Azithalaju Gets It

The Chamber of the Pentagram
  Deep beneath the foundations of the halls above, this chamber is hewn
from the very rock of the hills' roots.  Bluestone buttresses hold the
cavern's roof aloft, forming four huge arches which intersect in an
eight-pointed star above you.  Small stalactites hang from the bluestone,
and the occasional drip of water echoes through the cavern.  In the very
center of this space, a large pentagram has been carved into the stone
floor, its center superimposed with a great trigon.  The symbol is scored
throughout with graven runes, each harsh upon the eye, and abstruse symbols
of unclear, yet certainly unwholesome function.  An iron door, also scored
with runes, is set into the eastern wall.

[Exits: none]
(Translucent) Saraskuas the shuddeni is here.
(Translucent) Ilae the aelin is here.
(Translucent) Yurhari the aelin is here.

You think 'I do wonder what we do down here.'

Yurhari intones, voice raspy and worn 'Stand to the outside of the Great Sigil.'

Saraskuas nods.

Ilae moves to the edge of the room.

Saraskuas stands to next to the wall.
Yendri nods deferentially to Yurhari, walking to the wall.

Yendri presses her back to the wall, keeping her body bolt upright.

Yurhari steps into the pentagram, carefully inspecting the floor.
Yurhari leans down, wings slowing as its knees touch the cold stone.
Yurhari reaches into its robe, producing a small pouch of Uzith-Hazhi dust.
Yurhari carefully applies long strokes of the dust to the ground in an uneven, uprtight pentagon.
Yurhari proceeds to completely blot out the center of the pentagon with dust, smoothing it carefully with its palms.
Using bare fingers, Yurhari marks out the Dragon Rune, atop a smaller Rune of Void.
Looking down upon the now-complete Sigil of Logor, Yurhari proceeds to inscribe another symbol within the center of the sign.

You think 'He summons Vaeshir?'

You think 'Perhaps finding Azithalaju's wayward soul.'

Completing a triangle containing three smaller, indistinguishable symbols, Yurhari rises once more to its feet.
Yurhari intones 'It is to be So.'
Yurhari steps back a single pace, its wings beginning to beat softly.

Yendri purses her lips together.

As it is carried aloft, Yurhari spreads his arms wide, his fingers dancing and splayed.

Yurhari rasps, its voice reverberating throughout the chamber 'Akkja imal!'

Yurhari utters the words 'summon'

As the discordant syllables of the spell echo about the chamber, five streams of baleful light course from the points of the pentagram to its center.
In the center of the Sigil of Logor, a blister begins to form in the very rock.
The fleshy mound swells, glistening and taut.
With a moist tearing sound, the blister deflates, revealing a withered, crumpled form beneath its slackened skin.
The figure of a shuddeni, shacked and bleeding, lies in a fetal position on the floor.

Azithalaju murmurs softly, his blood-drenched head hanging low as he crouches humbly on the floor. A faint, rasping breath escapes his chapped, bleeding lips, slowly drawing out into eerie silence.

You think 'Azithalaju.'

Saraskuas smiles slightly.

Ilae blinks in surprise.

Smiling emotionlessly, Yurhari nods carefully.

Saraskuas looks at Azithalaju.

Yurhari inquires 'Do you know where you are, Azithalaju?'

Yendri arches an eyeless brow, unbroken eyeless stare regarding Azithalaju.

<1119/1119 998/998 380/380 $5144 23424xtl> l azithalaju
A wiry, nearly skeletal, dark-skinned shuddeni is here, a tall figure of
malevolent elegance.  His face appears as an imposing painting of aged
wickedness, with a curving, hawk-like nose resting below a pair of tight,
pinkish-grey lips, all covered by his withered flesh; a chaotic maze of
wrinkles that shifts slightly as he peers about through darkened, hollow
sockets.  His limbs are sickly thin, and carry much the same features as the
rest of his staved-looking figure, with little muscle evident through the
hazard of fleshy wrinkles.  Despite bearing the appearance of a half-dead
slave, his lightweight frame appears healthy and nimble, stressed in both
stride and gesture, allowing him to move gracefully.  
Azithalaju is in excellent condition.

Azithalaju is using:
<worn about body>   a patchwork robe

The skull of the demilich Vila says, 'You haven't lived until you've died, I can assure you.'

Ilae looks at Azithalaju.

The wracked figure of Azithalaju heaves slowly on the ground, as his gaze rises to meet Yurhari's floating visage.

Azithalaju rasps, blood trickling from his mouth as he speaks, 'Home.'

Yurhari responds 'Yes, Azithalaju. We have returned.'
Yurhari states coldly 'I went on ahead, do you recall?'
Yurhari remarks 'Do you remember when last I visited your chamber?'

A small smile crawls across Yendri's face.

Azithalaju replies in near-silence, a murmur and a bob of his head giving answer.

The skull of the demilich Vila says, 'Will your enemies even bother to bury you?'

Yurhari asks 'And what is to come of it, then?'

Azithalaju fades into existence.
Azithalaju grazes himself.
Azithalaju gives a soft, hollow laugh as he lets the words of the floating skull, Vila, strike him.
Azithalaju replies, his breathing now steadying, 'I have... returned to you.. at your beckon.. my body wracked, disrupted... but my Will intact.'

A hollow, grating laughter escapes Yurhari's clenched teeth.

Azithalaju scratches himself.

Yurhari asks 'The pain has not subsided, Azithalaju?'

Azithalaju laughs softly 'I have felt... wounds that even the most competent of the Chamber of Pain could not deliver... not in this lifetime.'

Again, a slight smile graces Yurhari's cracked and pale lips.

