After the battle

Kai's eyes open with a snap and his limbs jerk in reflex as he remembers the last image, a spectres hand reaching out and touching him, causing a cold feeling to spread from the touch around his body. Kai feels somewhat ... less ... then before as hands reach out to restrain him down, holding him firmly.

A familiar voice states with authority, "Kai Vendriss of Imprias, be still."

KAI

Kai shifts his eyes around, trying to get an idea of where he is, of what is going on. (Does he recognize the voice? I presume its Cas since he is the only one whom I have told of my home). Kai attempts to keep as still as possible, allowing his vision to roam to the extent of his peripheral vision on each side.

Sitting still, Kai's vision finally focus's and he notices a number of elves surrounding him. Cas, the mage (no longer naked), stands at the end of a bed that Kai is laying on and Kai realizes that his voice is the one that spoke. The remainder of the elves are unrecognizable, mostly wearing the metal breastplates that are so common amongst the elves. The sixth, and last, figure is an elf of advanced age who wears white robes with red symbols on them.

Cas, voice less demanding, states, "Good, you are reasonable, I was worried you would not be. Be still a little longer on your own and you will come too more fully."

Cas motions to the guards and their hands release Kai.

KAI

Kai tries to find his voice, but fails momentarily. He settles for a few deep breathing exercises that he uses to calm himself. Once he feels his heartbeat settle back into a smooth, slow pace, he again tries to speak, wincing internally as it comes out a harsh whisper.

"What happened? I remember those spiked monstrosities and the undead... And some sort of ghost or something, then... nothing."

Kai pauses for a moment as he sees the final moments of the battle replayed in his memory, remembers seeing the dead elf's spirit rise from its corpse.

"It feels as though a part of me is missing, stolen. I remember watching the spirit of one of your people rise up after the ghost touched him."

"Ah, good, you can talk as well, and asking questions with merit. This is pleasing news."

Cas motions the guards away and they leave the room. The elf in the white robe moves to a chair on the far side of the room and sits, saying nothing. Cas comes over and sits next to Kai on the bed.

"As for your questions, I will answer them as best I can in the order I see fit."

Pausing for breath for a moment, Cas then continues.

"The undead are gone. The attack was a total surprise and if your friends hadn't blundered into it, we would have been caught totally off guard. Your large friend dispatched almost all of the smaller undead, but they were just diversions anyways, I believe. The real point of the attack, I think, was to gather more undead."

"The skeletons and zombies you faced were very old, and very weak. Whomever sent them was getting rid of them in a productive way. There were a couple undead called wights within the group. These and the spectre, the spirit as you put it, were probably sent to make more of themselves. This is part of their dark power, they have the ability to drain away the lifeforce of those they kill, creating more of themselves. The others I have never seen before, but considering what they did, gathering the corpses, I figure they were sent to get new corpses to replace the old that were dispatched. Your friends managed to take one down after your were felled and I examined it. It is not truly undead, but a construct designed for this specific purpose."

"The reason you feel the way you do, and what worried me the most, was that the touch of the spectre drained away your lifeforce, to a fairly significant degree. You will rebuild it, over time, but there is little you can do in the meantime but recover."

A thoughtful look crosses the face of Cas for a second before disappearing, replaced by a solemn look.

"I am sorry to say that your friends, both the large and the small one, did not survive the fight. The spectres had continued to make more spawn of the remaining paralyzed elves and they had surrounded us. After you went down, the little one hid behind the big one and attempted to support his friend from there. As the big one brought down the construct, it fell on him, and he on his small friend, holding both in place. The spectres jumped on the opportunity and drained their force. The large one's spirit was removed and became a spectre. The little one ... well that was something strange we can talk about later."

"At this point there was only you, me and Vrend left alive, with you down. I erected a barrier around us to protect us as long as it could. The remaining three constructs collected all the dead they could and then just left, the spectres not far behind. Their actions were curious, as was the attack, and more then a little troubling."

"Now, one more question, if you have one, from you before you return to sleep to gather your energy."

KAI

Kai thinks to himself for a moment, digesting Cas' words.

Krod, Korwin gone. It was a shame. We may have had differences, but they were reliable companions.

