Sesssion22

**Red Fungus in the Well, Thorn's Capture and Escape, and The Wedding of Renata and Bishop**
 * 6-21-13 **

Having returned to Lyrabar, Azarius, Trieste, and Amara return to the Vastel Estate and are welcomed by Carus. She is pleased to hear of Azarius's success with the return of his sister. Carus invites all three to the wedding of Renata Winterrowd and Bishop Medici. A good opportunity for his family to attend, Azarius agrees to go and thanks her. On their way to their rooms, Tylianna tugs on Azarius's sleeve, "Where is your little guy?" Azarius, realizing she must be referring to Thorn, tells her that he is out running some errands and would likely return later today... "Shall I tell him that you're looking for him?" "Yes, please. He's very fun to play with... Are you going to the wedding?" "Yes, your mother was kind enough to extend us an invitation." "I have a very important job! I'll be holding up Renata's dress at the wedding!" Azarius grins and nods to her, "That is a very important job..."

Yuki returns to the temple after her date with Harbinger to see decorations being putting up for the wedding. Good friends with Renata and Bishop, Alain is to perform the ceremony here in the Temple of Sune. Yuki pitches in to help with some of the decorations and then slips off to the beach to meet up with Gregori and to fill him in on the wedding plans. He is a little nervous that his appearance could be very disturbing. Yuki suggests some sort of disguise and he lights up saying he has an idea. He tells her to meet him on the beach in a couple of days before the wedding. She tries to assure him that he doesn't have to go... but he tells her that he promised to escort her and it's still something that he has to see for himself. She asks if she should be in disguise too or if she can dress to shine, and he tells her that she can dress as sparkly as she wants.

After a day of rest and re-attuning to the woods, Mali heads in to the city to gather Ursus for their journey to search for the son of the unicorn. She finds him and the clan in the bar, The Laughing Dolphin. "Mali! Come and have a drink!" She very excitedly gets a gallon of ale and she and Ursus enter a challenge to see who can finish the fastest. Ursus finishes first, and Mali excalims, "You have size on your side!" "That I do!" he nods in agreement, "I'm huge!" He asks if she's ready to head out and she nods, collecting a flask of ale to take with her. Uther looks to Ursus, "You need a chaperon, big brother?" "I think I can handle it, little brother." Uther looks to Posy, "What do you think? Should we let them go off alone?" Posy grins, "Let's follow them!" Uther and Posy follow behind the druids, not very subtly. Mali giggles, "It's cute that they think they're being sneaky... let's sneak around and come up behind them!" Ursus looks down at her thoughtfully, "I'm sure that would be great for Uther... but Posy... that could be dangerous!" "Oh, it's just Posy!" The two share a giggle and disappear into the woods, with Posy and Uther hurrying to catch up. They share a laugh as the druids pop out behind them, "Huzzah!" They travel together deeper into the woods.

Thorn goes to The Winking Serpent to kick back and relax, enjoying a drink and watching for anyone looking for him. He flirts with the hot barmaid, Melanie, who 'accidentally' spills beer down her cleavage. "If you're not careful... you might just have to get out of those wet clothes..." "Oh! Such a suggestion!" Melanie fans herself, giggling. He slaps her behind as she continues off to the other patrons. He leaves the bar looking drunker than he is, bar hopping, and wandering the streets looking for spies. He hears jingling from the rooftops above him. Three dark clad figures drop beside him, wearing theatre masks and belled jester hats. Laughing, "What do we have here? A trickster out for a walk?" Thorn pretends to wobble a bit, "Evening gentlemen... no trickster here... just out for a walk, hiccup..." They pull out knives and whip them in his direction. He dodges quickly. "See! Tricky! Not so drunk now, are you?" "Oh... well it was nice meeting you and your shiny toys..." Thorn bolts, but they chase after him, jingling. One of them runs backwards ahead of him, "Such short stumpy legs!" Thorn head butts him in the nuts causing his giggling to become a bit higher. They taunt him about turning him over to the Black Hand who would pay a handsome price, "...but The Jester doesn't like people horning in on his territory..." Thorn shouts, "I am no punk bitch!" and engages the super speed in his boots and zooms away.

