Red Matrimony
The day, at long last, has finally come for Cor'ethil and Karasu to wed.
They'd chosen a quiet and small family holding in Llyranost to have it. While Corey wanted, originally, to invite all the friends and allies they'd made along the way in Alexandria, a certain family member's recent ascension and a certain enemy sniffing about determined that a closed-off guest list was necessary. Only the Cari'thana family bears witness to the ceremony...
Plus Karasu's kitsune ancestor, Kiku-no-Musoku, better known as Kiku, and a certain Archmage. (Sadly, the Archmage's other half--also an archmage--had to tend to Theatre District matters up against tight deadlines for show debuts.) But everyone's dressed in their finest, with Kiku wearing long blue robes of his homeland, as black, the traditional color of grooms in Xian weddings, is reserved for...
Cor'ethil and Karasu, who are wearing matching black robes indeed. It being a blended Llyranesi and Xian ceremony, they are combining the classic curuchuil garden ceremony with a Xian wedding ceremony, and so the two walk up the path together, stopping short of a beautiful display that has hundred of little folded paper cranes hanging from string. In front of the display is Faphinae, Cor'ethil's mother and de facto officiant, with a small sapling of a tree in a little ceramic pot--a temporary home--next to her.
And so they begin to exchange the first of their vows, with Cor'ethil's eyes shining in love for his beloved and Karasu reciting his own vows to him.
Then comes Kiku with a large bottle of sake and a set of three cups in increasing size. "Now!" he says happily. "For the three-three-nine ceremony. The grooms will drink from the cups that I pour and pass the cups to each other." He pours first into the small cup, pretending to pour for the first two times but pouring for the third time, before he hands it to Karasu for him to imbibe and pass.
Telamon decided he'd show the appropriate respect and appreciation for this ceremony, by garbing himself in the formal robes he'd last worn at his own wedding. His garments are a deeper blue, like a night sky, adorned with sparkles of light. Long, flowing sleeves give the impression of wings, perhaps, and a broad gray sash is wrapped around his waist. His expression is serene, with just a touch of a smile. After all, while Lana may not be here -physically-, Telamon is more than happy to show her what he's seeing.
One eyebrow rises fractionally at the 'three three nine' ceremony, but hopefully Kiku isn't playing a prank. He wouldn't put it past the impish kitsune, but then again... this is supposed to be a joyous day, and Kiku loves his descendant too much to cause -too- much trouble.
Karasu accepts the cup reverently from his ancestor, drinking from the cup of the sake before passing it to Cor'ethil. He has a small smile on his lips as well, his eyes offering the devotion that lies within his heart for the man that he had folded these paper cranes for.
He accepts the second cup, this one symbolizing the present, and drinks a small portion of the cup before passing it to Cor'ethil, the cup shared between them nine times until it is gone. The last cup of sake has Karasu's cheeks looking quite rosy as he accepts it from Kiku, this having to be poured from a new container since the previous one was empty. He tastes this sake and his eyes widen slightly, this cup is meant to symbolize the future, and he throws it to the ground before Cor'ethil can touch it, wobbling forward a half step, his eyes looking dazed and unfocused. "P-po-" His lips are turning blue.
Suddenly the area erupts in chaos as flames lick around the edges of the clearing.
Cor'ethil is wide-eyed as he looks at Karasu. The single syllable Karasu manages to utter gets completed by the paladin: "Poison?" he asks--
And then Cor'ethil's family members are mobilizing. His twin sister is present, already providing incantations to prevent the curuchuil grove from being set aflame, as is Cor'ethil's father--a soft-spoken and shy man who has personally tended to the grove for a century. It's Faphinae who glares at the flames, lifting a hand and allowing her rapier to form within it. "Akimitsu Sori. Is that you, come to crash this occasion at the last minute?"
Cor'ethil rushes to take Karasu up in his arms, keeping his beloved from falling to the ground.
Telamon's eyes go wide, and he can't help himself -- he rushes forward as well, robes flowing around him like a stormcloud. With the flames leaping up, he glances back, reaching under his robes to pull out -- his haversack? Cunningly hidden beneath the garb. "Corey, work on Karasu. I've got some antitoxin, but I suspect it's going to come down to your paladin blessings to cure him."
