After Fam - Charir - Orizoh

It takes two days after the events of the journey into the burning palace of terror. The white light did not claim the three to Death's door. Jasper, Syn, and Alexa would find themselves back at the safehouse in respective beds. Syn would be the first to rouse from this state with the other two following shortly after. Each would wake to a separate scene. For Jasper, a white-blue cat with long fox ears is found sleeping on his chest, curled up and napping away. For Alexa, she would have woken from many dreams that seemed so real and so vivid that it is difficult to tell if the person she saw waking up was actually there. Her doctor, one would best assume, before he walks out the door without making any noise. For Syn there is the sight of a warforged sitting in a cramped position on the second floor where the bedrooms are located. His knees rest as high up to his chest and his unblinking eyes remain on her as if they never left.
As Jasper awakens his eyes quickly dart about the room before focusing finally on the small creature asleep on top of him. Smiling he croaks slightly "Well is this death? Are you another figment of my imagination? You dont seem so bad." Moving his arm slowly from beneath the sheets to place a hand on the sleeping creature causes him wince. The dull pain in his chest suddenly flooding his mind with visions of a nightmare monster hurling red hot steel through a wall of flames. "Well, it sure doesn't feel like we're dead now does it." Placing his other arm behind the back of his head he lets the small creature gently while staring at the ceiling of the small room. "Well you didnt happen to see the other two I was with did you?" Looking down at his new furry friend for a quick moment before moving his eyes back to the ceiling. "Yeah I figured as much. You might actually be losing your mind now Jasper."
Her chest rises and falls in a slow rhythm as she breathes calmly under a shroud of forced slumber. Within her mind, memories flood from a time long ago. Her Tiefling friend tackling her with a large grin, overwhelmingly happy given the chains that bound them both in the dark cell. That precious smile transforms as quickly as it appeared in her mind. Blood begins to gush from the corners of her friends’ mouth, coughing and splattering red across Syn’s face. Syn looks down to find her hands wrapped tightly around a short sword that sits impaled into the stomach of her friend. Her breathing increases and her chest rises and falls in a panicked state before red eyes shoot open, leaning upwards from the bed she finds herself and running her hands up to cover her face.
She calms and looks down at her shaking hands. Normal. No blood. “I’m alive…” She mumbles before her head quickly glances around the room, locking onto the warforged sitting tucked in the corner. “…. definitely alive.” Her eyes narrow on him. Of course, he’d be here. “The others. Tell me the others are fine Ford.” She shuffles her feet across the bed, kicking them over the side and turning to face him.
'noone can see me... Why can no one see me?' She thinks as she weaves in between people in a large crowd. 'Have I cast invisibility on myself?' A pause as she looks down, takes a note of spells cast.. no, that's not it, no invisibility has been cast. 'We must have died. I guess there is an afterlife after all' Her mind goes into a panic, but she looks around trying to find something to ground her. She doesn't pay attention to her footing, and trips. her eyes shut as a flash of red eyes pop in front of her, and they split into 3 pairs before her eyes start to open again. She finds herself laying in her bed, with just a glimpse of someone leaving the room. Everything seems normal, she must have been in a dream, or this is a dream. She swings her legs over to the side of the bed, removing her covers. Standing up she walks over to a mirror. 'Well, I can still see myself, so that's good' she steps outside and tries to find the person who was in her room, but can't find them.
A thought Sparks, the books, she needs to look at the books. She starts wandering through the house looking for Syn until she walks into the room and is greeted by the large warforged sitting and guarding. "Good to see you again Ford, I'm glad you are keeping watch over her."
Looking to Syn, "It looks like we didn't die, so that's good. Although, have you seen Jasper?"
One of the four pointed antlers on the warforged's head has gouged a section of the ceiling where he sits. It is like fitting a human into a halfing's home. Cramped. The red eyes don't leave Syn's when Alexa stops in. Finds them. "Fine is questionable," he intones with the up-down tonal shift of an inhuman voice of a metal golem. "Three went in. Three went out. All alive. The third is in the next room over."
In said next room over the creature of fluff and naps opens soft blue eyes. It responds to Jasper's line of questions by tilting its head to the right, causing its large ears to flop to one side. Soft fur. Like running a hand over a cloud of silk. It churrs softly to a standing position and stretches out like a rousing cat. A weightless jump later and it pads towards the end of the bedroom, looking back to Jasper as if capable of answering his questions about where the others are.
Syn quickly shifts her gaze as Alexa steps into the room. “Hi.” She tosses a hand up in a lack luster wave. She glances to her side seeing the great club resting up against the bed. She grabs the handle and drags it closer to herself before pushing up and using it as support as she slowly rises. “Yeah dying is a rather bad thing, I don’t recommend it.” She takes a step forward. “You alright Alexa?” She asks tilting her head to the side and looking her over.
Alexa keeps a militant stance as Syn asks her about how she is. "No." She says plainly. She doesn't want to go further into it, be also doesn't want to lie to Syn right now. "Do you remember anything past the white light?"
