”I am indeed.” he said, gladly.

I am DONE, Jezzika. Done. No more. I don't want any of this anymore. Leave me alone.

You stupid man. I could destroy you with a thought.

Will you though? Maybe that's what I want. 

T'Vauz has plans for you that you couldn't possibly fathom.

I miss you. I miss the way you used to be. Sweet. Caring. Beautiful. Even as a drow - our two worlds that would never meet - your voice, your touch. You are all a man could ever want. Clever. Intelligent. But the promise of power changed you. The Elder Gods have shown you things that have literally bent your mind and your will. And now you heard my call, my call for knowledge, for learning, for more, and they heard me. But this is NOT the way I imagined I would obtain it. Keep your cosmic secrets. I don't want to be your student any longer.

Listen to yourself. Weak. Foolish. Your arrogance and your actions have alienated you. Even now you shake like a cold child yearning for a sip of poison.

Jasun looked at his small container. It made his heart race with anticipation. He brought it to his lips and chugged deeply. After a few moments he felt warm, and his hands stopped shaking, like a beast momentarily at bay.

More. Give me more. I'm thirsty.

Oh, i'll give you more, you whelp. Perhaps it's time for another lesson? Then the bottle will fill. Come.

Something distracted Jasun. In the bottles faint reflection. His hair. He had grey. What!?

"My hair.." he said out loud, absently touching it. "My.."

No. What is happening to me. He wanted to run. He wanted to escape. Every moment that went by he became weaker in mind. He remembered Nadya. He looked at her, searching for something he no longer had. She did not return his gaze. Jezzika. This was all her fault. He looked at his clothes, worn, dirty. Uncivilized. 

He turned away from the group for a moment, seething internally. 

Jezzika. 

This was all your fault. YOU did this. All in the name of T'Vauz. His breath quickened a bit. 

No. I am not ready for my next lesson. I am done.

You are done when I SAY you are done, you WEAK excuse for a man.

Jasun smiled. He would rebel. He would trick her. Yes. 

Very well, Jezzika. 

This time it was he who was laughing.

Though the same realization sunk in for Zaf, the Owlakocra had been hesitant to act. There was no clear fear or any kind of panic in either actions or muttered words. Rather, he is quiet and more contemplative than fully nervous over the situation. 'It is his choice. She would not wish for me to interfere.It is for-...' He doesn't get much further along that line of thinking before Sera's shout jolts him out off it.

Soon Jasun is being pulled the last few feet out of the pit, and Zaf is standing back, no longer fidgeting with the odd divine focus. Just standing there awkwardly looking sort of relieved over the Wood Elf's choice, as much as someone of his species can seem anything without full on singing in delight. "If we are ready then, I will take point. And when we do reach the surface, perhaps we shall celebrate our success with a long overdue bonfire." He expressed almost gleefully while fluttering back the way they came, or a promising new path.

"That sounds de-" Jasun said to Bird Person, smiling, ignoring the screams of Jezzika in his mind.

For a moment, everything went dark, and a horrible gut wrenching feeling ripped him from the Prime Material to..someplace else.

In the blink of an eye he found himself - or what felt like himself - on a road at nighttime. A single road, no others, stretching on each way forever. To his left and right were flat, grassy fields, and he didn't recognize where he was - but in the middle of nowhere. Looking up, the slow gravitational pull of a galaxy that took up the entire night sky made - wherever he was - rotate at a faster than usual pace. It was beautiful, and for a moment, he forgot about what he thought was going to happen next.

His heart pounded.

In the distance, a singular structure that he couldn't make out very well stood out, and nearby, a woman with white hair. Miles away, she spoke to him in his mind.

I know what you're trying to do. How stupid do you think I am.

On a scale of one to ten?

Silence. You will submit or I will do terrible, awful things to her. And more.

Jezzika, I swear, if you touch her...

Jasun blinked, and Jezzika - or a representation of her - was standing next to him. Her mouth closed, she spoke.

You'll do what?

What more could you TAKE from me? Haven't you done enough? I do not WISH to be a Herald. Through my actions, I have nearly ruined my relationships with these..PEOPLE..I travel with..all of them, all because T'Vauz told me so. The rest..they SAY they care. Perhaps. Perhaps not. You have taken away my hope, Jezzika. I cannot do, nor want to do what you WANT me to do. But, one of them is finally beginning to understand me. She sees me for who I AM inside! The person I WANT to be. And Gods above, she wants to keep me company after everything I have told her. Shown her. The rest could care less, i'm sure. It shows. You will do NOTHING to her. Or..to them. They are all innocent, Jezzika! This..game..we are playing. I began it, yes, but..it is between YOU and ME!

