The Last Sunset
It's nearly evening by the time that those who were called set foot in the temple of Daeus. A question as to the location of Dolan has one led deep into the temple. Not to where Dolan was held before, but past guards. Lots. Of. Guards. Paladins every one of them, dressed in Daeus vestments and looking deadly serious. The room that they guard is a surprisingly big one filled with little beds meant for the sick and infirm. There is a tea pot on a small table in the center of these bed and three individuals already sit on three of the beds in the room. Dolan, Andelena, and Zeke.
Dolan is sitting on one of the beds, dressed in plain shirt and trousers, his boots already sitting underneath the bed. He uses his sturdy wool cloak as a blanket, and is snuggled under it, apparently in hopes of getting warm, but the totem of Daeus is resting atop it, in his lap, plainly visible. "Brightest of days," he greets each in turn, looking - just a little weary. "Thanks for coming so fast. We had an incident in the market this morning. Kol caught me and Andie." He lets the gravity of _that_ sink in for just a minute before continuing. "Someone else got his attention. Someone I don't really know but I'm pretty sure she's a Sentinel, and the wings kind of argue for that. He took her instead of us, but he's probably pretty pissed."
He turns his full head to look over at Zeke and Andelena. "We can't do shit against him in the real, but I've got an idea. Pain is how he knows he's alive. If we can use the totems to convince him - make him believe - that he can't feel anything anymore - he's likely to think he's dead, because he says pain is how he knows he's alive. The dead don't feel. So if he doesn't feel, maybe he'll think he's dead and we can convince him that he doesn't exist anymore. I think - if he doesn't think he exists in the dream - I think that'll destroy him."
Some things never change. After assuring his wife he would in fact be all right and that he would help Dolan with tracking him in the dream, Telamon scrambled out the door. A flight spell brings him to the temple district much faster than merely 'on foot', and he's questioned three times by paladins before finally being led to the room where Dolan, Andie, and Zeke are waiting. It's clear Tel was caught off guard by the message, because for a change he -doesn't- look like one of Alexandria's nobility, dressed down instead in a cotton tunic over canvas work-trousers and his ever present boots. A cloak flung almost carelessly over his shoulders, as the young half-sil sweeps in, and looks to Dolan.
It says a lot that Tel doesn't bat an eye at Dolan's tale, and just nods. "If he can be -convinced-... it might unmake him, yes. This is going to be rough though." He fixes Dolan with a careful stare. He doesn't say anything but his eyes are measuring the other man.
"Her name isss Kira." Zeke offers to Dolan. To everyone really, something in his eyes hurt that her name isn't readily known. "Ssshe... Isss well-known to thisss one." He is staring at his claws rather than those in the room with him. There's shame coming off of him in waves. He is feeling miserable, wishing that he could be invisible. But that's not the reality. "We left her." It's not the first time he's said that.
"But it's the best idea we've got," Andelena says, nodding to Dolan's words. "I'm ready to go with it. He's never been given compassion or mercy in his life, and when we encountered him at the marketplace earlier, he was /baffled/ by it."
She looks like she has more to say, a thoughtful look in her steel-grey eyes, but Zeke's words stop her in her tracks. Andelena frowns. "We will help her, Zeke. I promise."
The message was unexpected, yet the urgency was clear, moreso given the sender and subject. Verna assures her own spouse that she would, in fact, use every and all caution during her hasty preparations and then descends from the mountain above rather... directly. It is far more expedient than the mountain road. As more and more doors and Sunblades are passed, her concern rises commensurately.
Her frown grows at the explanation and expounding. "There is obviously a sense of urgency, and I do not make light of concerns, yet preparedness would make for the best chance at success. In any case, we are here, now."
Verna cannot help but think of the recent hasty venture to The Vast, and how marginally successful it was.
"We're going to help her in the only way that will do any damned _good_, Zeke," Dolan adds wearily to Andelena's statement, nodding over in her direction. "We're no match for him in the real. If we tried to stay and fight, we'd all be dead. I'd be worse than dead." He returns Telamon's look, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I know. But we're going to try this working together thing."
To Verna, he merely stares, then nods. "How long do you want for preparations, and what preparations do you want to make? How fast we move could be the difference between another soul in the Halls, and not. One that is a close friend to Zeke."
