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[tadpoled]

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[tadpoled]

ORIN! [Tav rushes for her, vines shooting up from the exposed earth, but missing her. He doesn't hesitate, though. The elf leaps after her, not looking where he's stepping or what trap he might be walking into.

The only thing is to follow her, to find where the Bhaal worshipers are gathering. He tumbles down one set of stone stairs as acolytes shoot fire and ice to slow him down, but as he rolls to his feet, he can still see her tell-tale red armor. Behind him, the party is slowly catching up, but Tav barely squeezes through the door into the Temple as it nearly slams shut on him.

And thus he is in the Temple, blood covers so many surfaces but then--

It's Gale, actually Gale, laid up on an altar of stone.]

Gale!

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Astarion rolls his eyes even as he gives chase, knives at the ready.] Better we don't die before we find him, darling!

[And then Tav's slipping through the Temple doors, too far away for even Astarion to reach without magic. The last thing Tav hears from outside the Temple is Astarion's shrill] Godsdammit, Tav! [Before the stone slams shut.

The first thing he hears from within is his own laughter: Orin, looming over Gale, wearing Tav's face as promised as she strokes bloodstained fingers over Gale's cheek on the altar.]

You're twice the fool I thought you were. Have you returned for a happy homecoming? Will you snatch this sacrifice from me as you snatched everything else from my grasp?

[tadpoled]

[Tav's expression darkens as he watches Orin wearing his skin. He hates that she's touching Gale like that.]

I'll make a deal with you: you and I fight and Gale is set free. You can kill me all you like. Just don't kill him. Please.

[Tav continues to move closer to the altar, very aware of the acolytes moving closer as well. This will be hard fought if it doesn't kill him, but his focus is on that altar, on Gale.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Orin digs her -- Tav's -- fingers into Gale's hair, shoving him to sit upright. He sways, half-conscious, his breathing ragged.]

Or I shall kill you both. [Orin singsongs, dragging her tongue over the bloody streak on Gale's cheek before letting him fall back against the altar with a sickening thump. He lets out a pained groan, grasping for nothing, hissing Tav's name in the haze of fading awareness.]

I will string you both up. Your blood will drip into the Murder Lord's waiting mouth like fine wine as you watch each other die. So romantic.

[But she circles the table, her knife appearing in her hand as she takes her own form again, staring down Tav with a cruel sneer.] To best you in a final duel would be so deliciously satisfying, though.

[tadpoled]

[Tav swallows down his need to swat her hands and tongue away from Gale, to rush to his side. No, he needs some measure of patience if he's to lure her into a duel.]

Then fight me in a duel. Prove to father that he chose wrong all those years ago. Bleed me dry as a sacrifice to him, his blood returning to him.

[Tav readies a sanctuary spell for whenever she moves away from the altar. His fingers glow again, this time a bright golden light.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

Rotten little maggot. [Orin snarls, stalking across the stone, a scowl etched across her face.]

A duel! I will leave you wriggling, strangled, strung up til the last of your blood drip drip drips from your veins, and he will venerate me, his most favored child, as we run rivers of blood through this wretched city.

[tadpoled]

[As soon as Orin clears the altar, Tav whispers macte virtute and a golden shroud spills over Gale, illuminating his skin with a golden hue. There. Now that Gale is safe, it's time to not lose concentration.]

Then come fight me, bloodkin.

[Tav prepares another spell, spike growth, hands now glowing a mint green color.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Orin lets out a shrill, angry noise as soon as she realizes what Tav's done.]

I will gut you! Flay your skin from your bokes in the Murder Lord's name!

[Runes glow red under her feet -- her body seems to shatter around her, the Slayer in her place, poised to launch itself at Tav with an inhuman shriek.]

[tadpoled]

[Tav knows he can't dodge some kind of jumping attack and the spike growth will only slow down someone walking through it. So, he changes plans, readies a moonbeam instead, but perhaps just a touch too slow as he concentrates on the sanctuary spell, first and foremost.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[The Slayer launches itself at Tav with a snarl, swiping with one of its spindly arms. Even if the spell doesn't land quite when Tav intends, the Slayer form is so lanky -- so long -- the silvery light still slams into its hind quarters, sending the Slayer sprawling across the stone with a pained yowl as it claws at Tav.]

[tadpoled]

[Tav barely gets the spell off with a ex textura. The light seems to tip the new, monstrous form of Orin off her feet and now Tav prepares the spike growth before he remembers that the spell will break his concentration on the sanctuary spell.

So instead, he readies firebolt and one of his short swords, putting a few more paces between him and Orin.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[The moonbeam seems to rattle it -- the Slayer wails as it scrambles to its feet, the wounds inflicted forcing Orin back into her own body, left to scramble for her blades once again.]

Foul magic, nasty work -- you rebuke father's gifts for this foolishness?

[She swipes with both blades, wide and wild, so furious with Tav even that last imagined vestige of control falls away.

Orin is gifted, certainly; dedicated, undeniably. But even beyond the nature of the Dark Urge's creation, if there are reasons Bhaal favored the flesh of his flesh over Orin, her wanton recklessness is chief among them.

From the altar, Gale stirs briefly with a strained groan, the golden halo of the sanctuary throwing the dark stains on his robe and the circles under his eyes into stark relief.]