"You mentioned that this attack was unexpected? I think you.."

Kai thinks to himself for a moment and then continues.

"Rather, We may have a problem brewing. It has been my experience that when you start seeing undead minions and constructs in the same place, there is usually a caster involved.... no offense, of course. Given how formidable those constructs were.... it is likely someone of significant power. Are there any other enemies that this encampment has beyond the Red Scorpion Army and its leader?"

Cas pauses for a moment, thinking.

"As with most nations or people we have many enemies and many friends. The Army of the Red Scorpion is our most tangible threat, as they are the closest, best led and best supplied, but are not the only one."

"But none of the enemies we know about use forces of undead to do their bidding. Add to this fact that this encampment is the most recently built and, we thought, unknown. Add to these facts that to the southwest of here, where our trackers found the force came from before returning, is the Cali Ocean."

"While a necromancer, or raiser of the undead, are not common and tend towards keeping to themselves, they are powerful workers of magic because of this social reluctance. But most users of magic tend towards one of two paths. One path, like mine, is to learn as much about as many fields as you can without specializing. The other is to focus on one path, like necromancy or illusion. Not many mages have the where-with-all to focus on two paths. This presents two issues. One, if this is a single person who has the power and knowledge of two paths to create a base of undead AND very powerful constructs, then we are in serious trouble. Two, and far more likely, we have a pair of mages working together who follow differeing paths. This is just as troublesome."

"Now, Kai Vendriss of Imprias, sleep and regain your energy. We have much more to talk about and a path ahead for you that I think may speed the recovery of what you lost."

Kai, who was having trouble staying awake for this long, nods and falls quickly asleep.

Later, Kai awakens, more peacefully this time. Still in the room where he talked with Cas, Kai looks around to notice the room is empty. Feeling weak but better then before, Kai is able to stand with little help from the surrounding furniture, a few chairs, a desk, as well as the wooden footboard of the bed itself. Kai notices the room has two doors, one of the left of the bed on the opposite wall, closed, and one to the right of the bed on an adjoining wall, slightly open. Before he is able to take his first step, however, a lovely familiar voice issues from the door to the right.

"I hear some movement. Are you finally awake?"

KAI

A small smile graces Kai's face at the sound of the voice.

"Aye, apparently someone has seen fit to keep me around."

Kai carefully lets go of the furnture, ready to grab it immediately if needed, and takes a couple of steps alongside, testing his strength.

"I hope that you weathered the attack without harm?"

Kai makes that statement more of a question. As he moves around, he glances around for any sign of his equipment.

(is he still in his armor or just clothing at this point?)

((Kai is dressed in simple red and white attire, standard clothing. His equipment is not in sight.))

"Oh, the battle never reached the encampment itself, although we lost a large number in the attack. Of the score or so who engaged the undead, only Cas and Vrend lived. And you, for which I am glad."

From out of the door comes Viola. She is carrying a metal bowl filled with water with two washclothes inside. The water has a small rising of steam coming from it. Kai notices behind Viola is a washroom of some sort.

Viola smiles brilliantly at Kai before continuing.

"Now, back into bed. I have work to do."

KAI

Kai cannot help but smile as he carefully walks around the bed, and lays back on it. As the weight of her words sinks in, the smile fades to seriousness.

"I only wish that I had been able to do more... to have helped more to survive. I am sorry that you have lost so many."

Viola smiles sadly as she takes a washcloth from the metal basin and starts to gently sponge Kai's arms and legs, where the clothing does not cover.

"I appreciate your words, but they have little merit. You did as much as you were able to do for a people you didn't know. Your actions speak louder then your words ever could. As for losing so many, every life lost is a travesty and we have lost too many since Abjuran starting his campaign. They died protecting us and we honor them for their deeds."

Viola finishes washing and hands the second washcloth to Kai with a small grin.

"Since you are awake, you can wash the rest of yourself. I will go and get some food for you, as Cas said you would probably be hungry. You have slept for three days and haven't eaten in atleast that long."

Viola stands and walks towards the door, opening it before turning back. She seems about to speak before walking through the door, closing it behind her.

KAI

Understanding now, at least in part, why he feels so weak, Kai nods in gratitude.