Telamon shakes his head at Zeke. "None of that. Put thoughts of failure out of your head, it'll only make this harder. You have to bring the best of who you are, or the dreams can go awry." Whatever he sees in Dolan, though, seems to satisfy him, and he nods. "Alright, Dolan. We do have to try, any way we can." He slips off his cloak, before sitting down on one of the other beds. "Do you have sleeping tea? And should we bring the totems into the dream?"
Zeke nods to Dolan's words, and Andelena's reassurance, but it's clear that he doesn't really believe that they will be able to rescue Kira. It's Telamon's words then that make him look up and finally nod more firmly. He steadies himself and motions to the tea in the center of the room and the little tea cups that surround it. Enough for more than are actually here. "Thisss one made sssome tea to help usss sssleep. It isss a light thing, and ssshould not forsce you to remain in ssslumber, but we mussst be careful. Thisss one hass not usssed ssuch in unison with the totemsss or dreaming. It may make you unable to wake properly. It may make the dream more vivid or caussse... visssionss."
"If Bry's investigations are right, then we have to use the totems," Andelena says. "I have one I'm attuned to right now. The other one--I'm not attuned to. Could be if Bry wants me to be. Kind of hesitant to since I'm certain it's made by someone I'm not exactly a fan of, if you get my drift, but the totems are tools."
She looks at the teapot in the center. "I'm fine with the risk," she says. "Time's of the essence. We need to do something. /Now./"
Verna's frown shifts more introspective. Dolan's question is wholly valid. What preparations does she require? What further preparations could be made? Does she hesitate for her own worries? All others appear fully committed and eager, and Dolan did make brief mention of this idea prior. "Understood. I am as ready now as I can be." Which may not be as much as she -wishes- to be, but a minutes or hours will not change that while risking worse.
She moves to a bed, removing her cloak en route before sitting. "I shall follow your lead and aid as I may."
"The main thing we need to be ready for is Seraquoix or Zinskas showing up if we have to use the totems," Dolan warns, sitting up to reach for the teapot and cups, but Andelena's comment stops him short. "Which one is that?" he asks suddenly. "Don't tell be you've been carrying an unattuned totem around with you." Suddenly, his eyebrows go up, and he looks positively alarmed. "I keep trying to get a count of how many we've got among us. I wasn't able to get in touch with Magpie or Dirk, but - if we feed them blood in real or in the dream, they'll face each other." He stares at the thing in his lap, speculatively. "Probably shouldn't mess with that. What we need to do is convince Kol that without pain, he doesn't exist. We're going to probably have to will him not to exist, and then take away all sensation from him. Make it so he can't feel anything. The goal is to convince him to convince himself that he doesn't exist, with an eye to unmaking him."
Telamon removes the totem of Eluna from his haversack, cradling it in his hand. He smiles at Dolan, a bit wryly. "How hard can it be?" He looks to Zeke. "Go ahead and get the tea poured, sir. We've got a friend to save." He tilts his head, then looks at Dolan and Andie. "Once this is done... I do know Lana is willing to take on the burden as well, of these totems. But I won't try and argue about it, especially right now. We've got work to do."
Zeke moves to pour the tea and offers everyone their own cup. He takes his last and settles down on the bed with it. He seems determined now. Determined to be helpful, and he offers his claw to Andelena. "Give thisss one the sssecond totem. Then we will each have one. Thisss one will defend it in your plasce, and ussse it to help you all desstroy thisss Kol creature onsce and for all." He doesn't care what happens to it after that really, but he wants to help. To be useful.
Andelena produces both of the totems she has, bringing out her attuned one first and the unattuned second. "Seldan gave me this one recently," she says, handing it to Zeke. "So... maybe it should have been yours all along. Kin and all." She smiles a little before taking a teacup of the sleeping tea and sipping it.
She looks back at Dolan. "I'm ready to send this man off," she says, seriously. "He needs the mercy he's never been given. Will him out of existence. Give him some /peace/." The Sunguard appears to be mulling on Compassion even still.
His end shall give all peace, or so Verna fervently hopes. It was hoped in the past that such compassion in Kol's own past would undo him. Perhaps it finally shall now. She accepts her tea and sips it as she considers possibilities (perhaps far too many) in anticipation.
Dolan takes his own tea in turn, sniffs it, and a rueful grin grows on his features. Instead of sipping it, he waits until it is cooled enough to drink, then slams it, sets the cup aside on the table, and grabs the totem on his lap. "Yeah. the gods know the man could use a little peace, and a little mercy for once. See you in the dream."