[tadpoled]

He is not my fath-- [The moment Tav hears Gale stir, he becomes distracted. He shifts his focus to the wizard and pays for it in an instant. Orin's claws rip into Tav, nearly sundering his limbs from his body. A quick te curo saves him from losing an arm, but he's still bleeding profusely.

The golden light over Gale flickers and fades away and Tav panics. Rather than attack Orin, he casts another macte virtute.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Orin slashes wildly, trying to force Tav farther back from the alter — trying to get Tav to look away from Tav. It should be easier for her with him so distracted; instead it just seems to infuriate her further that Tav is more focused on keeping Gale alive than winning.]

You deny him?! I should have slit your throat when I had the chance!

[tadpoled]

[One of the slashes hits Tav in the chest and he spins, slumping to the floor. He turns his head toward the altar, making sure the sanctuary spell hasn't faded again. Part of Tav knows he's a sitting duck if he keeps checking on Gale, but he's the only thing that matters. This duel, whether he wins or loses, is far below his need to keep Gale alive.]

'd like to see you try. [Tav continues to taunt, readying a grappling vine spell and releasing it within the same breath. The vine reaches for Orin, attempting to pull her off her feet.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Orin snarls and tries to pounce, only to find herself snarled up in the grasping vine. She slams to the floor, her dagger Bloodthirst skittering across the stone out of her hand as she attempts to slither after it.] You will watch -- and so will your precious, soft little pet.

[tadpoled]

[Tav, too, dives for the dagger. He barely gets his hands on it before Orin is practically on top of him.

He sucks in a breath and chants incende to release a wide beam of sun fire directly into her jaws.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[The sacred flame sends Orin scrambling backwards in desperation, one hand clawing at her face as she lets out an inhuman scream -- still on the floor, her dagger in Tav's hand.]

[tadpoled]

[Tav crawls after her and straddles the monstrous Orin. He raises the dagger high and then stabs it downward, once, twice, thrice. Whatever it will take to kill her and spare Gale.]

[waterdhavianwizard]

[Orin doesn’t go down easily — she scratches, snaps her teeth, manages to sink them into Tav’s wrist before Tav is pinning her down with her own blade. Eventually her strangled cursing quiets as she bleeds out, dead by Tav’s hand. The only sound left in the chamber is Sceleritas Fel’s panicked fretting and the sound of Astarion trying to prise the door open, as Gale rasps from the altar and tries to twist himself to get his bearings.]

[tadpoled]

[Tav stabs and stabs and stabs until he’s sure Orin is dead. Then he leaves the dagger inside her as she melts away into nothing so he can attend to Gale. Tav staggers to his feet and limps over to the altar, grateful that the sanctuary spell can now be replaced by a low te curo to heal as many of Gale’s wounds as he can with one spell.

The golden light of sanctuary dims and no longer illuminates Gale or himself.]

Gale?

[waterdhavianwizard]

Tav -- is that --

[But the magic confirms it is Tav, his Tav, truly Tav. He slumps back against the stone as the soothing magic washes over him, grimacing as his body knits itself back together.

Gale manages to sit himself up, swaying a little even as he reaches out frantic hands to gingerly assess Tav's wounds.]

I'm sorry. I'm so -- I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have had to come here like this. [He cradles Tav's face softly in his hands.] Do you have something left for yourself? I... [Gale blinks around the room, searching, ignoring Sceleritas' panicked yapping about Bhaal's disappointment.] Did you come here alone?

[tadpoled]

I’ll survive. [Tav pants from the effort of the fight, from the effort of so much casting. He’s bleeding from his wrist, his chest, from gods know everywhere else.

But Gale is here and alive and right now that’s all he can ask for in his life.

At the mention of being alone, Astarion has finally broken through the door, cursing up a storm.]

I shimmied through the door before it closed.

[So yes, alone is a word for that.]

How are you feeling?

[waterdhavianwizard]

You can be so reckless. [But Gale kisses him, a tender, feather-light press of his lips as he tries to urge Tav to sit -- to rest.]

I... rotten. I feel rotten. I don't... there's more important things to think about. [When the inevitable adrenaline crash happens, and they're laid out in bed recuperating, perhaps then there will be time to pick through the inevitable damage to their psyches.] I love you. If I'd woken up and... if you'd... [He cuts himself off with a choked noise, glancing to their friend instead.]

Astarion -- do you have a potion? Gods, even a bandage.

[Astarion grouses at the request, running through a laundry list of complaints from Gale's kidnapping to Tav's reckless pursuit to his desperate request for Fel to shut up about daddy dearest already as Fel darts over to inspect Orin's scattering remains, but Astarion digs through his pockets all the same in search of something to help.]

[tadpoled]

I’m not sorry. She said she would kill you while wearing my face.

[Tav can’t quite sit down, not until they’re out of this place and—]

He is coming! [Fel exclaims before a blade slices into him, followed by another and another until half a dozen blades bleed Fel out and onto the floor.

Tav reaches for Gale and tries to pull him outright.]

Not sticking around for this horror show. C’mon.

[However before Tav can so much as lift Gale, red light burns in the sockets of the skeleton relief on the wall and a deep voice echoes around the temple.]

I expected the other.