The sorcerer reaches into his haversack, and pulls out a long staff of oak, capped with a gorgeous rose blossom at the top. "I think her Majesty and I are going to tend to some business," Telamon says in a cool, hard tone.
There's no sign of Sori himself, but a man steps out of the forest nearby, wreathed in flames of unholy origin. He smiles cruelly. "We came at Sori's call, but he need not show himself I think."
An aura of dread spreads outwards from the fiend who wears a man's clothes. Worse than dread - evil. He points summons a whip and a sword with a snap of his fingers and strides toward the pair even as another fiend - this one wreathed in chains and looking entirely like the fiend it is, steps behind him toward the paladin and Karasu.
GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+15+6: (14)+15+6: 35 GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+19+8: (11)+19+8: 38 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+17: (5)+17: 22 GAME: Corey rolls 38d6: (140): 140 GAME: Corey casts Greater Angelic Aspect. Caster Level: 15 DC: 18 GAME: Telamon casts Suffocation/Quicken. Caster Level: 20 DC: 30 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+29: (8)+29: 37 GAME: Telamon rolls sorcerer+4: (17)+20+4: 41 GAME: Telamon casts Disintegrate/Persistent. Caster Level: 20 DC: 29 GAME: Telamon rolls ranged: (15)+17: 32 GAME: Telamon rolls sorcerer+4: (11)+20+4: 35 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+29: (5)+29: 34 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+29: (11)+29: 40 GAME: Telamon rolls 5d6: (21): 21
Faphinae snarls as the chained demon approaches herself, her son, and her son's (very nearly) husband. "You're not getting near us."
She lifts a hand and incants, resulting in a sickly green beam of light shooting out at the chained demon. Her magic scores quite the blow, chipping away at the fiend's very being, but their infernal enemy is still alive (and some definition of well).
Cor'ethil, meanwhile, is holding Karasu tightly in his arms. He's forced to choose between immediately laying hands on Karasu or to try and protect those around him... Including his beloved... with a holy aura to counteract the fiendish influence. He opts for the latter. He murmurs an incantation that sees wings emanating out of his back in holy light.
Well, can't let Her Majesty have all the fun. Telamon's star-shot eyes regard the demon wrapped in a human form, and his lip curls in disdain. "Begone, slave of Maugrim. I do not know what Akimitsu Sori has promised you, but your life is forfeit should you tarry." He raises a fist, and clenches it -- and drives the breath from the fiend's lungs, if only for a moment.
Then another spell lashes out, piercing the fiend's defenses, but the beam only gouges a shallow wound across the demon's chest. "Begone," Telamon repeats, his voice echoing. "I have no fear of you."
GAME: Corey rolls Strength: (12)+1: 13 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+9: (20)+9: 29
The chain-wearing demon grasps hold of Karasu and tears him bodily from Cor'ethil's grasp. Karasu doesn't even utter a noise as he's dragged into the fiend's arms and the fiend leaps backwards uttering something in it's foul tongue to the other fiend and hurrying away from Cor'ethil.
The man-like fiend opens a gate behind his fellow demon and backs toward it, covering his fellow evil being from pot-shots by the spellcasters.
GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+19+8: (5)+19+8: 32 GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+19+8: (18)+19+8: 45 GAME: Corey casts King's Castle. Caster Level: 15 DC: 18 GAME: Telamon casts Banishment/Persistent. Caster Level: 20 DC: 29 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+13: (10)+13: 23 GAME: Telamon casts Dimensional Anchor/Quicken. Caster Level: 20 DC: 29
Faphinae's silver eyes flare with annoyance and rage, and she intones another eldritch incantation, lifting her hand and twisting it sharply as powerful magic seeps into the area where the fiends are close together. "You aren't going _anywhere_," she hisses.
Meanwhile, Cor'ethil sees his beloved... And he makes a calculated risk. He's an exceedingly good chess player. So he does what he'd do in any tight game of chess. He murmurs a prayer--
And suddenly, he's the one in the fiend's grasp. Karasu is back over on the ground, where Kiku is murmuring protective spells over the sake. "O, Tarien, may this sake be protected in your eyes so that it does not catch fiAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH oh, hi Karasu!" Yes, he's a little easy to startle... Seemingly.