With that, he rolls over in his cloak like he might do on the road, and hugs the totem to him like a teddy bear, turning his back to the room.
Meanwhile, Telamon just has to show off a bit. He doesn't let his cool, and simply drinks it down in one... long... pull. "Ah. That's a lot better than the dreaming potion Lana and I used to use. You'll have to tell me the recipe." Setting the cup aside, he lies down on his back, the totem resting on his chest, and closes his eyes.
Zeke takes the totem from Andelena and looks at the twisted thing for a moment. It's remarkably ugly. He sets it in his lap and lifts his crystal claw to his flesh-and-blood one. Determination shines in his gaze as crystal pierces scale and a drip of crimson lands on his pure white tabard. He moves his claws carefully, wiping the blood on the totem. It changes, taking the form of a dragon. His eyes slide to Dolan's little knight and then the dragon statue in his own lap. "The Dragonfather takes many forms." He murmurs to himself.
He picks up the little totem carefully and downs his cup of tea in one swift gulp.
With those things done, Zeke settles down into the bed on his side, waiting to feel sleepy enough to fall asleep. He's clearly at this with all deadly seriousness.
Well, shit. Andelena tastes it and it's not the greatest-tasting thing she's ever had, that's for certain. For that matter, she sees the men in the room downing theirs, and she rolls her eyes. "Okay, we get it, you're all hanging soft down to the knees. Fuck it," she says with a wicked grin, and she downs the rest of her cup, taking her totem and holding it to herself as she lies down.
Verna sipped hers only to await others, and consider. Fortunately(?) the foul liquid promptly prevents pondering to excess and she scowls at the cup. It shall not be recommended to Aura. With a grimace, she upends the cup. Let us, to quote the vernacular, get this over with.
GAME: Zeke rolls Will: (19)+15: 34 GAME: Telamon rolls Will+6: (13)+12+6: 31 GAME: Dolan rolls will: (8)+10: 18 GAME: Andelena rolls Will: (13)+10: 23 GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (9)+24+2: 35
Most of the area that you awaken in... dream in? Is this a dream or reality? It looks like the Temple of Daeus, but it is over-grown now with plants. Some of them look like flowers that Telamon will recognize from his little garden at home. Others bear a striking resemblance to the white blooms at Verna's wedding. It's a lovely location, and obviously derived from your memories combined. One of the stone temple walls holds a simple set of chains that glint ominously.
GAME: Dolan rolls will: (19)+10: 29
The ominous glint of chains on one wall of the temple makes Dolan swallow hard, knowing _exactly_ where that one came from. Rather than turn away, though, he takes a deep breath and _forces_ them away, replacing them with more of the mighty white walls of the Knight's temple in Alexandria, bright sun shining off of them.
"Yeah," he says when he is done, looking around him. "Combined memories. Safety means something a little different to each of us, I guess. If we want to combine our wills on something, we need to agree on what we're combining them on."
Zeke looks around the space, noticing the chains when Dolan does, and by the other's reaction to them. He doesn't even have a chance to will them away before they're gone and he nods firmly. "It isss... Nisce." He murmurs. "A garden of the Dragonfather, a plasssce of sssanctuary." He hums his approval.
Andelena looks around at the temple that they're in, and Dolan dismissing the chains causes her to smile brightly. "I agree with Zeke," she says. "We've all been to the Temple of Daeus. We all know what it looks like. We've got three of his faithful here with us. If we're gonna be in accordance, best start with the scenery."
Verna looks about their surroundings. Far better than anything she has conjured in the past. Perhaps it is not created from her o-oh! Some of the blooms promptly catch her notice and recognition, causing a slender smile to twist her countenance. An amalgamation of their thoughts and memories? Other features do bring specific individuals to mind, the most unpleasant of which would be the chains.
Which promptly vanish before Dolan confirms her theories. "The site does bring comfort," she agrees. "I defer to the rest of you on course of action. Most or all present have far more experience, and positive results, in the Dreaming than I. How shall we begin?"
Please let it not be imagining that Kol is present, though Verna frets that such shall be precisely what is required. Thank, Andelena. Visualizing Daeus' temple sounds far more palatable.