Fool. It is NOT a game. I do not care, nor have time, for your feelings, my love. This path you take without ME is dangerous. Heed my warning. Do not persist in your deviation. I am required elsewhere. Foolish meddlesome mortals in Aetharis have breached the Grim Hallow and somehow entered Umbra's reality. I must take care of them. When I squash them like bugs I will check up on you, and, if you have not seen reason by then, I will agonize your soul until all the stars in this galaxy have burnt out. Then, I will make sure your friends regret ever speaking to you.

Jezzika! No! Leave them ALON-!"

"..lightful." he finished, but the smile on his face was gone.

He felt gone for a while, but to everyone else beside him, it was impossibly short.

Rose watches Jasun with a wary look that continues into being worried glances as they made their way back up to the surface. With what he shared prior, it was easy to connect why he had done what he done, seeing that death may have been the only way out of his situation. It very well might have been with the attitude he carried towards it, but Rose held faith that there was another, safer way of removing himself from Jezzika's grasp. Jasun was smart, he would think of something, she was sure, and even if he didn't believe she cared, Rose would be there to assist in anyway she could, even if their time together was limited. 

After the destruction of the tree that had killed her beloved pet weasel, the cleric felt a little more at peace, but she still carried that worry on her shoulders regarding the warlock. I should check on him, she tells herself. I have to. To make sure.

She would approach him tentatively, reaching out to touch his shoulder prior to second guessing herself and retracting the hand back. "Jasun?" She would call softly. "S-sorry... I just... wanted to check on you... if you'll let me. I-it'll be quick, I promise. I'll be out of your hair..." Is that a gray hair? "Um, soon enough... How are you feeling?"

"A tad bit older, and none the wiser, i'm afraid!" Jasun admitted, adding a nervous laugh to the joke. He seemed a bit distracted. He fumbled in his pack while Rose was near, as if looking for something. He stopped when Rose didn't move away. "Sorry. Yes. Hello, Rose, my dear. What can I do for you?" he said pleasantly.

Guess it's not a mimosa. Jirel would shrug. She'd uncap the healing potion and chug it back herself.

Healing: 6

Jirel too becomes a spectator in Jasun's internal conflict with himself, forced to watch as he'd make his decision. For similar reasons, it would not have mattered what actions the barbarian took. She had faded from existence to him long ago. Her words mattered not, for she hadn't even a sliver of his respect to even be addressed by name any more. So there she stood with a heavy heart only able to hold on to the hope that his recent switch in bond with Sera was enough to pull him from his sorrows. Hopefully he hears her. Sees her.

The destruction of the willow allowed the goliath to take out her suppressed emotions the best way she knew how: **** a tree up.

And as they watched the carnage burn, she would provide space for those to do what they did best, bond and heal. So, like the shadow she grew to be, the blonde would fall back to what she did best and how she did it best, watch over them from afar in her silence, but perhaps with a hint of a smile on her face. The barbarian held her position as sentry, bandaging her wounds.

SR heal I never did: 39

Rose frowns a bit at Jasun's self-deprecating joke, not having found it very funny. "I think you're pretty wise..." She murmurs to herself. The cleric notes his distracted demeanor as she watches Jasun fumble in his pack for something, wondering briefly what it was until he speaks to her again. "O-oh... I, um... I wanted to check on you. You were down there for a bit so... I'm wondering if, aside from the aging, something else is afflicting you. Well... aside from whatever else is afflicting you already, I mean... I-I want to help, if I can. You're not hurt anywhere are you? Do you need something?" 

"Ah. How kind of you!" Jasun smiles. "Hurt? I'm not sure. I don't think so. However, it would appear that obtaining the scale had some sort of effect on me, you see. I appear to have been aged a bit more rapidly than I preferred, and, for some reason, I cannot seem to quench my thirst for another alcoholic beverage." He continued to fumble in his pack. Perhaps Jezzika left him something, a gift. Just a little something. Just another sip. He had a throbbing headache and his hands were shaking again. He laughed nervously. "Gods, i'm so thirsty. Just another quick drink before we move on, shall we?" He grew a bit more frustrated as he couldn't find what he was looking for.