Telamon's eyes grow hooded as these fiends are... resisting. And attempting to steal Karasu -- which figures. He really needs to do something permanent to Akimitsu Sori at some point. But, there's work to be done. When Corey transposes himself and Karasu, Telamon takes the opportunity to... strike at Karasu with a greenish beam of energy that leaves a shimmer in its wake. "Sorry, Karasu," he mutters. "But they won't be taking you anywhere by gate this way, even if they can get clear of the lock."
That done, he turns his gaze to the first irritant. The chain-fiend. Telamon takes a deep breath, and raises his hand. His voice echoes, rolling like thunder in the skies. "I abjure thee, creature of the Iron Hells. Return to your appointed cell." His eyes suddenly flash with brilliant, blue-white starlight. "BEGONE!" There's a sudden flash, and then the chain-fiend is just -gone-. Like he was never there at all.
GAME: Telamon rolls melee+2: (12)+16+2: 30 GAME: Telamon rolls 1d6+2+6: (4)+2+6: 12 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (11)+26: 37 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d4+7+1d6: (3)+7+(2): 12
The fiend in the shape of a man steps up an eager expression on his face. "We were given permission to kill him if we couldn't take him - an option I much prefer." His eyes light with red light but he gets bonked on the head by Telamon's staff and his fury turns on Telamon, his whip lashing out at the sorcerer and would normally entangle him but Telamon is too wily for that effect.
GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+23: (2)+23: 25 GAME: Corey spends ONE use of SMITE EVIL. GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2: (8)+24+4+2: 38 GAME: Corey rolls damage1+30: aliased to 1d6+8+30: (6)+8+30: 44 GAME: Telamon casts Shield/Quicken. Caster Level: 20 DC: 26 GAME: Telamon rolls sorcerer+11: (5)+20+11: 36 GAME: Telamon casts Telekinetic Sphere. Caster Level: 20 DC: 29 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (9)+26: 35 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+21: (19)+21: 40 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+16: (11)+16: 27 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (9)+26: 35 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+21: (19)+21: 40 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+16: (11)+16: 27
Faphinae finally decides to attack with her rapier, sauntering forward. "Let's dance," she says dangerously, and she attacks.
While her attack misses, it provides Cor'ethil an opportunity as he prays to Gilead, landing down onto the ground from where the disappearing fiend had held him before its timely banishment. He's thankful for this moment that he and Karasu had decided to wear their weapons and armor with their robes. There was always a chance of this happening.
He rises up from the ground, drawing his rapier as he takes off in the sky, and he lands next to the man-shaped fiend, attacking him with a powerful, Gilead-blessed thrust of his blade. "For the Light!" he bellows, in defense of the gods of light.
Well, this is less than ideal. Telamon is no fighter. Or perhaps he is, but his weapons are magic, not blades. Still, the staff is light and sure in his hands, and his wound is minor. Quickly, Tel incants another spell, creating a shield for himself. Then he flicks one hand, as if preparing to cast, before stepping to the side a pace and spitting out another spell. Abruptly, a sphere of force pops around the unconscious Karasu, a hexagonal pattern that protects the man.
"Well, this is going poorly for you, now isn't it?" His voice is contemptuous. "Your ally banished; your prey protected; and now we're going to beat eleven kinds of stupid out of you." His eyes glitter with intent. "I hope it was worth it. I am -so- looking forward to the discussion with Akimitsu Sori."
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+21: (9)+21: 30 GAME: Karasu rolls 2d6+13: (5)+13: 18 GAME: Karasu rolls 2d6+13: (4)+13: 17
"I'm not afraid of your kind. The best you can do is kill me here. In the meantime, I get to hurt you along the way." The fiend grins and turns his attention on Cor'ethil. "You were also on the list little paladin. If we had the chance to kill you, we were allowed, and I think this qualifies." There's so much cruelty in the fiend's gaze.
GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+23: (5)+23: 28 GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+18: (5)+18: 23 GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+13+2: (18)+13+2: 33 GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+13+2+4: (10)+13+2+4: 29 GAME: Corey rolls 1d6+7: (4)+7: 11 GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2: (15)+24+4+2: 45 (THREAT) GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2-5: (20)+24+4+2+-5: 45 (THREAT) GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2-10: (20)+24+4+2+-10: 40 (THREAT) GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2+4: (3)+24+4+2+4: 37 GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2+4-5: (7)+24+4+2+4+-5: 36 GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2+4-10: (2)+24+4+2+4+-10: 26 GAME: Corey rolls weapon1+4+2+4-10: (7)+24+4+2+4+-10: 31 GAME: Corey rolls damage1+damage1+15+15: aliased to 1d6+8+1d6+8+15+15: (1)+8+(4)+8+15+15: 51 GAME: Corey rolls damage1+damage1+15+15: aliased to 1d6+8+1d6+8+15+15: (4)+8+(6)+8+15+15: 56 GAME: Corey rolls damage1+damage1+15+15: aliased to 1d6+8+1d6+8+15+15: (1)+8+(3)+8+15+15: 50 GAME: Telamon casts Banishment/Persistent. Caster Level: 20 DC: 29 GAME: Telamon rolls 1d20+sorcerer+4: (16)+20+4: 40 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+25: (20)+25: 45 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+25: (9)+25: 34 GAME: Telamon casts Haste/Quicken. Caster Level: 20 DC: 28
Faphinae and Cor'ethil work together as a team. It's no mystery as to where Cor'ethil got his skill with a rapier from. Faphinae must have trained him herself from an early age, and while her flurry of thrusts only find purchase once in the fiend, the fiend's attempts to dodge her attacks leave him entirely open for Cor'ethil.
Jab.
Jab.
_Jab_.
On the last, Cor'ethil's blade goes right through one of the fiend's eyes, Cor'ethil's gaze fixed, rigid, and utterly focused on his mission. "There's only one person I'd ever allow to kill me. And he had his chance long ago. He refused." He pulls the blade free and lets the fiend bleed out horribly from that one eye, half-blind.
GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+26: (14)+26: 40 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+21: (8)+21: 29 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+16: (10)+16: 26
GAME: Karasu rolls 2d6+13: (7)+13: 20
Meanwhile, Telamon backs away from the fiend as it gets turned into a pincushion by Faphinae and Corey. It's rather impressive, really. But it's also not in Tel's nature to put up with this crap. "Return to the Iron Hells a failure, monster! BEGONE!" His voice echoes as it did before, but it fails to force the demon out of the plane. "Damn it..."
Well, this one is definitely tougher than the other one. So the solution is... speed up the tempo. "Lukas, sa-i'iz!" he chants, and a flash of silver light envelopes him, quickening his movements, before leaping to Faphinae, Corey, and the guests!
The fiend levies its own attacks, landing only one in it's eagerness. "I'll go when I'm ready..." It growls. "And I'll take you with me." Vicious teeth grin at Corey in a focused manner.
GAME: Corey rolls 1d20+19+8: (8)+19+8: 35 GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+29: (1)+29: 30 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Karasu rolls 1d20+29: (6)+29: 35
Faphinae looks at the fiend with contempt lining every single inch of her face. She lifts her chin in an air of disdain, her eyes glowing as she takes a step back. "You will become food fit for my birds," she says. "Torn apart piece by piece, bit by bit, and you will be able to tell every single wretched being in the Abyss that Sil'morian, the Unseelie Queen, will not hesitate to defend her own... by any means necessary. Because you'll remember the pain of being torn apart slowly _forever_."
She lifts a hand, and she shouts, "A feast for my ravens!" The fiend in front of her violently morphs... down into a pile of worms.
Cor'ethil blinks, but Faphinae is not finished. She tosses him a bag she's worn on her person since her adventuring days. "Go on. Put them in. Telamon, my dear, would you be so kind as to send them home for me?" She smirks dangerously as Cor'ethil does exactly as his mother requests.
GAME: Telamon casts Gate. Caster Level: 20 DC: 30
Telamon looks like he's winding up for something nasty when... all of a sudden, Faphinae reduces the fiend to a pile of worms. Whoops. Well... that was a bit of a surprise. But the job's not finished yet. At Faphinae's request, he nods with a grin, and chants. "Anubda kaskal, nu siten irhandi saggan."
His fingers describe a circle in the air, and suddenly a gate opens, a crackle of starlight that hangs in the air, a portal... right to the throne room of the Unseelie. "Go ahead and toss those in, then we need to tend to Karasu," he advises with a hard grin. "Then I need to do some research."