Kale goes to Wren all dressed up very handsomely in fine elven attire. "I didn't really know what was appropriate... so Anna and Dominic helped, but I wanted to see what you think." He tugged at the collar a bit. Wren smiles at him nodding, "You look very handsome." "Have you settled on an outfit yet?" She spins around in a pretty, pale green, elven dress, "That depends... do you like it?" He nods. "I was hoping you could maybe help me learn some of the human dances for the wedding?" Wren looks at him a little blankly, "Umm... I don't really know them either. I counted on you to help me with the elven ones at the last dance." "Maybe we should find some lessons then?" "Oh! I bet Yuki would know!" The two head to the Temple of Sune.

One of the guards brings a package to Erevin, bowing, "Lord Moonsong... this was left for you at the gate." Erevin thanks him and gives him some coin, happy that someone still addresses him as Moonsong. Opening the box he finds a pair of cut off elven ears and a scroll marked with the symbol of Vhaeraun and penned in drow, "Remember me? I remember you." an elven ranger badge from Myth Coramanth falls out of the scroll. Instant anger... Erevin grabs the hilt of his sword for a moment, startled by a female voice behind him, "Are you alright?" He turns to see Mari Moonsong looking concerned as she asks again, "Are you alright?" He quickly recovers and nods to her, "Unexpected package... I'm fine," he closes the box, putting it away, "How are you, my lady?" She nods, "I've recovered well thanks to you and your companions. I've thought about going to Myth Coramanth, but I thought I'd see what you and your companions were up to before I left." "We've a wedding to attend to... but when do you plan to return home?" "In several weeks, I'd like to stretch my legs a bit first... I really want to pay that bastard back for what he did... Would you care to accompany me on a walk before the wedding?" Erevin nods, "Of course."

Wren and Kale enter the temple to see Yuki precariously leaning from the top of a ladder, trying to hang some wedding decorations while Axton holds the ladder from below, "Not like that, you idiot." Wren grins, "Aww don't you two look adorable! Just the people I was hoping to find..." Yuki beams, "Wren!!" as she turns with open arms and falls off of the ladder crashing into the open armed witch below, both of them falling together to the ground. Axton and Kale just look at each other and shake their heads. "Yuki! it's so good to see you!" Both of them standing, hugging, and rubbing injured heads and elbows. Yuki beams again, "We're getting ready for the wedding!" Wren nods, "That's why we came... we're going to be attending..." Kale nods, "We were hoping you could show us some of the modern human dances." Wren nods, "Do you think you two could demonstrate for us?" Yuki blinks at Wren and looks at Axton and looks at Wren, "Both of us?" Wren stares at her, "Well... doesn't it kind of take two... a girl part and a guy part? or is it the same in human dances?" Yuki looks back and forth again. Axton nods, "Of course we can show you... Yuki..." He extends her a hand and the two dance quite beautifully, with a little back and forth challenging to be the better dancer. Wren and Kale look at one another and she leans closer, "We'll have to trade dominant challenges... it seems to be part of the dance..." Kale peered at her with a raised eyebrow, "Can you do that?" Wren stood a little taller, "Of course I can!" Kale and Wren tried to copy the dance, but Wren had some trouble following the steps. "Here..." Yuki stepped behind Wren, adjusting Wren's stance and placing her hands on Wren's hips, controlling her dance. Wren closed her eyes and relaxed, letting Yuki manipulate her movement. Yuki nudged Kale out of the way, "Here, just give her to me..." She took Wren around the room, holding her close and dancing her like a puppet. Kale and Axton stood together watching. Kale leaned over to Axton, nodding, "One of my better ideas." Wren sighed exasperated, "It's this fru fru dress... tripping me up and restricting me here and here... let me learn the steps and then we'll add the dress..." Wren slipped the dress off, handing it to Kale, standing barely covered in thin, soft lace and nodding to Yuki with her arms out, posed, "Okay... again." They practiced for hours until Wren and Kale had a couple of the dances down together.

