Victorious advance

[Ebiris]

Isolate greater demon corpses from the horde.
Banish lesser demon corpses.
Collect and identify/distribute/destroy booty from the horde.
Incapacitate and imprison greater demons when they resurrect.
Interrogate greater demons and that elf via mind probe/mind theatre.
Make knowledge checks on Violet to consider reprisals.
Talk to Mazef when he recovers.

[Anastasia]

Mazel, Eb. Mazel.

Go ahead and describe where and how you're keeping him and we'll roll into that.

[Ebiris]

While the hope is that Mazel will be sane and peaceful and grateful when he wakes up, one can never be too sure. So for now he's somewhere remote but pleasant, a few healers on hand to watch over him with a lantern archon ready to go fetch Marie if he stirs, since she'll probably have the most luck talking to him.

The place in question is a cavern, lit by glowing crystals embedded in the walls and phosphorescent fungi in the corners to give it an eerie and dream-like atmosphere. It's big, spacious enough for a titan, an underground lake nearby with a waterfall emptying into it, providing a beach of black sand for Mazel to lay on.

[Anastasia]

I would like to join Marie in this. I feel drawn to this, for reasons I cannot say why.

[Ebiris]

I'm sure she'd appreciate the support.

[Anastasia]

Soon enough Mazel begins to stir on the beach and...

Go ahead.

[Ebiris]

The healers and observer watching Mazel retreat at his stirring, having cared for him while he was unconscious both with healing magic and passing lukewarm nutritious broth over his lips to help recover his emaciated figure. But an unpredictable woken titan is above their pay grade.

In their place arrive Marie and Antenora, the tulani a slender woman of average height with long vibrant purple hair framing her perfectly proportioned face, broken up by the pointed tips of her ears pushing through her tresses on the sides of her head. She wears an ostentatious frilly dress of light blue embroidered with gold thread detailing arcane diagrams of the sort you'd expect to find in a spellbook, its skirt long enough that it would trail on the ground if she wasn't hovering a few inches above.

She's quiet, waiting for Mazel to gather his wits and take in his surroundings before she says anything.

[Anastasia]

In contrast, Antenora is gold and opal blue. Her eyes are radiant with opal blue light, the entire color reflecting and refracting around her, suffusing her. She wears golden armor and carries no weapon with her. She stays at Marie's side and waits as well.

Ever so slowly Mazel stirs a little, goes still for several seconds and then stirs a little more. On and on this cycle goes until at last his eyes crack open, taking in what is above him.

[Ebiris]

He'll see a vaulted cavern roof, studded with white crystals shedding a cool glow and short stubby stalactites. It's high up, the cave easily big enough for a titan to stand in and raise his hands above his head. The sound of water pouring down nearby from a gap in the rocks and emptying out into an underground lake in a dull roar is ever present, muted sounds of water lapping against the smooth black sand of the 'beach' he lays on.

His senses are probably good enough that he can hear Marie and Antenora's breathing, thirty feet away from where he lays.

[Anastasia]

Mazel slowly, ever so slowly, turns his head. He looks about and finally rolls over onto his stomach, rising to his knees. His movements are careful as he stops when he sees both Antenora and Marie.

His gaze is on Marie more, "...Queen...?" he asks, voice thick, eyes unfocused.

[Ebiris]

Wow, that's incredibly flattering! Marie's pale cheeks redden but she shakes her head. "I'm no queen. My name is Marielle, proxy of Alicia. This is Antenora. Welcome to Sylica, Mazel."

[Anastasia]

Antenora smiles widely at that, "We banished the spirits residing on your back."

'You are a Queen, my love. A Queen of my heart.' Antenora sends to Marie.

Meanwhile Mazel slowly shakes his head, "Who..." he manages, "They're gone?"

[Ebiris]

Marie briefly smiles at Antenora but then returns her focus to Mazel. "How much do you remember? You were part of an abyssal horde rampaging on Ysgard. I broke the curse on you, a curse that said you bore all the evils of a world on your back according to legends."

[Anastasia]

"I remember voices. I remember being a thousand thousand of thousands voices screaming about hate and how the world was injust." Mazel replies, head bowed as he breathes long, slow and deep. "I remember the fury of man that leads man to kill his fellow man. I remember the jealousy that poisons relationships. I remember the coldness that deadens hearts."

[Ebiris]

"They're gone now," Marie says. "Do you remember the fury of man that leads him to right injustice? Do you remember the passion that forges relationships? Do you remember the reason that lets one look at the world objectively?" She runs through a series of concepts that contrast or reflect the examples he gave as they occur to her. "A world has many evils, but there's so much more."