"The Shady Corner calls me home!" Thalenir's voice resounds through the tavern. He appears in a flash of blue light, landing unsteadily and stumbling against a nearby table. He seems exasperated, quickly righting himself and dashing for the door, when he is suddenly overcome by pain. He cries out and falls to his knees, clutching his right arm. Draconic runes appear there, glowing like white-hot embers. The sleeve of his robe burns away in an instant.
Thalenir lifts his arm shakily to look at it, his face contorted in anguish. He reels for a moment. "…never meant to know…," he mutters incoherently, and collapses to the floor. The glow from the runes subsides, but they remain burned into his flesh.
Glimmer follows closely on the heels of Rasiri. When she sees Thalenir lying on the tavern floor, she runs to him and says "OH MY DEARY! Oh dear dear deary dear. Oh Thalenir. Please don't let your efforts be in vain." Glimmer places her hand, with one small ring, over Thalenir burned flesh and begins to incant "Light of the dawn, heal his pain!" (Heal 5) Glimmer waits to see if he stirs as she reaches in to her bag to prepare a salve, softly weeping and looking stricken with guilt. "STUPID BUNNY FOO FOO!" she yells, before slapping her hands over her mouth.
Taklinn looks to the tavern and hears Glimmer's frantic call. "Durned wizards!" He picks up the sack at his feet and mumbles quietly "When did I become the porter of Jastrey?!" He begins jogging with his load after he throws the sack over his shoulder. Once inside the Shady Corner he drops the sack to the ground (none too lightly) and begins nudging his booted toe into it before reaching down and picking up the sack again and shaking it fiercely and saying "Wake up ye dolt!" over and over again.
Glimmer looks at Rasiri and screams "RAS! Put that away and get away from him. That knife will do no good here." She then rushes to Grishal and pulls one of her small pouches from her bag. She hands it to Grishal and says "Grishal, I need you to focus. Wake up. Thalenir is hurt. Hurt badly. He needs Grishal fix. Can you help him? If you will, I'll give you the froggy in my pouch."
Grishal nods to Shiny Manners Lady and turns to Thalenir and begins to cast a healing spell without thinking twice. "Grishal Heal, Grishal.........," he begins, but stops abruptly and turns back to Glimmer. "Grishal not heal no more while dark man around. Grishal not want to be squished like froggy under Boss Takki-Sakks."
Grishal nods to everyone in turn until he see's Rasiri, and instinctively dives under the covers and curls up in a little ball. Stretching out a single arm and pointing in Rasiri's direction he whispers loudly, "Dark man... Grishal no heal... Grishal be good... Grishal no die..."
"OH BY GITHAL's FARTIN ARSE!" Taklinn exclaims in frustration. "Try to get that goblin to do some good fer once dear" he says to Glimmer. "And ye" he says to Rasiri, "Do us all a favor, go get Haven with me, and we will come back here to the porch. "No need in us bein' in here wastin all the good air that the wounded are likely to need. We're to stand vigil on the porch and we will let the healers deal with those that are wounded. I'd wager that it weren't a wind chime what we heard out there. We ain't gonna put the cart afore the ore in this, so lets deal with this problem afore we deal with the next."
Rasiri glances down at the arm VERY suspiciously and his hand lingers on the knife for a moment then he slips it back into his belt. "I vill go find heeer... I doooon't like the looks of that arm though... It es preventing megic and es veerrry senister..." Rasiri trails off as he spins around and leaves the tavern for the Healer's den.
Rasiri can hear a rythmatic tinging sound coming from the healers den. She sees Rasiri walk in hurridly and smiles very big. "I made this for y ou!!!" and hands him a pretty silver ring. Her smile fades when she can more clearly see Rasiri's face and realizes something is wrong.
Rasiri takes the ring and quickly slips it on, "Hafen ve haf a problem, Thalenir messed vith a book in the mages toooower und now he es uncontious on the tafern floor... ve must huurry..." Rasiri grabs Haven around the wrist gently and drags her off toward the Tavern in a hurry.
"Okay, okay!" Haven quickly grabs anything within reach including her effects and walks with Rasiri toward the tavern. Haven's expression turns from worried to ired the closer they get to the tavern. Rasiri can make out some of Haven's mumbles as, "Damn... rabbit..."
Haven pushes the tavern doors open and surveys the room. "What happened in here?" She quickly finds Thalenir and drops to her knees beside him. She seems to be checking him for signs of life then incants, "Light of the prime restore your body to whence it was before you died...." A bright white light pours from her hands. "You better not die before I have a chance to kill you..." She roughly grabs his familiarly marked arm.