Telamon seems to rise up from out of the flowers that most resemble the plants in his garden in the warm months, a few blossoms clinging to him. "There's sanctuaries and then there's sanctuaries," Tel remarks to Zeke. "But Andie is right. We all need to be on the same page of the tome. It's going to look slightly strange if we start tugging in different directions." He touches one of the flowers on him with a smile, before nodding. "I think the temple of Daeus is a good choice though. Ni'essa loves her father just as you do."
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (2)+24+2: 28
There's no warning, no ability to concentrate and focus, Kol is quite suddenly in their midst. He is looking at Verna, with Dolan and Andelena behind him and Telamon and Zeke somewhat to either side. He seems to recognize the woman, and moves toward her. "YOU." He says sharply, grinning in a way that shows off his teeth and is in front of her in a blur.
"WALL HIM OFF!" Dolan backpedals as green eyes assault his mind for the second time in the same day, out of the blue and with no time to prepare. "YOU CANNOT TOUCH US, KOL DEMONTRY!" With that, Dolan gives everything he's got to the image of Temple walls, wrapping Kol in safety and peace, where nothing can hurt him and he cannot hurt any.
There's different kinds of walls. Telamon focuses on his totem, the image of trellis vines and fey gardens. Trying to fill in the gaps with enough vegetation that not even Kol could claw his way through. And yet... there's no thorns, no stinging nettles in his mind's eye. A riot of color and scent, as flowers bloom in this sanctified place, sheened with soft moonlight.
For Zeke the walls are high and tall, the walls are white and they have no windows or doors. They are cold and impassible. So smooth that one can not claw their way through or past. So thick that screams can not be heard through them. Perfect walls like the ones that once held him. Hold another now. One that needs to be held, whom he can not imagine being held in any other way.
Andelena thinks of walls, and like her other half, her partner in all things, she thinks of safety and peace. She thinks of Kol not as the monster he is now, but of the child who endured so much pain. She thinks of four walls that shield him from the pain he's been given that made him this way, shield him from giving out the pain that he's given. The Sunguard in her calls out for Compassion, for the warmth that no one ever gave Kol. She even thinks of what his little feet would have looked like without all those scars. What he would have been like inside of four loving, solid walls with people who adored him.
/I cannot turn back time in the real, but here... Maybe I can. Maybe you can be something else. Someone else. The person you should have been all along, if someone had done what they were supposed to do and to love you./ The Sunguard can't help it. It's the maternal streak in her. It's the light and the warmth she bears as one called to the Knight, because while she lacked her mother's warmth--she found it elsewhere.
She found it in herself.
"Holy Knight, I ask you: deliver Kol Demontry from the pain he has known his whole life. Deliver him from the evil he has become and make him only good. Give him the love he has never known, never had. I call upon, and draw upon, your Compassion. Grant him mercy." Andelena's prayer tumbles out of her as she draws on the strength within, draws on the compassion within. The love within. All for someone who'd never known any.
Verna startles at the arrival-nay, the accusation to her face, as by the time she realizes the former the latter has already occured. "Yes," she manages to acknowledge. For who would she be if not herself?
To Verna, the penultimate walls are those of mana and pure force. No stone to chip, wood to burn, nor metal to corrode. Such indestructible constructs have contained all manner of beings throughout antiquity and can certainly contain one vampire. Especially as he now starts at her from far, far too near.
GAME: Zeke rolls Will: (8)+15: 23 GAME: Telamon rolls Will+6: (7)+12+6: 25 GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (10)+24+2: 36 GAME: Dolan rolls will: (17)+10: 27 GAME: Andelena rolls Will: (19)+10: 29
The walls are a mish-mash of things. A riot of different visons of what a wall should be. Here they are stone, here they are marble-white. In places made of plant-matter, and in others wooden. They are all over thick and capable of holding the monster within. The sound of his confusion and attempts to free himself are loud and it's a long moment before any of you realize that you've been joined by yet another figure. A heavily cloaked individual who stands between Andelena and Verna.
"LET HIM OUT." The voice is in your minds? It whispers loudly neither male nor female, gently requesting that you free Kol from his prison.
The walls will hold, for the moment, and so after a moment of appraisal, Dolan turns to the new figure, keen appraisal in his gaze. "The intent is not to harm him," he explains quietly to the newcomer. "Who are you?" He straightens himself and turns fully to face the newcomer, his appearance automatically changing to display a breastplate over his clothing, but no weapons. Not yet. The question holds neither judgment nor threat, but a level of wariness.
