Was re-reading and realized Kith had taken quite a bit of psychic damage from that spell, and was feeling like writing a little for Kithy about it. She gets hit in the head pretty often.

Maybe we should get her a helmet for her bday.

Also not sure what you two have lurking around the creepy corners ahead of us so I'll leave that to you  *Twilight Zone music plays*

Kith shook her aching head to no avail. She had not felt any differently while Morgana had been twisting her thoughts, it had only been at Ch'dau's insistence that she was able to disperse the fog of the witch’s influence. Yet despite the mirage, the pain from those imagined attacks had felt real. And though her arms and shoulder no longer stung, the pain in her head was very real.

That was no good. In fact it was maddening. That someone could have the ability to warp one’s senses so fully, that with one little incantation they could distort one’s reality . . . it felt like cheating. How was she supposed to defend against something like that? A dagger you could dodge, a wound you could heal. But this?

Kithran tightened her hands around the handles of her sheathed daggers, one far less familiar than the other, and almost scoffed at how ridiculous the thought was. In a place like this, surrounded by the undead and the lunatic puppets of a witch she had struck as a shadow, aided by a massive cat, a bladesinger, and a conduit for a god, that a simple thief should find herself a bit over her head was an understatement. She was beginning to wonder if those sniveling little mages had truly expected her to return in the first place, and decided she would be upping the amount they owed her.

That was a thought. Kith looked to the others in her party ahead of her, the cidal, the kazari, the sylvari, and nearly scoffed again. At the very least Aranwen might be able to pull off the look, but the others . . . .

That was neither here nor there. First they had to get through this labyrinth of horrors with their minds in tact, find the book, survive, and get back to the order. She sighed silently to herself, hoping her head would stop throbbing soon, and followed the others as they drew nearer to her destination.

Be careful with your back, grand-kitty!

Not totally crazy yet! And don't worry, I'll be sure to ask all the questions! I have a big backyard now, AND that dog cafe I live next to is connected to a dog training center and daycare, so the stars seemed to have really aligned since I moved.

I'm planning on taking her to the daycare 2-3 times a week while I work to help socialize her.

Also, I love human names for animals, (eg Frank, my sis' cat Patty) so I'm really leaning toward Davey. Hoping she's a little less  than her namesake

Re: Cub'dau: I saw your start! Already looking forward to delving more into the culture.

I have a looooong bus trip ahead of me, so I was saving it until now

(Also, I JUST finished season 8 of Letterkenny this morning-or at least all that was available on Hulu-and good lord, had a tear or two </3 love that show!)

Hi there, I've been planning since November on adopting a female pit/pit-mix around my bday (March 1st, getcha girl something nice! Jk jk jk). I had dogs growing up, and have just been slowly accumulating dog items, reading Cesar Milan's book, talking to the dog training center next door, all that stuff.

ANYWAY all of that is to say that I've had a long time to think of names as well and so far my favorite has been Davey.

How. Brainwashed. Am I?

It'll definitely depend on her personality and all of that, but if I see her even think about summoning some doggo ghouls, Davey it'll be!

Pitter patter, good buddy!

Yeeeesssssss! ^_________^

And that's neat about the magic and magic users--I've been running my little Halfling druid in an IRL game for almost a year and I love her, so I'm preeeetty partial to druids anyway. That they're the major magic users in Capasha is just *chef's kiss* awesome.

Excited to see the world through little Ch'dau-y eyes!

Caaaaaaan't wait for this! A Rer kazari shaman? I am oooon board

I sort of had kazari on the brain yesterday too. Not to that degree, but I just finished another Kithy background piece and it got me thinking about how much I enjoy Ara-past posts, and wishing we had more glimpses of Ch'dau's past. I'm jonesing for some Capasha life snippets 

No pressure  

Is this a game? A show? A dance?

I need to play Nier. It looks fun, I keep hearing it's fantastic, and clearly the soundtrack is as well.

Creepy! And that miniboss song is perfect. Creepy and destructive!

“Did you find what you were looking for in there, kibibi,” Ch’dau asked, his hand falling away from Aranwen’s arm and gesturing vaguely to the ravaged room behind them.