Kiku steps forward as, thankfully, Cor'ethil's twin sister and father have the situation with the grove-fire under control, especially now that the fiend is a pile of worms. "Bye-bye-bye~!" he sings as he picks up the bag and throws it through the gate, watching it squelch with a satisfying noise on the other side.
As Faphinae gives her orders to the bewildered individuals on the other side (and an entirely stone-faced Doyle), Cor'ethil goes up to the sphere that's holding Karasu in protective custody. "Telamon, can you drop your spell? I need to heal him. Please." He's worried terribly. "I doubt they killed him with the poison--they mentioned wanting him alive--but..."
"Kind of need to be awake to get married," Kiku says. "Otherwise, that's illegal!"
Almost diffidently, Telamon makes a gesture with one hand, causing the bubble around Karasu to dissipate into motes of vanishing mana. He's focused on holding the gate open so Faphinae can speak to Doyle and her servants. Idly, he remarks, "You know, I really do need to do something permanent to Akimitsu Sori. I've been busy, but he really is being a bother."
A pause, then, "Oh, that reminds me, your Majesty. I hope your new puppy is settling in nicely." He doesn't want to speak the fellow's name, just in case someone else might be listening.
Karasu doesn't seem to be breathing at all, his body gone pale and his lips an unearthly blueish color that is entirely unsettling. His body lies haphazardly on the ground since he'd been unable to catch himself at all. It's a far cry from what he normally looks like, even when he's asleep.
Cor'ethil lays his hands onto Karasu as he pulls his almost-husband into his arms. He purges the poison from Karasu's body, trying to restore some color and life to him. "Please, O Gilead," he murmurs in pleading. "Please."
Meanwhile, Faphinae looks at Telamon. "The puppy's settling in," she says. "The poor thing's getting used to things. But we treat all stray dogs well."
Then she eyes her son and his beloved as she steps closer to Telamon. "Would you like to give them a honeymooning present?" she asks softly. "I'd be willing to finance a Guild contract with you and any others you wish to take with you to take that Sori out. They deserve to come back home knowing that they are free of him."
Telamon reaches into his haversack, drawing out a prism carved from a diamond, turning it in his hand as he watches Corey tend to Karasu. While he doesn't pull his gaze from the couple, he answers Faphinae.
"That's good to hear. Hopefully he'll be able to find a better future with you." At Faphinae's inquiry about a Guild contract, Telamon hmms. "It could be done. I have many contacts in Alexandria. However, killing Sori will not end the problem, since he is being resurrected persistently." His expression is of a man mulling over a puzzle. "There are other options, but the grave does not seem to hold him for long."
Karasu lets out a gasping breath all of the sudden as Cor'ethil's spell takes hold and purges the poison from his body. He grasps Cor'ethil and looks up at the other man. "Death-like." He murmurs, wincing a little as he pulls himself upright slowly. "You are injured." His fingers touch the blood that mars his husband's robes. "Sori?"
The relief and joy that crosses Corey's face is everything that could ever be said about his love for Karasu. It floods his face in a way that Telamon certainly recognizes from all the times he and Cor'lana have been near-death together. But Cor'ethil shakes his head at Karasu. "Fiends sent by him, but he's not here," he says gently. "Don't worry, I'll heal--"
"TADA!" Kiku says as he suddenly is ruffling Cor'ethil's hair. Just a little. It's the mechanism for an incredibly strong healing spell that knits together Cor'ethil's wounds. He then points at Telamon, and Telamon's own wounds are made whole. "Bam! Okay! Are we ready to proceed?"
Then he eyes Cor'ethil and Karasu. "Or do you want me to get rid of all of that blood first?" he asks.
Cor'ethil smiles, eyeing his mother for a moment. "It's Cari'thana family tradition to be covered in blood for the one you love," he says, before he looks at Karasu. "Let's finish getting married."
And so the ceremony proceeds, this time with unpoisoned sake--this time with Kiku double-checking, which he admits he did do before the ceremony but apparently not after a fiend poisoned it.
The two kiss, and Karasu finally becomes a Cari'thana. Their tree is added to the grove.
And Faphinae reassures Telamon that she's certain he can figure something out. And if he doesn't... she could be persuaded to loan out Mortal Dread, even if she is extremely reluctant to ever let it leave her personal armory.
But the festivities that come afterward are all that Cor'ethil could have ever wanted--with Karasu by his side.
-End