The air is heavy with floral scents -- lavender especially. Telamon turns to regard the hooded and cloaked figure as well, but -his- garments become something more familiar. A ruffled white silk blouse over black leather trousers and polished boots. Over the blouse, he wears a dark coat with ruffles at the cuffs and quartzite stones inlaid along the shoulders and chest. "Indeed. He will not be harmed." His dark, starry eyes glitter. "Are you here to speak on his behalf, then?"
GAME: Zeke rolls knowledge/religion: (18)+20: 38
Zeke's eyes flicker toward the figure as the voice echoes in his mind, but he... Wait... His eyes widen and he clamps his jaw shut. Immediately his portion of the wall vanishes, and he bows his head to the figure. "Peassssce on your nessst." He utters hurriedly, looking at the others and Verna in particular. As if trying to tell them something with his eyes. Oddly at that moment his own voice echoes through the space loudly, but it doesn't come out of his mouth. "Thisss issss a ssservant of the Death-sssinging dragon!"
Well, shit. A servant of Vardama? That gets Andelena's eyes nice and wide as she turns around to meet the entity. She lowers her gaze in reverence. "Are you here to collect him and send him into peace?" she asks. It's the only way she plans on letting go of her contribution to the four walls.
GAME: Verna rolls knowledge/religion: (12)+24: 36
The formation of the walls and, more importantly, that they hold, give Verna a moment of relief. Her Mourner's robes remain unchanged. The moment of respite is brief, alas, as the figure is suddenly noted at her side that was not present before. Unexpected and unannounced arrivals is quickly becoming a trend, and not a welcome one. She turns to regard the hooded figure. Dolan already asked who. Telamon inquired as to what they intended. "Wh-" Verna makes the next logical inquisitive... or, rather, begins an attempt that is not finished as the Sunguard exclaims.
She has no reason to doubt him off-hand, and the appearance and presence before her does nothing to counter that. Verna pauses before making a repeat attempt. "Why?"
"I HAVE COME FOR HIM." The figure says gently, but firmly. It's an odd voice. The figure turns slightly toward Andelena and nods to her. "I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR HIM." There is silence inside the walls. Not a single sound... no wait. There is a sound. It's small and quiet however. Difficult to make out. It sounds like nothing that should be in there.
It sounds like a little boy crying.
Oh. _Oh._
Dolan blinks, once, twice, at the figure, then imitates Zeke, doing a thing that Andelena has never seen him do, not this formally. He _bows_, and his portion of the wall vanishes. "Then grant him the peace of the Halls. Ain't as if anything else ever has. Come on, Andie. This is where he oughta go. Where he should have gone long since." The armor melts away, leaving only his usual shirt and trousers. Interestingly, his shirt covers more of him than it has in the past, and is just a touch more formal. Although his dream-self has no right eye, only melted flesh and slashes of claws down his face where the eye should be, he seems to know where Andelena is, and makes his way over to her, reaching both hands for her.
There's something in Telamon's eyes. A deep sadness, a commonality. Perhaps a shared experience. He takes a deep breath. "Grey Harpist, we release him to your care. As my friend says, this creature has had no peace, not even what might be found at the end." His gaze drops for a moment, then comes back up. "Please. Give him whatever you can." With that, he steps over with Dolan and Andelena, and the flowers... unweave and loosen. They're still there, but now they move aside, the blossoms bowing to the servitor respectfully.
Zeke has no walls to dissipate, having already done so, but he looks at the two women who have yet to do so and hopes that they will free the vampire also. He doesn't pressure them to do it however, he can understand if there are lingering uncertainties and he would never force someone to do something they were uncomfortable with.
The glowing planes of force that make up the wall dissipate as full realization strikes Verna. She takes a step back and lowers herself to kneel in deference and humility. No more inquiries, and only a statement. "The break in The Cycle shall be mended, Her Just Judgement administered." At last. Regardless of what fate Verna might deem appropriate for Kol, that decision lies, for all time and all beings, with her mistress.
The thing about Compassion is how much it can ache. Andelena hears the little boy crying, and she wants nothing more than to take up this little child in her arms, to give him the one show of genuine love that he needed before he goes with this servant of Vardama. To give him a hug. To give him a kiss goodnight on the forehead. And to hand him off to this servant of Vardama to tuck him in.