Azithalaju smiles carefully despite his pain, staring to the ground. As he does, a thick glob of thick red fluid drips and splatters against the floor.

Yurhari spits 'How much do you remember, fleshchild?'

As quickly as it came, the smile is gone from Azithalaju's lips.
Azithalaju replies softly, his hands balling into tight fists as they rest against the ground, '...enough.'

Yendri leans her back against the wall, her form relaxing slightly. Her gaze remains unbroken upon Azithalaju's form.

Yurhari glances aside to Yendri.
Yurhari steps over the crumpled form, turning to view it from the opposite side.

Saraskuas tells you 'A piece of food, if you would?'

Yendri arches an eyeless brow, turning her gaze to Yurhari. She watches as he circles Azithalaju's broken body.

You get a lightly boiled griffin egg from a burlap sack.

Yurhari lays its right hand upon Azithalaju's back.

You tell Saraskuas 'You really should carry your own.'

Azithalaju shudders momentarily, his muscles tightening at Yurhari's touch.
As quickly as he tightened, Azithalaju relaxes his figure.

Saraskuas tells you 'I eat quite a bit, Lady.'

Yurhari asks 'You still have your taste, Azithalaju?'

You think '...Taste?'
Yurhari grins impishly, observing the form coldly.

You tell Saraskuas 'Right. This is not the Time.'

Yurhari gets a lightly boiled griffin egg from a patchwork robe.

Azithalaju MUTILATES himself!

Yurhari raps the egg squarely with his left fist, cracking the shell.

With a raptor's precision, Yurhari extrudes the hard-boiled mass from within the shell.

Azithalaju looks to Yurhari quietly, his quiet, rising gaze appearing to answer the question.

Yurhari chews the egg slowly, silently, his eyes not leaving the crumpled form below him.
Yurhari casts the cracked shell across the floor.
Opening his mouth, Yurhari spits the well-chewed mass into his left palm.
Yurhari spits into his right palm.
Yurhari extends his two hands to Azithalaju.
Yurhari rasps 'Eat. Drink.'

Azithalaju slowly rises to his knees, and brings his hand to Yurhari's left. Quietly, his mouth descends into Yurhari's palm, and he eats away at the sickly mess.

Yurhari crouches down, drawing closer to the form.

Azithalaju wounds himself.
Azithalaju licks his chapped lips thirstily... and moves to the right hand now with the same feverous desire, lapping up the stuff offered by Yurhari's mouth.

Yurhari stands once more to its feet.
Yurhari brushes its hands upon its robe, its eyes yet unmoving.

Azithalaju barely manages a sickly laugh, as he brings his scarred hand to his lips and wipes his mouth.

Yurhari extends his right hand once more.
Yurhari intones 'Rise, fleshchild.'

<1119/1119 998/998 380/380 $5144 23424xtl> whois azithalaju
[PK] [SHUNNED] Azithalaju Kajjika the Archmage of Void

You think 'Why is the High Priest calling him "fleshchild?"'

Azithalaju extends his bloodied hand to Yurhari's, gripping it tightly for leverage.

The skull of the demilich Vila says, 'A man? Yes... Yes... I was once a man.'

Yurhari pauses, ensuring Azithalaju has regained his balance.

Azithalaju steadies himself to his feet, his tall figure now stable and unwavering.
Azithalaju releases his grip on Yurhari's hand.

Yurhari lifts its hand, drawing its nailless fingers toward Azithalaju's face.

Azithalaju remains motionless, save a slight cock of his head to the side as he watches Yurhari's hand.

Drawing its fingers across Azithalaju's hairless scalp, Yurhari manages a subtle grin.
Yurhari whispers 'Your mind, yes.'
Yurhari nods slowly, with curious grace.
Carefully, Yurhari withdraws its hand.

Yurhari intones 'Go, Azithalaju. Bathe yourself.'

For the first time since the summoning, Yurhari looks up to those assembled.

Azithalaju offers a simple, quiet nod, and turns from this place, moving past the gathering and out of the Chamber.
Azithalaju opens the door.
Azithalaju leaves east.

You think 'No penance for his actions upon the High Priest's leaving?'
You think 'Or was that... it?'

Yurhari remarks 'I have allowed him his freedom, once more.'

Saraskuas looks at Yurhari intently.

You think 'Interesting.'

Yurhari states 'He is now, as he was, a true Initiate of our order.'

Yendri nods slowly, carefully, as she takes in Yurhari's words.

The skull of the demilich Vila says, 'I would tell you the things I've seen, but I would have to rip out your eyes first.'

Yurhari explains 'He has been set to a fate incredibly few could even hope to survive.'

Yendri raises an eyeless brow. 

Yurhari continues 'Yet, he has held firm.'
Yurhari explains 'Thus, I cannot but conclude that a kernel of worth remains in him.'
Yurhari states 'Care shall be required, as he adapts once more to his surroundings...'
Yurhari concludes '...and the absence of Pain.'
Yurhari lowers his head.

Yendri smiles slightly.

The skull of the demilich Vila says, 'Do I miss the pleasures of the flesh? Yes.. almost as much as the pains.'

You think 'Ah, pain. I shall have to speak with Azithalaju of what he has been through.'

Yurhari rasps 'Go, then, as you Will. Clarity, dearest Whole.'

You think 'Truly, why would one wish to be without such a beautiful thing as pain?'

Saraskuas nods.

Yurhari looks upward once more, visibly exhausted.

Yendri nods deeply to Yurhari.

Yurhari opens the door.

Yendri inquires 'If you require nothing else of the Vanguard, Lord, it shall be within the training room.'

Yurhari nods at you.