@Aristocles

The male was nodding his head his face getting a brighter shade of red from her winking, "Okay let me look" He said looking at the list and once in a while picking a few more ground ingredients. "Umm...is their anything else for us to collect or do?" He asked her walking beside her feeling something bad running though his body.

"Oh, yeah, we've still got over half the list to..." Kara noticed a distinct look of discomfort on Smith's face. "Smith? Lover, are you okay?" She set down everything in her hands and moved over to him. The draconess had already applied her healing magic to him time and again; there wasn't much more she could do on that front.

@Aristocles

"Ah nothing just a strange feeling" Smith said smiling and rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, His eyes looking over towards her coughing softly as he started moving forward. He wanted to leave the forest and head back home to some place safe.

@Eviledd1984

"I don't think we should be out here, then" Kara explained, growing more than slightly worried. She planted her feet firmly on the forest floor and didn't take another step forward. "Forget this little trip. If you're not feeling well, there's medicine at home. If it's serious, we can get you to some temple healers. Whatever it is, they can fix it. Trust me, they can bring back the dead if they had to. Not even exaggerating about that bit."

@Aristocles

"Eh well i mean we can keep going the wound is not hurting me much...I just have a bad feeling about something" He said not wanting to worry Kara, His hand rubbing the wound feeling some painful sting there. "I don't feel so well" He said softly moving forward now holding the area of his wound.

"We really should get it checked out" Kara explained, reaching out to touch his wound. "These warning signs should never be ignored. That's what my mother told me, at least. I don't want you to get sick or worse just because you couldn't be bothered to deal with 'em."

@Aristocles

"I think...it might be infected..." He said feeling a bit woozy moving back and forth, Dropping the basket on the floor and falling onto his back. Forming coming out of his mouth as his eyes started to role back into his head.

Kara ran over immediately, dropping all the ingredients. "Smith! Oh, gods! Can you stand? We've got to get you to some healers!" She pressed her hands against the wound, applying some more of her magic, more than she had ever used before. The effort caused her to break out in beads of warm sweat, but she ignored it and pushed through the strain to finish casting her spell. It didn't cure him, but it seemed to stabilize him for a while.

@Aristocles

Smith for the time being was motionless just laying still, Breathing softly but not looking any normal then he usually would. His body would feel stiff to the Dracon and his body looking more pale then it would before. Smith's eyes were still rolled to the back of his head but the foam coming out of his mouth was lessen a bit.

Kara searched frantically through Smith's robes, hoping to find the gate stone which Aerta had given him a while ago. To her relief, she found it, and she used it to teleport them far away from the woods, into the plaza outside of the Great Temple of Minbenthac. Their sudden arrived caused quite a stir to say the least.

"Is there a healer around?! I need help here, now!"

"If you insist," Rebat said, with no small sense of confusion. The culture of the dracon nobility seemed incredibly complicated and exotic. What could take the grand prince a whole day to prepare for when meeting with diplomats? Rughoi, under all the lofty airs he likes to put on, kept the court simple and quick. To speak to His Might, one would walk in the room he occupies, bow, and begin speaking. He would listen, and make his ruling, even if those people had just come out of battle or waded through quicksand. Still, though, to disrespect local culture would make diplomacy fall apart before it had even began. "A wash might actually do me some good. If you would kindly show me where I may find a rag and clean myself?"

"I'm sure that the palace staff will be able to help you with that. Let's see here..." Mazdak looked around the palace as they walked deeper inside. As expected of a royal court, there were plenty of servants, guards, bureaucrats, hangers-on, and every sort of occupant who seemed to serve no useful function except to act as a sort of living ornamentation. Of course, a great number of the latter were slaves, but Mazdak thought it undiplomatic to mention that at this time. One could tell which part of the palace one was in simply by observing the staff in a given chamber. The entrance had been filled with guards, while many of the more formal chambers had been staffed by obsequious scribes and ministers. By the time they came close to a room suitable for washing up, the population of the room had shifted to be almost entirely female; not to mention lightly-dressed, even by female dracon standards. It was perhaps an uncomfortable reminder of the link between bathing, pleasure, and 'other activities', but Mazdak shoved those thoughts from his mind as he tried to maintain focus.

"How about... these ladies over here?" Mazdak gestured to a group of three female dracons, each a different shade of light brown skin, complete with similar curved horns and bright orange eyes. While he wasn't sure if they were sisters or not, it was evident that the three were related. Each female was similarly clad in light blue garments, with a long loincloth and a matching top. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were quite interested in Rebat.

"Well, what do we have here?"

"Got us a lil'kobold!

"I think he wants us to take care ah him!"

"Ain't he a cutie?!"

Their manner of speech confirmed Mazdak's suspicions that these were attendants of at least the second or third generations, descended from previous inhabitants of the palace. Their friendly demeanor and apparent naivete led him to believe that they had rarely if ever seen the world outside. The females moved over to Rebat, fawning over him as if he were a young dracon.

"How y'all doin, little on?"

"Don't he have the cutest little toes!"

"I could just eat you u-"

"Ladies! Please. This is Rebat. He is a guest of state, and he's scheduled to meet the Grand Prince tomorrow. By your attire, I see that you three help run the palace baths. I expect that you shall see to his every need, which in this case is a wet rag or something, not your overbearing attention."

@Aristocles

A few moments later when the two arrived a healer came by, "Damn what the hell happened?" The healer asked her as two others came by. One of the checking on Smith whom was still convulsing.