So... she does. She brings down the walls, and she pictures that little boy, that little Kol in the dream who knew only pain. How his feet must have hurt. How he looked up at his mother like she was the whole world, even though she didn't return the favor.
For one moment, he will be loved.
One of her hands takes Dolan's. The other is held out to receive the little Kol, if her will is true, if the love and compassion is enough. He deserves that much. A kiss on the head. A "you are loved." And off into the hands of the Vardaman servant. Gods willing.
The walls come down and the servant of Vardama shimmers. Becomes a little girl of no more than three. She smiles at Kol, and he's a boy of eleven or maybe thirteen. There's tears on his face and he looks at all the grown-ups suspiciously, clearly expecting pain, not kindness. But Andelena offers it though, and he looks utterly confused by her gentleness. Even a child it's clear that he's not been given such. But his sister is there at his side, holding his hand and giving them a chance to say good-by to the little boy they'd trapped in a box. "Come on Kol! I wanna play!"
Her voice is cheerful, and she tugs on his hand and he looks ruefully at Andelena. Like he doesn't want to play with his little sister, but underneath that big brother motif is the truth; he wanted to play.
The two disappear into the dark together. Never looking back even once. Fading away. Nothing left but bad memories and the haunting truth.
Dolan wears a look of quiet satisfaction as he watches the pair go, and he reaches to pull Andelena close, if she will let him, looking in the direction they'd gone. "You, me, and the Knight make a pretty damned good team, baby," he murmurs. "Now we'd better go find Zeke's friend, though. Think we can do that here?"
If Andelena lets him, he'll lean his head on her shoulder, looking around at the others. "Think the cave in the camp's still open? It won't be once they find out Kol is gone - and we'd better make sure he is."
As the boy and the girl vanish into the dark, Telamon reaches up to wipe his face, and is unsurprised to find tears. His voice is a little husky, when he quietly says, "You were right, Dolan. As was Tanith. The key really was in his past, to freeing him from... well, being the monster." He takes a deep breath, steadying himself.
Deftly, the half-elf pulls a handkerchief out of his sleeve, wiping his face. "Possibly," he says to Dolan with a grin. "Why don't we find out? You know we can jump -out- of the dream into the real world, too."
Verna turns, without rising, to watch the servant move to Kol. She recognizes him as a boy, if a few years older than when she encountered him, and the girl was the infant with him, she presumes. It is strange to see him, them both, happy, even if his seems tentative. Though that is not the only reason tears well in her eyes.
It is the journey they take as they disappear, as well. The journey that all must take; one that she aids the bereaved with daily. The journey, itself, holds not pain nor loss, but only care. Yet knowing this is not the same as WITNESSING it. Dreaming or not, it is, for the moment, quite real to her.
She is silent for a moment longer, stifling a sniffle, before she rises. "He has gone, but this is not finished. We are not finished?" Verna looks to the others before Telamon's words register. "The camp?"
There's a fond, wide look on Andelena's face as she looks at the little sister, beckoning Kol to come and play with her. She looks down at Kol and gives him a nod. "Go play," she urges him. Like a mother who sees past the big brother facade, because of course she can.
She watches them walk off and fade away. Once she can't see them anymore, she turns fully into Dolan and accepts his embrace. Tears fall down her cheeks. The love overflowing, the Compassion of Daeus with her still, as she nuzzles her face against his.
"Sorry, babe--need a moment. I--" Her voice hitches in her throat. But eventually, she finds the words. "I love you. I love you so much."
It's an odd thing, to cry over someone who hurt her beloved in the way that he did. In the truth: she mourns for the child who lost his innocence far too young. She mourns for every child out there who does, because she knows deep down inside, there are so many who do and are. The price of Compassion is the aching--but the virtue, which blooms in her chest and spills out in the form of seemingly unending tears, is one that she wouldn't trade in for anything. Because it makes her... herself.
Andelena takes a moment to compose herself. She dries her eyes. The ache and the warmth are there still, but she can handle it. Because she's a Sunguard.
"That's right," she says. "There's more to do. We're not done yet." Andelena looks at Dolan with steel-grey eyes, renewed. Tinged with the aftermath of tears they might be, but the fire burns in them still.
"We've got hounds to chain."