Rose's brows furrow when he admits his inability to quench his thirst for alcohol, further watching him as his hands begin to tremble, seemingly uncontrollably, as he continues to search through his bag. "Hey," She says softly, trying to get his attention on her again. If able to, the firbolg reaches out to him, for his hands, holding them in hers. "Look at me. You don't need the alcohol. It won't have a hold on you anymore, okay? ... I'm here for you."

As she spoke, she focused her magic to her hands, positive energy soon surging within Jasun to rid him of the need for another drink. After a moment, she asks, "... How about now? Does water sound more thirst quenching than alcohol? Want to rest your head for a while?"

"Yes.." Jasun breathed in relief. "Thank you, Rose. That was kind of you to do. Perhaps we could celebrate with a mimosa?" he paused for a moment, then smiled. "Just kidding." 

He glanced at Sera and winked.

Book Four: The Frozen Stars

From the ashes and chaos of the War of Heroes, a union emerged, Dragonkin and Triaxians banding together with righteous dragons to stand guard against the wicked tyranny of the Drakelands. From the windswept Parapets—mountains said to have sprung up from the corpses of the Great Ones, that they might continue to guard their comrades even in death—the dragons and dragonriders of the Skyfire mandate continue their ancient alliance. Theirs is a bond of trust, honor, and friendship—and should it ever falter, all the lands of Triaxus shall fall beneath the drakelands’ lash.

Once again, you place the keys into the cauldron and stir, activating the magic that allows the hut to travel from place to place. You feel that brief sense of euphoria as the hut shifts.

Area A1

The wooden walls of the hut disappear, replaced by large windows set in delicate iron traceries that look out in all directions over a wide, gloomy garden. Thick clouds hang unnaturally low over overgrown stands of trees, barren flower beds, and white pebble paths. The sky and distant landscape seem peculiarly artificial, almost as if they were part of a faded and blurry watercolor painting. A large iron cauldron sits atop a round, marble-topped table surrounded by four white wooden chairs in the center of this circular room. A set of framed stained-glass doors to the south provide the only exit.

Area A5

Several flat-topped tree stumps stand amid thick grass in this clearing, hinting that this place was once as thickly forested as the surrounding wood. On one of the stumps is a cat.

"Oh this can't be good." Jasun predicts, then looks around. "Did we just teleport to someplace else..?"

"We deed. Eet appears that we weel hef to explore the hut and find a way out again."

Sera blinks at the cat. "Uh. Hi there?"

"I'm just gonna ask what, i'm sure, is on everyone's mind, but..what is a cat doing here?" Jasun asks what's on everyone's mind.

The cat speaks back to Seraphina. "I am Syvet. Who are you and how did you get into the Dancing Hut?"

"..and it talks."

Long Rest Before:

During the wee hours of dawn following the great bonfire of revenge, Zaf awoke just early enough to see... likely nothing but an overcast sky. Yet within his memories, however, he could imagine the stars beyond the veil, and in the quiet, sense the ebb and flow of the life force that made up the greater whole. Or perhaps it was just that. Imaginings. There were few things of certain of late, and as things progressed, a fear and excitement over this being all the more true plagued the usually calm Owlakocra.

Eventually, Zaf cannot help but pull out the star map; a very pliable stretch of wood that once unfurled faintly squirmed at times as if 'alive'.  With great care it is stretched out along the ground before him. Antsy-ness turned to confusion, and confusion soon turned into concern upon realizing one of the patterns were 'off' for some reason. As he read again the greater whole and the message hidden between the lines, ease returns as a long thought of dark sign had shifted towards the positive in the greater reading.

It would not last, he knew instinctively, but a fate had been deterred, if only for the quote on quote moment. "Hm? What's this as well? It looks-..."

LR Weal or Woe Roll: 6. (Woe it is for today!)

Present:

Zaf blinks, and as he did so, a liveliness returned to his visage. "... We saw Frost Giant with horse legs... and a past, present, and future self of our foe.. a talking cat seems fairly mundane, all things considered." He'd say, squinting and rubbing forehead. "Where are... we are in the hut, yes? And this one.. asked a question... okay...uhm... the answer is... the front door, Ms... Sveta?" Zaf says plainly.