“No, by my understanding it is on the floor above us, anyway,” Kithran answered, “but I had to check.

Oh!” The half-Syl’s dark eyes widened and, suddenly, she re-entered the decimated study to retrieve her bow. “Thank you for reminding me, I may not yell at you so much later,” she smirked, slinging the bow over her shoulder before gesturing to the staircase. “After you.”

Aranwen nodded, steady on her feet now as she stepped forward in the direction Kithran had indicated, her blade held ready at her side. She looked to Ch’dau, offering a warm smile, “Together, then.”

“P’moj’a,” the big kazari nodded, his ears and tail flicking in anticipation as he freed his blades from their scabbards and turned for the stairs.

Given that the fight with the bone-spider had likely negated the need for stealth, now, the Silver Cat prowled cautiously and quietly up the steps with Aranwen at his side and Kithran and Mosic following close behind. As they neared the top of the stairs, Kithran’s voice whispered through the air; “To the right at the landing, then along the corridor a way. There should be another hall that intersects from the left; that’s where we need to go.”

With a quick glance back at the thief, Ch’dau nodded faintly. “Whatever remains of Adedre’s guard will likely be awaiting us, here,” he murmured, his fingers flexing on the hilts of his falcata, “Be ready.”

He was almost surprised when a contingent of guardsmen or, at least, skeletons was waiting for them immediately at the top of the stairway. His eyes flicked to the left, scanning the corridor that ran in that direction for signs of anyone or anything that might seek to attack them from that direction. When he found nothing, he turned his gaze to Aranwen, gave a short shake of his head, and then nodded in the direction that Kithran had told them they should go.

The Bladesinger nodded in response before turning toward the right-hand hallway and blade at the ready, led the party onward. “The witch’s guard is probably depleted enough that they’re concentrated more about wherever she hides,” Aranwen observed, “rather than being scattered about. Still, mind your surroundings and be cautious of every doorway we might pass.”

As they proceeded along the right corridor, the lack of enemies put the group on edge. Aranwen's eyes swept the hallway regularly, though she wasn't sure whether she was more worried about a skeleton ambush, or missing the approach of one of Morgana's dolls. But with the strike that actually seemed to harm Morgana, Aranwen couldn't help but wonder if she might have just retreated entirely. She couldn't imagine Morgana being harmed often. 

“Oh,” Kith whispered loudly for the two warriors in front of her, “if we come across anymore of those dolls or mannequins of Morgana’s, try not to focus too much on the physical thing. While I was handling those felt dolls in the study, one of her shades would appear whenever it struck, from a different angle than the doll was attacking. I think the physical forms of her creatures are more or less a distraction in a fight, to cover her real strikes. And, if you can hit the shade that appears when she is attacking, I thi-”

The now familiar sound of chattering jawbones preceded the bones that veered around the corner ahead of them, as several more of Adedre’s skeleton ranks raced toward their party, and into the blades of the bladesinger and kazari.

With a low growl rumbling in his chest, Ch’dau stepped forward into the oncoming skeletons. He easily side-stepped the thrust of a short spear and hacked the boney arm that bore it off at the elbow with a downward slash of his own blade before reaching out and tearing the skull off of the skeleton’s spine. As the remaining bones clattered uselessly at his feet, the kazari advanced again, flowing easily around Aranwen’s strikes to find another skeleton waiting with sword and shield. The Silver Cat feinted another downward slash which caused the bone-warrior to raise its shield in an attempt to block the strike, as it did, Ch’dau stopped the arcing blow from the falcata and, instead, landed a vicious kick on the shield’s center cracking the bones behind it and sending the creature tottering backward to clatter into the wall behind it.

Aranwen's voice rose into song as she brought her blade down upon the skeleton before her, stepping aside it as it recoiled from the blow and sweeping a bone leg from underneath it with her own. In an instant, a fuzzy clawed foot came down upon the skull, and the remaining bones ceased their movement. Aranwen smiled warmly up at Ch'dau, before looking back over her shoulder towards Kithran. 

