((Caeriadne)) Ripples in the Night Sky

The doctor spoke first "I seem to have gotten the initial vomiting and chills to subside with some very basic herbal remedies. He stills has a rather severe fever, and is very congested though that is less worrying. Also, he seems to be very sensitive to smells and light right now, thats why I elected to put him in here, farther away from the main door and no windows. I can't be sure what's wrong with him yet."

Silus sighs "Two of my best guards went with him. One of which I actually suggest to replace me if I don't make it..."

Dylan and Verior arrived a few moments after he said that, Dylan speaking as he entered "Now Silus, you remember what I said about staying positive." He looked over at Caeriadne and bowed.

Verior walked over to her immediately, almost like a child to a parent. He looked like he wanted to greet her with affection but just smiled and bowed his head.

"Very basic herbal remedies," Caeriadne repeated softly. She turned her head up from Silus to the doctor in disbelief. "Very basic herbal remedies," she said again, keeping her voice even and calm. "What the hell, sir? Please tell me you intend to do more for him than very basic herbal remedies."

As Dylan and Verior entered, she returned a slight nod to them. "Dylan, you have already been in to see him, I trust? What is your opinion?" She softly placed a hand on Verior's shoulder for a moment, like a teacher might do to a choice student, as she waited to address him after she had spoken with the others.

The doctor got a bit pale and said "Yes of course I do my queen, as soon as I have a better idea of what is wrong with him, we don't have access to a lot of the more advanced medicines of the larger nations so I have to make it from scratch out of herbs and such. I could do more damage if I don't know whats wrong, if I make the wrong mixture to give to him it could do more damage."

Verior seemed to moved into her touch, getting a bit closer.

Dylan nodded "I have my queen, yes. I have heard of such diseases before, but it could be all manner of things. From a curse to an actual disease."

"My coffers are yours, doctor, and shame on you for not utilizing these resources earlier. Go to the gnolls or the merchant caravans, I do not care which, and tell them you have my authority to send them to whatever city carries the supplies you need, at whatever price is necessary. Hire more doctors, if you must. If I have to take flight myself to get the damned medicines, I will. You get whatever you might possibly need now, and have it ready as soon as you know. I'll not frolick around with very basic herbal remedies when the life of one of my best men is at stake, do you understand me?" Her glare was intense and riddled with impatience. "If this man dies, the burden will be upon you, good doctor."

"Give me a full report then, Dylan. Every possibility you are aware of, and every treatment. I want to know everything that any of you know." She nodded to Verior as well, inviting him to join in if he would have anything to add.

The doctor bowed his head a few times and nodded "I am very sorry, I will do everything in my power to make sure that he recovers quickly...I am very sorry."

Dylan sighed and started explaining a rather expansive list of diseases and curses that it could be, but the biggest issue for any of these was his dragon blood, it should keep disease at bay for the most part.

Thats when Verior spoke up "I think...you may be over looking something...If I may be so bold as to say..."

"Go on, Verior," she encouraged. She knew she had brought the boy for a reason. Perhaps all of his studies wouldn't be in vain.

"We are looking at his Dragon Blood as if it would help him. I read in ancient myths there were curses and diseases that targeted those with dragon blood, but not dragons themselves. Perhaps one of these diseases made it to Silus? It seems the only cure is to simply wait it out and hope it doesnt kill him if thats the case...I could have a spell to make it less awful."

"That would be my suspicion, Verior. Our good doctor and cleric here are at a loss, and we must assume that our draconic enemies - likely the same ones who may be targeting Raziel - have identified Silus and are targeting him as well." She gazed back down at Silus sadly. "In all the time that we have been gone, it is likely that the arts of those who may have been loyal to us have been lost, or buried. Do you know of any other dragonblooded, Silus? Or any of our disciples?"

Silus coughed a bit and said "I know...of a small group of dragon blooded who live in Briar Hill, but I dont know if they are still here. But thats all I know, I may just have to sit here and ride it out" He coughs a bit more and smiles weakly.

"How bad do you feel, exactly? And don't butter it up, Silus." She offered a regretful little smile. "I need to know whether you can really just rest through it, or if we need to do something now before you get worse." Of course, she already knew what she would do, but she wanted Silus' answer nonetheless.

"I feel a bit like death, if I was being honest. But I think I can make it. I've been stabbed before, and I'll be damned before I let this be the way I go."

Verior nodded "Maybe I can look in my books?"

Caeriadne nodded reassuringly. "We'll get you taken care of, Silus. You are one of my finest soldiers and most devoted friends. There's too much for us to do together, I can't lose you." She smiled down at him, not unlike a mother caring for a very sick child. "All three of you, make Silus your highest priority and report any change, no matter how trivial, directly to me at once. Doctor, I will expect a daily update from you, every day by sunset. And yes, Verior, study as much as you can."