Without hesitation, Dolan pulls Andelena to his shoulder in turn as she starts to cry, instead of leaning on hers, letting her cry on his shoulder for as long as she wants. "I love you too, baby."
Something Telamon said, though, catches Dolan's interest, although he doesn't respond until Andelena has pulled away. He reaches to wipe her tears away, then turns to Telamon. "Tanith said it? What else did she say? She knows a whole lot more than she's letting on. Maybe you oughta tell us everything she said, before we go. While we've got a minute."
He doesn't let go of Andelena until she does, although the mobile half of his features are bright with curiosity.
"Tanith told me, 'He was peoples at some point'." Telamon smiles at Dolan and Andie, his expression warm. "I think she knew the key to unraveling him was to learn about his past, and draw on that. I'm glad you were the one to figure it out."
He straightens. "Trying to get coherent information out of Tanith can be... a little tricky. But maybe..." He furrows his brow, concentrating, his hands clasped in front of him.
As Telamon focuses on his hands, a fish appears in his hands and then. Wheeling out of nothing a flash of gold that lands neatly on his arm and quickly starts to devour the said fish. She - for it is indeed Tanith herself - doesn't look up until she's eaten the morsel. "Fish is good fish!" She declares happily.
Zeke had been gathering his wits after the arrival of the servant of Vardama, when Tanith appears out of nowhere and... Well the little golden beauty _is_ a dragon. However small. He wags his tail back and forth, sneaking a little closer to her. He won't touch, but he will get closer because she's so pretty…
Verna cannot help but grow a smile as she watches Dolan and Andelena, though she forces herself to stop short of thinking of someone -too- firmly. Not whilst in the dream. This is made easier that she feels ... lament(?) at the comments. Rather, that this is not the first time the vampire's past was mentioned, nor explored, and yet connections were not fully made until now. Perhaps the original impetus was even from Tanith? She does not recall, and now...
"Tanithariairisixchel," Verna greets politely, though she is not the bearer of fish. Nor -was- the bearer of fish, that is. She presumes that Telamon enticed her here to answer Dolan's inquiry more fully.
The little dragon's appearance has Andelena going from tears to pleasant laughter, a wide smile finding her face. "Hello, golden one," she says. "Can you help us? I think there's fish in it for you if you do."
Dolan, too, brightens at the appearance of the little gold dragon, and laughs quietly, his burdens lightening even as he continues to hold Andelena. A thought flits through his head, and he glances up at Andelena - and a torc of a gold dragon with jade eyes, head on the left and tail on the right, appears around her neck, exactly as it appeared at Verna's wedding.
Surprised, he laughs again, and turns his attention from it to the real thing. "You _are_ beautiful," he says, frankly admiring. "But I've got a question for you. You said Kol was peoples at some point, and you told him something else. I'd love to know what else you said."
Telamon blinks as he summons a fish, and then Tanith pops in and eats it! "Well, I guess I should've expected that..." He can't help but chuckle, letting Tanith finish her snack before lifting her up to his shoulder again. "But yes. You were right, Tanith. The answer was in Kol's past after all. Thank you. But..." He looks wry. "My friend here has so many questions. Just as I did, and probably always will."
Tanith peers up as she finally finishes her fish and looks at Dolan. Blinks. "I've said a lot of things." She allows herself to be lifted to her rightful perch and delicately licks her claws. But there's wisdom in her tiny golden eyes and she suddenly sniffs. "I told the peoples that I don't like THOSE things." She points to the totem archly. "Cages are bad."
Zeke pauses a few inches from Telamon. He veritably looms over the other man. More than tall enough to look down at the little golden dragon now on his shoulder. He blink-blinks at Tanith. "But... They are chainssss on a very evil deity. Yessss? Ssssome thingsss are necesssssary."
GAME: Dolan rolls will: (10)+10: 20
"Indeed," Verna concurs with Zeke. "Cages are not pleasant, but some things should not be loosed upon the world." She approaches the others, who themselves congregate about Telamon and Tanith. "You stated something else about Kol, aside from that he was a person?" She attempts to aid, though is uncertain what was said and what Dolan asks, specifically. She -does- know that there are other imminent concerns that remain and looks to Dolan. "This is to aid in the search, yes?"