Glimmer looks on as Haven begins to heal Thalenir. At the mention of her killing him, Glimmer lets out an uncontrollable giggle before slapping her hands over her mouth. She says "Haven, my apologies. I fear this is somewhat my fault. I just wanted to the book out of the tower and out of Jastrey. I tried to do it myself, but the stupid thing was just stuck to the durned podium. We sent for Thalenir. I'm in the middle of something that has to be done and I couldn't stay in their with him. If you are angry with anyone, direct it to me."
As Haven begins her incantation, the runes on Thalenir's arm begin to flicker. They rise off his body and dance just above the surface of his skin as Haven places her hands on his arm. Several of them glow brightly and jump from the mage to the disciple settling on her palm and working their way up to her shoulder creating a mirror of the pattern on Thalenir's.
The runes glow brightly one last time as they sear their image into Haven's arm and Thalenir begins to pick himself up off the floor.
Thalenir groans and opens his eyes wearily. "Wha…," he mumbles, squinting up at the people surrounding him. It seems to take him several moments to collect his thoughts. "Ah yes, the book." He rises to a sitting position and looks at his arm. "This I remember well. I thought I rid myself of the blasted thing in the Astral," he says, turning his attention towards Haven's arm, "That, however, is new. How did that happen? And for that matter, what's going on at the tower?"
Glimmer checks on Haven and then turns to Thalenir. "I have no idea what's going on at the tower. I came out with the rest. Well rather Taklinn drug me out with the rest. If you have on objections and are feeling okay, I'm going to go back and see about just that very thing. WHAT on earth was all that?" She then turns to Taklinn and says "Bring the sack and Grishal if you don't mind. It's time." She sends Taklinn a knowing look. "Thalenir if you could accompany us, I need you for one other thing. And no worries, I'm through with the damned book for now." She then turns to Rasiri and says "Stay here. And I mean it. He's scared. Let me get him home and taken care of." She stares at Ras, hoping he understands her meaning. Glimmer then sets out for the tower.
Thalenir rubs his eyes with his good hand, straining to remember the details. "I put the lock in the book. There was a burst of light, the tower shook, and the book chained itself to the pedestal. I tried to pull if off, but it wouldn't budge. Then I heard bells in the distance and a loud cry from within the tower. That's when I teleported here and… I don't remember much until just now."
He blinks deeply, trying to cast off the fog from his mind. "I'm sorry I'm not more helpful." He pauses, thinking for a moment, and furrows his brow. "There was one other thing. When I put the lock in the book, there was a split second when it felt as if I was back in the Astral." He looks down at his arm, puzzling. "I cast this curse off when I traveled there the first time. Perhaps my brief contact gave it enough opportunity to find me again. It's as good a theory as any, I suppose."
Thalenir's expression turns grim. "I'll not lie to any of you. This mark… these marks, are a curse originally laid on me by Scorch. They're an ancient and powerful form of dragon magic designed for one purpose: To engulf and kill those who bear them, as well as any standing near them at the time, at the whim of the dragon who cast it. I couldn't say whether or not we're safe to be near as long as we bear them."
Having said what he wanted to say, Thalenir nods at Glimmer and rises to leave with her, his legs still a bit shaky. He immediately notes the fiery look from Haven and smirks. "If you want to kill me, you'll just have to do it on the way."
Taklinn listens to all of the conversations while trying to catch up with Grishal and get him back in the bag. After upturning several tables trying to get to him, he says "Durned it!" He then grabs the bag and reaches in it and pulls out a hapf of a frog that fell out of Grishal's mouth in transport. Wagging it in the air like a toy to a puppy he says "Come on boy! Come an' get it! Ye know ye want it!" Once the goblin finally takes notice of the froggy, he tosses it into the bag and says "Go get it boy!"
Taklinn quickly closes is bag around Grishal and picks up the whole thing, putting the wiggling mess on his shoulder. He then walks out of the tavern and trots quickly to the Tower, eyeing suspiciously any shadows that he sees en route. Once inside the tower he meets up with the others and opens the bag for Grishal to get out. "The porter O Jastrey reports!" He says to the others before giving a "Bah! If'n yer needin' me, I'll be in the practice room sharpening me axes. I still dont like the noise we heared earlier."
Rasiri hears Thalenir call his all but famous incantation from the foot of the tower after watching it shake and shimmy, and wanting to know what happened he darts off toward the Tavern at top speed. As he arrives to see Thalenir collapsed on the ground he runs over to the prostrate mage and rolls him very gingerly over making sure not to touch the rune. "Thaleeenir are yoou okay?! Vat happened!?" He tries to communicate with the mage as he shouts for a healer.