"I am just grateful for the kindness that you... all of you.. have shown me. It is a... new experience for me. Where I come from, people are not so... caring."

As Viola walks through the doorway, Kai finds that, for a moment, when she seemed about to speak, he had stopped breathing.

Odd... Pull yourself together Kai. You need your wits about you, especially now.

After Viola exits the room, Kai strips off the clothing that he is wearing and, with as much speed and efficiency as he can muster in his weakened state, sets himself to the task of cleaning the rest of himself. Once finished, he re-dresses and sits on the bed, reclining against the pillows, trying very, very hard not to think about the recent battle and its results.

As Kai lays on the bed, trying not to think of recent events, his body has other demands that need to be met. His movements were slow and purposeful, but he was still as tired as a day old pup, and the drain of all the movement slowly pulled Kai back down into sleep.

Kai finds himself standing in the dark. No light can be seen.

KAI

Kai strains to hear any sound around him. Crouching low to the surface he is on, he carefully sweeps his hands along what should be the floor or ground, seeing if he comes into contact with anything.

Even though Kai is standing on something, when he kneels down to touch the floor, nothing touches his fingertips.

A sense of wrongness enters Kai's body. Kai feels like he is being watched, and the watcher is not very happy.

KAI

"I can feel you out there. Show yourself."

Feeling the absence of his weapons, Kai draws himself into a defensive crouch, recalling the various brawls that he has engaged in over the years, again straining for any sound that may betray the presence of who is out there.

This has to be a dream.... Now if I can only wake up!

A strange voice emanates from the darkness, so high pitched Kai can barely hear it. It chills Kai's skin and rattles his thoughts.

"flesruoy wohs." A small pause. "ereht tou uoy leef nac i."

The feeling seems to get closer, and Kai finds himself afraid.

KAI

Kai's head hurts trying to comprehend the words. Then it clicks into place as he realizes what was said.

"Clever, reversing my words back to me."

As the feeling of dread increases, Kai waits to see if the same thing happens again.

Perhaps its some kind of distorted echo...in reverse?!?

The same high pitched voice returns, saying, "em ot kcab sdrow ym gnisrever revelc."

The feeling of dread becomes overwhelming, preventing any movement.

KAI

Kai shrinks back from the sense of growing dread, eyes wide, uselessly scanning the darkness for any sign of what is inspiring such fear, to terrified to move from his spot... wherever it is.

The feeling of dread passes as Kai shoots to a sitting position in the bed. Quickly regaining his focus and losing his fear, Kai scans the room to see he is alone. A bowl of stew with bread sits on the desk next to him, a note underneath.

KAI

After spending a few minutes calming himself, Kai allows himself to relax slightly.

I don't think I screamed from that... or if I did, at least nobody is coming running...
What the hell was that?!?

Looking at the desk, Kai notices the bowl and note. Gently sliding the note from underneath, he unfolds and reads through it.

The note reads,

"Kai,

You were asleep when I returned, so here is your food. Sleep well, we shall talk again, I am sure.

Oh, Cas stopped by and stated that when you awoke, he wished to speak with you. If you leave your room, you can find him down the hallway to the left, in the second door on the right.

Viola"

KAI

Finishing the note, Kai brings the it closer to his face, inhaling the faint traces of Viola's scent. Carefully placing the note on the table, folded, he sits up on the side of the bed and picks up the bowl, taking care to not spill any of it. Carefully, Kai eats the stew, taking care not to spill it on himself. He uses the bread to sop up what is left. Once finished, he places the bowl back onto the table, takes the note, and tests his footing to determine whether or not he is capable of unassisted walking.

Here goes nothing. I just need to focus.

Once on his feet, Kai checks his garments for any pockets, someplace that he can store the note. If there is no such place, he folds it smaller and keeps it lightly grasped in his right hand, palmed and out of sight against any casual observer.

Assuming that he is able to walk without falling on his face, Kai exits the room into the left hallway, carefully and quietly walking to the second door on the right. Arriving before it, Kai knocks gently.

The voice of Cas echoes forth from behind the wooden door.

"Enter Kai Vendriss of Imprias, and behold the wonders of my mighty magic."