"Are you sure about that?" Aranwen asked, "Shadows that attacked with those dolls? I've never seen such before…"

"Oh, yes I am," Kithran's voice returned sharply, "Its blade came much too close for comfort, I'll have you know."

Aranwen frowned. Though she couldn't claim to fully know what Morgana was capable of, this seemed entirely different from everything else she had seen. 

"You ought to know. You were talking to one." Kithran added pointedly. 

"I… Don't remember that," Aranwen muttered, her eyes narrowing as her voice returned to her song, and she ran down another skeleton, weaving her blade into an echo of her voice as she struck. 

Wonderful, Kith thought, as she chased the bladesinger down the corridor. She felt a hand upon her shoulder and jumped, twisting to look over her shoulder. It was an image of herself that wore one of Morgana's masks grabbing her. 

"Here," the doppelganger whispered with Kithran's voice, stabbing with the blade in its other hand at Kithran's shoulder, "See how you like it," it taunted, the lips on the mask moving almost hypnotically with its words, before settling in a smirk. 

“What the?!” Kithran jumped back from the eerie form of herself with that ominous mask. She pulled her hand away from her shoulder to find fresh blood dripping from her fingers. She looked back up to the thing returning her gaze, beginning to crouch, as she often did, before striking.

“Kithran,” the priest spoke as she herself drew her blades, “what happened?”

“Mosic, get out of the way!” And she lunged at the thing as it lunged at her. She scanned either side of it, either side of her, but no shades appeared. This one was real.

It struck out at her and she ducked, bringing her dagger up to bury it in the creature’s stomach, but met only thin air and she stumbled forward. Catching herself, Kith spun around, wondering how she could have possibly missed, as the thing now straightened itself.

She glanced at the others, on the other side of it, looking incredulously back at her, “What are you doing?” She pointed at the figure that looked like her, “Morgana is right there! Attack her!” And Kith lunged for her again.

The doppelganger threw her other knife at Kithran in return, leaping to the side to avoid the lunge. The thrown blade sliced across Kithran's other arm, and the doppelganger lifted the mask a bit with her now free hand. Underneath did seem to be a copy of Kithran's face, but it was only lifted enough that the lips were visible. It brought the blade that stabbed Kithran's shoulder, glistening with Kithran's blood, to its smiling lips, "Just a bit more, and I won't need this mask… it will suit you better..."

Aranwen looked back at Kithran, and the space she indicated, frowning and shaking her head, even as she brought her sword at the ready in the direction indicated, "Kithran, there's nothing there," she replied.

Having savagely dismantled the last of the skeleton patrol, Ch’dau turned to see Aranwen and Mosic staring in confusion at Kith. The thief seemed to be locked in combat with nothing. His own expression shifted to match the others as he moved back down the hall toward them. “What are you doing, kibibi,” he rumbled, wondering if, perhaps, she had been poisoned, “fighting the air?”

Kithran scoffed, her eyes trained on the thing stealing her grin and her arm stinging, “Okay, well thanks.” She struck out again at her copy, this time anticipating the dodge and dropping into a low stance, pouncing at her before she could catch herself. Having expected to tackle her to the ground and continue her assault, Kith was surprised once more as she flew through her own torso and into the wall beyond.

She growled in frustration as she turned once again to face the doppleganger, “Any help at all would be nice!” she called behind clenched teeth.

The doppelganger licked the blood from its blade, finally taking off its mask, and revealing it to be a completely accurate mirror of Kithran. She grinned, "Catch!" the doppelganger called as it threw the mask it had been wearing at the real Kithran. 

The kazari’s expression became all the more confused and, perhaps, concern when the half-Syl threw herself into a wall. “What in all of Khr’a’s creation is the matter with you, Little Kitten? There is nothing here but we four and a scattering of bones.” He reached out, mindful to do so cautiously lest whatever hallucination had overcome the girl cause her to mistake him for Morgana, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 

As he pulled her closer, Ch’dau gave her a quick once over to see if there were any fresh wounds or, maybe, a poisoned dart that might explain what was going on in Kithran’s mind. Finding nothing, he eyed her curiously and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Get your wits about you, Kithran,” he purred softly, “I feel we are close but madness will do us no good, hmm?”