Mali, Posy, and the barbarians spent the night under the stars in the woods, they had been searching for any signs of a unicorn, but hadn't seen even a glimpse of glittery rainbow poo. They were running out of ale and getting grumpy. Running across tracks of huntsmen, they follow them to a small village camp where two figures were pounding on the gate. Hearing the four approach, the figures turn and shamble toward them. Mali quickly casts up her hawkeye sight and draws her bow, launching an arrow masterfully. It passes through one of the figure's heads like a melon, the body dropping to the ground. Mali victorious stands beside it, one foot on top of it, but jumps back quickly as the body dissolves into a red fungus, with pinkish tentacle vines reaching out for her. The other charges toward Posy, but she cuts off it's head, sending out a spray of red mist and the body falls to the ground with the red fungus spreading out from it. They hear a voice from the wall, "Are you alright? You didn't get any of that on you, did you?" "No, we're fine. We killed them dead." An older trapper / military man comes out to inspect them closely and lets them in the gate. Introduces himself as Sergeant Tilldane. "Terrible what happened to those men..." He tells them about their wells backing up suddenly a week ago with a strange red mold pouring into the town. There was a strange, foul smell, but they didn't know what to make of it. Then the hunters went crazy and they had to put them down. Mali looks up at him, "Why didn't you just go to Lyrabar and get the paladins to help you?" "We didn't think we needed those shiny types for some mold... and then it was too late... but now that you're here. Maybe you can help." He tells them that the fungus and the infected only come out to attack at night... and fire doesn't seem to work against it. They try to cut off the source by pouring oil down into the well and lighting it on fire... they can see a fire burning on the surface of the water one hundred feet down... but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Thorn returns to his old hidey hole, searching around for any trace of those looking for him. In his search he manages to get a poison dart in his hand, but as he fights off the poison... a glowing snake slithers out and bites him! He is ported to a tiny cell with a tray of food. He eats the food that tastes a bit funny, but seems to survive it fine. His weapons and lockpicks are gone, but he still has all of his clothes. Voices out in the hall come closer to his cell, "I can't believe he went back to his old hidey hole! I can't believe it worked. The master will be pleased we finally got rid of that Thorn in his side." They share laughter. "When will he be back?" "After the wedding... the Black Hand will make themselves known at the reception. Those people thought The Hammer was bad..."

Azarius is dressed in his Chaat family best. Trieste adjusts his tie, "You look very handsome, sir." "What will you be wearing?" "That depends... would you like me to be incognito as a guest or dressed as an obvious body guard?" "Incognito would be best, but I don't trust these affairs... they often go wrong, so come prepared." "Alright... and we should go over it one more time, sir..." She starts listing noble women, their interests and hobbies, what they'd like to talk about... "Yes, yes... I have the list... There are things to do before that." "Your parents are worried..." They talk about Amara and possibly sending her home. Trieste says she's spoken with her and she seems to be doing better, but she doesn't think she's ready to attend a wedding. "Well then... it will be just the two of us." Trieste assures him that she will arrange for someone to look after Amara during the wedding. The Vastel carriage carries Azarius, Trieste, Carus, Tylianna, and Reegan Winterrowd to the temple.

Erevin escorts Mari Moonsong into the woods. She seems to be recovering very well. She's walking normally again and even has short bursts of speed. He takes her expertly through the trees and shows her the intricate carved bow that he was gifted from the maiden archers. It's not magical here, but it's very beautiful, crafted from a foreign wood of another world. They return to Lyrabar. He dresses in fine elven clothes and joins Shri to enter the magnificent elven carriages along with Wren, Kale, and Anna.