"Yeah, I generally agree with you--unless you're saying there's an alternative to chaining the Hound," Andelena murmurs, but Verna's sentiment is one she seems to agree with. "What the Mourner said, little gold-blur." That's a new term of endearment for Tanith.
Dolan doesn't answer. Instead, an image forms in their midst, an image of a great beast with glowing red eyes, in the darkness. Around him, thirteen statues face one another in a circle. From each explodes a bloodied chain, and all of them anchor themselves, chaining the creature in place. It howls in rage -
And Dolan is left to stare at it , flesh and blood eye wide and staring, his breathing quickening. "No. It's not me. It's not me," he murmurs, over and over again. "It's what the statues do. That's it."
Telamon sternly stares at the image, before looking at Tanith. "We can argue the morality and ethics of containing a world-destroying psychopathic god at a later date. For now, we need to get to Kol's former hangout and make sure a friend of ours is all right. Would you mind helping us with that, in exchange for fish?"
He pauses, then sweetens the deal. "I'll ask Lana's aunt to do that fish-in-pastry dish we read about. I bet you'd love to try that."
Tanith's eyes practically glow at the offer. "I help!" She says happily, and there's a swirl of the world around them as the location changes. There's an odd jolt as the location changes. Something that makes your stomach flip and then you're suddenly THERE. Tanith purrs in satisfaction, already imagining her fish. She doesn't seem to notice the two piles of clothing on the floor mixed with ash.
Someone - it looks like Kol maybe, by the black clothing, had pushed back the curtain and now it's askew. His clothing a pile on the ground and behind it... Another pile of clothing. A white eye patch laying incongruously near the chains. A line of light reaching toward it, but falls just a little short.
Zeke starts to utter a warning, remind Telamon that Dolan should - not - go to that place, but it's too late. He has two thoughts after his stomach catches up with him. The first is despair, the second is horror. He grasps Telamon by the arm and points to Dolan. "We mussst get him out of here!" He himself moves toward Dolan. Thrumming low in his throat in the hopes of distracting him from the reality of where they are.
GAME: Dolan rolls will: (12)+10: 22
Andelena looks at the chains, the white eyepatch--and then at the pile of clothes. Both of them. Her eyes widen as she takes it in. "Shit," she murmurs. "Shit, /no/--"
She looks back to Dolan, taking his hand. "Bry--Bry, babe, look at me, we're okay," she says. She can't protect him--he can't protect her--but she can lead him out of the dark.
Verna did not expect Telamon to make such a direct request of Tanith. She perhaps -should- have expected Tanith to be abrupt and unpredictable in her he-uurp. Before she can comment, they are translocated. She should be more accustomed to it, really, but she is most accustomed to being the one doing the translocating. After her viscera reposition themselves properly, she looks around, and blinks.
Clothes. Ash. Thus... he was released in spirit and Daeus' light claimed him? That there is more than one set is a concern, but before she can comment,or even extrapolate, Zeke is-right. Dolan. Of course he would not wish to be here. "Yes, we should leave." There may be nothing for them to do here at this moment.
Dolan fairly staggers as the world lurches, dragging him from an image of secondhand horror - and into one that is all too real and all too familiar. He drops to a knee, and it takes him a minute to regain his feet, but he looks around - and sees the piles of ash and clothing. _Yes! He's really gone!_ He's about to fistpump, one fist clenching at his side in vicious victory, but he recalls the need to remain quiet, and instead looks around some more.
Euphoria and relief give way to whiplash as his eyes fall on the second set of clothing by the wall of chains - and by the wall of chains itself, covered in blood, stone and chains alike. He is transfixed by the latter, and offers no resistance to Andelena, nor indeed a response to anyone present. He simply stands still, as if frozen, eyes wide.
"Oh, shit."
Telamon has precisely enough time to realize what a bad idea this might be just as Tanith translocates them. Then he sees the pile of black clothing, and there's a surge of relief -- it worked! -- but then his eyes travel onward as well. A familiar eyepatch, and another pile of clothing.
"Blessed Lady, Highest One Eli, may you welcome your servant, and if it please ye, return her to us when we call her back to the lands of Ea," he prays. And then he touches everyone, and incants, "Kaskal, nu siten, ula'ulla!" There's a flash of white light wrapping around them, and they are carried away by his spell.
GAME: Telamon casts Teleport. Caster Level: 13 DC: 22 GAME: Telamon rolls 1d100: (50): 50
-End