranged a proper greeting." Tyrian smiles, "I didn't send any warning ahead... I heard suddenly the news from my distant land that a long lost love had returned." "Oh! Good for you then!" Erevin nodded. "It is not as easy as that... apparently she has lost her memory." Tyrian frowned. "Ahh... matters of the heart are never simple my lord... who is the lucky lady?" "Her name is Arabelle Valentine... she seems to call herself Yuki." Erevin blinked at him, "Not... Yuki Ashdown... of the temple of Sune?" "Yes. She is still a priestess there." Erevin nods, "She is a close friend of mine." "Really? You must tell me all about her." Erevin nods, "She is worth all your effort." "Come. Let's talk." Tyrian puts an arm around Erevin. Anna nods, "And you've come at a good time, my prince, there is a Solstice ball." Erevin lays out to Tyrian the way he sees the Axton situation... briefly talking Axton up as a stand up guy who did take on the whole Thay event on the chin for us.

An elven runner comes to Posy, delivering a message from Annaisuru to invite her and a guest (she chooses Uther, of course) to the Solstice Ball. "Fur is not acceptable." Everyone invited... The winter solstice ball next session! (We will also be leveling! Woot!)