Jasper rises up into a seated position in the bed as he lets out a muffled groan. "Oh sure, ya made it look easy did ya". Tossing the top sheet to the side he stretches his legs over the side, letting his bare feet catch the cold stone floor. A slight shock, but a comforting reprieve from the blistering heat he felt inside the gate. Clenching and wiggling his toes against the tile he examines the bandages across his chest. "No signs of bleeding" he remarks to himself as begins to unwind the cloth. The area where the scickle had pierced him was tender and a scar remained. "Magic? Or have i been out for a few days?" Jumping to his feet he begins to take stock of his condition. Slight cracks and creaks fill his ears as he stretches his shoulders and swings his arms back and forth across his chest. Bouncing lightly on his toes... two crossbow bolts, an arrow, several dagger wounds from a particularly enthusiastic scout, the thing with the boar when he was a kid, various slashes and cuts from infantry, that particularly burly elven commander with the broadsword that nearly made him a duet, and now a sickle... from a demonic scarecrow. "Yeah the lads back home are sure to beleive this one". Looking around he could see the rest of his clothes and gear piled neatly on the other side of his bed. "Well it could always be worse, Tall Rob wasnt so lucky with the broadsword". Leaning down to retrieve his tunic from the pile of his belongings he catches his bluish furry friend by the door. "Oh im sorry, am i taking too..." his sentence interupted by a low rumbling from the room next door, followed by another voice and another. Dropping his shirt Jasper dashes to the door, feet slapping against the stone loudly as he crashes into the hall. Turning quickly he sees Alexa, poised aggressively in the doorway of the next room. "Ms Alexa! Thank goodness you're allright. Is Ms Syn ok? Also... please tell me you can see the blue cat thing."
Syn fixes the sash around her torso with her freehand, fumbling between keeping her great club beside her for support, straightening herself up and perhaps stalling from Alexa’s question. “Oh yes, the entire gate.” She nods, wincing some as her body feels sore. “I think all things considered; it went rather w—” Her voice is cut short by Jasper rushing into the room. “Ah…everyone is fine. Well, Alexa’s pissed at me but Im kind of use to that.” She sneers at her from across the room. Seemingly un-phased by her aggressive stance. Her eyes glance down to the blue creature at his feet. “Pangur? Isn’t that Paulo’s familiar?” She looks up to glance back to Alexa.
Looking down at the adorable ball of fluff as he happily bounces around churring, "Yes, that's Pangur. Don't worry Jasper, you're not hallucinating him, he's an amazingly helpful animal who is usually accompanied by..." Her voice trails off as she turns around behind her as if looking for someone. Her face drops as no one is there.
Looking back to Syn, "I understand that you've developed a world vs Syn mentality, but I am not in fact upset with you, me not being ok has nothing to do with you." Three pairs of red eyes flash in her mind, but this time accompanied by long black rake like fingers. "Jasper, do you happen to remember anything past the white flash of the gate?"
She looks at her puzzled. "...do you not remember Alexa?" Her eyes continue to scan her over, something seems off with her. "...what's going on?"
"I remember everything in the gate, but after you hit it, there was a white light and then we're here. I just want to figure out how we got here."
"Well what a relief! I'm glad its real at least" He glides into the Syn's room patting the top of Alexa's head for a moment as he passes through the door way. His movement stutters for just a moment and his eyes grow wide as he sees the giant metal man crouching awkwardly in the room. Spinning on his heals between the the two of them he smiles wide. "and no i don't remember a damned thing after Ms Syn so heroically smashed that wicked gate! While we are being honest... I'm not even sure where we are right now, but we all made it out safe and sound! You are both quite amazing!" He begins to get very animated flailing his arms about as if acting out the scenes as he recalls them. "... and then BAAM Ms Syn smashed that gate with her mighty club! Now we are here.. wherever here is!" He folds his arms across his chest and looks between the two of them. "So... when do we go back?"
She stands there perplexed by their new acquaintance and his enthusiasm, watching him swing and wave his arms around. “We are back in our safe house within the city. This place was given to us when we went through the gate the first time.” She says to Jasper. She leans backwards some as he swings and shouts ‘BAM!’ as to not get hit in the face. Reaching out to grab his wrist and stepping forward to get uncomfortably close, staring at him with intense eyes. “I don’t even know if the gate is still there to go back to. I have no idea what I did.” She lets go of his wrist. There is concern behind her voice. “I don’t think you understand. These elves killed a man. They put a noose around his neck in the center of the square and hanged him to make a point. Best case scenario is that gate is still there and functioning, worse case I ruined their plans and they kill me….” She grins and her red eyes flicker with a sickening glance. “They attempt to.” Those red eyes look over to Alexa. “If Pangur is here…then could this have been Paulo’s doing? Or something else? What about that book? Should we look at that again?”
Jaspers face shifts from its normal kind expression to one of concern as he leans over to Syn. "Oh i'm sorry miss... I wasn't aware. Was it a friend of yours? I know first hand just how dastardly those fae bastards can be." He stands silent for a moment as if contemplating. His torso still bare giving way to a myriad of old wounds and scars. He nods to himself as if concluding some sort of internal argument. "You said this was a safe house of yers correct? Is it safe to speak here? It has just dawned on me that i may not have been completely forthright with you when we first met."
“Not a friend no, more of a show case of the elves power over this city.” She grits her teeth at the thought. “It is safe as far as we know…” She trails off watching him closely. “You have more to say?”