"Now, Silus - what can you tell me about Raziel? What else happened, and where did he go?"

The doctor nodded and made himself scarce to go and make sure he had his affairs in order so he could do as Caeriadne ordered. Dylan stayed but Verior excused himself to go and see if he could find anything.

Silus sighed "I'm not sure where he went, I kept asking, I did everything I could but he would just give me half answers like directions and not near Darilith. Very secretive. It seemed like he didn't want me to know, or he was in a rush. He said the person he was helping wasn't in danger but...I'm not sure if I believed that."

After getting the directions from Silus, she decided to excuse herself as well so that she would not disrupt his rest. "Get better soon. That's an order." She smiled as she left the room. "Call for me if you need anything."

She walked out, sighing deeply once she was out of sight. Now - would she go after Raziel, or stay in Brighton to await her reinforcements? Damnit. That abominable Lapis dragon must know the predicament he had left her in. Damn him anyway, she cursed under her breath as she made her way to Huo Lang's office. She rapped on the door. "Huo? It's me, have you returned yet?"

Silus smiled and nodded "Of course my Queen."

Huo answered from within the office "Oh, yes I am back my Queen, Lancaster told me you were busy with Silus so I brought the emissaries from the enclave here to my office. You may come in now, it isn't locked."

Strange - she wondered just what these emissaries would be like, and what they had in mind for coming to join their cause. Perhaps they had some other intentions, but she may have to discover that later. For now, she hoped that a brief 'hello' would suffice, as she had other severely pressing matters to attend to...but nonetheless, these could be allies that she would curse herself later for scorning, if she did not take a moment now to meet them properly. Caeriadne stepped in and bowed her head slightly in greeting, as if to preemptively excuse herself for making such a brief and informal entrance. "Welcome, my friends and allies, to Brighton. I am Caeriadne of Sapphire. I regret my delay in coming to make your acquaintance and I am most pleased to welcome you here to our humble city."

Three Tieflings besides Huo Long were there waiting for her, they were all male and dressed very similarly, red basic monk style robes, reminiscent of ancient eastern cultures. One of them had red skin and amber eyes, much like Huo Long, though he stood like his legs were much more like a demon's, his knees bending the other direction, and his horns were much larger and more curved than Huo Long's. Another one of them had blue skin and red eyes but besides that looked almost elf like, with pointed ears, she also had no horns to speak of. The last had golden skin and eyes of a very deep blue that was obviously VERY demonic, more than likely the child of someone who made a deal with a demon. Her horns were large and curved like a ram's, their legs bent back at the knees and they had hooves instead of normal feet, and their tail was longer and had spikes unlike huo long's and the other two.

The one that looked like Huo Long introduced himself as Cai, the one with blue skin introduced herself as Anming, and the very demonic golden one introduced herself as Zhurong.

Zhurong bowed her head for a moment and said "I was sent here in the stead of our leader Zhing, she sends here sincerest apologies for not being able to make it, but she had matters to attend to back in the enclave. It is a pleasure to meet you, Huo Long as told as much about you as he could."

Cai began to speak and sounded like he said something along the lines of 'Huo said you were beautiful but-' but was quickly cut off by an elbow to the side from Huo Long, who didn't even break his formal position on the chair or eye contact with his queen.

Caeriadne bowed another time, this time more deeply and formally. "Cai, Anming, Zhurong," she said in turn, "thank you for coming here. It is a great honor to host you. I trust that you have been allowed all comforts while you are here, as our home is your home. Has your stay been exceptional so far?" She smiled with a flourish, but even in her diplomatic posture, one could detect some traces of the dangerous undercurrent that was driving her and her city into a state of watchfulness.

Zhurong smiled and nodded "Yes it has been rather wonderful, Huo Long has been taking good care of us. It's wonderful to see him again as well, it's been years. We were children when he left. Your city is so different than the Enclave, it's truly a learning experience." She seemed to notice, but for the moment was not commenting.

"I hope that you may find all the comforts that we can offer, although we are very small and in quite a stage of transition at the moment and must ask that you excuse our humble beginnings," Caeriadne smiled diplomatically. "And indeed; Huo Long has become a dear friend of mine, even in the relatively short time I have known him. I was delighted to hear his idea to reach out and welcome new allies into our midst. Pray tell, my guests, is there anything that I can do to show Brighton's gratitude and hospitality to you?"