Yuki, dressed in a beautiful pink gown and diamonds, meets Gregori on the beach. He talks about his clever idea for a disguise, telling her that he had a rather wild and adventurous youth with Reegan Winterrowd. He pulls out a white mask of ivory studded with blue sapphires. Yuki gasps and excitedly exclaims, "The den of sin!" Gregori raises an eyebrow at her, "Have you been holding out on me?" Blushing, she tells him that she's only been there once and it was recently. He tells her that he was known as "Alabaster" there... "Not my kind of place really, but Reegan enjoyed it... he'll know who I am by the mask, but no one else will... There was speculation of a Vastel behind the mask, so it may cause quite a stir, but they wont know it's me... Shall we then?" "Of course!"

Everyone is gathering at the Temple of Sune. Garlands of white and green flowers hanging, and everything is very beautiful. The man on Yuki's arm in the white mask, studded with sapphires draws a lot of looks. There's a magical effect with the mask... the hair color seems to fade between shades, subtle shifts in height, and facial traits seem neutral. Several nobles are attending along with several of the paladins of Lathander. Magnus Dayus is also part of the wedding party along with Annaisaru Lionspaw. Azarius arrives with Trieste dressed in a lovely gown, but with subtle movement that suggests armor beneath her dress.

A silver streaked haired human man, with an elven woman on his arm approaches Erevin, introducing himself in elven as John Winterrowd and thanks him for coming to the wedding. Bellasiel, the Grey Cloak Hills elven woman beside him says that she heard his exploits in the convocation hall, "You are very well spoken..." Thanking her, Erevin tells her that he plans to journey to the Grey Cloak Hills. She tells him that he should speak with Fiona here in town, she is also from the Grey Cloak Hills. "May your daughter be as happy for the rest of her life as she is today..." "Oh gods, yes..."

Azarius is approached by a young gentleman with an odd accent, he recognizes him as the merchant from Raven's Bluff that he had met at the Vastel Estate, Marco Carter. When asked, Azarius introduces Trieste, "I am her escort for the evening." Marco nods, "I thought I'd seen you in the company of another..." He smiles glancing at Yuki. Azarius smiles, "We're just friends." His time with Yuki wasn't widely known... and someone had been spreading rumors... Something about Marco seems smarmy and Azarius is sure that he must be in on the rumors. Marco has a "paid for" eye-candy woman on his arm that he introduces as Lady Delilah. "I see your man-servant is missing too..."

Thorn examines his cell listening to the voices still out in the hall... "Might as well give that whorish bounty hunter one good day... she thinks she can fill Fetcher's shoes... it will be a grand reunion!" Thorn pees through a small opening to seep out into the hall... the two guards share a laugh and as the one approaches, Thorn grabs up the food tray and strikes the guard in the face as he comes in, and then bowls him over into the puddle of urine. The guard screams out, "He's trying to escape!" and the other rushes in. In their struggle, Thorn steals his knife and the guard throws him into the hall, giving Thorn the opportunity to run... taking off into the lair of a theives' guild. He opens a door to see people leaping out of beds and grabbing up weapons to the sound of an alarm going off. He quickly closes the door and jams the knife to pin it closed. He stealths like a ghost in the wind. He realizes he must be in the building that was by the docks and manages to find a large room with a dozen people and a sail-less ship sitting in water. He finds all of his things in open boxes, except for his weapons.