The mask, which had threatened to latch itself onto her face, faded as Ch’dau’s words and warmth cut through. And as he spoke, that other image of her, the one bearing her smile and her knives, dissipated as well.

Kithran shook her head and rubbed her eyes, feeling as though tendrils of fog were being pulled from her mind. She looked up at Ch’dau, “Was I . . . seeing things? You didn’t see her, stealing my blood? Becoming me? She looked exactly like me.”

The expression on Ch’dau’s face now was certainly more concerned than confused. “I did not,” he answered with a shake of his shaggy head, “nor do I know where she might have even gotten your blood. You are uninjured.” He gestured at the bone-littered hallway ahead of them; “There were only those in our path. Nothing else.”

Ch’dau glanced at Aranwen and Mosic then, the concern easily recognizable in his features. “Did the two of you see anything?”

Aranwen looked between Kithran and Ch'dau, before she scanned the hallway once more, "When I looked back, all we saw was Kithran wielding her blades…" she looked to Mosic, "But… Morgana… we can't rule out some form of magic at play here, can we?" she wondered aloud, before sighing inwardly, half muttering, "Damn that witch…"

Mosic shook his head; “I saw nothing the likes of which she describes.” The little Cid shrugged, then, his grey eyes lifting to meet Aranwen’s. “You are correct, though, Lady Galandel, magic can’t be ruled out.”

“Hmm,” the kazari grunted, “are there spells, priest, that might protect us from such magics going forward?” 

“There are,” Mosic confirmed, “Alas, such a spell is beyond my reach just yet. I might be able to dispel such a thing should it happen again, though.”

Aranwen lifted a hand to her cheek in thought, "If we ever think that something is amiss, perhaps relying on each other's senses might serve to identify real from not," she mused, before turning to examine Kithran, "Are you okay now, Kithran?" she asked. 

Kith pushed Ch’dau’s arm off her shoulder, “As okay as you, I suppose, for how much this witch enjoys playing with our minds.” She smiled sardonically, “I agree that we will need to rely on each other’s senses, but so far half of us have had our senses muddled by her magics. It will be interesting to see how helpful relying on each other truly is.”

Aranwen frowned, but she nodded, "You are right…" she admitted, unable to help feeling a bit bitter at Kithran's point that she was likewise compromised. No. It wasn't that Kithran was right, it just unsettled her that she couldn't answer what had happened to her. But she couldn't do anything about that, and she focused on what she could do, "Still, it is better to have some plan at all, rather than having none," she scanned the hallway once more. If Morgana had done something, then one of her puppets had to be nearby, right? 

Aranwen didn't see the hooded Kith-doll, almost invisible as it blended in with the shadows just in the stairwell.

Turning towards the forward again, Aranwen took up position at point, "A hall that intercepts from the left…" she repeated, keeping a lookout for any more incoming enemies in front.

I hadn't thought about that yet, I'll have to do some pondering.

Have anything in mind?

P.S. Chuckling @ Ch'dau, paw to his mouth, going "Oooo girl!"

Nailed it.

*grabs the blister stick*

If you wanna be my mother, you gotta get with my frieeeends!

SPICE UP YA LIFE!

Ooo Aries, should have knoooooown  jk jk And no hoveround! You'll hover your eye out!

When's your birthday? I'll get you a walker and a girdle, buddy.

About to check it out!  Ah, and that post was aaaaalllll Rer, gotta give credit where credit's due! With the exception of the very last Kithy line, which I just interjected in there when I read through last night.

Hope you're feeling better Eol Fefelupagus!

Just, never sneeze again, okay?!

I did see Rer was also working on a post on the collab page, but who knows if she made it out of there?!

RUN

Edit: just noticed the lips. WHY DO THEY HAVE LIPS

"dangerous in the right time and place, otherwise not really." The most accurate description of the knight piece I've ever heard.

Maybe Spiderlily is the uncle who gave you the glass board for Christmas one year lol or maybe she's the Windows 95 computer I learned on.

Great analogy, and I'm glad you put so much into their design and mechanics as well! They're such interesting and layered characters--at least from what I've been able to glean so far.

Thank. Goodness.