"We welcome being in such a place during it's transition, the sounds of such a busy place is new and exciting. But I digress, my leader has simply one question to ask of you before he decides to have our Enclave join your cause." Suddenly she is very to the point, and very serious looking. "He would like to know if you have EVER had dealings with devils, demons, fiends or any other denizens of the Nine Hells, or the Abyss? And if we join, you must promise to never have such dealings with them."

Caeriadne pondered this for a moment, apparently undaunted by the sudden switch from friendly conversation to serious deliberation. Her answer was thought-out and precise, without any hesitation - only a hint of a memory that had long been buried.

"I will try to recall as best as I can, but do forgive me if my memory is hazy. I have had many 'dealings' with such creatures. I grew up in the Underdark, but was taught to keep away from such things. My sire, I was told, was killed in battle with Cerebriliths. During my first century, my lair was raided by wayward raiding tanar'ri, and I fled, being too weak to combat them then. During my third and fourth century, I ruled among the nobles of an ancient human Overworld city, long forgotten now. We discovered a ring of black magic users among our mages. Many of them were up-standing citizens, or so we thought, and their power and influence rivaled even our own. Most of my colleagues campaigned to let them alone, but I did not see eye-to-eye with them. I attempted to level that we should at the very least prosecute them with exile from the city for their acts, but I was met with disdain from my superiors, and my hands were effectively tied to deal with them in any legal means. So, I rooted them out myself. I learned that they were drawing in innocent bystanders to their wicked schemes - juvenile magic, really, but it was practiced dangerously. I have no hatred of dark magic in and of itself, but of the terrors that are wrought in its wake instead, and I could not stand to see the people of my city unknowingly drained by those cursed arts. I orchestrated the assassination of four of the mages, killed one by my own hand, and drove the rest from the city before I was betrayed by the nobles and framed as a rival witch. We had a civil war, of sorts, but my supporters and I were outnumbered by the warlocks'...so, my people fled and I razed the city." She smiled slightly, recalling the absurdity of being identified as a witch. "When I was in my sixth hundred year, I dwelt alone in the Underdark. Well, not alone, entirely - my 'roommate', I suppose you could say, was a Succubus that was exiled for not claiming enough mortal souls. She was rather a pacifist, interestingly enough, but we got along well and living alone in the Underdark is...not practical. A juvenile Balor attempting to expand his domain saw us as an easy target. He killed her so I flayed him and mounted his skull over my lair." She paused, frowning. "That intimidated the 'door-to-door' Night Hags that came by harrassing me to barter mortal souls; once they left me be, I had enough time that I could deal with the new breeding ground for Abyssal Drakes that some foolish Glabrezu demon lord had tried to set up just beyond my borders - pests, really, they kept digging the most obnoxious holes in the side of my lair - but unfortunately, that angered him enough to send retrievers after me. I must admit, the next part of this story is slightly embarrassing, but - being at the height of my pride and seeking to glorify myself, I tapped into the retrievers' weak little minds, made them absolutely mad, and sent them raving and jittering back to their master like a bunch of insane puppets; after he watched them shred themselves apart, he was rather upset with me. Foolishly and pridefully, I thought I had won...but soon after I was visited by a Maurezhi assassin. I was nearly killed." She paused for a moment. "How I escaped, I do not remember. As I said, my recollection is still hazy. But that defeat and flight was the last time I had any contact with such a creature. I'm sure there is more, but that is all I remember. As far as any future 'dealings' I might pursue, they would all entail the destruction or banishment of such beasts from the place I now call home, and I hold no pity for them or any interest in their wicked ways."

She ended matter-of-factly, watching the tieflings closely for their response and hoping that her full disclosure was the best choice.

The Tieflings all listened and looked to one another now and again. The golden tiefling nodded and said "I believe that is what my leader wanted to her, I for one am quite please that someone of your status asked us to join them and turned out to be a decent person! I, as the chosen speaker for our leader, am making the choice to join you. Now, did you want us to come here, or live in our Enclave but fly your banner?"

Huo Long and Cai seemed very interested in the story about this succubus though.

"You are welcome to live here," Caeriadne confirmed. "However, if you wish to travel back or spread the word to your people, we would be honored to share our banner with your Enclave. I hope to branch out from Brighton soon, but for the time being, this is our base of operations."

Somewhat gravely, Caeriadne continued. "Now, I trust that Huo has shared with you the information regarding the potential threat, coming from the north?"

Zhurong nodded and sighed "Yes he has informed us of the threats this city faces, and while it may take some time for our letter to reach the Enclave, saying we have pledged support, you will at least have us here to help you against any and all threats, should it escalate to that point. While we don't look like too much, I assure you even in a fight against a dragon, we could turn the tide."