Rebat didn't know what to do. Here he was, supposed to at this time be speaking with the grand prince of Hekaga, only to find himself in what appears to be a house of ill repute, surrounded by dracon ladies. He gulped, looking up at the three as they slowly encircled him, with light teases on their tongue and a dangerous look in their eyes. Mazdak had shouted them down, but they continued to stare at him, as if he was a slice of meat. "A rag . . . and I'll be on my way," he croaked, not sure whether or not he should bow. Perhaps not this time. He nodded to the women, in a sort of half-bow way. That seemed a good enough compromise.

Traveling long distance in the endless sands left marks on a weary kobold. Rebat gingerly wiped himself down with his rag, letting the wool pick out the hard-to-reach spots between his scales. Every time he did so, grains of sand came tumbling out, likely stuck there for multiple days. Still, they indeed left their mark. Reddened skin, worn raw and roughened in the unforgiving climate. At the end, though, he decided that this was nice. It had been years since he felt clean. His old landlord, back in the days of the dracon, had never cared much for his tenants and their cleanliness. Then, Rughoi sent him into battle after battle, with nary a rest between. He set the rag down and felt at the slit in his neck. He now felt ready to speak with the grand prince.

@Eviledd1984

"I-I think his injury is infected. My magic can heal wounds, but it can't actually cure diseases. Could someone-?"

"Let me pass. Quickly, quickly! Out of the way!" A black-robed dracon pushed through the crowd, his orange-skinned hands glowing with a bright golden hue.

"Vespion! Oh, thank the gods! My father told me all about-"

"Save the thanks for later, Kara." Vespion knelt down and suffused Smith with a large dose of healing magic, purging whatever disease festered in his injury. Smith glowed with the same light as had been in Vespion's hands for several seconds before the light faded.

__________________

@bloonewb

Mazdak had taken some time to change out of his armor and into a fresh set of formal clothes. Hekaga was a city which followed more archaic rules than most dracon cities, and while protocols could be somewhat relaxed for non-dracons, Mazdak was inclined to follow strict rules of decorum, doubly so as a member of Ternoc's court. He removed the steel chestplate, greaves, along with his vambraces, pauldrons, and cuisses. As expected, he took his time bathing in the private room he had in the royal palace, taking assiduous care to remove as many traces of dirt, dust, and sand as he could. After taking a while to dry off, he changed into a white robe, complete with a black belt around his waist. With that, he went to find Rebat, knowing that they had until tomorrow to prepare for their audience with the Grand Prince.

@Aristocles

Smith was still on the ground now laying still on his back, The magical glow of the other dracon's hands enveloping him however his body was still motionless.

@Eviledd1984

Vespion looked down at Smith. "He will live, but he's still not going to be able to move much for a while."

Kara nodded and turned to her lover. "Smith? Smith! Can you hear me?! Please say something!"

@Aristocles

Smith was still as a board saying nothing for the time being, "Va'jari...Ruvrka...I'quk'a" He whispered softly his eyes darting back and forth. To a keen ear it would sound like the language of the Fey.

"Truly, sirs, I don't understand what that means," Rebat said. His arm hurt from being dragged for so long. The dracon, the one doing the pulling, responded curtly.

"Shut up," he snapped, and Rebat did. Old habits die hard. A while of this silence continued, with Rebat and the two guards going down path after path, before finally ending in an official looking building on the corner of two roads. Then, the guards finally decided to speak.

"Who is your master?" one of them asked, who must have traded his spear away for a whip when Rebat was not looking.

"I have none," Rebat answered. He received for his honesty a swift crack across his nose.

"Don't play dull with me, animal! Who is your master?" shouted the one with a whip. Rebat reached up to his nose to rub where the whip stung, but another strike laid across his hand, bringing it back down.

"I serve His Might Rughoi the Unbound of the Empire at Xigyll," Rebat said, with all the authority he could muster left. The collective laughing of everyone in the room quickly snatched that confidence away.

"Look at this little kobold. Making up names and places just to escape! Figures, crafty little demons they are. Take him into the basement! We'll find who his master is . . . one way or another."

Norix Sirivistra

Nori fiddled with her sleeves. She was used to wearing robes, to protect her scales from the harsh desert sun, but she wasn't used to them being so soft. Or so clean. Then again, she wasn't used to anything about this place. This was her first reading for someone of importance. She hoped they wouldn't her cards silly. Norix patted her pouch, satisfied that her cards were still there. She looked down at her hands, the bell that was tied to her left horn tinkling. She wasn't prepared for something so important. How could she be? How could anyone be?

"A meeting with the Grand Prince..." Nori mumbled to herself, still messing with her sleeves as she sat in her appointed room. The room was larger than she liked. She had the feeling that as a guest, the Prince felt the need to impress. To be fair though, she did come a long way just for this. She felt like she deserved a bit of comfort.

Nori smiled to herself, remembering how she used to live. She would sleep on the baseboards of the caravan's main wagon. They didn't have enough room for beds, so they just threw pillows and blankets on the ground and called it good. Now she was a special guest of a Prince, staying in a room that was five times the size of her little wagon. The bed was so plush it nearly absorbed her, and the robes weren't scratchy at all. She even had the gift of hot water whenever she asked. Nori couldn't help but love it here. She never wanted to leave, but she had to. She had places to be, people to see.

Norix stood and squished her hand into the luxury bed before leaving the room. While she was in town, she had a meeting with a man at an inn. She barely remembered which one it was, and she didn't know the man's name. Although, she remembered what he looked like. He was rather handsome, for someone considered a low-life.

As Nori walked, the bell on her horn tinkled. It made her feel magical, even though she technically was. Her black leather pouch bounced against her hip as she walked, her gait rather chipper. Today, she felt, was a good day. She had just arrived in town and she felt nothing too terrible would happen. At least, not to her.