With no effect from the fire in the well, Mali finds an infected deer and manages to cure it with a remove disease spell... it works! Too bad she can only cast it once... They decide to wait til morning when they'll go into the well. Talking during the evening about the unicorn, Sergeant Tilldane says that unicorn must've traveled quite the distance and that he's seen unicorns in the mountains, a week's ride from here... it will again, have to wait. In the morning Mali tells Ursus to lower her into the well. "It could be dangerous! What if something is down there?" "Then I'll die..." "That's not really acceptable... I'll go with you." "You're too big! You'll get stuck! Then we'd have to butter you all up to get you out." "Um I could change to something small." "Can you cast while transformed?" "Well no, but I could change back..." "Then you'd be big and you'd be stuck! And the fungus would get you... and then I'd have to shoot you in the head." "I don't want that... Take Posy. She's small." Mali goes down as an air elemental and Uther looks at Posy, "You want me to lower you in the bucket?" She gets in and Uther lowers her down behind Mali. She uses her axe to row herself in the bucket when she gets to the water... (Row, row, row... Rowing in a circle) There are strange rock formations and as Mali shines her light under the water, they can see a statue of a crustacean man with a squid head, pincer arms, and tentacle man-parts. In the chest of the statue is a pulsing "heart". It's a slow beat and the red fungus vines creep out with the beats. Mali casts remove disease on the "heart". There's frothing in the water as the reddish fungus tentacles shriek, turn brown, and shrivel... dying and floating away. A hole is left in the chest of the statue. Two fist-sized aquamarines are in the eyes of the statue, and Mali pries them out, surfacing by Posy in the bucket. Uther pulls Posy up and they drop the bucket for Mali. Ursus calls down, "Are you alright?" "Yes!" "You're not infected?" "I have shinies!" "That's what an infected person would say..." "Pull me up!" "Yes maam..."

The wedding music plays with the wedding party all lined up. John escorts Renata down the aisle, dressed in white, with her sister Alice dabbing at her eyes and whispering, "Don't screw this up!" Gregori tightens his grip on Yuki's arm. She looks him over concerned, ready to get him out at the slightest hint... "Are you sure you're alright?" He nods to her and holds her arm. Bishop comes out, very closely resembling Dominic. Alain comes out in white open-front robes, and the crowd quiets. Renata and Bishop exchange vows while her father stands guard at one exit and another man stands in front of the other. Coins exchange hands in the crowd as rings exchange between the couple. The ceremony is beautiful. John Winterrowd addresses everyone, "Thank you all for this most blessed occasion... the wedding of my youngest daughter that we thought would never come... Please join us at the Medici estate for the reception."

Gregori looks a little shaken. Yuki tries to comfort him, "You don't have to do this..." "I have seen what I needed to see... but I promised to take you" "No, no... I could go with you... we can do something else... I don't need... to go .. to the dance." "You should go." "Let me at least walk you back to the beach..." "Alright, but only if you promise that you'll go with your friends to the reception." They agree and she listens as he talks of his childhood with Renata walking back to the beach.

Thorn continues to look for his daggers... his magic daggers... finally he reaches out with his strong, sheer will and manages to call one of them to him, then easily using it to call the other. He stills hears voices searching for him.... He throws a smoke stick into the little sub in the water and people scramble, pouring in water buckets and shouting at one another. Using the distraction, Thorn jumps into the water and travels the tunnel, his lungs burning from the distance... He gasps for air from a small pocket within the tunnel and then again scrambling to the surface outside. Sucking in sweet, deep breaths, he comes up under the dock... he's been gone for at least a day... maybe two! He rushes off, certain that the wedding must've started by now. Knowing that the plan is to happen at the reception, he rushes off toward the Medici estate. Mali, Posy, and the barbarians are coming in the city gates. Thorn shouts at them, "Has the wedding started yet?!" "We just got back into town... we don't know." Thorn climbs up on Ursus's shoulders, "Hurry! That way! RUN! I'll explain on the way... Just Hurry!!"

Carriages arrive at the Medici estate with flowering plants and herbs out front. Kale takes Wren's arm, helping her out of the carriage. She loops her arm with his and locks hands with him, "Okay... we've made it a little farther than the last one... but I'm still a little on edge. Just stay close, okay?" Erevin helps Shri out of the carriage, and the elves head for the reception...